There have never been secrets between Iano and his twin brother, Miano. But that changes when his brother marries an heir of the most powerful fief of the village. With such power comes the right to see the face of the Goddess. Only, Iano's twin mus...
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As he had predicted, not knowing what happened when his brother had been allowed to see Mother Forest for the first time, was causing Iano to lose sleep.
He came up with many scenarios. The obvious one first: Mother Forest wasn't real. The first time the words materialized in his mind, he felt washed out for a good moment. As if the fabric of reality had been torn in front of him and nothing made sense anymore.
Once he accepted such a dreadful possibility, how to explain the everlasting tree in the middle of the Central Jango? The tree was the testimony of the existence of the Goddess on Earth. It was impossible for its leaves to keep their greenness forever, never falling or drying, ever since Iano was born.
That alone was proof that Mother Forest was there, that she had been sent to the village of Keru in the flesh, two generations ago. She had been protecting them ever since.
Another option was viable: since Iano couldn't wrap his head around the idea of Her never existing, perhaps She had been real in the past, She had once been among the kerumen, and She had forsaken them for a reason yet to discover. But in this case, how could one explain fifty years of prosperous and peaceful living in Keru, with no attacks from the tribes across the Uluh River or barelanders from faraway lands? All his life, Iano had learned that such peace was the product of Mother Forest's protection of Keru.
Before Iano could rush to such dreadful conclusions, he had a few options still available to get his answer. For one, Fali.
Iano tried to get a hold of Fali since the marriage ceremony, but three days had passed until he could address her a word. Either because she was busy working with the first elders of the capital fief, sewing, cooking, or helping take care of the smalls of the domain, or she was with Miano, who Iano had been avoiding since their last interaction.
Iano found her late in the afternoon, while the sun was sinking in the horizon, as she exited the area to harvest the first potatoes of the season for her domain's night meal. As the most powerful family sphere of Keru, the cultivated lands were twice the size of the fief itself, with vast lines of herbs, bushes, and fruit trees. Fali entered the fields and crouched beside her target while Iano watched her work from a safe distance-unrooting plants, shaking the sand off it, and placing the potatoes inside a basket.
