"...I embraced the light when my name was Ori," said Mint. "It was the will of the wisps that life begin anew…"

The three of them sat in tense silence.

"And that was it," she finished. "That was the last thing I heard."

They sat by a fire they had started mid-story, as dusk fell to night.

"So that was his name," Keo said distantly. "Ori."

"And here I was thinking I was a great warrior," said Fir.

"Hey, don't say that! You're a good warrior: you'd have done the same if you were in his position!"

"No way! I'd have easily gotten myself killed! He should have died hundreds of times over, but didn't...he pulled through..."

Keo raised an eyebrow at Fir.

"Is that humility?" he teased. "Did I just sense humility?"

"I will never...NOT...be humble...ever again," Fir replied.

The two of them playfully shoved each other and shared a laugh. Mint just smiled and wiped away another tear. Her smile quickly faded though, as an important detail from her father's memories had yet to be addressed.

"But what about the will of the wisps?" she asked. "The will of Seir? She used him!"

"I mean, yeah, of course her will would be to revitalize the forest," said Fir. "What else is the purpose of spirit light?"

"But I think that's missing the point, Fir: it wasn't Ori's will. What Mint is trying to say is that everything points to Ori becoming the spirit tree solely to save Ku!"

"He could've cared less about Niwen," said Mint somberly. "About us."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," said Fir. "After Kwolok died, he must've known that someone would have to take over."

"But I felt it, Fir! In that moment…*sniff*...right as he pulled in the light...all he could think about was Ku! Saving her was the first thing he did!"

"But then...why? Why does he tell us this now?"

"You think I know?!" Mint snapped. "You think I wanted to see any of this?!"

Taken aback by her sudden anger, Fir held up his paws.

"Hey! Calm down!" he said.

"I AM CALM!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Keo stole a quick look at Fir before addressing Mint.

"Why are you so angry all of a sudden?" he asked.

Mint took a deep breath before throwing up her own paws.

"I'm sorry, but I've been through a lot of freaking emotions today!" she said, standing up. "I almost died, twice! Once because my own people tried to execute me, again when I had to reface that howler, and now there's this vision!"

She had been pacing for most of that monologue, and only now did she stop to cover her eyes with one paw.

"I jus-I didn't ask for any of this!" she said finally. "I don't know what we are...or what our purpose is..."

She plopped back down with her head in her paws.

"I'm just confused," she finished.

"We're all confused, Mint," said Keo. "And don't think that anyone, that we, expect all the answers from you."

"But I wish I did! I'm the only one who looked into all of this. I should know all the answers, but I don't!"

"Well, that's about the worst responsibility you could put upon yourself."

They all remained quiet again, letting that sink in. Fir then stood up and walked over to his sister.

"You don't need to know all the answers, Mint," he said, kneeling down and placing a paw on her shoulder. "Not now at least. Why don't we all get some sleep? We've had a long day, maybe we'll be able to think straight and figure something out tomorrow?"

"I concur!" said Keo, before flopping onto his back. "Finally someone understands!"

"Heh, good night, boss!"

"Good night, brother!"

As Fir stood up and turned around, a paw grabbed onto his arm.

"Fir, wait!" said Mint. "Sleep with me."

"What?"

"Please? I...I don't want to be alone on the grass tonight."

Fir looked into her pleading eyes, and he understood: she was scared and just needed someone to comfort her. With a sigh, he laid down behind her before awkwardly putting an arm around her waist. He felt her relax as he pulled himself in towards her. He then snuck both arms around her and nuzzled his head into the back of her neck. Soon after, the two of them dozed off.

. . .

Thrashing and squealing, Mint suddenly awoke in cold sweat. It was still dark out; she must not have gotten even a few hours of sleep!

"What?! Wha-?!" Fir exclaimed, who was startled awake when she suddenly sat up. "What happened?"

The commotion had stirred Keo awake as well. He simply looked up at the two of them as he continued to rest on his side.

"I...I was him," Mint said breathlessly. "And...I was dying...over...and over...and over again!"

"Huh?" said Fir, clearly confused.

"He drowned...got impaled...was suffocated by poisoned water...burned in lava...he died so. Many. Times!"

She turned around and grabbed Fir by the shoulders.

"He died hundreds of times, Fir!" she cried.

"How?" Fir asked. "I thought you said-"

"He was blessed and cursed with ability from his father, called 'Soul Link'. It allowed him to come back to a certain spot if he died! But his journey was so deadly, he kept dying and coming back and dying-"

She lost her voice to her sobs for a second.

"The poor thing!" she bawled. "He suffered so much!"

"Wasn't he...even younger than us, too?" Keo asked tentatively.

"Yeheheheees!"

She broke down once again, and Fir just cradled her in his arms. She cried for a few more minutes.

"And it was just after he'd lost his adoptive mom," she continued after some time. "He-he was all alone…"

She touched one of Fir's arms that was wrapped around her.

"He had no other spirit guardian to hug him!" she cried. "No one to comfort him through all that trauma…"

Fir and Keo had no idea what to say, but then maybe it was best to say nothing. They simply listened to Mint's quiet sobs, grieving over someone who had never actually died.

"Oh, dad," she finished.

"How many times did it happen in Niwen?" asked Fir.

"I...didn't see any from Niwen," she replied. "Nothing that looked like it anyway."

"Really?" said Keo.

"I don't know. Maybe I just didn't see them all…"

"I guess there was no way you were gunna sleep through all of that, huh?" said Fir.

"...I don't know if I want to go back to sleep!"

"You have to, Mint. You need your rest!"

"What's the point?! There's no food out here and we can't go back! We're just going to starve!"

"If we get good rest, then we may just be able to figure something out in the morning," said Keo. "We have to hold onto hope!"

"Just think of home, Mint," said Fir. "Maybe we'll find a way…"

"*sniff*Okay…"

She curled back into a ball and bravely quieted her mind, nodding off again as Fir re-wrapped himself around her.

. . .

When they awoke, it was to the sight of multi-colored flowers and grass beaming in the sunshine. Fir slowly rose to a sitting position, while Mint rolled onto her back to look up at him.

"The dawn always arrives," he said poetically. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling. "A little."

Mint had to admit, the scenery couldn't be frowned at! At least, not immediately. The crushing reality of their situation soon crept back into her mind, and she found herself sadly staring up at the blue sky.

"Then why the long face?" asked Fir.

"Our situation still stinks," she said flatly.

Fir frowned at this, ears drooping a little as well, before he slapped the ground and stood up.

"Not for long," he stated matter-of-factly. "Not if I have something to say about it!"

He started up the hill of flowers behind Mint, eyes full of determination.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Come on! I wanna show you something," he replied.

Mint slowly stood up and followed, ever curious. It sounded as though he were about to offer a solution to their dire circumstance, but what could possibly fix any of it?

She met him at the top of the hill, where he held out a paw to stop her.

"Stand back," he said. "It's time you learned something, a skill I'm sure you wished you'd learned before you faced those howlers!"

With a flick of his arms he produced two spirit edges, one in each paw. He then held one behind his back and spun the other around for a few seconds, finally ending the flourish by offering its hilt out to Mint.

"Take it," he said with a smile. "Your training starts now!"

"Show-off!" Mint snickered, cautiously taking the sword from his paw. "But, doesn't this take years to train?"

"Heh, don't worry: you really don't need to know any of that fancy stuff! Think of that like...shooting a single spirit arc through several rings that you tossed into the air. It's cool and all, but does that really help you in a fight beyond knowing the basics?"

"Probably not. It's just fluff."

"Exactly! Now, feel the sword in your paws, and get used to its weight distribution."

Mint examined Fir's spirit edge in her paw, running a finger along its blade.

"What's your plan with this, anyway?" she asked.

"The plan is for you to use spirit edge to kill that howler," he answered.

She tensed up, knowing exactly what he was going to say next.

"You're gunna collect its fang, and you're gunna present it to the Elders."

She started shaking her head in doubt.

"It's your best bet to prove that you're still on their side! Maybe they'll accept it, maybe they won't, but it's better than teleporting back with nothing!"

"It's also better to not get killed, Fir."

"With this skill, the pack leader may still kill you, but if you return without proof they will definitely kill you!"

"But I'm not on their side! I don't think they understand what they're doing any more than we do!"

"You have something, Mint! Our father showed you something...personal. Maybe if we go back and explain things, the Elders or someone can help us fill in the gaps."

Mint stayed quiet.

"And maybe that's all this is, huh?" he continued. "A misunderstanding."

More silence from Mint.

"We have to try, sis...you have to try…'cause I know for a fact that we won't even make it to the explaining part without that fang at the very least!"

After another moment, she took a deep breath and nodded in agreement.

"Now, like I said, you don't need anything fancy," Fir started, taking a fighting stance with his sword. "All you need to know is a series of five strikes…"