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Fan article by darkfoxprime 
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The Keid Diaries:Life in the Kexiby Jham BarclayEdited by Banion BarclayThe Keid Diaries are excerpts of anecdotal journals kept by my uncle during his explorations of the Jindiara island. While he did not survive the return trip to tell his stories, his journals did. Between his observations, and his conversations with the Keid he knew as Miroki, we can form a more complete picture of the mysterious Keid than we've ever had before. As per my uncle's wishes, I've gathered the information from his journals and published it as The Keid Diaries. I hope you enjoy the stories of this fascinating race. - Banion Barclay Scholar of the Carson Institute 1142AL The kexi is the smallest of the Keid settlements, and as such, it represents in many ways the very core of the Keid way of life. Kexi generally have fewer than 30 residents, and more often than not are named after a nearby landmark: For example, the village that Miroki grew up in was known simply as "kexi emuke", the village of the shallow water, due to its proximity to the bend in the nearby river where the water became shallow enough to allow crossing by foot. Because the kexi are so small, everyone in the kexi works, from the most ancient elder to the youngest child. While very young children are said to "work at growing up", even as young as 5 or 6 they begin running errands for their caretakers. Unlike our villages, kexi have no mayor or lord. Decisions are made by the community as a whole, more often through "gossip" and personal conversations than through a formal gathering. However, there is one Keid in the kexi who is considered a leader of sorts: The wind-talker, the spiritual leader of the village. He is the teacher, the guide, the shoulder to cry on, and the welling strength of the community. While he isn't necessarily the eldest in the village, he is always considered the wisest, and wind-talkers are almost universally considered with the highest regard. For a long time, through my conversations with Miroki and my observations of him, I believed that the Keid have little religious faith. Except for a small token worn about his neck, Miroki had no symbols of faith, no shrine or holy places that he visited, and made no prayers or special observances that I could see. It took many months before I realized that the Keid don't practice their faith, they live it. Keid pay their religious respects to Buroba, the spirit of the wind, and the wind encompasses every aspect of their lives. As Miroki said, when my curiousity finally drove me to ask:
As I mentioned before, life begins in the nursery with the "job" of growing up. Young mothers and elder matrons provide nurturing and support for all the children of the village, and it is they who give the children their first errands outside the nursery, starting them on the steps to adulthood. As the children grow, the nursery caregivers begin redirecting the young ones' questions about the world to the wind-talker. In this way, children move on to their second "job" - learning what it is to be Keid. In many respects, the wind-talker becomes the "father figure" for the children: he is their teacher, their mentor, and their guide to adolescence. It is the wind-talker who first shows the children the world outside the village, and the wind-talker who makes real the indirect knowledge of Buroba that the children have grown up with. When they reach adolescence, the children's focus shifts from learning about the world, to learning the ways of adulthood. It is then that they begin to learn how to hunt and how to scout; how to prepare meals and clothing; how to build homes and make their tools. While the majority of this teaching comes from other adults, active in their crafts, the wind-talker is still a major figure in the children's lives. Sometime between childhood and adolescence, children begin to, as Miroki put it, "feel the wind". While he was never clear on what he meant, I gathered that this is the period of attaining true spirituality. The wind-talker is the children's guide for this, teaching them how to focus their feelings, how to interpret them, and how to use them to help others. Upon attaining their majority, Keid become fully active in the village, doing whatever job they can best fill with their abilities. No one (except perhaps the wind-talker) does only one job: while someone may be exceptional at hunting and do that for the majority of their adult life, they will gladly put down their bow and take up a stirring stick to help in the cook-house, or teach a class of younglings how to find the tree-squirrel's winter cache. With so few people to keep the village going, Keid in the kexi never "retire". Even if they are no longer able to be active outside the village, there are always needs to be filled while sitting with the other elders. The kexi is a community, and while the wind-talker may be its spiritual leader, the elders are the eyes and ears pointing inward at the people. It is they who know when the right word at the right time will stop a budding feud between friends, when it's time for a young lady to stop doing the sewing that she feels she has to do and take up the bow like she was meant to, or when it's time for the cook to learn how to properly spice his food. This may sound like the Keid labor from birth 'til death with no breaks in between. It's true that there is a lot of work to be done, and not many people in the kexi to do it, but there is always cause for celebration in the village. The Keid have no major "holidays" . Instead, they have small celebrations whenever the mood strikes them. A more-successful-than-usual hunt, someone receiving their new 5-year feather, or a new home being completed, are all more than enough to warrant a party. To the Keid, this means special meals, prepared to please the taste of whomever the party is for, songs and dance in the village commons, and stories recounted by the elders and the wind-talker. Miroki described a gala celebrating the birth of twins in his village that went on for three days, with people joining, leaving, and rejoining the party in between work and sleep. The kexi showcase the way family and community intertwine for the Keid. In larger towns, the social groups, although interconnected, are smaller; sheer survival forces the kexi into one united, happy, thriving whole. When it comes to brotherhood, we humans have a lot we could learn from the jungle people of Jindiara. |
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