I woke up as I always do, the beating sun shone on me and my siblings faces. My grandmother and aunts were cooking food, which smelled amazing. But I stayed in bed, pretending to be asleep. I missed the smell of my mothers cooking with the rest of breakfast. My siblings and cousins got out of bed, and forced me to get out of bed as well. I went to the bathroom to get changed. I looked at myself in the mirror, my short white hair was knotted, my eyes looked beautiful in the light. But my eyes are what reminds me of my mother so I quickly looked away. I finished getting dressed, and ran to my spot. I started eating, and my family joined me. They talked about the same old things, while we all ate. My sister mentioned dreaming about these bizarre things they called genders. Like male and female. Life is simpler without them according to them. Once everyone finished eating, the adults cleaned up, while the children went into the forest, looking for spirits. I got my shoes on, and followed them before I got caught in doing the boring adult things. The forest filled with shouting which awoke our neighbors. They did their things and then the forest was filled with life, you could hear children’s laughs, the adults greeting each other and the native animals. I climbed my favorite tree and sat there. I pulled on one of the branches to make a tree chair, but it opened something instead. My curiosity got the best of me, and instead of getting down and telling one of my family members, I looked in and a spirit was circling the staff. I took the staff and it was made of Pawn wood. I looked and the spirit sat next to me to the best of its abilities. It spoke, and I was shocked, it was my grandfather's spirit.

They said “My granddaughter, you found the staff that keeps me here”.

“Grandfather, why does this staff keep you here?” I asked curiously.

“Nobody knew where I went when I disappeared, that was for the better. I went searching for your mother. I found her, their soul looked lost, but that was before they killed me. They were corrupt darling. I carried this staff on my journey. There is no way your mother is still there. But the only thing that will let my spirit go into the afterlife is you finding your mother. But you can't die, otherwise we will both be stuck to this staff” They said.

I was shocked. My mother killed them? I was ashamed to be their daughter, but I wanted to help my grandfather, so I decided to take on the quest. But I would need to leave early next morning so that no one would see me, and I would be able to get food from lunch and dinner without being suspicious. I hurried down the tree, with the staff in hand. Luckily my grandfather's spirit could disappear into the staff, so it would be easier to explain. I went to find my father, and he looked at the staff immediately.

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“What is that?” They asked, a bit concerned.

“ I made it! Does it look nice?” I questioned them.

“It looks good, you have a few more minutes before we need the children’s help to find the table we will use and the chairs, so chop chop on hiding it from everyone.” My dad said, knowing that if anyone else saw it they would have a million questions.``Okay! Thanks dad!” I exclaimed. The only problem was I had nowhere to hide it. So I went back into the house, and asked my grandfather for help.

“Grandfather, no one is around. I need help” I whispered. They appeared, and they took a more physical form this time.

“What do you need darling?” Grandfather asked me.

“Where do I hide the staff? You know how my cousins and siblings are.” I muttered, hoping grandfather would have an answer.

“Well, you can't hide it back in the tree, that would make too much noise, you would wake everyone up. You can't hide it inside, because everyone will find everything. So what about next to a Pawn wood tree? Just disguise it well,” They spoke, thoughtfully.

“Great idea! I will do that immediately” I said, grateful that my grandfather was so smart.

I ran outside to find the Old Pawn Wood Tree. We had five sacred trees, all made of one of the five different woods we have. There was pawn wood, wright wood, bevra wood, prairie wood and vair wood. Each kind of wood had its own sacred tree. Coincidentally, the sacred trees were all together. I saw the Old Wright Wood Tree, and found the sacred pawn wood tree soon after. I put it on top of one of the branches, and it looked like it was part of the tree. So by some miracle, it will be there early in the morning tomorrow. I quickly walked towards the noise, and found everyone chatting. I took one of the open seats. The leader of our island declared it was time to feast, just as I sat down. No one paid much attention to me so I ate, listening to all the rumors and managed to keep up with everything on the island. Once I was finished, I snuck away, back to the house to grab my aunt's messenger bag she used to take to deliver mail with. I got back, and the person next to me gave me a confused look, but quickly got back to talking with their family. I took more food and put it on my plate, but when no one was looking, I would put the food into small pouches and put them into the messenger bag.I quickly had enough food to last me two days if I rationed it. Strangely enough, grandfathers voice spoke in my head.

“Bring more, I brought little when I left, I was starving for days. I can't let that happen to you” Grandfather said, a part of me thought that he knew nothing. But I listened anyway, and kept going until I could no longer reach the food around me. As lunch ended, I quickly put the messenger bag behind me, and quickly walked off back to the Old Pawn Wood Tree, to put it behind the staff.