I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, I bcked out. When I came back to consciousness, the sun was beating down on my face through canvas, and my head rested on something soft. A hand was running its fingers through my hair. I could hear someone crying; was it Varis? My vision was blurry as my eyes gradually opened, and I winced, the sun’s bright light assaulting my eyes. I faintly made out someone’s silhouette leaning over me. Blinking away the blurriness, I soon focused my vision and saw that we were in a tent, and my mother was smiling down at me. Her eyes were red and puffy.

  “Oh, thank the seven you’re awake,” she said in a hushed voice as she pced her palm on my head and brushed loose bangs from my face.

  I shifted on her p and gasped as my body ached all over. Mother stopped me immediately.

  “Don’t move, sweetie,” she whispered, “I patched you up as best I could, but magic only goes so far. Take it easy.”

  I moved my head just enough to look down at my body. Mother must have put me in this white one-piece dress. Sure enough, the wounds from st night were gone. The slightly faded scars would probably be gone within a month.

  Yet seeing this, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelming shame wash over me. Biting my lower lip, I took a deep breath and clenched my eyes shut, yet this wasn’t enough to stop the tears. My face broke, and I shuddered with a soft moan as I began to cry.

  I reached up with my right hand, gripped the button-up shirt Mother was wearing, and buried my face in her. Everything began to bubble out of me. Everything. Baggage I hadn’t even known I’d been carrying. The fear of dying again, wasting this life away, the feeling of having died and already lost everything I had. Being a kid again, trapped in a small, frail body, the fact my body was in so much pain. All of this and more I felt emptying out of me and into my mother’s shirt.

  She cooed as she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a careful hug. Her hand lightly stroked the back of my head. I hiccuped and sobbed for several minutes, and the entire time, she held me close and shushed me softly, holding me.

  I began to calm down. I sniffled, pressed my forehead into her chest, and sat there as I tried to regain my composure. I’m such an idiot, I thought. There was nothing up there; I was afraid and paranoid about nothing. And I got myself hurt and put others in danger!

  “Luna.” Mother reached down to take me by the chin. She lifted my head to look at her, her blue eyes bright and warm. She gazed upon me with a soft smile. “I love you, and I’ll do anything to protect you. I know what happened was scary, but you’re safe now. We’re all safe now.”

  I hiccuped. Dammit, the tears are welling back up!

  “I-I’m sorry!” I squeaked out, and my mother closed her eyes and nodded.

  “I know you are, my little star. But it’s alright now.” She ran her thumb across my cheek, wiping away my tears.

  I asked, “Am I in trouble? Are you not going to teach me anymore?”

  My mother’s smile twitched wider. “No, you’re not in trouble. I think what happened was more than any lesson your father and I combined can teach a little elf.” She booped my nose. “You’re very lucky and very strong.”

  “St—Strong?” I stuttered.

  Mother nodded. “After I got rid of those evil monsters, I went into the cave because I was curious as to why you were there, and I found this.” She leaned over and picked something up off the ground. I watched as she straightened up and presented the piece of cold iron stained with the sap-like blood of the timberwolf.

  “You fought and defeated a monster all by yourself. That, my little star, shows you have immense strength.”

  I choked up once more as visions of st night’s fight fshed before my mind. “I—I was so scared…” I whimpered, and my mother, with another coo, pulled me into a tight hug.

  “I know, sweetie. But you’re safe. Momma and Papa will always be there for you.” She kissed the top of my head. “Even when you go to school, no matter where you are, you call for us, and I’ll come; even if it means traversing the sea or air, I’ll always come for you.”

  Once things were calmer, Mother took me by the hand and guided me out of the tent and into the early afternoon light. The smell of the campfire caught my attention. I looked up to see Father, Isa, and Varis sitting around the fire.

  Varis’s puffy eyes lit up, and he screamed with joy as he rushed towards me. Mother reached out to stop him but wasn’t quick enough as my brother flung his arms around my sore little body and cried into my shoulder.

  “You’re okay! You’re okay!” he cried, and I squeaked as his hug made my lower back crack.

  Once again, I tried to fight back tears as I held him. “Yes, I’m fine… Please, you’re crushing me,” I gasped.

  Varis released me, holding my shoulders as I gulped in air and teared up.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I—I was foolish to go off alone.”

  “Yes, you were!” Varis used one hand to wipe his eyes. “You’re the brains, remember? I’m the strong one! How can I be strong for you if you’re alone?”

  My heart ached, and I wiped my eyes too.

  My mother awwed as she knelt beside us, one hand on each of us. “It’s okay, you two; everyone is back and safe. Now, go on; Father has been making lunch for everyone.”

  Shuffling towards the fire, we then took our seats. Father looked up at me as he poured stew into a tin bowl and passed it over.

  “You look good, Luna,” he said. “Mother’s handiwork really made you come out as good as new.”

  I blushed faintly as I took the stew and said, “Thank you.” I pced the food on my p and spooned some into my mouth, but in moments, I stopped. My eyes were glued to the fire as I sat and swam in my thoughts.

  “Is something wrong, little one?” Isa asked me. “Is the food not to your liking?”

  I shook my head. “No,” I murmured, and I looked at each and everyone here.

  Father’s scruffy face and charming smile greeted me, his blonde, disheveled hair slightly grown out.

  Mother’s smooth yet sharp facial features, her big eyes soft and full of heart, and her short, bck and blue hair nicely brushed.

  I looked at Varis, who had grown so much since we first met. His face resembled Father’s, yet his short hair was dark like Mother’s. His eyes, one green and one blue, flicked back and forth between my gaze and his food. His smile, which pierced his lips, made my heart flutter.

  Then I finally looked to Isa; while she wasn’t officially part of our family, I couldn’t help but see her as an aunt or older sister. Her strong, beautiful face smirked at me, and her adorably rge, almost fearsome feline eyes locked with mine. Her fuzzy red ears flicked cutely as her cwed hand brushed her red bangs to the side.

  These people. People whom I once saw as nothing more than my guardians. I now cared for them deeply. More so than any family I had before. I loved all of them. The hand holding my spoon trembled once more, the metal clinking together as I shuddered and closed my eyes.

  And I stupidly almost threw them all away…

  “Luna?” Mother said softly as I sat there silently trembling.

  I took a sharp breath, held it for a moment and breathed out, my nerves calming as I said, “I’m so… so sorry.” Sniffing, I looked up at them again. “I’m sorry for scaring you all st night.” I looked at Mom and Dad. “I’m sorry for forcing you two to go into danger!”

  Father lowered his lunch. “Luna, it’s okay. We forgive you.” Lightheartedly, he said, “When I was a little squirt, I was constantly getting into danger. It doesn’t mean it’s right, but seeing you now owning up to it… that’s what makes it better.”

  Isa nodded. “As long as you do not do that again, everything will be settled.” She pced her cwed hand on my head.

  “Aye, that’s right.” Father scooped some stew into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “But would you mind telling us why you went up alone?”

  I gulped. Isa pced a hand on my shoulder and nodded, urging me to answer.

  Why did I go up there? I thought. It terrified me earlier—the sound of static, that beeping, my nightmare. Did I think going up there would get rid of it? It seemed to.

  I took a deep breath. I have nothing to hide; what’s the point of not telling them?

  “Before I fainted up on the mountain, I felt a weird sensation.” I looked up at them; their eyes were all trained on me. “This gut feeling that was pulling me to it. A-And well, as I told you all, I heard this weird noise. Like rustling leaves, but not like any rustling leaves I ever heard. It was constant, and then I heard this deep, droning beep… beep…”

  My parents shared a gnce, yet Isa kept her eyes trained on me.

  “It terrified me. I don’t know why.” I think I do, but I’ll leave that bit out. “I was so scared, I just… fell over. And I had this awful nightmare.”

  I noticed Isa leaning forwards, her eyes narrowing. “What kind of nightmare?” she asked.

  Should I tell them about it? It is just a dream, after all.

  “Uh, well…” I swallowed as the visions repyed in my head; it felt so real and so vivid. “It was weird and scary.”

  “You don’t have to tell us, Luna,” Mother said, but Isa held up her hand.

  “No, Cailynn, let her speak of it. Please, Luna. Continue.”

  Father passed me a canteen of water, which I happily took and sipped from. Then I continued, “I woke up in a hospital. A big hospital, but nothing like the clinic in town. It felt… strangely… future and foreign.”

  “Ooh, like one of those science fiction stories Avdol told me about?” Varis asked with big eyes.

  Sidetracked, Father sighed and rolled his eyes. “Oh, those stories are rubbish.”

  “Yes, like that!” I cried, pointing at Varis.

  Thank you, brother; that’ll make describing it easier!

  “In the dream, I was a grown-up, but I was… a human, a man. I wasn’t a girl.”

  Varis blinked. “You were a boy?”

  “Shush, Varis,” Isa said, “let her finish.”

  I nodded. “I was a boy. Yet I still remembered everything from here. Near me was a device that could detect my heart, I think, and there was this box that had this… moving picture, but it showed snow and made a shhh sound.”

  My family seemed fascinated by the story, especially Varis, who seemed to be enjoying it. Yet Isa’s expression grew more grim.

  “I got off the bed and went to the bathroom nearby to look at myself. I was skinny to the bone, I had a big beard like Mr. Olson, and my hair was scraggly. I looked middle-aged. It was scary because a woman came into the room…” Now I was reliving the memory. “And she said, ‘Mister, I’m gd you’re awake, but—’”

  My entire family abruptly pulled back. “Wait, wait…” Father stopped me, and I tensed. “What was that you were just saying?”

  “Was that even Maurich?” Mother said in a hushed voice.

  Oh shit, I thought as I realized what I had just done. I just spoke English on accident.

  The only one not startled by the sudden change in nguage was Isa, who straightened up and said, “Continue, Luna.”

  I cleared my throat, shivering as my parents now looked at me as if I were some alien. Oh crap, oh fuck, did I just break my cover? I panicked but closed my eyes and took another breath to calm myself.

  “Sorry, I-I’m just repeating what I heard. I—I don’t know what it was.” I tried to lie, though their faces didn’t seem fooled. “Uh, huh… Well. I uh, got scared and fell in the tub as these human nurses swarmed me, and this scary doctor poked me with something, and I woke up! Haha…” I rubbed my neck.

  “And then you went to the cave after waking up?” Isa asked me.

  I lowered my head sadly and nodded.

  Isa nodded as well. “This changes things,” she said in a low voice.

  “Luna, what did you say?” my mother asked me.

  “I—I don’t—”

  Mother held a finger up. “It’s okay, Luna; I’m not mad.”

  I took another nervous sip of my water and transted, “She was happy that I woke up. She wanted to get me back to bed; she kept calling me by a name, but I swear that I don’t know what it was!” I lied. I knew what she called me, but never again did I want to think of it or say it.

  Thankfully, my family didn’t push me on that. “What nguage was she speaking? Do any of you know it?” Mother asked.

  Isa said, “I don’t know what it is, but I recall having heard it once.”

  This got my attention. “Really? So, I’m not going crazy?” I tried to py it off.

  She nodded. “Long, long ago, a traveler came through my vilge. An old mage, if memory serves me right. He was vastly intelligent and took a great interest in searching for an old ruin.” She stroked her chin. “I was a mere kitten back in those days, but I recall him pulling the elder aside once. That night, I hid near the door to their room, and I listened in on them. Inside, the mage and my elder spoke in a tongue very simir to what you just spoke. It sounded so alien to me. I tried to look into it afterwards, yet my elder told me I must’ve been hearing things.” Isa looked at me. “I knew she was lying, and hearing you just now proved that my ears weren’t wrong.”

  I shifted nervously; my mind was going a mile a minute. Wait, what? There are others out there who speak English? Are there other people who were reincarnated like me? I wondered. I guess it isn’t impossible. Yet part of me wished it was, and I didn’t know why. Why would I be disappointed knowing there were others like me? Strange.

  “Where did you learn to speak that nguage, Luna?” Isa asked me.

  I responded with a shrug. “I don’t know,” I lied. “I only recall the dream.” She squinted at me.

  “Isa, why don’t we let it rest,” Mother said. “When we return to Oren and the house, we can always discuss more. For now, let’s enjoy the remainder of our time away.”

  That’s going to be a little hard to do. I sighed.

  Mother reached over and pced a hand on my back. “It’s okay, sweetie. If you want, you can stay near the camp with me. Besides…” She winked. “I have some cool spells to teach you.”

  Spells?

  My head perked up, along with my mood. “Oh?”

  She smiled widely. “Yep, so finish up your meal and we can go practice!”

  Say no more! I lifted my cooled stew and chowed away.

  Why is it that you’ve chosen this echo?