![\"leaves\"](\"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/leaves-e1417724357797-300x181.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Carrying an armful of brown and orange leaves, a little boy ran to the pile his friend had started and added his small contribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was that word again Merax?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeciduous,\u201d the older boy repeated to his new friend. \u201cDe-ci-du-ous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what does it mean?\u201d he asked with curiosity.<\/p>\n
Merax walked back to the pile with another load of leaves and dropped them on top. They had created a nice sized mountain of autumn leaves at the edge of the forest. \u201cI cannot believe that there were no trees on the planet you came from, Zeh-zeh.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were trees, a few. But they did not look like these. They did not have orange or brown leaves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pointed ear boy picked up a few leaves from the ground to aide in his lesson. \u201cThey were not orange or brown a few weeks ago. They started as green leaves. All of them did. But then they changed colors and fell to the ground. Soon all the green leaves in the forest will turn color and fall off the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut why?\u201d The newcomer was confused.<\/p>\n
Merax sighed heavily. \u201cBecause they are deciduous trees. And deciduous trees do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, but why do des\u2026 des-u-gis\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeciduous!\u201d Merax threw the leaves at his friend\u2019s face. \u201cI think your ears are broken!\u201d<\/p>\n
Zeh-zeh froze in his spot and went silent. He didn\u2019t like being teased by the other children on this new planet and he disliked the comments about his ears even less. Finally he worked up the nerve to ask, \u201cWhy\u2026 why do you say things like that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Merax had walked off to pick up more leaves when his new friend asked the question. He was unsure how to answer.<\/p>\n
Teasing the new boy had become the new pastime for the local children. After all it wasn\u2019t every day that a family would willingly relocate to this remote and unprotected planet. And it wasn\u2019t often that new residents included a child. Or that the child was suspected to be a half breed. It hardly ever happened. Actually, it never happened.<\/p>\n
Merax hoisted another load of leaves into his arms but when he turned toward the pile, he noticed that Zeh-zeh had not moved from his spot. He was still awaiting an answer. He was an odd one for certain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not know. It just slipped out.\u201d He replied finally before adding his leaves to the pile.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dislike it.\u201d Zeh-zeh stated firmly. \u201cIt is not my fault that my ears are different than yours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merax lowered his head. He could tell the boy\u2019s feelings had been hurt. \u201cI am sorry. I meant no harm.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just asking a simple question.\u201d<\/p>\n
The older boy extended his hand out. \u201cAsk me again\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Zeh-zeh nodded and restated his question. \u201cWhy do the leaves on these trees change color and fall off? Why not stay green and attached?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is part of nature. We are in the Autumn season and that is when the leaves fall off the trees. That is what the teacher told us in class.\u201d Merax explained.<\/p>\n
Looking at the huge pile of orange and brown leaves before them, Zeh-zeh inquired further. \u201cAnd what happens to the trees after they lose their leaves? And what happens to these leaves?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey die.\u201d<\/p>\n
The newcomer was shocked, \u201cWhat? The trees die?\u201d<\/p>\n
Merax nodded. \u201cYes. They die and go thru winter like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zeh-zeh kicked at the pile of leaves at his feet. Suddenly he was not in the mood to play anymore. \u201cWhy do they die?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything dies. It is the cycle of nature.\u201d Merax replied and then added under his breath. You would know this if you went to school with the rest of us.<\/em><\/p>\n The comment was not lost on Zeh-zeh. He had tried to attend school with the other children when his family arrived on this planet, but it ended with the other children teasing and bullying him. As a result, his parents pulled him out of the school and elected to educate him at home. Different planet, same story.<\/p>\n Except for Merax. He is Zeh-zeh\u2019s first and only friend. With his family moving around so much, the youngster did not have time to make any friends of children his own age on any of the previous planets, moons or colonies his family had moved to. For some unknown reason Merax chose to spend time with him.<\/p>\n \u201cThen why are we piling up the leaves? Are we going to bury them?\u201d<\/p>\n Merax looked at the innocent eyes of the new boy. They were as unusual as his rounded ears. No one on their planet had eyes the same color as the new boy, green like the forest in summer. Smiling devilishly Merax ran toward the pile and lept into the air, diving effortlessly into the cushion of leaves. \u201cWoo hoo!\u201d<\/p>\n Zeh-zeh cracked a smile and followed Merax into the pile. He had never jumped into a pile of leaves before, but it turned out to be the most fun he had ever had. Before long the tall pile of leaves had been tossed about, leaving an orange and brown mess all around.<\/p>\n The boys\u2019 laughter carried all the way into the forest and was picked up by another set of pointed ears. A young man perched high on a tree branch not far from the pair, kept watch over them. He could sense Zeh-zeh\u2019s good spirit and decided to give him a few more minutes to play before heeding the call to return him to his parents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carrying an armful of brown and orange leaves, a little boy ran to the pile his friend had started and added his small contribution. \u201cWhat was that word again Merax?\u201d \u201cDeciduous,\u201d the older boy repeated to his new friend. \u201cDe-ci-du-ous.\u201d \u201cAnd what does it mean?\u201d he asked with curiosity. Merax walked back to the pile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":62,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-150","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/150\/revisions\/157"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kai-rho.com\/SonofWar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}