Up high in a tree on a tree branch situated a bird's nest containing birdies. In the early morning the baby birds tweeted and chirped as they waited for their mother to come back with their breakfast.
Carrying a beakful of worms in her beak as she flew across the vast blue sky, the mother bird that had gone out early to catch worms came back.
Landing gracefully with a few downward flaps of her wings on the edge of the nest made with twigs and leaves she leaned forward and fed worms to all of her children.
"Tweet!" The baby birds sang and flapped their wings in satisfaction of a full stomach.
Just as like the birds were eating their breakfast and filling their previously empty bellies, the townspeople of Anning were also having their breakfast before setting about their day.
This town that had been in this area near the Forest of No Return had existed since a long time ago, though not as long as the Forest of No Return that's been around since the beginning of time and before anyone can remember.
Living in peace and prosperity, the townspeople were content and thus the town was renamed Anning, meaning 'tranquil' and 'free from worry'---something that Ying hadn't mentioned yet to Xing Liyun. In spite of the fact that the town was, and still is, very close in proximity to the Forest of No Return, a dreadful, lifeless forest feared by all.
By the way, it was also the only town that was so near the Forest of No Return.
There is a reason behind this, like as to all things, and the reason in this case being because the land where the foundation of the town was built next to was very fertile with very nutritious and high-quality soil, which was the essential reason why the town was built here in the first place, making the vegetations that were able to grow there very healthy and delicious. This naturally allowed the townspeople to earn a fortune, especially those who export their produce goods outside of the village and to places like the Kingdom's capital.
The Festival of Fiz---that Xing Liyun and Ying had arrived in time for---was established to celebrate their prosperous harvest every year, and besides for that purpose, it is also celebrated in honor of the Forest of No Return.
This was a shocking truth to find out for the many tourists and merchants alike that often travel here to visit Anning Town. After all, many people have heard about the terrifying existence of that scary, man-devouring forest, so they couldn't understand why anyone, especially a whole entire town, would celebrate a festival in honor of it. Everyone stood enigma to it.
It was simply mind-blowing!
How could it not be?
After having seen enough of those expressions and reactions of surprise and disbelief, and many times mocking expressions of 'were they possessed by the ghosts of that cursed forest?', from the visitors over the years, the townspeople gradually grew numb to it. From their initial look of schadenfreude and superiority to one of indifference. Instead they would feel a bit annoyed.
Why are you so shocked? It's not like it's any of your business what we celebrate! You're all just outsiders! Outsiders! You'll all never understand, inferior people!
Then they would snort in contempt and feel superior---which also has its reasons. Eventually the visitors stopped asking, and if they were curious, they would ask the visitors who have already heard, because the attitudes of the townspeople rubbed them off the wrong way whenever they even slightly mention that they wanted to know.
However, it was true, though, that initially the townspeople were also as frightened by their neighbor, the Forest of No Return, as all the others. Being so close in distance and with people going missing continuously without a doubt once they step foot inside never to return, made them tremble in fear and their skulls turn numb.
Just imagine being close to a blood-thirsty, ferocious beast, living near it all the time, fearing till they lose their sanity about how maybe one day the beast will bit their heads off and suck their blood dry---this was exactly what the entire town's population felt like at the beginning of the founding when the town was still named Osvaldo after the founder.
They lived in anxiety and fear of the unknown as reports and stories of missing adults, children, and many more spread around persistently without stopping. They felt like their sanity was slowly slipping away from all the apprehension eating them up from within, consuming them.
They had no option but to stay here and continue to feel this way with no end in sight, because the people that came to live here found the housing cheaper and the farmland very fertile. One can't buy houses elsewhere or else they can only sleep on the streets, while the other couldn't bear to give up on the exceptionally fertile lands.
However, slowly, over the years, the townspeople began to realize something, a detail that no one seemed to have noticed. Perhaps because all the other people did not live so close to the lethally dangerous 'beast' or stay near it for long.
Only people who have actually gone into the forest have never returned or been seen again, other than that, no one was ever harmed as long as they don't cross the threshold of the forest.
When they came to this realization, it was as if all the heavy burdens in their hearts were suddenly lifted all at once. Then, to be sure, they carefully looked back at all the past incidents with sharp, thorough eyes and analyzed to see if what they found was 100% accurate.
When they finally confirmed their guess, the people of Osvaldo Town at the time hugged each other and cried tears of relief. On that day, they celebrated like crazy! Bringing out their best harvest of that year, piling them together, and revealing their secret stashes of alcohol. Drinking and eating merrily with each other no matter stranger or family. The outsiders there at the time thought that the people of this town had finally caved in from the terrifying pressure of the looming 'beast' and gone crazy---way out of their minds!
And in a way, they really had gone crazy because of the Forest of No Return.
Though not from the pressure but the release of that pressure. How ironic.
It was also on this day that the whole town unanimously agreed to celebrate this exact day every year from this generation and onwards in honor of no longer fearing and going insane from worry about dying by the 'branches' of the Forest of No Return. This was how the Festival of Fiz came about.
To celebrate in honor of the Forest of No Return and the bountiful harvests they receive from the fertile lands near it.
In addition, they decided to share this story with their descendants so that the future generations would never forget what they had gone through and so that they wouldn't be as afraid of the Forest of No Return as the people outside of their town---which is where their superiority originated from. At least knowing that as long as they don't actually step inside, they will remain safe.
They also unanimously decided on that day, in order to commemorate and forever remember the relief in their hearts and souls, to rename the town 'Anning' and remove the previous 'Osvaldo' name given, to thank the tranquilly they have and how they were freed from worry.
It also has to be mentioned as a side fact that Anning Town prior to the establishment of the Festival of Fiz was not as popular and famous, with almost no one visiting every year except for occasional merchants, thrill-seeking Aetos, and some mercenaries out to do missions. At that point in time, the fear of the Forest of No Return was at its peak golden age so everyone was thinking along the same lines of 'since the town was so close to the Forest of No Return, it must also be just as dangerous!'
Thus with that mindset, the majority of the people in the world avoided the town like it was a plague.
It was only after the start of the Festival of Fiz that more visitors and outsiders started to pour in, transforming the previously desolate and impoverished (money-wise) town into a prosperous and famous town with numerous yearly visitors. With a large influx of people especially during the period of the festival.
As visitors, aka potential, no, definite customers, came flooding into this large town near the Forest of No Return, money started overflowing the pockets of the townspeople, making them grin from ear to ear.
And once they found out that only they were enlightened to the before-mentioned fact, it made them feel superior to those people and places that still shivered in fear at the mere mention of the Forest of No Return, thinking they would be eaten alive if they ever got close to it. They gloated at this. Which was why at one point in time, they looked contemptuously with condescension at the outsiders that flocked into their town in droves. Offending some people in the process.
Ironically, those who are far out and away from the supposed danger are the ones most afraid and shaking in their boots, meanwhile the ones who live right next to the lion's mouth are at ease, laughing and enjoying themselves. And even praising and celebrating a week-long festival in honor of the so-called danger. Seriously, how ironic.
There were also a few incidents where outsiders new to this town mistakenly called this town "Osvaldo Town" and were overheard by a native townsperson.
That townsperson who heard would go over to the other party and say with a smile that's not a smile, "Sir, this humble town is not called Osvaldo Town but Anning Town. You are mistaken."
The outsider would stare blankly at the townsperson for a while before coming back to their senses and thank the other for their correction and apologize for their misunderstanding, the townsperson would then take their leave, and the outsider would shudder abruptly, frightening their companions who would ask him what's wrong.
The outsider would then answer, or perhaps they were actually wondering aloud, "The other person was clearly smiling and their manner was polite and respectful, but why does it feel as if I was about to be eaten by a wild, ferocious beast with not even the bones spit out?"
His friends didn't understand. Their faces were covered in confusion and lost. The outsider would then wave, "Forget it. It's nothing. Just remember that from now on this town is called Anning."
Although his friends were still confused as to what had happened, they nodded their acknowledgement.
When his friends finally turned away from him, the outsider would rub his arms in jitters and tremble a little, muttering to himself inaudibly, "Wouldn't want to make that mistake again..."
So through the townspeople's.....strict way of reminding others, everyone came to know and engrave in their brains that this town, the only town near the Forest of No Return, was named Anning and not Osvaldo.
Once in a while, an irregular would pop out and ask why it's Anning and not its original name Osvaldo, causing everyone to stare at that foolish person who was confused by the incomprehensible reactions he got from everyone around him, while the townspeople would politely and procedurally give the signature smile they always show to those idiotic---no, curious---outsiders, one of condescension and hidden-behind-politeness ferocity, making that person want to cry and go back in time to slap his own mouth.
All the fellow outsiders' hearts went out to that outlier, sympathizing with them whether they had experienced this personally before or had only just watched on the sidelines. Poor chap/chapette.
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In the flat land with a few short hills surrounding it a short distance away from Anning Town, where the local farmers grow their fruits and vegetables, were some farmers and workers out early in the morning harvesting what was remaining in their fields and orchards from the harvest season.
This plain was where all the planting fields and orchards of the farmer portion of the people of Anning Town were located, this whole area which is full of fertile land most suitable for growing only vegetables and fruit trees.
One of the main reasons why the town was built so close to a lethal danger was because of the fertile topsoil discovered beneath the guise of the ground's surface layer that was hiding the true value of the soil in that particular area. The town's founder, Tom Osvaldo, had discovered this fertile land near the Forest of No Return accidentally when he was just returning from the said forest---though of course he didn't enter it, he was only near its outer boundary.
The Festival of Fiz had ended some days ago. So the previously somewhat relaxed farmers once again geared up and set out to harvest their produce to either sell them locally, export them, or to store them for themselves after they paid their tax.
In this large area of land were many fields belonging to their own respective owners from Anning Town. While the fields are here, most farmers chose to live in the town. Although there are some instances where the farmer chooses to stay near his field and not live in the town, such as Du Jinan.
This early morning, some days after the Festival of Fiz, in Du Jinan's orchards next to his fields where there were many luxurious and plump fruits ripe for the picking, there were many workers at work climbing up the trees with ladders to pick the fruits.
On one specific tree containing delicious and ripe fruits as good of a quality as any of the other trees in the orchard, there was a young man with a familiar head of blue and white long hair hard at work. He was fast and nimble with his fingers as he picked the fruits off the arms of the tree faster compared to any of the other workers.
After he finished picking all of the ripe ones and putting them all inside his deep and wide basket, he jumped down easily from the tall tree and walked up to another tree and climbed, without the assistance of a ladder, onto its thick branches and continued to do his work.
His action of literally jumping off the tall tree without any assistance and not climbing down a ladder did not affect or change the expressions of his fellow colleagues, for he had been doing this from day one of his work to now. Initially, it did stun many of the workers and caused their hearts to jump in fright seeing how daring this young man was to just simply jump off of a tall tree that would break anyone else's legs if they landed improperly.
But now having seen this same scene so many times over and over again with each time having the same outcome of him landing safely and gracefully onto the ground, they came to accept it and pay no attention to it. The people who had at the start praised him for his skills also didn't spare a glance at him this time as they continued to do their own work, not distracted.
After a little while more of picking fruits, the young man with long blue and white hair glanced at his basket with his indifferent mismatched colored eyes and saw that it was full. So he jumped off the tree, landing as elegantly and nobly as a cat would and walked over to the house that was right next to the field which was adjacent to the orchard.
When he reached the house, he didn't enter it, instead, he went to the large storage room right next to the house. Before he could enter the storage room designated for the harvest collected, however, the door to the house adjacent to the storage room suddenly opened.
"Oh, Cereus. Good morning, you didn't have to go out in the fields so early in the morning," the middle-aged man, Du Jinan, who came out of the door greeted cheerfully with a warm tone.
The blue and white long haired young man addressed as Cereus was actually Xing Liyun. Cereus was his alias. Xing Liyun replied back to the friendly and chirpy Du Jinan, "Good morning, Uncle Du, I just wanted to help you more when you've taken me and my friends in when we were in need of help."
Du Jinan waved Xing Liyun off, then he said with a smile, "Cereus, ah, you are a young lad that knows how to be grateful, but I didn't actually do anything. I only gave you and the other five a shelter. You've more than paid off this 'debt' with your and the others' hard and diligent work in the past few days. You all even did a better and quicker job than my hired hands!" He wasn't lying. Xing Liyun, Ying, and the others had been working hard during the past few days in order to thank Du Jinan for helping them and to earn their keep.
Thanks to them, the harvest time was reduced greatly and Du Jinan's farm was ahead of everyone else in schedule in finishing to collect his produce.
Xing Liyun shook his head as he couldn't agree. He was stubborn in this aspect of paying back others for their kindness. "Having a roof over our heads is something that we should be thankful for as well."
Seeing that Xing Liyun wasn't willing to let this go, Du Jinan just smiled and tacitly agreed to let Xing Liyun do what he wanted in order to repay him---though he didn't mind either way.
"Well, good work. You should come in and have some breakfast."
Xing Liyun nodded and after putting away the basketful of fruits inside the storage room, he headed into the house with Du Jinan.
Days ago, before the Festival of Fiz ended, Xing Liyun and his group were kicked out of the inn they were temporarily staying at. With no place to go because none of the inns in town or people were willing to let them stay, they were lucky enough to encounter Du Jinan who didn't mind that Xing Liyun was one of those people of the shadows and generously let them stay at his home with him and his wife and their only son who was 5 years old.
Being kicked out at the time baffled and confused Xing Liyun and the others, especially since they had already paid for their room. Xing Liyun had no idea why they were kicked out. It was only later on that he found out the cause.