Ori and the Spirits Within

Chapter 17: Recall

Ori, Ku, Naru, and Gumo were all inside their home, huddled around their nests and chairs. Each of them discussed what they have been doing since then.

"Well..." Naru started. "I've mainly been keeping to myself, helping the Moki, making food for them, and just keeping myself busy. It still wasn't enough to keep me from worrying, but I found some peace during the time you were away."

"It's ok, Mom." Ku said. "You can worry about us as much as you want. Still, have a little more faith in us. Nibel is much more peaceful than it was before."

"Yeah, you're right. Anyways, I was just making some food for them Moki when you came h- wait." Naru instantly got up and looked outside at the food. Luckily, it all seemed still there, as the Moki began to eat some of it. Thank goodness. Wouldn't want that criminal getting the food.

"Everything alright, Naru?" Ori asked.

"Oh! Yeah, everything's fine honey. I was just making sure the food was still there." Naru breathed a sigh of relief, and sat back down in her chair.

"Well, I've been really busy with work." Gumo said. "We have been working really hard on fixing the Wellspring, and it's pretty much done. Grom and I were actually renovating the Luma Pools when you came back."

"You saw us?" Ku asked.

"Yeah, you and that sleepyhead over there."

"W-Well, it was a busy trip. It's not my fault I was helping out Nibel so much." Ori said.

"Yeah, ok." Gumo laughed. "Well, the Moki were complaining about how that area was always difficult to traverse due the cliffs that surrounded pretty much every area. So, we were working to make pathways for them to walk on."

"That's nice, Dad." Ku said happily.

"Now then..." Naru said, looking at her children. "We're curious as to what you were up to. Umm, I'm sorry to pry into your matters, but why did you want to go back to Nibel, Ku?"

"O-Oh... uhhh... it's because... well... I wanted to visit Mom's nest." The mood immediately dropped in the room. "I... I was just making sure that the nest wasn't broken or anything." Ku slightly teared up, and Naru came to comfort her. Naru knew she was lying, but didn't want to push the subject further. She knows that Ku is still grieving over that.

"I know, honey. I know. It's ok to be afraid to say these sorts of things, but you know something?" Ku looked up to her mother, tears in her eyes. "I bet your mother would be very proud of what a brave and kind girl you've become. She would have been happy that you came to check on her."

"Y-Yeah... *sniffle* thank you." Ku said, embracing her for a hug.

'Would have...' Ori thought. So that's why she wanted to come to Nibel... to visit her dead mother. I'm sorry I didn't know Ku.

"Well then, what about you Ori?" Gumo asked. "You're the one who started this whole thing anyway. What did you do in Nibel?"

Ok, keep calm. Don't mention Ori or the Soul Scape. "Oh, well... When I got there, after visiting our old nest, I went to the Spirit Tree. All the spirits there were so happy at my return, and-"

"You're not going to mention what happened at the nest?" Ku asked seriously.

"...what happened at the nest?" Naru asked curiously.

Great. Thank you for reminding me of that, Ku. I reeeeally wanted to talk about that. "W-Well, when we entered the nest, a... uhh... a memory came back to me."

"Well, that's great, honey!" Naru answered happily.

"Well, the memory itself is not." Ori said seriously. Naru looked at Ori confused, so Ori mentioned what happened. "The day suddenly became dark, and the nest turned cold. When I looked around the nest, some of the stuff wasn't there, a-and... a-and..." Ori teared up. "I-I saw you there, s-sleeping. I t-tried waking you up, but you wouldn't no m-matter h-how hard I tried, and then this c-creature appeared in the n-nest and started screaming at me. I *sniffle* I d-didn't know what t-to do, until Ku came and helped me out of it." Ori looked down and covered his eyes with his arm. Naru and Gumo looked at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Although, it was slightly different from how they remember it. Naru came to comfort the child, picking him up in her arms. Ori looked towards her, a few tears streaming down his cheeks. "Y-You, Gumo, and Ku didn't talk about Nibel that much if at all, and whenever I brought it up, you deflected the topic. What... What happened there?"