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Excerpts of father Krotus’ speeches: Solra church.

…

“Surround yourself with beauty and happiness, because, when you begin feeling beautiful and happy, those glorious, warm feelings will resonate with those things that you are around with, be it objects, music, people, triumphs, memories, or stories… they will unearth, bring forth the similar emotions linked to them, amplifying what you were already feeling further beyond.

Because… the same applies to those that surround themselves with darkness and sadness, when the time where they are at their lowest point comes, recalling ugly experiences, despair, and bad feelings only worsens their dilapidating mind, throwing them further down into the chasm.”

…

“Take care of yourself and those around you. With humility, bathe and rejoice in your glorious triumphs, no matter how small and insignificant they may be, what truly matters, is what they mean to YOU alone, be it making it big, winning the lottery, or making it small, learning how to whistle.

Spread and emanate your happiness to everyone. Illuminate this dark world.

Become the candle that ignites the flames of others. Burn bright and long.

Embody the steadfast bulwark that splits the treacherous sea. Carving the path.

Be a guardian. A spartan. A protector.

Be an angel. A saviour. A miracle.

Be a lord. A paragon. A leader.

Embrace the light.

Be any or all of those things. So that one day… YOU can be the pillar that supports, the firm ground that holds balance, so that instead of falling, those that find themselves deprived of hope and happiness can soar as high and far like you once had done before.

And… as all things are, play big or small, even if yours are but a small, flickering light, only able to carry its own sole weight, it is ok, you are not obligated for lifting the weight around you.

What matters above anything else, is keeping that flame alive. Because a thousand candles can light up the whole sky.”

…

“Darkness encroaches all around us, even from inside ourselves. The world is cruel.

Come the time you cannot sustain your own light, reach out. Just as you can share your flame to rekindle those that have lost theirs, others can do the same.

Nobody is truly alone, only those that willingly isolate themselves end up losing their spark, or burn so brightly and quickly that they collapse.

This world is filled with countless people, each one special, with their own story to tell. If you cannot find the candle to light up your way, the candle will find you.

The only way to lose is by stopping searching.”

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"Ök'tremnti."

"Ouquetremiti?"

"Ök'tremnti."

"ook... tremmt?"

"ÖK. TRE. MN. TI."

"...owok'turemmty?"

*SIGH...*"pajus... husere ve haneseve."

He leaves while massaging his head with a... annoyed? constipated? Face.

Lately the… ‘leaf uncle’, as I have come to nickname him in my head, has been trying to teach me his language and a myriad of survival techniques with varying degrees of success. He doesn’t seem very good at teaching people… with the spartan training and all the fumbling around the language barrier…

The last time I tried to catch his attention he turned to me with a confused face and gave me some sort of green biscuit to shut me up when he couldn’t understand me properly.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

It… uh… successfully shut me up in the end.

What was I supposed to do!? Refuse the single processed food I have seen in I don’t know how many days, that topples all of the other stuff I have ever tried tasting in this forest? It tasted like some sort of salty green tea flavoured with bacon, fresh cucumber, and traces of sugar cane. A weird combination I still can’t quite describe, but… not bad, not bad at all.

I had to begrudgingly accept when he started to use the same trick again and again with the same effectiveness.

After days of eating the same stale peanuts, beyond bitter fruits that made me retch, and berries so sour they made my tongue numb, the godsent cookie was heaven upon hell.

I… may have tried to search his bag to find where he stored the food once…

And I… may have gotten caught.

After a very confusing reprimanding, with me only understanding a fraction of what he said, now I am restricted to only one per day… sad.

I’ll have to be patient and make do with the things we hunt and forage.

A small price to pay for salvation.

——— –– –– -- - -

…

I had thought that learning an entirely new way of speaking would be very hard but… recently, It feels like anything I can recall has become more detailed, more crisp, like everything isn’t a shoddy jpeg anymore. I am still prone to forget things, but memories come and go much more easily and clearly. I wonder… is this what they call photographic memory?

I have been absorbing anything and everything that Uncle did or tried to teach me at an obsessive level. Skills, mannerisms, conduct, combat techniques, tool handling, the way he walks, the way he talks, I committed everything to memory, he is a master of the forest after all.

As for language… it feels like I have a glaring hole in my vocabulary, outside of picking up some words when he murmurs to himself, ‘I can hear him loud and clear, he is not fooling anyone’, he has only taught me the names of the various things he has and the plants and animals around us, aside from some everyday words like “follow” “stay” and “stop chewing that” there wasn't really much else… What the hell is this? Am I a dog now?!

It must sound like I have an incredibly broken speech… blame him.

A hand stops me in my tracks, disrupting my line of thoughts.

“Luwofurii… ### \curse\ set # bawal \stop\ ### \look\ #ves## \danger\” Crouching, Uncle gravely says something while inspecting the ground.

Those odd smudges on the ground… animal tracks? “\danger\ ?” I ask.

He nods.

“\what do\?”

Looking away, he makes a noise*Tch* …Did he just click his tongue at me?

“Nulnya. ## fahte.”

‘...What? Sorry, could you repeat that? You know I don’t understand everything you say.’ I look at him confused as he stands up and moves to grab my hand.

“\follow ####.\” Then he proceeds to grab my arm instead. –huh?

He also grabs under my other arm, lifting me up and placing me on his back on a firefighter carry in a single, fluid motion.

“Kya! w-wait– what?” *vuoooosh* He leaps, going up and high enough to reach the canopy in a single jump. I had never seen him do such a superhuman feat before.

“WHAAAAHAHAAT?!...”

He begins jumping from tree to tree at absurd speeds and unreal skill. The wind blowing on my face and making my hair erratically whip all over and the up and down swinging from all the jumping making me nauseous.

“WAIT WAIT WAIT– AAH! AT LEAST GIVE A WARNING YOU– *gack* STOP FOR JUST A SECOND! /STOP/ /STO–/ MMGHPHH!”

Pausing the insane acrobatics for a brief moment, he shoves something in my mouth.

It is tasty.

“/silence/” He says, or at least I assume so.

“Ghphffmm…” relishing the new delicacy in my mouth, I relent.

——— –– –– -- - -

…

Right in the margins of a pond, A solitary figure gazes at the reflection on top of the still water, a small little girl with an oversized shirt stares back…

(monotone)“Kyaa”… what sort of person does “kyaa”s nowadays?...

*sigh* I still can’t believe it…

This makes me wonder… What power dictates my identity? Myself or my body?... Does my perception of self and upbringing even matter when the subconscious slowly shifts to something entirely… different.

Deeply reflecting, I idly picked up a pleasantly smooth pebble.

This… scares me, because either way, I don’t know what I'll become. I only know that I will certainly not be the same as I once was by the time I acclimate myself to everything, I have a whole new world to adapt to after all. Should I stubbornly hold on to my old values and memories? Or embrace a new self and start anew?...

I threw the pebble at an angle, trying to make it skip above the shallow water– “GWEH!” I flinch.

Oops, did I hit a toad?... I send a silent prayer.

Heading back to where Uncle is setting up for tonight, I see a… hammock

It looks like the wind blew away a tent and it got stuck, hanging upside down on the tree branches. There’s a square frame with little bipods that snugly latch on the tree with a big tarp hanging off it, by the looks of the lattice it folds too. Hmm… that’s Convenient.

Well, looking on the bright side at least I'm not butt-naked anymore.

After that whole kerfuffle, the few bandages that still preserved my dignity came off. And now I'm borrowing one of Uncle’s spare clothes. The large size difference being a constant reminder of how small I became.

*flap**flop* Big sleeves go woosh woosh.

Now that I think about it, when did I start not caring about someone seeing me naked?... I mean, there isn’t much to see, but still… It has been so long since I last wore something that it feels weird now… Elf uncle didn’t fuss about it so maybe it’s fine?

Hmm… I sense a disturbance in the force… like something important is missing, a hole in my ego… It’s on the tip of my tongue but I can’t think what it is.

Oh well. I nonchalantly shrug off the concern. Anyways.

I head on over to the man-made nest, flaunting my newly acquired tree-climbing skills much to his relief. I do not need to make an overcomplicated and wasteful use of ropes to reach high places anymore, and climb right in and on top of his shoulders to peep at what he is fiddling with.

An assortment of belts, pouches, glasses, vials, all sorts of equipment, trinkets, items, and tools. Meticulously outspread and organised. Hmm… Inventory check? How responsible of him.

Got to give him props for his stoicness, even with me hanging out on top of his head he doesn’t even flinch and keeps on with his task.

He didn’t show it, but he was being massively distracted by the annoying little girl messing with his hair…

I curiously observe him inspecting and doing maintenance on his things until he finally finishes and decides to go to sleep. Detaching me on the way to lie down.

Hmm… maybe?...

“Ogat? Fovre ni suszeneve…” He says before turning away and closing his eyes. Words he didn’t teach me… *sigh*

I keep watching him… He shifts uncomfortably under my gaze, my eyes eerily reflecting the night light. He ignores it and proceeds to sleep.

And watching him… waiting until I’m certain he is asleep…

Quietly, I approach the bag where I have seen Uncle store the sweet goodies… I start opening and– *click*

A net of ropes and leaves bursts from somewhere and catches me. *FWING* *WOOSH* “W-WHOAAAA!” *gack*

W-what?! Who–When did he set this thing up?!

“H-Hey!... Heeeeey!... \help?\” He doesn’t respond.

“Could you get me out of here?... it’s very uncomfortable.” I say, knowing he also doesn’t understand what I'm saying.

I start hearing deeper breaths compared to what he had before. This guy!... He was pretending to be asleep! Tch.

The elf goes to sleep in peace with a smile on his face.

——— –– –– -- - -