Despite being the middle of summer, Kaimana found himself traveling around with Kieran to map more of the countryside. The pair had ventured back into Yael so that Kieran could trade the knowledge that he had acquired while overseas and Kaimana had tagged along to get a better sense of the Yaeli culture. A few merchants had asked for their help in preparing new trade routes, a courtesy of the Elaria tolerating more travelers through a certain area of forest towards the northern borders, and Kieran had accepted the job without much hesitation. Kaimana had heard about it and easily accepted the proposition, especially after hearing about the summer festivities in the Yaeli cities that they would be visiting along the way. Already he had been in the country for two weeks and now that they were resting for the night he found himself pondering what to write in a letter for his twin. “Did you know that the Yaeli only believe in two gods? It’s so different from everything we were raised with by grandmother.” Kaimana mused as he chewed on the tip of a feather, the ink dripping on the parchment as he thought about his recent visit to Yael with Kieran. Honestly despite Kieran’s warnings, the Matori man had almost been in awe of all of the people gathered in the capital city. At first he had thought it was simply busier than expected but then when he spotted all of the decorations the lancer quickly picked up on the fact that it was a festival to the gods. After scaring off a few Yaeli by asking too many questions and scaring them by trying to explain the diverse array of Matori gods, Kaimana had approached Kieran and asked him about what was going on. Apparently they only worshipped two gods, Dafiel and Lurin, and the very idea of another pantheon had terrified the more suspicious race. Thankfully Kieran was not like the majority and so he was totally comfortable discussing the differences with Kaimana who had absorbed the information. Now that they were nestled into their inn for the night the lancer was reflecting over the festivities and trying to write down everything for his twin in Matori. It just baffled him that the Yaeli only believed in two gods and that they believed so strongly in all of these superstitions. How did two gods have enough of a presence to make the Yaeli believe that any false move could result in a curse? Kaimana found himself idly drawing along the parchment as his thoughts wandered. Thankfully Kieran had managed to navigate them towards some acquaintances and distant relatives who did not mind serving a foreigner during an important festivity. The drawing quickly became that of a man and a woman dressed in elegant robes who radiated power and confidence, the woman obviously kind with a gentle gaze while the man seemed stoic almost as if prepared to judge others while the woman cared for them. If anyone from Yael saw it they might place Kaimana on trial for depicting their gods but Kaimana was fairly impressed with the drawing. “Could be worse.” He mused with a chuckle. He could just imagine what it would be like to draw some of the Matori gods or goddesses for the Yaeli. Needless to say their attire would be vastly different from the conservative robes that gave the two deities an elegant feeling. Despite not really understanding the superstitions of the Yaeli he did at least respect that they had beliefs just as everyone else did. It was all just reflective of their culture, something that Kaimana had picked up from traveling across countries with Kieran. The summer festivities had at least allowed him to try a diverse selection of foods specifically from Yael and so he had placed aside his frustrations at the skittishness of the people to instead enjoy what he could while they were in the city. Even now he was snacking on some special mooncakes while he wrote his letter, one of the many snacks he had acquired throughout the festivities.

“It is interesting being overseas but I do miss out on our summer festivals, especially since I can’t enjoy grandmother’s sweetbread that she sells during the celebrations. Isn’t it strange to think that the Yaeli care so much about superstitions and about being remembered that their gods specifically take care of the forgotten? Imagine spirits going to a land of the remembered until no one is alive to mourn their memory...it’s sad thinking that eventually they will fade into the land of the forgotten. The goddess sounds lovely but I feel like it’s a bit too depressing for me to consider.” Kaimana paused his letter again and shook his head. Even if the goddess seemed benevolent and kind towards forgotten souls there was just a piece of him that ached at the thought of the lost just fading away like that. If anything it made his letter difficult to write and once again he found himself crumpling the parchment up into a wad and starting over once more. Maybe this time he would just write about the different foods he found at the festivals and skip the gods altogether. Now that sounded like a good idea.

[883]