Wykren comes back each day on the same time. His visits have been more frequent ever since I met with his Parents. Sometimes he'll tell me that they said hello to me? I assume it is one of their customs as well? Ren has been teaching me plenty of those lately. I'm not sure why, but I don't seem to mind his company. I let him speak his soul out. It's not like I have anything better to do with my time. Time is all I have, after all.

“Ok. So. I had to refresh a few things on the New Continent. Neither Mom or Dad have been there. So, they couldn't tell me much. Maybe one day we can go there together? Would you like that?” I ask Era as she munches on today’s haul. “I went fishing early morning and got lucky!” She gazes at me with her greens. They stop my heart each time... Era goes back to her fishes. I chuckle.

“Think it over, no rush. Ok. So, apparently, Existara was discovered. Probably by some restless Primerians. But since they are feather-lovers they weren't strong enough to properly explore the new land, so they asked for help. Balli and Noxians, and Cornutese worked together to achieve that and because of that, little by little people from here started to go to live over there. Lucky them...” I pout for a quick moment.

“But, the new land has its own troubles. There was where the people encountered creatures known as Dragons for the first time ever! They are like these huuuuuge lizards that have wings and can fly and they breathe fire! I only ever saw one of them in Astri on my last trip there.... That was? Two? Three years ago? Doesn't matter. Apparently, Existara is where they live... No wonder nobody never saw one before. Oh, how can we have one then, you ask?” I smirk at Era. She has her eyes closed, as per usual. “Ya know, that really takes the fun out of it.” I get a tail smack. “Ouch.” I smile.

“Well. Apparently, Dragons lay eggs. Those eggs contain a baby dragon. So, people take an egg and transport it from the new land over to here. Mom said that it wasn't easy to achieve, because the egg needs to be kept warm to survive... So that's also why we don't have many dragons here... Anyways. The New Continent was named Existara. Probably one of the Primerian shenanigans, as usual. Oh. Our land is known as the Land of Race. Cause this is where all four races live. So. Existara has festivals and carnivals too, remember? One is the Day of Discovery. That's when they first landed there. Another is the Founding of Araneum. That's like the capital of Existara, like Astri for Noxanda. It's like their main city. Oh. Right. I forgot, ‘cause Gramps told me this long ago. But for the longest time Existara was simply called the New Land, so, apparently, the naming of it has a festival too. Now don't ask me the days for them. I have no idea. Nobody pays attention to Existara around these parts.” I shake my head with disappointment.

“As I was told, Existara doesn't really seem to be all that different from the land here. Except maybe for two things.” I hold two fingers up. “One would be the Rebellion. That is something of a group? I don't know how else to call it. Of people who wanna live different than how we live here. See. There are things known as laws here. They are like rules that people have to follow. Like if you steal, meaning that if you take something that belongs to someone else, you would get punished for it. Rebellion is where people go to, who don't like our rules. So, they can live however they please... We actually had one person leave from here... He was angry with something. I was only a kid, so I don't remember well.” I think back to it for a moment…

“Another thing is what they call the Rebirth and the Castle of Despair. Scary sounding, right?” I look at Era. She has angry eyes? “They say that it's something like a curse that keeps happening every 50 years, threatening all life on Existara... One time something happened that let the darkness spread across the land. People call that the 200 Years of Darkness. Apparently, that's how long it took for the Darkness to disappear. It destroyed everything... Araneum, Rebellion... Everything... Or so I'm told. Sounds kinda like a lot of trouble, right? Hope we don't have to deal with something like that...” I hug my knees. “Anyways.” I stretch out again.

“Because of that, they have another festival for the 2nd Founding of the Royal City. Oh and because of the Rebirth, the Day for the Fallen was created too.” I catch Era's gaze and shake my head. “It's nothing like our Festival. They light a lot of candles and pray. It's kinda sad and gloomy. I've never seen it, but I don't even like the sound of it.” I shiver. “But you know, as scary as Existara sounds. It's a place where our people from our nations can live together. That sounds like a lot of fun! I wish the people here could live like that too... The battles are still going on, you know... Sometimes more, sometimes less, but still...” Era nudges me.

“OH! Speaking of battle! Gramps said that in Existara there are things called dungeons? The only dungeon I know of is the one in Astri where they put the bad people away. But Gramps said that over there, in the New Continent, they are different. Like an underground maze with all kinds of creatures there and treasure! Oh, right. A maze is… How do I explain it…” I look for the stick again and draw some lines in the mud.

“A maze is something like these woods, for instance! It’s something that is made of tunnels and paths that make you wander around, looking for an exit. Kinda like you do when you get lost in the woods.” I grin silly. Hope she gets the idea cause that’s the best I can come up with right now. “Gramps said, that people used to enter them to find the treasure. Oh! Treasure is like these very valuable things. Kinda like what we do with our gems and such! Remember? I showed you some before. Anyways, that was a long time ago too. Gramps said that not many dungeons remain these days and I never heard of us having any here… Maybe in other nations?” I shrug my shoulders and sigh…

“Ya know. I really wanna travel the world.” I pet her. “I wanna see what else does it have. Meet other people. Go to different places. Do different things... I don't know why my Parents chose to stay here... Maybe they had their reasons. Maybe not. I have no clue...” Not that I ever asked them either... I keep petting Era. “Hey, if I leave here? Will you tag along?” I smile. Era puts her head into my lap. Guess that's a yes...

“Hey, I have an idea. Here.” I pick the stick back up again and scribble a few things. “Ok. Which is Astri.” I ask and wait. Era sits up and stares into the ground. She puts her paw down on a word. I lift it up. “Yes! That's right! Good girl! Ok, next. Which is Dad?” I wait again. She looks for the word. She finds it. “That's cool! So, you can read!" Ok. Trick question. "Which is me!” I ask. I didn't write my name. She puts her paw on my head. I laugh loud.

“Clever girl! Ok. How about this.” I scratch the ground again. I don't tell her anything. I watch. Era takes her time. She paws the ground with her claw, twice. Then leaves four pawprints on the next line and three paws for the last one.

“No way. You can count too!” I jump up and crash into her fur. “That's so cool! You're very smart! I wonder what else can you do? Oh! Maybe I can bring you a book or something? To keep you busy while I'm gone? I figured you might be bored here... We'll try that next time!” I crash back down. I lean back into Era and stare into the sky.

“Smells delicious!” I tell Mom, stepping into the kitchen.

“Why thank you, I try.” She smiles at me. “How was today?”

“Oh, great. Hey, do we have any books?” I ask, cleaning myself up.

“Only the ones you had as a kid, why?”

“I wanna give them to Emerald. Figured she must be bored in that tree.” I tell Ma, returning to the kitchen with the towel around my shoulders.

“Emerald?” She stares at me from the stove.

“Yes. She can read! Count too! Can you believe it!” I sit down.

“Really?”

“How do you know.” Dad comes over and sits down too.

“Cause I wrote some words on the ground and asked her to point to the word I want. She caught on real quick. So, I wrote down some simple math and she did that right too.” I grin proudly.

“Uh-huh.” Dad stares at me. Mom laughs a little.

“Well aren't you a lucky devil.” She says, smiling at me. “Not only did you get to make friends with a Saber, but she's crazy smart too!”

“I know!” I jump up and smash my hands on the table. “I think the stones might just work with her, after all! Hey hey, are they done yet?”

“No, you silly, I said three years.” She waves the ladle at me.

“Listen, can ya teach her how to craft too? That be a big help.” Dad mocks me.

I glare at him. “Ha, ha. Very funny.”

“I'm serious!” He says grinning.

“Dig in.” Mom sets the bowls down.

“Thank you for the food!”

Wykren comes back the next day, as usual. I crawl out and wait to see what he has planned for us today. He sets the food out. Whatever little they manage to spare for me. I always enjoy it. I stopped scavenging. It's enough. I finish the last bite and lay down. Ren sits down as usual, with his back to me. He takes out something weird looking from his other bag.

“This is a book. See.” He tells me. “These are pages that the words are written on. See.” He shows me them. “Ok. Pay attention now. Wait. Ah.. Hmm..” He seems to be stuck a little. This happens sometimes. I wait quietly.

“Here.” He scribbles something on the ground. Yes and No. Hm? I lift my head up. “Ok. Lets test this out first. I need to make sure. Ok. I am Wykren.” He says to me. Of course, you are. “You need to tell me if you understand me.” He says. Of course, I do. “Point to one of those.” He shows me the two words. I paw at Yes. He nods. “You are Era.” He says again. I see. I paw at Yes. He smiles. “You are a bird.” A what? I paw No. He laughs. “I knew it. Ok. Here.” He shows me the book, again.

“Read from here. To here." I lower my gaze and stare at the words... Once..upon..a..time... I look at Ren. “Did ya get that?” I paw Yes. “Ok. Continue.” He points again to the page. A star...fell...from...the...sky... I stare at Ren again. “And?” I paw Yes. He smiles brighter.

“Ok. Seems you can read. I'll leave this for you, so you can read, when you're bored. Try turning a page.” He slides the book to me. I stare at the frail thing. I try a claw and the leaf tears. “Had a feeling that might be the case... Ok, one sec.” Ren stands up and starts picking up sticks of the ground. He comes back with a bunch of them and lays them out next to us. He takes out some other things from his bag and fidgets with them. I watch him. He shortens the sticks to be about the same size as the page. He then takes something like a hair and a pine spike. He calls it needle and thread. He takes them and pokes the page through, wrapping the thread around the stick. He does that a few times along the stick. He does that with each page.

“Good thing this is a kids’ book. It doesn't have that many pages.” He tells me. “Ok. Paw, please.” He holds his hands out. I lay a paw into them. He presses on my finger and a claw comes out. He points it down to the page and hooks the stick to it. “Ok. Gently now....and retract!” He pulls my claw away. “See. Now you can turn the pages without tearing them. Try.” He lets my paw go. Gently, huh? I repeat the move. The leaf does not tear. I see. Ren smiles big again. He seems to be very happy with this. I turn the pages back to the start.

“Hope you like reading. It's not much, but maybe it can help keep you company? That doesn't mean I won't be coming back!!” He waves his hands at me. I don't doubt that. After that day I read as I wait for Ren to visit me. He brings me different books, even though he has only few of them. Good thing I can read them more than once...