God, I hate the Outer Season

It's that time of decade again, time to take all our great human achievements, the honor we've earned, and all our independence from the other sentient species, and throw them into the fucking compost heap.

Look, I know our Orange supply is low, that happens every Outer season. And I know without an Orange supply our civilisation will collapse, and yes, I'm concerned that my family doesn't get left out of our heat rations, but for Sela's Sake, why did they have to pick ME? I'm just a farmer, ill equipped to negotiate with my scythe, much less another sentient race that I've already pissed off before.

Yes, I ate a phoenix. I'm not proud of it, I deeply regret it, and I honestly had no idea it was the Phoenix Elder.. But I was hungry, last Outer Season. Very hungry. I know you're supposed to check the bird before you shoot it, but it didn't have flames! How the hell was I supposed to know it was a phoenix? I mean, yeah, it was orange-tinted, but many birds are. And yeah, I suppose it DID talk to me, but I just thought my lack of food was making me hallucinate. So I shot it, nearly got my village wiped off the face of the Ljenetra, and now they're making me go back to negotiate with them! Do they really want to be fed to the Ghanfre *shudder* that much?

Still, I am stand-in leader for our village, at least until the elder and his family and closest friends get back. I often wonder where they've gone, and why they were in such a hurry to leave after they sent me on my way. But I come back with the Orange, yes, a hero and an Elder to boot!

The closest Phoenix entrance on Selmu is this mesa-looking thing. It stands out in a land covered mostly by forest and tall grass, its caked structure falling away, dust storms dancing nearby. Carved into this mesa is a cavern, leading only a few feet back to a teleporter to their section of the world. The Phoenix, although Orange by nature, dabbled in Torquoise, first as a matter of necessity to link their cities together. But soon, as the elements combined into one of the most powerful elements of all, they rose in stature to the dominant race on the planet, unique as birds and not men, the fires of their city burning forever.

I need their fire, but I sure don't need their wrath...