The daylight stretched ahead of them as they trod onward nearing their rest stop for the night. the sun's light began to tone darker as night began it's exaggeratedly lengthy cycle.
in the near distance a series of structures shown ember in the waning light. the children's enclosure and village. they had kids there from their own coupling, as well as from others. when a union occurred and the result was to be a child, the impregnated person reported to a fertility center. there, the women, and sometimes men, underwent a small procedure to relocate the material or fetus. specimen's age depending. the fetus was placed in a sterile uterus like environment. warm embryonic baths whose ph was closely regulated in order to ensure the babies' best development and growth. with as little harsh light and sounds as possible, the system had produced many a fine sturdy child.
the birthing centers are run exclusively by adults and is a separate entity from the children's enclosure, and yet by necessity, adjacent. there was medical staff and facilities for any illness or emergency beyond the capacity of the enclosure and inhabitants' abilities.
because they had not given advance notice of their arrival to the area the travelers followed tradition and notified the birthing center. who would in turn notify the appropriate party with the kids. in the morning the travelers would be admitted, barring objection, to observe or interact with any of the children. all ages were engaged in learning, groups and independent study. others cleaned or cooked. there were gardens to tend and they were their own producers for their needs. what they didn't they traded for.
they walked on and they never knew whether their own issue would care to step forward to acknowledge a birth parent. indeed, their own children might not choose to step forward although all parties were superficially acquainted. all of the children were those of all of the adults, any of whom would endanger their own life to save the life of any of the children housed within the encampment. with the same fervor as they would their very own. the knowledge that harm had come to any of the children, and they would feel their injury illness or upset as acutely. thankfully, those incidents were rare occurrences.
the day progressed pleasantly as quotillda and oto toured the facility. they made their way to where the tour began and the pair planned to leave after and continue their journey to close the next assignment.
as they walked chatting about all of the wonderful sights they'd seen that day they gradually noticed their pace had slowed. as did their conversation and looking around they saw kids of all ages had converged in front of them in such a high concentration that they filled the airy corridor that connected two of the longhouse like enclosures that dotted the encampment.
when all forward motion came to a halt quo and oto turned their faces to one another, confused. when they faced forward again they found the children had all turned to face the way they come from. back at them.
the pair of full grown adults cast their gazes upon all of the younglings before them. their heights and familial variances looked as if they stood before a vibrant garden. the wild variations of the colors and textures of the skin and hair they bore never ceased movement. swaying and bouncing as children do, a sussurous ripple passed among them in the form of excited whispering. as if some signal passed between the gro wup and the clatter and rustle from their movement stopped and they broke into song.
some voices harmonized while others chirped and whistled like birds. others clicked and made tones like bugs. some made the sounds of rainfall, while a different section made the sound of wind in wetland reeds. the overall effect was entrancing. before the lengthy piece came to it's finale the visiting couple had sunk down to the floor and sat cross legged as the singing chorus danced and undulated to the song, swirling in a ring around them embodying the sounds they produced.
the song ended and the performers made their way from the quarter drifting away like leaves on the wind until only four stood before them. two teens and two shorter younger ones. oto's two from his previous pairing and their own youngest two. the offspring invited the parents to dine with them before they left the facility altogether. even though it would prevent the two elders from departing that day by the informal schedule quotillda had created, they accepted the invitation to join their family for dinner.
spirits raised higher than either proud parent believed they could have imagined. going in neither adult had been very confident that their impromptu visit to the location would be accepted well. except for special occasions, holidays that were universally observed or emergencies no full growns other than staff from the birthing center came and went to the children's park, as they dubbed it. even they came only when summoned, as the kids maintained the social structure and state of the site. while they didn't often need outside help, they used trade services once in awhile, but the place was run and self-maintained by its child residents.
on this occasion the two full growns, as they were referred to in the enclosure, had been welcomed. which was more unexpected than the news of their arrival beating them to their destination, which it somehow had.
to her utter amazement quo watched as oto, his oldest and their two younger seedlings all left and moved almost like branches on a windblown tree. laughter flowing from one to the next leaning forward meaning ahead and rollicking back again in sync. pleased to simply watch, feasting her eyes on them and the play of light streaming in from the windows on either side of the room on their faces.
presently, food courses began to arrive. all of it prepared from food grown and prepared on site as well as with items obtained through the healthy trade the facility maintained with its surrounding area. the area's children were birthed and raised there, so of course the trade was healthy. it was for all of their children!
quo and oto sat in ecstasy over the meal of handheld foods. fruits and leafy veg wrapped bundles of tasty fillings, sweet and savory delectable treats. as the meal changed to warm platters of grains and strips of boiled dough topped with cuts of braised proteins. some of them locally trapped small game. tiny grazers or slippery slitherers that swam in the water runs that flowed. nearby the two built up areas that centered around the birth ans upbringing of the youngest ones of their society.
the variety and inventive preparations were a delight but soon the fatigue from the near non-stop travel of the previous days on top of the emotional and visual stimulation they've been exposed to suddenly hit the proud full grown parents.
the chatter from the young ones began to slow as well. the light from outside dimmed and the sun began its long descent below the horizon taking it's golden light with it. shading quickly from burnt orange smokey red to deep plum. children bearing fire lights appeared and in silence they collected all of the leavings from the delightful meal. with a couple of fire lights left behind, one for the full growns and one for the quartet of their mixed of offspring. the younger two, quo and oto's together pip and reed were visibly running out of the energy to stay awake. they shared the gratitude they felt at the opportunity for the rare family dinner with their parents. they all hugged and kissed goodnight. one of the mid-grown older kids of oto's, greil reached into a depression in the wall that had gone previously unnoticed by the visitors and did something out of sight. it caused a series of penetrating clicks, activating and intercom. after a few moments a mid-grown child entered the room and extended a hand to one child and they linked hands with their sibling and made their final farewells and gave wishes for a good journey before allowing themselves to be led away by the mid-grown girl to the children's bed chamber.
the elder pair of offspring stood with their parents. the full growns expressing messages from each of their absent co-parents and the kids expressed some curiosity about quo's next destination next destination.
there was little she could tell them as he had no initiation in the area of deep spiritual practice that had informed her of her mission. none of the children were made aware of the practices and their purposes until their culmination from their time in the children's enclosure. where the majority of them weren't even made aware of them as they were occult.
a very rare few were brought into full awareness not long after they gained independent mobility and the rudiments of speech. These special offspring are immediately apparent and as such, they are culled from the general population of newborns. better then they are spirited away to a facility especially constructed as an alternative to the ones dotting the world to accommodate all of the citizens family births.
the identifying feature is that these children amongst all of the rest were born singly. solo, no twin or duplicate of any enumeration. not uncommon, multiple duplicates did occur, but single births were almost unknown. that being the case, the birthing centers and youth facilities for them indeed exist. their presence is understated and the size of them relative to the main locations and commonly run enclosures obscures them. to the point of camouflaging the true function of the small almost cottage like structures.
even the parents of these unusual children often didn't disclose the fact that they'd given birth to one. while not looked down upon, in the world where kids are normally born part of an amniotic sac set, there is a level of uncomfortable scrutiny these parents get. it isn't dangerous or anything but if they were to loudly broadcast the nature of their issue, the frank curiosity may become unbearable. so, most of these parents won't bring it up unless directly asked.
the way the child rearing functioned on the planet helps both protect and basically hide these babies.
the separate souls lived in a state that full growns like quo, who like her multiple quotienne, showed an aptitude for the practice. and they both had needed training to strengthen these nascent abilities and study. they had to learn technique to both control and contain the newly awakened skills, they had to learn the nature of the magic they held within and its parameters. they have to learn about their forebears and how the they traversed that mystical landscape. they learned what may befall them if they don't keep their wits about them. it was a whole process and it had to be carefully trained so as not to abuse or be overcome with the immense power their abilities could open up for them to access.
when it came to the singleborns however, all of that was fully switched on at birth. the guidance they must they most required was not about the hidden arts, it was how to anchor their awareness in their bodies and physical things. one isn't safe wandering around in a trance. the literal physical objects or features of the land might reveal themselves in shocking or injurious ways.
this made real world training an imperative for the ever so powerful children whose function in the society was to act as filters anchors and amplifiers to the world. they help maintain the overall balance of the people places and things, both active and inert upon the world.
this work requires a certain ability to exist in many dimensions simultaneously, and it's vitally important to maintaining order.
none of this was true of any of either oto's nor any of quo's offspring. the twins of the pair but now rose with them to follow by fire light down the now much more quiet paths and beneath the leafy covered walkways until they reached the exit of the encampment in the now deserted reception area. the jubilant parents hugged each of their almost full grown offspring, all fighting full-blown crying, and so with much wet snuffling and gulping of sobs the children closed the gates and faded off into the darkness. the two proud parents fatigued and full of food leaned into each other as they walked in relative silence the short distance to their camp. once there they quickly laid out their bedrolls and were snuggled together eyes turned to the stars as they shared their impressions of the day.
they were so pleased with how well and intelligently they'd grown. they were well formed and healthy. best and most unexpected of all, they were pleased to come meet with their parents. they promised the parents, of whom only half of the twin set was represented, to share news of the impromptu visit with their other parents.
before they knew it, once they fell silent they fell deeply asleep and sank into the spongy growth that seem to thicken in just the right places as their slumbering bodies turned and twitched while they dreamed.
the next morning the sun finally began to lay its warming beams the across their faces, a gently awakening the pair. they rose and after brewing a hot drink they picked and ate a few pieces of fruit from a nearby tree, before repacking their kits to continue on their journey.
they continued on down opportune paths that seemed to open themselves to the couple, as if it knew their destination. actually, the land it did. a good thing, as neither quo nor oto had been to their destination before.
the two like all indigenous of their world could tune in to it without thought or effort. their peoples had avoided the pitfalls of the world of they that inadvertently landed there. they somehow managed to maintain an integral vibrational link to it and it's inhabitants. they had never lost the connection to their world that sustained them all. they were, they who met them, so amazed by the tales passed on to the initiates and instructors. the practitioners of what the off worlders on the planet called magic. the understandings and practices seemed like wizardry to the accidental visitors.
these are the people who quo was off to treat. her accrued skills, both administrative and therapeutic, had reached the point where her ultimate occupation was to tender her ability to calm and inform the occasional waves of expelled immigrants who were tossed through the partition between the dimensions. it fell to her and others like her to help these people. it was a many step process to both explain what had happened that spurned them from their home and thrown them to this new place. they came through beaten and broken, from the outside in. the traversing of the dimensions from whence most of their refugees came rarely didn't cause physical injury.
these matters quotillda shared with oto in little detail; not to be secretive, but because the healing places were not operated or used by the planet's own occupants if they weren't built for it. so she shared the things he could absorb and really it wasn't much. her time in trance with quotienne and the mystical book hadn't given her much more. that didn't matter as more would be revealed upon arrival at her destination.