Roots village

A small village nestled in the woods of British Columbia Canada. The village is surrounded by huge trees, grass and a creek that runs through flowing into a beautiful freshwater lake. The area is only known to the villagers with no latitude or longitude location ever found. The mountains can be seen from every direction. The beauty, the seclusion and peace is solitude.

The villagers are always busy making a life for themselves living off the land. The women make their own clothes from spun cotton. They make pottery to eat from and carry plentiful fruits from the trees. The men hunt and fish for their source of meat. It sounds like a regular village, but it is far from that.

One may ask about the children. What do the children do, who takes care of them, how do they learn? The roots village is surrounded by the trees who take care of the children while there parents are attending to daily tasks.

The trees cradle the young, watch them lay on the cozy fern and needle beds, while they kick, and swing at pinecones, cooing and listening to the trees sing lullabys while the wind whistles through the branches. The trees feed the babies with their long like fingers made of branches. Their branches open to make the most comfortable beds. They swing in the wind, and attend to each baby.

Similar to the babies the toddlers are kept in a nice big circle resembling a fenced in yard. They learn to walk, with the capable outreach of the soft tamarack branches. They are shown how to do simple tasks like playing in clay, water table type playing structures, and small little slides. They learn to sit at low tree tables sitting on the ground to eat.

The older children are taught how to climb trees, swing from trees, gather fruits and vegetables to eat and drink from. The older children learn to swim with the watchful trees observing with their long limbs able to help in any danger. They are taught how to count, and do puzzles. They can problem solve by the faint whispers from the wind through the timbers.

Every year in the middle of the summer most of the villagers take a long treck over water in homemade canoes to go to sell the things they made, sell pelts of fur, and to get supplies they may need for the year coming. Often they will buy sheep, chickens, seeds for the gardens, nails, tools, or specialty items. Often some of the younger people meet their potential mates.

They first have to be approved from the elders before they can visit the village, often some of the younger people opt to stay in the communities and not go back to the village for years.

If the elders approve of a potential mate, they are blindfolded once in the canoes for the long treck back to the village never knowing the location of the village. Once at the village the blindfolds are taken off and shown around. Then they are taken to an area where there is an old tree that stands very tall. Its trunk the size of a bulldozer where there is a bench for the visitor can sit.

The visitor is left alone for three days at the old tree. The visitor will go through many tasks set by the old tree to see if the visitor will be accepted by the trees. If they are accepted they can stay, if they are not, they are brought by the trees to the edge of the water to be taken back.

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Kyan and Birch have a beautiful love story. The second Kyan saw Birch coming from the misty waters approaching her community she new he was the one. After a week of getting to know each other and going on several dates he wanted to tell her more about his village. She had heard whispers about Roots Village by some of the girls that came back. But, she was determined that it wouldn’t happen to her. After all her love for Birch was nothing she has ever experienced.

Kyan came from a small family of three. She had a sibling and a mother. Her mother was widowed at an early age left with two small children. Kyan’s brother became a very influential businessman in British Columbia and barely saw his mother and sister in the small community. Kyan’s mother worked two jobs her entire life but enjoyed watching her children grow and have wonderful lives. Kyan went to university to become a high school teacher.

Birch loved his life at the Roors village and promised himself that he would never move. After meeting Kyan he just wasn’t sure what to do. As the trees have never accepted more than one person in one family before. He knew that Kyan’s mother would have to join the village as she was older and needed the help from her daughter.

After many discussions with Kyan about the brutal situation she decided he was worth anything to move to be with her person, her forever.

The elders approved Kyan and her mother to take the long journey back with them. After settled in the canoes and blindfolded everyone was set for the treck back singing songs and happy to have two potential new people for their village.

Kyan couldn’t believe her eyes once the blind fold was off. The smell of the fresh clean air was intoxicating. The trees moving their branches to touch her. The whispers in the air made her turn in circles trying to hear what they were saying. Then, a shift.

A tunnel was made from the trees, once she stepped in they closed around her. She was not prepared to see the big tree yet. She wanted to make sure her mother was settled and meet more villagers and the children.

Every step she took towards the opening was scary, sending chills all down her body. She looked behind her and there was a wall of leaves and branches. Her treck was not easy. There were stumps, roots, thorns to get past. She was thirsty and tired but dared not to speak. She new that this was one of the tests to see if she would be accepted. She was worried about her mother and thought if she was enduring the same situation she would never make it. Crying she kept moving forward and hoped that her mother was ok.

Up ahead she saw a rushing river that stopped her in her tracks. She almost fell in. Again looking back to see a wall. She spoke out loud, “do you want me to go across the river?” And she heard “yes!” From the trees.

She stepped in and the river swept her off of her feet. She screamed, then she was underwater doing somersaults in the swift current. Finally her head broke through, trying to get some air and down she went again, the rocks were piercing her skin and thrashing her all around. Again gasping for air she called out! “Giant tree, please help!”

Not catching another breath this time she went under again. She felt her body go limp, her eyes watering under the water. Then a branch stopped her and lifted her up gently to shore. Catching her breath, choking from water, she curled up into a ball and cried.

She started to sing one of the songs she learned in the canoe. The winds through the trees joined her. She stood up, and was once again in a tunnel. After a few hours of walking she became very tired. And sat, she looked up at the branches and asked if she could stop. The branches opened up. All she could see was darkness, and big trees all around her. She put her back towards one of the trees and fell asleep.

She woke up suddenly to something wet nudging her. She looked focusing her eyes to the moons shadows and saw a grizzly bear in her face sniffing her. She sat quiet trying to calm her heart, trying not to scream. She whispered , “giant tree, please help!”

Before she could react, a giant branch captured the bear into a basket like trap and held it in the air. She heard, “run!”

She got up and ran as fast as she could, as she was running the tunnel formed again around her bringing her into a walk. She could barely see as the tunnel blocked most of the moons rays. She stumbled many times before day break came. She was tired and hungry but knew two more days would soon be over and hopefully be reunited with Birch and her mother.

The day brought her a swarm of bees, a giant root to climb, little water and a few bananas to eat. She finally stopped to rest. But the trees started moving around her, and became angry, whipping her, and hurting her. She felt very broken, hurt, and beginning to ache. She got up and started to walk more. The night came and went.

She stumbled over a root, and tumbled down a steep hill. Perhaps a small mountain. All she remembered was her body hitting rocks, sliding downwards and screaming. When she awoke she looked around her. She was sitting on a bench. Just like the one her boyfriend described. She looked around and there it was the biggest tree she has ever seen. Bigger than the ones she had seen online reading about 1000 year old trees. She got up, and wrapped her arms up towards it. Not even 10 big men would be able to hug it as it was huge.

She smelled the tree, she kissed the tree and kneeled looking at it. She bowed her head, and confessed all of her sins. She pronounced all of the things she could do for the community helping the older children to learn to read from books hoping to help them go to university if they chose. The wind blew up above, down pouring bucket of rain, while she talked to the tree. The wind came stronger but she stayed kneeling professing her love for Birch.

She must have fallen asleep because when she awoke, it was night time. The third night. She was very hungry and thirsty but never complained. The moon was very vivid and could see northern lights above her. She layed on her back watching them, putting her back to sleep. In her dreams she saw birch pushing a baby in a tree branch singing the song she new well. She saw herself smiling looking down at her pregnant belly. She new she found her home. She let herself dream.

She felt something picking up her very bruised, lifeless body. She opened her eyes Loking at Birch. She new that she made it. She new that the trees accepted her. She new that she was safe.

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The roots village with Kyan and her mother changed once accepted. For many years the children attended the new Roots school that was built. Many of them left the village to attend universities and colleges. The roots village stayed remote with the trees hiding them for centuries.