Chapter 1: Memories

Memories filled my mind, swirling and churning until I thought I was far past overwhelmed. Emotions I'd never felt before were blossoming within my newborn body. It was strange here already as I tried to absorb everything I could without opening my eyes. There was a strange smell that I couldn't place, with only slightly familiar voices talking around me. It was not my memory of them, I realized, but hers.

I could see glimpses of ten different planets, ten different lives, and yet only one place of contentment. I could hear a human… no, a host arguing with her internally. As new as I was I was quite certain hosts were supposed to be gone when we arrived.

I saw moments of heat and passion between two humans with unscarred necks and flat colored eyes and saw an unexplainable love to the others in the fleeting memories. I could see the memory of her final goodbye to her friends, the memories of waking up again. A boy reappeared in each that seemed important, always smiling beside her.

I could see what had followed; the love with the human, the friendship with the others. I saw her deceit to the other souls and even began remembering far more humans still present.

I saw the little boy die with a smile still on his lips, his hands clutching onto her and another girl, the host body that was somehow again itself. I could see the host body die too, along with many other humans who meant only a little to my subconscious.

Finally I saw a very, very old human with her for the last time, tears standing in his kind eyes. I could hear her comforting him, bidding him farewell with the explanation that it was all for the best. I could see her laying down in a Healer's ward for the last time, smiling in a melancholy sort of way as she waited for her final death to come.

I gasped and my eyes opened in panic, staring around the room.

"Hello, little one," A Healer said gently, "Welcome to Earth."

I shuddered as the memories retreated slowly from my mind, still leaving a strange feeling of determination behind. I could see a group of kind souls standing around me, and yet my heart yearned suddenly to find the humans that had seemed so vivid in my mind.

"Your mother was a very wise soul, young one. Falling Star was her name. A truly amazing traveler."

I shook my head slowly, golden curls bouncing in an annoying fashion with each movement of my head. "Her name was Wanda."

The healers stared at me in surprise, and I immediately wondered if I'd said something wrong. "The soul's called her Wanderer," I clarified in a whisper.

My eyes were locked on the healer's face, wondering why he looked so surprised.

"Wanderer?" He repeated in surprise, thinking this over. "A fitting name, I suppose, though unlikely. I was told that soul disappeared in the desert, never to be found."

"I have her memories," I pointed out softly, "She was found."

The Healer did not argue, only shrugged a little and began to clean up his workspace. "Would you like to name yourself, or keep your hosts name?"

It only then occurred to me that it was not only my mother's memories swirling in my head to the point of distraction. I let them wash over me again, listening to my host's story.

To say the least, it was not as interesting as my mother's was. Looking for the first time at my hands I realized that I was a child not only in mind, but in physique. There was no experience or wisdom from my host, only a few hazy memories of playing at the park with other children yet to be turned to Souls. There was nothing remarkable about her soul parents, or even about her last times before becoming a host. There was no one speaking to me in the back of my mind like my mother had clearly been plagued with. I didn't like it.

"I don't know her name," I said truthfully. No matter which memory I searched for, I couldn't seem to hear anyone speak my name. All I heard was the praise of parents and the teasing of human children.

"Well, would you like to make one up then?" He asked gently, still smiling like every other soul in the room.

I was about to give up my search and pick a new name before I finally found it. Deep in my host's memory I could hear her final few thoughts as her parents took her to be "sacrificed".

"It will be alright, Honey. Everything will be alright." Her mother cooed to the frightened child, stroking her hair. "You'll always be my baby… You'll always be Honey."

I realized for the first time why I hadn't been able to locate a name. It had sounded too much like the nicknames every parent used.

"Honey," I said softly, "Her… My name is Honey."