The Mushroom Elder, Trali, believes that to follow nature is to become one with it, to blend into the habitat of natural creatures and adopt their way of thinking. That's why she often appears disguised as a mushroom, responding to others in the manner of a tree mushroom no matter what they say to her.

(Scribbled thought: "-Maybe she's always grumpy. I once knocked over one of the mushrooms at home, and it shriveled up just like she does. ")

It's not just a game to them. Among traditionalists in the Kanamia Tribe, each elder has their own way of blending into nature. Take Meztli, Murmuring Water Elder, who invented our fish farming method. He often said he was a fish. Honestly? That might explain his memory problems.
Some say the Murmuring Water Elder disappeared because he truly found a way to become a fish. After thinking like one for more than seven seconds, he forgot he was ever human, and now he swims the waters near the Kanamia Tribe, living fully as a fish.

As for Empty Elder, Iktaka, who oversees knowledge and etiquette... What natural form does he choose to think like? The answer, of course, is "human." People, too, are part of nature. Iktaka chooses to live as an ordinary person in the tribe. Yet he believes there are many kinds of people, so he often disguises himself, sometimes as an old mushroom picker, other times as a Smelting or a shepherd. He's a master of a thousand faces, few have ever seen through his disguises.