Sonder: The realization that others have their own unique lives separate from their own. It is always a strange feeling when you realize that something that is so familiar or commonplace to you is a unique and foreign concept to someone else. Someone who grew up an only child has a hard time understanding the challenges of having multiple siblings in the house and the constant fighting that that entails. Someone who grew up without a pet struggles to grasp the struggle of keeping the front door closed to prevent an escape. First-time ocean visitors struggle with understanding the respect and power it commands in the same way that someone who has lived near it their whole life are able to do so naturally.

For me, I sometimes forget that not everyone lives within walking distance of an enchanted forest. From the outside, it looks just like any forest would. Trees, shrubbery, plenty of thin and winding animal trails cutting through the undergrowth. Everyone in town knows to stay away. Whatever goods there are to be gleaned from wandering in aren't worth the risk of never returning. The few brave or foolish travelers that return spin wild tales of fantastic creatures unseen anywhere else in the world. They all have a unique experience, as the forest is known to twist and alter itself in order to best trap those who wander in. Their stories always end the same. Just before they finally find their way back out, they encounter The Poppy Grove and its Keeper.

The Poppy Keeper is a tale older than the town itself. Some of the minor details change from person to person, but the major points stay the same. A strange opening in the middle of the forest, filled with bright red poppies. The overwhelming aroma of the flowers imposing a supernatural peace, like a weighted blanket. A trail cutting through the middle, leading off in both distance farther than the eye can see through the strange fog that seems to envelope the area. And a young, feminine figure wearing a hooded robe woven of the flowers around her. Some say that she was the forest's first victim. Some say she is older than the forest itself, or that she created the forest in an act of anger. Whoever she is, she is the only chance people have to escape.

She offers the same deal to everyone. "Sing me a song, and I will show you the way out." No one remembers what song they sang, but everyone insists that they agreed, for she takes the song in payment. Sometimes, when the wind blows just right, people say you can hear her singing her songs from deep within the forest. According to the legend, each song must be unique. Every family in town has their own song, just in case they need to offer her payment. Children are taught their song from a young age. Often, a child's first words are a line from their family's song. It is a big deal in town when a family has to give up their song, usually because a rebellious teenager went too far into the forest on a dare.

I've long since left my hometown. I moved to the big city under an apprenticeship and now have a thriving business of my own. To this day, I still find myself humming our family's tune. I never know how to answer when someone asks me what song it is. How do you explain something like that to someone who never had to worry their older brother may not return home because you don't remember the last time you heard him practicing the song? Or the fear that one day you will forget the song entirely because someone ventured too close to the tree line? Instead, I lie. I say I don't remember where I heard it, and that it just stuck with me. It's much easier than trying to tell someone about the Poppy Keeper.