Raerestrel's Song

The night had descended upon the Kru'll jungle, bringing with it a changing of the guard to the nocturnal theater and its multitude of performers. The stars were peaking through the emergent and upper canopy layers, smiling down upon the group of friends quietly making their way back to their room. Other Vaux were also moving and preparing to undergo their night time routines. The lamps, containing a bioluminescent sap from a flowering vine found high up in the canopy, began to glow ever so faintly with a soft purplish-blue light the darker it became. They were stationed at just the right intervals to ensure ambulation would not be impeded by the enveloping darkness.

They made it back to the children's quarters. It was a section of the village, stationed more towards the center then the rest of the residential structures, with many treehouses that were organized by age brackets. There was a dorm for newborns and infants up to three years of age, and yet another dorm was specifically for ages four to eight; both of these two age groups continued to have adult supervision. The next was from nine to thirteen. And the final was from fourteen to eighteen. As the years went by, each grouping would have new individuals join them and others leave; however, these small groups provided an immense amount of social bonding time and meaningful connections. In addition, boy and girls were kept together not separate.

Biological Vaux parents, and other caretakers, helped immensely with the younger years; however, Vaux children were viewed as children of the entire community and each adult Vaux was considered a parental figure. Training, chores, daily living and communal meal time were primary times to interact with others, including ones biological parents. But from an early age, Vaux children were treated as productive citizens with an ever growing level of autonomy. Hence the reason they didn't actually live with their biological parents, but in the children's quarters.

Upon arrival, they all took their turns paying respect to a beautifully ornate box, affixed to their living quarters, with Vauxian calligraphy carved over it. The largest character was the kagim of justice truth-seeker and the name on the tomb. It contained the bones of Raerestrel’vaux (who died at age 8), Qualestrel's twin sister. Her loss had put the small group through some difficult times that simultaneously brought them even closer together.

These unique containers were all over the treetop village, the final resting places for every Vaux which had died since they first came to the jungle. These structures were integrated seamlessly into the architecture. It could easily be mistaken as architectural ornaments or aesthetic patterns all over the place. Their frequency paled in comparison though to those on the understory and ground floor levels of the jungle. For these lower levels, the boxes were meticulously hidden by making them mimic the natural surroundings. Only a Vaux would know what they were looking for or how to find them. In short, this made the entire area the worst nightmare for anyone of magik. Any and all magik would be nullified well before they even neared the village itself, being overlapped by a multitude of nullification fields (without even considering those created by the living Vaux), making it a cultural, directional and defensive thing all at the same time.

As the children entered and prepared to climb into the one bed they all shared, Gonyaul paused realizing that Qualestrel hadn't gone inside yet. It dawned on him, that tomorrow was the three year anniversary of when they lost Raerestrel. He looked to the others that were already parting the insect nets and climbing into bed, and gestured for them to follow him. Sure enough, Qualestrel was still standing outside in front of her sister's kagim tomb. Tears were wetting her cheeks. The others all quickly moved to her, bringing her into a large group hug without obstructing her view.

Gonyaul, with his arms wrapped warmly about her waist, began singing quietly and out loud the song he had written to honor Raerestrel's parting. The others joined in as well.

"We are thinking of you.
You are not forgotten.
The wind meets our voices as a messenger,
And brings to you our love poem.

Our hearts fly over to you,
to the place you have gone before us. The place we cannot yet go.

We will be there soon, behind you for the moment.
Singing till the end, this love song without end.
Open your ears and be reminded,
We sing for you, through this long night.

In the silence that has lost all words, we hear your laughter.
We hear your voice like hearing a beloved memory.

We will be there soon, behind you for the moment.
Singing till the end, this love song without end.
Take a deep breath and let the kagim surround you.
We sing of you, so we can love you again and again.

Here we are, watch over us.
We will sing till the end, this love song without end.
On the day your long night is over Raerestrel.
When you lift your head, we will be there, together again."

They wept and held each other close for a while afterwards. Making sure they were all ok, but especially Qualestrel. Even Gonyaul was given a few extra hugs. It wasn't spoken of just yet, but they all could deduce from the way kagim's were matched, that Raerestrel was most likely going to be his life mate. With her departure ... well, they had several more years before they had to deal with that reality.

Exhausted from a long day, they curdled up together in bed and were fast asleep.