"Knock knock!" I call out into the tree. Era shows herself the next moment. I pet her and lay out her dinner. She digs in right away. I sit down in my usual spot, right next to her, and lean back into her.

“How was it?” I ask once she lifts her head back up. She licks her muzzle off and curls up, surrounding me. “Guess that's a yes.” I pet her and pick my stick back up.

“Ok, so it clicked to me last night that you probably don’t know what letters are?” I look at her. She has one eye open. “You might wanna use both of them for this.” I smile and scribble the letters in the mud.

“So. These are what we use for written words.” I read each letter. “You take the letters and combine them into groups to make words. Like so.” I write my name. “See?” I look at Era again. She seems to be focused? I continue.

“Now;” I scratch her name down too; “this is your name.” She lifts her head up. Guess she is interested? I read it. "Emerald. That's you. Wanna see something cool?” I circle the middle part of her name. “Era. This is also your name. It's called a nickname. That's what I call you sometimes.” I grin at her. “Oh, a nickname is something like a way to express how dear someone is to you... That's what's cool about letters and names. Like so.” I write my Parents’ names.

“So, Mom is Hyra and Dad is Wolken. They combined the letters of their names and made Wykren. Cool, right? It never lets me forget them.” I smile. Era puts her paw down on her circle of letters and nudges me. “Huh? What?” I ask her. She taps the Era and keeps staring at me. OH!

“MY nickname?” I blush. I bite my lip and shut my eyes. “They used to call me Kyrry... I never liked it... It always sounded like they are making fun of me on purpose!!” I throw a fit. I feel a rumble. “Don't laugh!! It's embarrassing!!” I feel my face get hotter and turn away from her. “But ya know, I still like it... It's special, because nobody else calls me that...” I turn back to Era. She stares at me. Strange. The look in her eyes is different? She turns away from me and brushes over my name with the back of her paw, smudging the letters. I take a better look at it. Only the last part of my name remains...

“Ren? Is that my nickname? Ren? Are you giving me this?” I ask Emerald. She puts her paw on my head. I laugh. “I like it.” I take her paw of me with both of my hands and shake it.

“Hi, Era, I'm Ren, pleased to meet ya.” I smile. She blinks at me once.

“Ok! Moving on. Today I will tell you about festivals! Now. I already mentioned Festival of Life. It happens every year on the 29th day of the 7th month. Now. This festival is meant to celebrate new life. Basically, it is for kids. Well, not like that only the kids are allowed to have fun, but more like? How do I put this? Hmm... Ok. I got it! Life is sacred. And new life that is born is seen as the future, get it? So, what I mean is that we celebrate the future that that life represents, ya know?” I look at Era again. She has her eyes closed now again. I sigh. “I'll assume you're paying attention. Anyways. Because new life is considered precious our people really try to put in the best effort into raising it.” I stop.

“To be honest, our people don't have that many children. I mean, compared to other races... One reason is because we live longer than average... Other... I mean, I only asked my Parents that once... There aren't a lot of children here... So, I didn't have any friends, till now... I asked them about it and they said because bringing in a new life into this world and raising it is difficult. One must have a lot of resolve and strength to devote all of their being to the child. Letting go of their own interests and wants... Not many are able to discard their selfishness for the sake of another... I never really understood that before... Anyways.” I pick up the stick again and divide the ground into four.

“So. Festival of Life. It happens in Summer. Which is what we have now.” I draw a sun one corner. “Next, we have the Festival of the Fallen Leaves. It happens in the Fall. It's the season when, well, leaves fall, but that's not what the festival is about.” I laugh clumsily.

“This festival is meant to pay our respect for the dead people. Combat or not, this is the day when we show our loved ones and friends who have gone ahead of us and returned to the stars, that we are living here still. That even during hardships, we appreciate their sacrifices and what they have done for us, so that we could continue enjoying this world in their stead too. You can say that with this Festival we celebrate the present. We show them that we live for them as well.” Era gives me a strange look. Is she worried? I pet her.

“Oh, I get it. Don't worry. It's not as sad as it sounds. It's actually quite the opposite! It's loud and colorful and tons of fun! See. We prepare for it during the day, gathering up a ton of leaves. We set up a giant fire place too. Once the sun begins to set, we dance around the fire, throwing the leaves into the air and into the fire. We do this till it gets dark. Then we sit around the fire telling the Dead all of the things that have happened since their passing. The good and the bad. Oh!” It dawns on me.

"I should mention that our people plant trees to represent the graves. We're told that others have tomb stones? With the names and days engraved on them? I've never actually seen one. But, Gramps said that we use trees because when battles began we couldn't always bring back the bodies of the fallen warriors, so our people chose to plant trees in their memory, so that their families could have someone to talk to... Later on, the festival was born because of that.” I pause.

“See. Life is born and life dies. It's the circle of all living things. All things of Nature are born from it and return to it. The trees, represent that. See. The Fall is when they "lose" their "life" that is the leaves. During Winter they “sleep.” Gathering strength for when they will need to "grow new life" in the Spring. That is when trees bring new leaves back into this world. The leaves "live" during Summer and "die" again in the Fall. Do you know why trees have roots?” I point to a tree.

“Because they gather strength and food from the ground. Even the trees need to eat to grow. That's why we bury animals, people and even food into the ground. That is why when someone dies now, we wrap them up in cloth and bury them, before planting the tree. That is why we thank the Dead for letting us live. It is because they become part of Nature again, that same Nature that feeds and shelters us.” I stretch a little.

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

“All life is precious. That is why our people respect it so much. We don't have a festival for that because we already live everyday appreciating it. I say our people, because we are foreigners here. The Nature allowed us to stay here, so our relationship with it is more like borrowing. We borrow what we need and try to give back as much as we can. Because all life is precious. Life is needed to create life and life is needed to sustain it. That is why we hunt. It's less about killing and not getting killed yourself and more about? How do I say this? Taking the life of another and making it part of yours. That is why if we kill a mother deer, we leave the little ones be. They are the next generation. They need to grow up and make new life. Once they bring new life into this world, we can take theirs. Understand?” I gaze at Era. She has a softer look now? I pet her again.

“I have to say, sometimes we have to live without eating meat and I don't like it. Even if I eat my grains and veggies, I have to eat twice or thrice as much to feel full, ya know! I don't like that. I'd rather eat less, but have some meat. I mean, just think about it. If nobody would eat animals, then all of this would be turned into a field. Just so we could grow more stuff! If that happened then where would the animals go? Nowhere! Exactly! They'd vanish! Because we would take over their home to feed ourselves! It gets me angry... That would be too selfish and cruel!” I pout.

“That's why our people live in small villages like ours. Only Astri, and maybe a few other towns are bigger, cause, well I don't know why. But most of our land - yeah. We also try to grow as much produce as we can ourselves, each house has a back garden. Of course, whatever we can’t grow we buy in other towns or from the traveling merchants… Oh yeah, you can let me know if you're hungry. I'll bring more.” She whips me with her tail. I chuckle.

“Ok, guess you're alright then, huh?” I scratch her ear. “Oh! I forgot. The Festival of the Fallen Leaves, it happens on the 30th of the 9th and continues into the night of the 1st of the 10th. Mom and Dad even gave me some leaves to draw on one year and another time we used fabric dye to color them.” I smile at the silly memories. “I liked that. Ok. So, moving along! Oh.” I quickly draw a leave on another corner. Next to the sun.

“Next, we have a Winter Festival. The Night of the Stars. That is when we pay respects to our origins and thank our ancestors for being so brave as to come down here, into the unknown and live here. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be here today.” I scribble a snowflake in the third corner.

“It happens on the night of the 30th of the 12th into the 1st of the 1st. If the sky is clear, you can really enjoy the stars. More so than any other season. Oh! I keep forgetting. A week before this festival we pray and give our thanks to our predecessors and to Primerians. That week is also called the Primerian Appreciation week, because they taught us everything we know. Remember? So yeah, then the Night of the Stars comes around and we celebrate! Giant fires and dancing in the snow, making Snow Prints! I love that part the most! You get to lie down in the snow to make a print of your body. We make all kinds of silly shapes.” I smile. “It lets the Stars be with us too.”

“Oh! The last Festival we have is in the Spring. The 1st of the 3rd. The Day of the Priestess.” I draw a flower on the last corner of the four. “That is when our new leader is announced. Actually. It started as a day when the First Priestess was named. Later they decided to use that same day for the new Priestesses too, because this Festival represents a new beginning. Do you know what a Priestess is?” I glance at Era. She has her head on the side.

“I'll take it as a no. Ok. So. Gramps said that other nations have things called Gods. I'm not too familiar with that, but from what I understand Gods are supposedly beings of higher power that make things happen? Like there's a good for rain, sun, water, fire and other things. Noxians don't have those. If you want, you can think of Nature as being our God. But anyways. So, in other countries, they have Gods and Priests. Priests are supposed to be messengers of Gods? Or something? I have no clue about it. Gramps said that our people chose a Priestess, that is a woman, to represent life. To represent Nature. See. You need a man and a woman to make life. Like I have my Parents. Without them, there wouldn't be me. Just don't ask me how they made me! That's way too embarrassing to talk about!” I feel my face flush with red again. I clear my throat and continue.

“So, that's why we have a Priestess.” Wait. Now that I think about it, if you need both for new life, then why do we only have one? Never mind. I put that thought aside. For now.

“Anyways, we might not have Gods, but our people have picked up a phrase that other nations use, Gramps said that in Ancient times people used to pray to them, asking for help with all kinds of things, like: Oh Gods, please bless our land with a good harvest… Or something. So, that first part of it has remained to this day “Oh Gods”, as an expression for feelings that cannot be otherwise explained? Like when you’re really afraid of something. That’s all I know about that…” I shrug my shoulders again.

“Ok. So, these are the four festivals of Noxanda. For all of the times and seasons!” I grin silly again. “Sadly, I'm don't know many of the other ones... I think the Cornutese people have a Day of the Hunter? No clue when that happens or what they do on it. But if I had to guess, I think they pay respect to hunters?” I shrug my shoulders.

“Next are the Balli people. Gramps said they have at least two festivals. Day of the King and the Day of Air. This one is apparently meant as a tribute to their ancestors that crawled out of the depths of earth. Ya know? Like when you go outside to get fresh air.” I grin silly, scratching my head. “What else? Gramps never said anything about Primerians... Guess they are too busy working to have fun.” I giggle and continue.

“Oh yeah. So, we have festivals, but there are also things called carnivals. Gramps said that Existara has those. It's when people dress up as creatures and other people and they have things called games and performances and a ton of food and drinks and all kinds of things! I've never seen one. Our celebrations are different. Smaller. But apparently carnivals happen in big cities, like Araneum. That's right! I forgot to tell you what that is!” I slap myself on the forehead. Idiot. I notice the sky and sigh.

“Ok. Guess that will be it for today.” I try to stand up, but my legs won't let me. I pound them gently with my fists. Era looks at me, concerned.

“Oh, this happens. They fell asleep while I wasn't moving.” I stretch the legs out again and get up. I gather up my basket and hug Era.

“Goodnight, gorgeous. That's a nickname too.” I wink at her. “It's used for beautiful women only. Or so Dad told me.” I shrug my shoulders. “See ya tomorrow!” I wave to her, backing away.

    I watch Wykren disappear into the woods. He seems to enjoy his lectures. Sometimes his heart will beat faster, like he's scared, but then his voice sounds all cheery, like a little bird, chirping in the early morning. Other times his tone will die down. Like there's something he's not telling me. It makes me feel uneasy when that happens. I wonder why.

See you tomorrow, Ren. I curl up and sleep, again.