The morning sun shined upon the city with it’s brilliant golden rays which bathed the world in a dazzling light. These beautiful beams of sunlight entered through a window and illuminated a room with it’s glow.

The room was small and shaped like a rectangle. All across the room, scattered against it’s old wooden floorboards, were papers filled with scribbled writing and rough illustrations which mainly consisted of drawings of different plants or animals. Right in front of the window was a small desk and a chair in front of it.

On the desk there was a candle which seemed to have been burning through the entire night as almost all the wax had melted away. In the middle of the desk was an open notebook with more scribbled writing and illustrations on it’s pages. There were also several books with monotone covers stacked on top of each other on the side of the desk.

The books focused on biology and their titles reflected that.

“The beasts of the woods” by Rilpun Hette

“A history of nature and society” by Unuh Rataz

“An encyclopedia of forest animals” by Jicci Zamo

There was a humanoid figure sleeping on top of the desk. Due to the strong light coming into the room through the window the figure slowly woke up and stood up in a daze. The figure’s features could now clearly be seen.

She had brown eyes and cream-colored skin with a few freckles over her face. She had braided shoulder-length black hair. She was wearing a dark blue robe. The most notable feature were her pierced pointy ears. She slowly stood up from her desk and straightened her back. Standing up straight like this gave her a height of 2,9 meters but this was considered slightly below average in her society. After all most elves were 3 meters tall.

Her name was Alni. She was an elf in the elven country of Hunora which was located in a large forest and so all the houses which were built there were tree houses connected to each other through bridges. She was a teacher at a school here in this small Hunoran village by the name of Hetteri which was named in honor of Rilpun Hette because he was the one who designed traps around the village in order to keep dangerous animals outside.

Alni tried remembering what she was doing last night. After her dizziness from just waking up vanished she was finally able to think clearly.

“Oh no I’m going to be late” she started panicking She started searching her entire room trying to find the papers she needed. This was her first day as a teacher and she was supposed to teach a class of kids about biology but she once again fell asleep on her desk after reading Hette. But can you blame her? It’s Hette! The man’s a legend.

She quickly found all the notes she needed for today and after making sure she appeared like a proper teacher she walked out of her house and out into the village of Hetteri.

As she walked out of her tree house she made her way along several wooden bridges. The school where she was going was around 400 meters southeast from her tree house and then there was a 50-meter rise.

In elven cities due to how they were filled with tree houses there were several new terms created to help with navigation. If you had to go up to a higher layer of tree houses you would refer to that as a “rise” so for example if you said “It’s a 50-meter rise from here” that means you have to go up 50 meters. The opposite of this was a “fall” which instead of going up the tree houses you go down the tree houses. Because of this there are many ladders which people can use to go up or down the tree houses.

Alni finally came to her school and was relieved to realize she made it on time. She found her classroom and waited for students to arrive. After a few minutes students began to enter the room and when they all settled down Alni greeted them.

“Hello everyone. My name is Alni. I’m going to be your biology teacher. I hope I can become close with all of you and help you learn new things. Now I have a very simple question. This is a school meant to teach you how to be hunters. So why are we learning biology in such a school?”

A male student clapped his hands which in elven society was a way for the student to let the teacher know that they knew the answer.

“Yes?” said Alni in a slightly excited voice.

“Cause biology will help us understand the animals better which will help us hunt them” said the student succinctly.

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“Correct. Knowledge is power. The more deeply you know your target the easier it will be to hunt them” said Alni in a joyful tone.

She liked smart people. They could easily be talked to and they would admit when they’re wrong. Knowing when you’re wrong was a trait she adored in people so her respect for this student rose a bit after he answered the question correctly.

Because they lived in large forests filled with dangerous animals they took up hunting as a profession in order to protect themselves which eventually lead to hunting becoming an integral part of their society and culture. Since knowing how an animal behaves and how it’s life cycle works could help out a hunter in dire situation it was natural that biology would become a prominent field of study in their society but it wasn’t the only scientific field that became important.

Medicine developed very quickly because hunters often returned from their hunts with heavy injuries which needed to be treated. This also caused anatomy to become a field of focus.

Alni was satisfied with the answer and then spent the rest of the class explaining the biology of a werewolf. The most common predator encountered by the hunters in the wild.

“A werewolf is a type of mammal, specifically a canine, which has black fur in order to help camouflage during the dark nights. Due to this they are nocturnal so there is no real danger when it’s daytime. They can either run on all fours or stand up on their hind legs then use their heavily developed front legs to slash at it’s target. It’s claws are curved which allows them to grab and hold on to things for a long time. Their most dangerous ability is the ability to mimic sounds that other animals produce which it uses to lure prey in before pouncing at them with their powerful claws and biting on the neck with their fangs” Alni explained to the students.

Most elves become hunters at a very young age but this also means that they often put themselves in situations they aren’t fully prepared for. Due to this most hunters die on their very first hunt. Alni knew that most of the students in the room right now are going to die at a very young age and that their parents will mourn them.

That’s why she took on this job as a teacher. To help the students have better odds of survival. She couldn’t accept that. She decided to try and change it. Accept what you can’t change and change what you can’t accept. That was her belief in life.

Then everybody in class heard a distinct bird sound which when they knew class had ended. The schools have trained a species of bird called the Zenaoi bird to create this sound when class ended.

Alni picked all her notes from the desk and organized them before carrying them in her arms. She left the building went 200 meters in one direction before taking a 70-meter rise to the hospital her mother was in. As she walked into her mother’s room she was her lying on the bed while breathing heavily.

Her mother noticed her enter and in a weak voice she said “Alni.”

“I’m here mother. You don’t have to worry. I’ve recently had an opportunity to earn money for your medication. So if all goes well you should become much more comfortable in that bed then you are now.” She said as she was walking towards the small wooden table by the side of the bed where she put all her school notes.

Her mother now had a small, but doubtlessly joyful, smile on her face.

“I’m really proud of you.” she said again in a weak voice that sounded like it was filled with all the happiness in the world.

“Thank you.” said Alni in a voice that sounded a bit…melancholic.

“What opportunity did you get?” she asked.

“I became a biology teacher in a hunting school.” Alni replied to her question.

Her mother paused for a moment as if remembering her past. “I still remember my days as a hunter. I was capable of hunting werewolves by myself and was able to slay other beasts with ease. Some people even said I could become one of the greatest hunters in the future.” she said while her eyes looked unfocused as if she was watching her entire life up to that point.

Then a sad look appeared on her face. “Then I got this illness and couldn’t hunt anymore. Your father had to pay most of his money to pay for the medicine but then he-he…”

“He died and then I had to take care of you” Alni finished her sentence when she saw how her mother was struggling.

Alni rubbed her hands together which she often did when she was in a sad mood.

“Yes. I’m so sorry I’ve been a burden to you. If I didn’t have this illness my life and your life would’ve been much easier for you.” She said with nothing but pure sadness gripping every fiber of her being.

“You’re not a burden. I can now pay for your medication so it’s fine” Alni said to reassure her.

“Why do you still love me. You have to watch me slowly die in this bed and work yourself to the bone and yet you still come here everyday with a smile on your face. Why? I bring you nothing but pain.” Her mother screamed in hysteria. Her true thoughts and feeling wide open for Alni to see.

Alni looked at her with a blank expression on her face before opening her mouth. “You’re the only one I have left. I’m not going to be mad at you and hate you for something out of your control. You’re my mother. You raised me well and I’m more and more grateful for you every day.” She said to her mother.

As she was saying these words a smile became visible to the world but it wasn’t the only thing that appeared on her face. Tears poured down the sides of her cheeks and her vision turned blurry.

“I’m so happy that I’m your daughter. I wouldn’t wish for anyone else to be my mother. That’s the truth.” She said while trying to look at her mother’s face through her obscured vision.

She wiped her tears with her hand and when she looked at her mother this time she saw that she had tears running down her face as well.

Now both of them were crying. Heavy and sudden breaths to inhale as much air as possible were the only sounds that could be heard from the room. Somebody passing through the room might think the people inside it were sad and mourning a loved one. But in reality both Alni and her mother were nothing but happy.