Hilda had seen plenty of strange things in her life. She'd been nearly eaten by trolls dozens of times, had constant visits from a walking tree, and giants roamed the area around her home freely and often. So, when she woke up in the middle of the night with a message written on her arm that she hadn't put there, she was at an uncharacteristic loss for words.
"Hello?" the writing read, in a loopy print that was nearly cursive. Was there a ghost in her room trying to communicate, had one of the little guys that left her mum notes somehow gotten to her room and written on her? Hilda's brain spun as she paced, her cold hardwood floor chilling her feet. She couldn't ask Mum about it, since she was already asleep, and her quietly asking if anyone was in the room with her hadn't resulted in any more messages.
As she passed her window, she paused and then ran to look again. Woodman was walking past the house towards the trees, and Hilda rushed downstairs to try and catch him before he got too far, Twig following with a whine. Woodman was always reading a book when he came over, so maybe he would have some ideas!
"Woodman!" Hilda called as she exited her front door. The creature paused in his tracks, head turning to look over his shoulder before his whole body followed suit.
"Oh, it's you," he said calmly as the child approached. "What's a kid like you doing up at a time like this?"
Hilda panted a little from dashing to the countryman, her voice a gasp. "I need your help with something. You seem like you know a lot of stuff, and I can't ask my mum about this right now because she's asleep, but I really need an answer fast." She pulled up her sleeve, revealing the writing. "I woke up with this on my arm, and I know I didn't write it. Do you have any idea what it could be?"
Woodman inspected her arm for a moment, before a chuckle came from him. "Well, your mom never told you about this? I guess you are pretty young…" he ran a finger over the message as he talked. "It's a message from your soulmate."
"Soulmate? What do you mean, can kids even have soulmates?" Hilda raised a brow, looking at her arm with a confused frown.
"Well, everyone's got a soulmate. And from what I know, you humans have something a little special. Any mark that appears on your soulmates body also appears on yours. Looks like your soulmate's looking for ya." Woodman laughed, shaking his head and putting his hands on his hips. "You've never woken up with a bruise you didn't remember getting?"
Hilda was quiet, a calm surprise on her face. "Wow…" she murmured, eyes raising from the message from her soulmate and looking up at the stars. "…I guess I should write back, huh?" She smiled warmly, turning back to the house. "Thanks, Woodman." She waved as she headed back to her front door.
She kicked off her shoes and headed back to her room, grabbing a marker and raising it to her arm. "Hello to you, too," she wrote on her forearm, sitting on her bed.
A response came quickly, a more rushed version of that curly font appearing under her own writing. "Oh gosh I didn't think you would actually answer! Hi, I'm Frida!"
Hilda chuckled at the excitement clear in her soulmate – Frida's – writing. She sure didn't expect this to happen when she had woken up, but she was very excited herself to see where this would go. "It's nice to meet you, Frida. My name is Hilda."