Meet The Hidden Folk
In a village by the edge of a great forest, happy folk dance around a bonfire. The harvest is good this year and there is much to celebrate. Food, drink, and merriment abound as some among them produce instruments and strike up a merry tune.
Their land is wild but gentle. A rollicking river, good for fishing and boating, cuts through the center of the valley, and mighty mountains overshadow them, a barrier against many who might harass these peaceful people and their homes.
Twilight begins to fall but the party continues. A curly-haired child wanders away from the crowd to chase fireflies along the river bank. She stands and listens to the running water and the rustle of wind as the insects flash around her.
In the distance, she can still hear the voices of her people, singing and laughing, content with their simple lives. As her eyes trace up to the great, craggy mountains on the horizon and the stars twinkling to life above them, she wonders about the rest of the world, the other peoples, the big folk.
She remembers the stories she has heard of their grand cities and strange ways. Such things seem near impossible, but someday she would like to see them, like to witness some of the wonders of which she has only heard whispered tales.
A stick floats down the river coming into the shallows and getting caught in a whirlpool. She wades out to claim it then runs along the bank, swiping at weeds and pretending that it is a sword and she is a mighty warrior. It is then that something lights the sky.
Gaping at the horizon, she sees it: a ball of fire streaking across the night, massive and alive with flame. Her heart rises to her throat. For once, something in her world may be about to change.
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