After a passionate night of love making, Firion and Kaida greet the new day by walking alongside the beach again! This time they were looking for shells to keep as a memory of their time there, although they are unsure when they will have to leave, the elf senses it will be soon.
"Hmmmm...Oh! Here is...no this one is also broken...its hard to look for shells that are not damaged, I've only found 5 so far..." Kaida bemoans frustratingly.
They manage to find a few scallop and snail shells in tack, but they were hoping to find a few more.
Suddenly she spots a beautiful shell shard with prismatic colors and eagerly reaches for it, but she lightly brushes the fingers of a young yumbo girl with pigtails as she shyly retracts her hand.
The little girl quietly apologizes, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you also wanted it..."
The child's adorable etiquette quickly warms Kaida heart.
"It's okay, you go ahead and take it, I can look for something else." She smiled at the child.
She enthusiastically replies, "Really!?! Thank you so much! Here you can have this blue one I found, I already have many like it!"
She pulls something from her basket and hands Kaida a lovely spiral shaped shell with various shades of cobalt that glimmered a light sparkle, and it was perfect with no holes or fractures.
"Oh my! How beautiful!" She proclaimed.
Firion approached beside them as she handed him the shell which he held up to the sun. It faintly glittered with different angles of the light.
"Bahari! Don't go wondering off without your sister Camari!" A familiar voice echoed.
The three looked up and saw Emani and his wife Lulu approaching them with the girl's twin and their infant son resting in a sling.
She eagerly got up and walked over to her parents and sister to show them. "Look at this pretty shell baba! That girl with the blue horns said I can keep it!"
Lulu crouched down and gazed at it. "How pretty, and did you remember you manners?"
"Hmm-hmm" She nodded her head. "I gave my pretty blue shell as thank you!"
"Can I see it too?" Her twin asked.
"You two are up early. We were going to go by the villa and ask if you would like to eat breakfast with us! Jaheim will be by later today as he wants to show you something, but Alima is still having trouble keeping food down." Emani offered.
Considering they did not eat yet, the two agreed and followed the family back to their home.
This breakfast consisted of battered eggs cooked into a thin, circular shape with different vegetables folded into the mixture, it was similar to an omelet, but Lulu called it a crepe.
The concept was similar to most basic egg recipes, except it had a crisper texture and a less greasy taste, not to mention the flavor of the different vegetables came through much cleaner.
"Its really yummy isn't it?" Bahari asked. Her sister then followed up, "Baba are you gonna tell them about bibi?"
Their expressions lit up! To hear more about this enigmatic influential figure sounded exciting after seeing how many locals fawn over her, all they have seen so far is that she is a huge woman that towers over everyone.
From there they would learn more about the oracle they were to speak with that evening, Nkiri, and how she has lived a tumultuous and fulfilled life along with the wisdom that reflected it.
Kaida and Firion talked a bit with Emani and his family as he explained his clan's involvement in the village, apparently they are composed mostly of Nkiri children and extended family through marriage. Firion almost spit his drink out after hearing she bore 17 children in total, 64 grandchildren, and 48 great grandchildren. Also the short, fragile yumbo that stood beside her at the gathering last night was her husband.
The explanation into his family grew deeper as he explained the many tragedies that befell them, including the death of two of her beloved children, one of her eldest daughters who was killed in a raid, and one of her sons who was lost to illness. But even in her younger days she experienced the cruelty of the world when her older sister was murdered by humans and her niece that went missing. Even with these tragedies she pushed on and gained true enlightenment of life itself and came to understand the true nature shared between elves and devas and where they stand in the great world.
("The true nature between elves and devas...does she know about our shared ancestry just like how Kaida's old tome stated?") Firion pondered to himself. He had many things he wanted to ask Nkiri.
During the conversation, Lulu was cradling their son as he open his purple eyes occasionally to glance around the room. Kaida could not believe how adorable he was as she began to daydream of a child of her own with Firion.
"Would you like to hold our son Nuru for a bit?" She offered.
Nervously, Kaida replied, "Are you sure?"
Carefully, Lulu handed her the little boy wrapped so tenderly in blankets. He didn't show much of reaction, he just glanced at Firion and back to Kaida. The large elf carefully pet his nose as the infant grabbed his finger lightly.
"Such a beautiful child." He stated.
When he glanced back at Emani he began to fuss and reach out to him, which Kaida calmly answered by handing him back as his father cradled him while humming a tune and rocking him with his knee.
Firion was surprised that someone as stoic as Emani could demonstrate such a warm expression so easily when it came to his children then compared how angry he got with his underlings and how most of the time he appeared indifferent, but perhaps that is how life shaped him to be.
Suddenly they heard a knock at the door, it was Jaheim and Alima, the latter who was finally feeling better.
"Sorry I meant to come by earlier, but I didn't want to force Alima to move around too much." He stated as he rubbed his head.
"Wipe your feet." Emani growled. He always seems to be annoyed with them.
Alima interjected, "I feel much better now! And me and Jaheim want to show you our village's cemetery!"
"A cemetery? What is a cemetery Firion?" Kaida asked.
Firion quickly answered, "Its generally where the family bury the dead Kaida."
The sound of that did not sound exciting at all, it felt morbid to talk about, but Jaheim quickly explained further.
"Its not for a depressing reason! Its beautifully decorated and their was something I wanted to share about it with you before you two leave, especially with Firion! Please! It will not take long I promise!" He begged.
Kaida and Firion looked at each other and nodded in agreement to observe what he wants to show them.
They thanked Lulu and Emani for the breakfast as they departed the home and waved goodbye.
Jaheim tried to offer a hug to his superior but was met with a door slam, Emani was still clearly upset over his leg injury and nearly being killed by their pet.
As they began to walk to their next destination, Firion and Kaida would learn how small the world was and how somethings connect in ways they did not anticipate.