A/N

Thoughts

"Talking"

Mind-Speak

Disclaimer:

I only own my own characters, not anything else.

Finally, they had arrived at Atsu's torch, they immediately noticed that something was wrong. The mist that usually shrouded the area was gone and there was a faint trace of spirit energy that was lingering in the air. But the most important thing in this area…

"WHERE DID THE TORCH GO!?" Tatsu yelled as she dropped from the tree she had climbed.

"Everyone! We must find the torch." Said Eki as he came racing to a stop behind Fil, "Spread out it couldn't have gone far. The fog hasn't retracted yet."

They all frantically looked around for any trace of Atsu's torch anywhere. The clearing echoed with the pattering of their hooves. None of them knew that there was another presence watching and listening to their every move.

Eventually Tatsu came to a log wedged in the dirt between two of the stone pillars. She could swear that she could see a faint green glow coming from the mouth of the hollow log. So, she walked over to it and bent down to look inside. She was surprised by what she saw.

A pair of eyes, ringed with black and white pupils, stared back at her with a panicked look. Their staring contest felt like it took forever. The child was becoming more and more scared, so she frowned in concern as the glow just behind their eyes increased. Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening just as a massive wave of light exploded out of the child. It washed over her and all she could feel was terror, but it was not her terror.

A green light grew out from behind the child and washed over the both of them. It was emitting a calming aura trying to prevent the child from killing themself from overusing their spirit light.

I guess that's where the torch is.

She rushed over to the child as they collapsed, their light shining through their fur. She knew it was dangerous channeling that much spirit light. "Help! I need some help over here!" She screamed as she brought the child into her arms. She started to rub in between their ears like her big sister used to do. I always calmed her down, so she figured that it would do the same for them.

As they slipped away into unconsciousness, she started to channel some of her light into them to keep them from going into a coma. She whispered to them until she felt them go limp.

As she kept feeding spirit light into them the rest of her scout team arrived and started to channel their light into the child as well.

"Will they make it?" she quietly asked.

"I think so." Tatsu replied morosely, "They shouldn't be able to use that amount of power at this stage in their life. The Spirit Tree was right, this is different… I just hope that this one will do good things with their power."

Agreement.

Frowning, Tatsu scolded, "Oh don't get me started on you, Atsu. You should not have freaked the kid out like that. They could have died. When we get back to the grove, I am going to give you one hell of a talk." The torch seemed to dim ever so slightly after hearing that. "Ok, they seem to be stabilizing let's get you back up to your pedestal" she said as she lifted the torch up from inside the log.

Thankful.

The torch was a heavy object, it was a wonder the kid managed to bring it this far from its pedestal. She heaved the torch back up onto the pedestal and it shuddered and raised up while glowing brighter. The glyphs on the pillars around it lit up with an earthly green glow. Sending a signal to the forest that the misty woods were now safe to navigate without the fear of getting lost.

She watched as Tatsu and Eki conversed with the armored beetle that the Spirit Tree was possessing. They were informing him of the situation. The Spirit Tree seemed unsurprised that the disturbance in the light was a spirit. The spirit in question was barely a child. It was a wonder that they had gotten as far as they did. It would have been at least a few days journey from the other disturbance site.

The Spirit Tree said something about making sure that they had found the true reason for the disturbances and to bring the child back so they could work on their control. He didn't say much more than that, so they all nodded their heads and the Spirit Tree's presence left the beetle. The beetle shook its head and looked around with a confused look in its eyes. After giving a snort it ran away deeper into the forest.

She turned back to Tatsu and Eki and gave them a look. "You guys go on ahead to the other site I can take the little one back to the grove."

They both nodded at her request and started running towards the first disturbance site. She turned back to look at the unconscious spirit. Walking over to where the child was sleeping, she inspected their body for any other damage that she would have to fix before they woke up. Although she found nothing but superficial cuts and scrapes that they had accumulated throughout their journey to the torch, there was a worrying scar on their head that seemed to barely be healed. She was surprised that she didn't see that beforehand. Spirits are supposed to heal from almost every wound almost overnight so she will wait and see if that heals.

Petting the top of their head with a sad look on her face she moved them to a mat of moss that she had found earlier. She laid down beside them to keep warm and drifted off to sleep confident that the torch would wake her should anything come up.

I jolted awake, a rush of reality hitting me in the face as I drew deep breaths. There was a warm presence wrapped around me. A glowing white arm wrapped around my body. I froze in fear as I remembered what happened yesterday, those creatures that were searching for me and they must have found me. As I looked to my right, I saw one of those creatures snoozing quietly. It looked adorable.

The snoring stopped and I tensed up. I closed my eyes and pretended to be still asleep. As their arm moved from my body, I could hear a yawn coming from where they were. Such human mannerisms, If I didn't know anything about them, I would think that they are human. I felt a pat on my head as they got up and started to move around the area.

A bunch of pacing, muttering and the occasional crack of a branch assaulted my ears. After a while they came to a stop, sitting on the log I hid in when they found me. A soft munching sound reached my ears, as they took a bite of a apple sounding fruit. They sighed.

"I know you are awake young one." They spoke. I stayed still. "I will not hurt you. My friends have left already. You don't need to run away anymore."

I opened my eyes and stared at them. There they sat on the log with an unreadable expression on their face. "Why should I believe you?" I asked them while picking myself off of the ground. I noted the blanket of moss that fell off me. They shrugged at the question and threw an apple like fruit at me. I caught it on a reflex and looked it over. It looked like an apple and smelled like an apple. "Where did you find this? I could only find those green fruits."

"They are a plentiful fruit, scattered throughout Nibel and you should go easy on those green fruits. They can be highly addictive, even it they do heal most wounds no matter how grievous. Though…" they walked over to me and stroked the scar on my face," it did not work on this."

I slapped their hand away. "Don't touch me." I snarled. "I don't know who you are or what is going on. All I know is a voice spoke to me in my head, and I am pretty sure it was that big ass blue tree.

"He's talked to you? That is a surprise… although the light ceremony is coming closer, so it does make sense. You must be one of the candidates little sibling."

"Hold on! Sibling?!" I frown in disbelief. "Then where were you when I was born, asshat?!"

"Spirits don't get 'Born' like the rest of the life forms on this earth. They come to being like seeds to a tree. They fly away from the father tree and form into existence. Though many of these seeds do fall right in the grove. Including me. I imagine that your seed fell from the tree during the storm and had gotten carried all the way out here." They said with a thoughtful look on their face.

"Tree people huh?"

Amusement.

They smiled at that response and started to walk towards me with their arms open. I let them approach with caution. I felt their arms wrap around me before I had a chance to realize what was happening. This felt nice. I haven't felt a hug in a long time. A small smile worked its way across my face. As we separated, a warm feeling filled my chest. They looked at me with a happy expression, and I couldn't stop myself from grinning right back. "What is your name? I prefer to know my company when on a trip."

"Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Tatsu." They answered. "I am female, before you ask."

"Nice to meet you Tatsu. Why did you specify that you are a female?"

"Well, our species doesn't exactly have genders. We get to decide which one! Or not to have one! Speaking of which, you should decide on what you want to be. You don't have to choose right away, just keep it in the back of your mind." She replied.

That's certainly different. "Ok! So, what now?"

"Now it's time to bring you home so you can meet father and all of your siblings!"

Oh joy, a large crowd. Of new people. I forced a smile, "Great! I can't wait to meet them!"

"Don't worry, they might be a little annoying at first, but you come to love them all the same. Either way, they are at least a few days journey from here. Speaking of which, we should start heading back."

Reassurance. Anticipation.

"What my brother is trying to say is that…"

"Your brother?" I said tiredly, "how can a ball of light be your brother?"

"Well, it's not exactly my brother, it is an extension of his consciousness and light. It fuels the sphere in which he has housed them. He knows always around this torch, and to be honest I don't know how he can deal with it. Literally being in two places at once." She frowned at the torch.

I deal with it just fine sister.

"Whoa! Did you make any improvements to the torch because you just talked."

I did, didn't I? Must be that power boost that the kid gave me. I should be able to keep the torch at this level for at least a couple years. It was a lot of power that I had to work with. I just hope that it didn't hurt you.

"No… I'll be fine, thank you." I replied.

You're welcome, I'll be waiting to talk to you more once you arrive at the grove.

And with that his presence left the area and the torch dimmed down to a dull green glow. So, I turned back towards Tatsu and motioned forwards with my hands. "Ok let's go before I find out something else that sounds completely crazy."

"Party pooper." She pouted as I smirked in amusement.

And so, we left the dormant torch to watch over the woods and headed towards the Spirit Tree. Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought it would.