Ace of Staffs

A staff stood near the edge of the gathering place, wrapped with woven fibers and painted in reds, ochres, and greens. I had never seen anything quite like it. Someone had clearly spent hours making it beautiful, yet there it stood alone, waiting.

People were beginning to arrive, and I found myself watching the staff more than anything else. What was it for? Who would carry it? Was it meant for the ceremony everyone seemed to be preparing for? I wanted to ask, but part of me liked not knowing yet.

There was something exciting about the waiting. I had only just begun this journey, and already I was encountering things I wanted to understand. The staff felt like one of them, a first glimpse into a world that was still almost entirely unknown to me.

For a moment, I let myself imagine everything that might come next. I wondered who would lift it first.