Prologue+Chapter 1: A baby again. (Updated)

Stars twinkle around me like a cloud of tiny shining jewels. They appear and disappear, growing dim and eventually winking out of existence only for new stars to appear elsewhere. They are a dark red in color but, looking around, I see a small collection of them with a faint grey tinge. This greyness seems to be contagious, slowly spreading to nearby stars.

I continue watching the stars in fascination; they become redder in color with each generation. The grey moves from star to star, somehow coexisting with them; at least, it doesn't seem like a sickness. In fact, it seems to extend the longevity of the stars. Questions whirl around my mind. What is this place? What are these 'stars'? And so many more. I can't move, I can't wave my arms, I can only watch, and that's what I do.

I keep watching the stars around me. I watch, and watch, for eternity, and many eternities after that. Time seems to have no meaning here, yet causality is moving forward as the stars, now a bright red, are turning orange. I feel deep drowsiness as if my very existence is tired and slow like I have stayed up all night, yet I cannot stop watching. The longer I spend in this... void, the more I feel my very existence start to slumber: my memories fade, not forgotten, but it's as if they are just falling asleep.

The stars are changing from orange-yellow, to yellow, then onto yellow-green, and all the while the grey spreads faster and faster until all stars have been claimed. Each star that is born is almost instantly claimed, the grey somehow delaying the death of the stars for so long now that they seem less like a cloud and more like a blanket wrapped around me.

My consciousness starts drifting in and out of dormancy, wrapped by this blanket of stars; however, with the last of my consciousness, I spot a hole in the ever-thickening blanket of stars. The void widens as the stars start to quickly fade one by one... no, they aren’t fading, they are being killed; something is destroying the stars and the grey inhabiting them. The void widens faster and faster, destroying all that the grey had worked for. I try to stay conscious but it’s useless; I fall into dormancy, waking up to find the void has grown significantly.

Each time I fade into dormancy and wake back up, I find ever fewer stars until an all-consuming void is all that greets me. No matter how hard I look, all I see is just darkness, an endless sea of nothing, an empty eternity. With a feeling of hollow loneliness, I finally resign myself to slumber.

A tinkling bell sounds in my mind, but I do not awaken. Again and again, it tinkles like wind chimes, a soothing melody through the darkness. Suddenly I feel a vast presence, a formless, invisible thing that somehow brings with it a sense of both serenity and curiosity.. The presence evokes the feeling of gazing upon the vast beauty of the stars in the sky, the serenity of a wintery landscape, the beauty of a waterfall; it is the holistic, complete embodiment of the concept of beauty. But there is another side to it as well: the energizing feeling of inspiration, the fulfilling feeling of creating something, emotions of creation made manifest.

I feel a prodding sensation, an uncomfortable jabbing. I am rudely jostled and moved, yet waking up feels like trying to move through tar.

Soon the jabbing, prodding, and jostling stops, but the chimes remain ever ringing in my mind. For a long time, I sleep, listening to the chimes. Then out of nowhere, I am shocked! A zapping electrical feeling shoots throughout my very essence. Awareness suddenly fills me, and once again, stars flicker all around me, along with colorful wispy clouds, like nebulae slowly swirling. The stars shine with multiple colors, like each has a rainbow captured within.

Where am I? It feels like I've seen something like this before, me being in a void with stars all around me, but I can't bring up my memories.

"Welcome, lost legacy. I am Myrou, Goddess of creativity and beauty," a feminine voice, that seems to echo around the void, says. If a voice could give hugs, then hers would be the closest thing. Her voice wraps around me with a warm and oddly beautiful feeling, like a mother's affectionate embrace. "I am sure you are confused and have a lot of questions, but there will be a time for that."

I nod; there is no need to anger the deity and risk her wrath.

A giggle echoes around me, like a wave gently washing ashore under a moonlit night with the air still and serene as if time has stopped. "No need to be afraid; it's not often a soul as old as yours drifts into my realm."

"A soul as old as mine?" I wonder aloud. I try to think back, but it feels like trying to prod awake a stubborn sleepyhead. It almost feels as if whatever I am looking for said, "gimme five more minutes..."

"Don't push it," The Goddess says, her voice sounding like a well-crafted and polished gem. "Your memories, and who you used to be, have been dormant for a really long time; give it a while, and it will slowly reawaken. You see, your soul is from an era long before gods and magic, from a realm that has long since ended; you are what we call a Legacy Soul." Noticing my confusion, she clarifies. "Hmm, how to make more sense... you are kinda like a fossil, a soul fossil, from a time so far in the past that millions of realms have come and gone, potentially hundreds of millions. Legacies are extremely rare – to have survived oblivion over such a long time is not an easy thing – but with the number of souls present through all the realms some would inevitably survive. However, we've never found one as old as you... until now, obviously."

I still don't know what she is talking about.

"Ah well, I tried. You'll know what I'm talking about eventually once your memories come back." With a voice that sounds like a serene lake reflecting a full moon on its surface, the Goddess gives up trying to make me understand.

"How do you know I am a legacy? Can't I just be a normal soul?" I ask. No sound comes out, but the Goddess knows what I said nonetheless.

"Your soul is completely untouched by magic, but it's even more than that, it's... how do I explain this... exotic? The realm your soul manifested in leaves an... impression on you, a marker. But your soul is almost completely unmarked. Our studies of realms and current theories suggest your soul is not only from a very young realm but from one of the earliest realms. The evolution of realms has gone very far in that time."

"Evolution of realms? What is it? How does that work?" I'm sure it's something I know, but I just can't remember.

"Hmm. It's best to answer these questions once your memories have returned." The Goddess mutters, almost to herself. "In any case! You're unique, and we want to know more about where you came from."

"I am surprised you didn't treat me as some research subject if I really am that special," I say, my respect for the Goddess growing.

"Oh, we did; it was such an opportunity to learn more about souls. But now we want to know more about what's in your soul, your memories and experiences, and we can't risk ripping them out of you. Souls are surprisingly fragile, yours more so in this regard. So we just need to wait until they fully reawaken."

If I could eye the deity suspiciously, I would, but as it stands, the Goddess hasn't manifested herself, nor do I seem to have a body.

"We aren't going to harm you; we just want to know what one of the first-ever realms was like; it is very important for our studies." The voice sounds almost excited, still seeming to wrap around me with its huggy nature.

"How about this: I'll give you a boon, and you will let us examine your memories and experiences. From what we know about other legacies, it'll take about twenty years for all your memories to fully resurface." The Goddess compromises.

I consider her offer for a long time, trying to think how it benefits me, but being the Goddess of beauty and creativity, surely she has something good, right? "Very well," I say with a sigh of resignation. I don't like the idea of my memories being examined, but as long as nothing bad happens to me and I get a boon out of it, I might as well.

"Excellent!" streams of light suddenly swirl around me before condensing in front of me, taking the shape of a gorgeous woman, nay, an impossibly beautiful woman. As if she is the very manifestation of beauty and creativity; reality around her shimmers and twinkles beautifully with the vastness of the cloudless and starry night sky. She has long, flowing, golden, silky hair, flawless pale skin, and eyes like deep emeralds. Her robes are like a flowing river of a deep and rich blue with a marbling of lighter blue. Surprisingly, she is massive, like a giant; either that or I am just tiny, small enough to fit in the palms of her hands. Nope, I actually am in the palms of her cupped hands; when did that happen?

"I shall give you the gift of beauty. May you use it well!" The Goddess says, and suddenly I feel a connection, not quite to her, but to the very concept of beauty itself.

"Gift of beauty? What does that exactly do? Shouldn't I get something that'll help me survive? What happens if I die again?" I ask question after question, now knowing this Goddess won't do anything to me.

"One at a time, please," Myrou says with a sigh. "You'll see what it does; it's better if you figure it out for yourself, but do know that it will help you survive, not that I plan to toss you in a place that has a high risk of killing you in the first place. If you die, you'll just be reincarnated naturally. If by some accident or unforeseen event you die before you regain your memories... well, we can't let those be washed away – not that it is likely to do so anyway with the tiers your soul has – so we'll intervene and reincarnate you with your memories attached again just to be sure they remain whole."

"In other words, once you have what you want from me, I'm on my own?" I clarify.

"Yup!" Myrou smiles beautifully, like gazing upon a city from the top of a mountain at night.

"I don't suppose you'll tell me anything about where I'm going? It'll help getting a heads-up," I say, trying to get as much as I can.

"First, you don't have a head as you currently are." The Goddess grins at her own joke. "Second, it's a surprise! Anything else you want to ask before you move on?"

"Why don't you just keep me here? If it'll take twenty years, this is the safest and most controlled situation for you," I can't help but ask.

"That's a fair question. The reason is because your soul will just go back to sleep. You need a vessel to properly reawaken."

"Whelp, I guess I'm out of questions now."

"Good, now where should I send you? Hmmm, nope, that place is too rough," Myrou says, considering a distant star before looking at another. "Normally a good place, but right now they are dealing with extensive civil wars, not good timing. Oh, that place is being overrun with ice elementals and winter spirits, a hard pass there. Aha! Found the perfect place, no wars, no predators, and the natives won't be starving." The Goddess looks from star to star before settling on a winking star. "Hmm, that's... interesting; I didn't expect a race like that to evolve in such a way. Ah well, it's the best candidate, and, as a bonus, they worship me! Off you go!"

Myrou draws me back, and, taking a pose with a raised leg, she literally throws me toward the star. Looking back, I see another being manifest next to Myrou. A being like an old library, a freshly made scroll, a professor, the very concept of knowledge and wisdom. It takes the form of an old man with a long white beard reaching the length of his knees. He wears a large pointed hat and black robes with red trim.

"That was sneaky of you, Venaro," Myrou said, in a vaguely accusatory tone.

"Might as well give it the best chance it can get.'' Venaro strokes his beard. The two giants are getting smaller as I fly away.

"You're up to something, and I don't like it." Her voice fades quickly the further I fly away.

"You'll see, hohoho," Venaro laughs, the sound carrying the echoes of great tomes slamming closed.

The star slowly grows bigger and bigger as I approach until white light is all that I see; then, suddenly, I am embraced in a warm and inviting darkness, and soon I fall asleep.

Chapter 1: A Baby Again

I wake up with darkness wrapped me like a warm, inviting blanket. It’s a little too tight, so I try to push back, but my strength quickly fails, and I fall asleep again, exhausted. This happens a few more times before I’m jolted awake by a tight, constricting sensation around me, forcing me through a small tunnel. Again and again, the darkness pushes down on me until I have gone entirely through the tunnel. With the sudden release of pressure, I gasp and feel something wrap around me, and my face is wiped like someone is trying to clean me.

I open my eyes to see the face of a giant. She’s beautiful, with long royal blue hair and large fox-like ears on her head. The ears resemble those of a serval or fennec fox, in size proportional to their head. I’m not entirely sure what servals or fennec foxes are, but thinking about them brings up images of furry creatures. I should know what they are, but for some reason, all I know are the images of them.

Before I can examine the giant woman further, I’m passed to another woman. Her features seem to match that of the first woman, with the same royal blue hair. I notice how soft-looking and well-cared-for the hair is, now that I’m not being jostled around. She also has those ears, with fluffy tufts at the top; they look so soft that I try to reach out to them, but her large ears are too far away.

This woman smiles, her watery blue eyes looking down at me with what I think is motherly love. The two women look similar – sisters, maybe? Same hair and eye color, similar faces, no doubt they are related.

Squeals of delight echo around me, and more faces appear in my vision. It seems they are gushing over me, talking in high-pitched voices and cooing at me. I refocus on my mother, or at least I assume that’s what she is… but doesn’t this mean I’ve been reborn? Shouldn’t it just be born, not reborn? No, reborn sounds right.

Mother appears a little strained, like she has over-exerted herself, but she hugs me to her… holy cow! Her bosom is prestigious, to put it politely. She opens her dress and pops one of them out, bringing my face close. Instinct takes over, and soon a rich, creamy ambrosia fills my mouth.

After having my fill, sleep quickly takes me, even as I try to resist it.

When I next awake, the first thing I notice is the wooden ceiling. I examine the wood, trying to identify it. It honestly looks more like a cream-colored meaty bamboo than wood, although at the same time, it isn’t quite like bamboo either. I’m not sure how I know what bamboo is… well, I don’t really know it, but it just feels right. Abandoning that mystery for now, I continue looking around. Everything seems to be made of the same bamboo-wood whatchamacallit. Bamwood? Sounds like an infomercial product. Wooboo? No, just… no. Amood? I’m really bad at this.

Anyway, I seem to be in some sort of cage… crib… thing… for my peace of mind, I’m going to hope it’s a crib. At least I have a soft cream-colored blanket. I sigh. Welp, guess I’m going to get intimate with boredom. Hang on, why is my vision filled with floating, colorful orbs? And why am I covered in them? They look pretty, but is there something wrong with my vision?

Uh-oh, there’s definitely something wrong, but it seems related to how much I drank earlier. My bowels are moving, getting ever closer to a really bad time. I wail as loudly as I can with that breath I can muster.

“WAAAAHHH!”

O, mine Mother or Father, perhaps caretaker, I summon thee to aid me in my time of great need. Heed my call, let mine beckoning guide your way to mine domain!

Like welcoming thunder, I hear loud footsteps coming closer. My wail seems to have scared off the glowing orbs as they slowly float away like drifting jellyfish.

The blue-haired woman, probably my mother, comes into the room and picks me up, holding me close to her, shushing me… and bouncing me. Oh god, please don’t bounce me – it’s going to make it worse… Too late. The smell of a freshly made mess is as good a signal as ever to change my blanket... and my mom’s shirt.

After that, Mom carries me around for some time, giving me enough opportunity to use her height to see better. I manage to get a good look at our house... hut. The hut isn’t that big. Instead of rooms, there are curtains to section off the hut. It’s round, with a mostly flat roof, as far as I can tell, anyway.

The curtains are made of the same soft stuff as my blanket, with decorative embroidery. There’s a bed next to my crib that I didn’t see before, which looks like it’s for my parents. It, too, has that cream-colored cloth, but this seems to have also been embroidered with decorative patterns and dyed for different coloring.

Mom is wearing a skimpy dress, again, made from the same cloth material as everything else and embroidered fashionably. The dress comes in several electric blue parts; a revealing bra with frills and ribbons, armlets on both her upper arms and forearms with ribbons attached, and a skirt that doesn’t quite reach her knees. Her flat navel is bare and showing a light tan and healthy skin. Lastly, Mom has an emerald amulet around her neck and several earrings on her large ears.

Mom carries me out of the hut and into the open world. The scene almost takes my breath away! Thousands of floating, glowing orbs of all colors, dancing rainbow auroras all congregating at a point in the sky and falling down like a beautiful waterfall onto a gargantuan Mayan-style stepped pyramid with flames licking the stepped sections next to the stairs. A massive European sapphire-blue dragon is flying in the cloud-spotted sky.

Three massive moons hang in the sky. One, which is largest and seemingly closest, is red with ashen clouds, its dark side glowing with fires and lava. The second is a watery blue moon dotted with white and grey clouds. The last is a green moon halfway hiding behind the red moon, sparsely covered with clouds.

Looking around, I see that we’re next to an island with tall shoots of the ‘bamboo trees’. They don’t have branches, but have long growths sprouting from their tops that droop down, weighted by large watermelon-sized fruits.

The street is covered with planks, expertly milled and tightly jointed to each other, leaving no gap. Decorative etchings are engraved into the street, and many people walk around barefoot. The place is kept clean and in good condition. Our hut is built next to the edge of the village, letting me see the distant mountains encircling us, separated by a sea with steam rising from its surface. I can easily see the seafloor under the shallow steaming waters, where colorful corals and crab-like clams walk around with long legs, fighting other crab-clams with large claws.

We’re currently on a jetty with many huts around, but further into the city, there appear to be actual houses and some two- and even three-story houses. It appears this is a jetty village, a village built on the water using piers.

Mom walks to a destination unknown to me, passing by many people who greet her in a friendly manner. They wear dresses similar to her, but in different colors, and their hair is vibrant and colorful with green, red, orange, violet, pink, blue, and more. Also, does everyone seem to have long, amazing hair, or is it just me?

Some of them walk up to me and spout baby-talk, all women. Some are really tall; actually, roughly half of the women are easily a head taller than Mom; while the other half are around her height… odd.

Where are all the men? There’s not a single one in sight. Just colorful-haired, fluffy-eared, and long—, really long-fluffy-tailed women. Seriously, those tails are big. Almost as long as they are tall, maybe a head shorter. They have to curl up their tails, so as not to drag on the ground.

Do I also have a long tail and ears like those? I reach up to feel my ears, and a heavenly soft sensation greets my hands. Yup, they’re pretty large and heavenly soft. The watching women “daww” as I grab my ears, just like one would “daww” at a cute kitten.

All the women here seem gorgeous; tall and short, large-chested, and…larger-chested. Hmm, all the women seem to have been blessed by the boob goddess or something. Some even beat Mom’s size, and I’d have thought that as an achievement, but here she seems average.

We walk past many baths— why are there so many baths? The baths are open-air, built right next to the streets with baskets for clothes and clay jugs on the side. The baths are built so they are partially under the steaming seawater, with gaps to let water in. It’s pretty impressive that an entire sea is hot enough to be nearly boiling; there must be a ton of geothermal heating right underneath… Oh…shit… Are we in the caldera of a massive volcano?! I don’t seem bothered by the humidity or warmth, but whatever a caldera is, I have a bad feeling about it.

Again, strange concepts flitter into my mind, concepts I can understand yet not know what they are. I don’t know what geothermal heating is, but I know it has something to do with the nearly boiling sea.

Welp, volcano or not, good or bad, I’m here, and I can’t change it yet. I just hope we survive long enough— Magic, of course. The volcano won’t do bad things because magic exists, right? I mean, who would be dumb enough to live inside the caldera of a volcano if they can’t prevent an eruption?

God, this is weird. I don’t know what a volcano is, but somehow I know it? My memories are dormant but not forgotten? There, but not accessible? I’m not gonna bother wasting my brainpower on it, just gonna roll with it.

Mom stops in front of a large hut. There are many of those gem-pearls around, decorating the hut. We enter, greeted with the sight of dozens of women working on shaping gem-pearls. Some grind them down, some cut the gems into multiple workable pieces, and others polish the gems. A tall, impressively fit-looking woman is inspecting their work, along with an even more important-looking woman standing next to the former.

Mom walks up to the tall inspector and says something that I don’t understand. She hands me to her, entrusting me to the fit woman. Getting a closer look, the tall woman has long braided white hair with red gem dust sprinkled over her face and hair, making it look like she has glitter on her. Her beautiful red eyes gaze at me as she holds me close to her generous but smaller-than-average bosom – and by average, I meant average for this place.

She coos over me, pats my head and says something in a babying voice. Really helping me learn the language there; like, seriously, if I didn’t know better I’d have thought baby talk was normal!

We soon leave the place, letting the white-haired woman return to her work, and travel to one of the bathing areas. It’s off the main road, down a side road, and on the right. There are no walls, no changing rooms, just an open area for all to see, and anyone walking by can get an eyeful. Is it like this because there are no men around? In the baths, I see some women combing and oiling their long hair. Oil is also being rubbed on their skin. Is that why these women are so beautiful and have such lustrous hair? Is magic involved?

Mom begins stripping off her dress – yup, right in front of everyone – and is somehow juggling me while not jostling me around too much. She puts her dress in a basket next to the bathing area, then unwraps me from my blanket and puts that in her basket as well. Crime must not really be a thing here, if you can trust your possessions to any passersby.

Mom walks into the water and other women gather around, babying me and questioning Mom. I’m really starting to get tired of this… and this is just day one! A few minutes pass, all but two of the women disperse, and Mom sits further down in the water. She gingerly dips me into the hot waters and sloshes water over me while her hair is being combed by another woman. As the baths lower into the seawater, I expect the water to taste salty, but it’s actually fresh. A sea of fresh water?

The two women talk as we wash. Another woman brings a clay jug and sits beside Mom. Mom thanks her – or I assume that’s what she meant, it’s just one sound – and pours a small amount of oil into her hand. She rubs some on me, the oil smelling fruity and citrusy, like apples and lemons and…something else? Hard to tell. The other woman also oils herself and Mom, combing it into her hair and rubbing it on her legs.

I never liked the oily feeling. Oh! A past experience makes itself known – it’s always been technical stuff before now, and I still don’t know anything, but it’s there somewhere within my headspace – or soulspace? Anyway, with this many bathing areas in the town and access to volcano water, bathing must be a daily thing.

After washing up and oiling down, we soak in the waters, Mom splashing more water over me as the other woman takes an empty jug, fills it with water and pours it over Mom and herself. Oddly, I feel less and less oily – are the oils emulsifying in the water? No, it isn’t bubbling, but my body definitely feels less slippery.

After rinsing off the oils, Mom begins nursing me. These people are very open, so I don’t know why I’m surprised by this. Once we finish taking our sweet time in the baths, we get dressed, me being wrapped up in my blanket. We walk over to the docks, where many canoe-like boats are docked. None of them have sails, but instead have oars attached to the sides.

The boats are made from the creamy-colored bamboo wood and well decorated. Many have nets on the sides, probably to hold fish or those crab-clams or whatever. More boats are out on the waters, and some even have people diving beneath the water with baskets and coming out with stuff. I’m too far away to see them clearly, though I can see pretty far now that I think about it; I have pretty good eyesight, for whatever reason.

The other islands also have jetty villages attached to the sides. I suppose with the limited land, they simply do all the farming on land and build off to the side. Speaking of which, all the islands are covered in unusually straight trees, like really thick bamboo stalks, except the Temple Island, if I remember correctly, but I can’t see that one from here. But why trees? No crops? Surely there are crops, where else do you get your greens?

Hmm?

Mom seems to be saying something to me and pointing at what I’m looking at. I’m not sure what she’s saying, but at least she isn’t baby-talking to me. More people come and go, doing the usual greeting and wanting to see me. I still haven’t seen any men around. Maybe there’s a men’s village? Wait, am I female? Or just too young to be at the men’s island?

After some time, we go back to our hut, and now I’m back to staring at the ceiling. The ceiling is flat, but the roofs are tapered. That means we have an attic, right? Welp – boredom time again. Boredom sucks. What to do? Bug mom for attention? Oh god, now I know why babies cry so much— no, I don’t want to be like that. I’ll make do with my imagination and review what I’ve learned today.

One. We’re probably in a giant volcano.

Two. Dragons are nice? I saw one flying around, and no one panicked, so I’m guessing they’re good guys.

Three. We’re island people. That means a lot of seafood.

Four. These people like to bathe and seem to have skin- and hair-care products.

Five. No men around. Could we be this world’s version of amazons? Kidnap men from other places and all that? Hmm, dunno.

Six. There are auroras. Hmm. Magic leylines? Oh! That could be it! Either that or we’re near one of the poles and live in a volcano because it’s warm. But I don’t think auroras intersect like that, nor do they spill downward like a waterfall. I’m betting on Ley Lines, which means we’re near a place of power.

If there’s a place of power nearby, that means there’s magic, so maybe if I open myself up to the energies, I can learn how to do magic? That’s sometimes how it’s done in stories... How do I know but not know these things? It’s seriously bugging me.

Anyway, I close my eyes, trying to feel…something. Something I’ve never felt before… Nothing. Well, there’s a tingle in my fingers, but that’s probably because my arm fell asleep. Welp, worth a try. But maybe I’m not doing it, right? Let’s see… Magic often involves thought or imagination. Perhaps I need to clear my mind?

I clear my thoughts, banishing all emotions and distractions, washing them away in an imaginary river – there’s nothing except me and the energies of this world. Well, my head’s starting to hurt… is that a good sign? Other than a mild headache, I’m not getting anything. I don’t know how long I’ve been doing this, but it feels like some time has passed. Hmm. If not body and mind, then perhaps soul? I really have no clue how all these things work; I’m just hoping it’ll be painless. Here goes nothing!

For the next I-don’t-know-how-long, I lay there, motionless. I may have fallen asleep once or twice during my meditation. I guess being carried around for a few hours is tiring work. I wake up with my tail in my arms, and I guess I’m using it as a hug pillow. I try moving it away, but something stops me from removing such a soft and whole thing out of my embrace. Why does my tail have to be so heavenly? Also, is it me, or is my tail proportionally longer to me than the womens’ are to them?

I refocus on the most inner part of myself: my core, my existence. This! This might just be it. I can feel something, a pressure— no, a wall. I need to get past this wall. Just as I make a breakthrough, I feel myself being picked up. I try to squirm in protest, but what can a baby do? I open my eyes to see Mom looking down at me with a smile and warm blue eyes, her face framed by her royal blue hair.

She opens her dress to nurse me. Just then, I feel the empty pit in my stomach. I’m not exactly hungry, but I’m peckish. Mom says something to me, but it’s not like I can understand her anyway, so I just drink my dinner in silent frustration. The white-haired lady from the gem cutters is also here, talking with Mom, and after I have my dinner, Mom passes me off to her.

Along with the white-haired woman, we return to the town…village…or whatever. It’s dusk now, and I’m pretty sure it was morning when we were last out – was I really meditating/sleeping that long? After being stopped many times by people asking to see me, Mom enters a house with a long counter. Mom sets a large clay jug on the counter and says something. The clerk lady says something in response and moves behind a door. She comes out with a fairly sizable block of cheese and round coin-shaped rubies. Are gems so common that they’re used as coins?!

Anyway, we leave the cheese store and visit other stores. Mom gets a clam with crab-like pincers and legs, meat for dinner, i suppose – no fish, though – and some dried fruit chips. We return to our hut to drop off the groceries, then leave again. All the while, we’re hounded by people… okay, it isn’t that bad, but all the baby talk may just make me vomit.

We enter a large stony area carved out from an offshore rock, where a large bonfire has been lit. People deftly dance around the fire to the beat of drums and other stringed instruments. Mom sways with the music, humming and occasionally patting my head with a smile.

After the dancing comes what I think is story time: everyone gathers around one person while she speaks, sometimes dramatically or humorously. Then the next person comes up and tells their story. This one speaks in such a way as to tell an epic, but it must have something to do with the gods as I hear Myrou’s name many times. Next, someone comes up and sings. Her voice is well-practiced and beautiful.

After a few singers, a pink-haired young woman comes up with a giant, featureless wooden statue, smiling nervously. She wears the same type of dress as everyone else. The figure is humanoid and female, with a simple representative dress, but what surprises me the most is that the goddess Myrou is projected onto it… at least I think that until the projection winks at me – no one else seems to have noticed that, though. Everyone cheers and congratulates the sculptor, who looks bashful and titters.

Then comes the time when Mom steps in front of everyone to show me off, the newest addition to the village. People compliment Mom or me, I’m not sure, and soon enough, Mom leaves the stage with me.

By the time the traditions are done, the moons are high in the sky, and everyone trails to a large communal bathing area, where everyone bathes in the waters, oils down, and soaks. People talk, complain, and congratulate one another. This bathing area has another statue of the goddess: a naked, featureless statue of a woman holding a clay jug with water pouring out of it. Myrou’s projection on it smiles warmly at me without shifting from her pose. It seems like no one else has noticed the slight twitch of her lips.

After the bonfire party, we return to our hut, but someone else joins us. It’s the tall white-haired woman – why is she here? Welp, I don’t know the circumstances, so I’m just gonna konk out now.