Loki and Nym

Part 1- The snap

It was early morning on Alsoi, all the animals around were joining in the chorus that woke me up. I stretched from my bed, and pulled myself together, swept my hair out of my face and began to walk out of the dense leaves that made a door to my home. The suns were shining through the scattered purple clouds and for a moment I allowed myself to breathe in the fresh air and the sounds of the forest, before sighing deeply and opening my eyes.

I looked around, our clan was finally starting to resemble what it was 5 years ago. There were so few children, any that lived seem far older than they should, rushing to grow up to help the rest of us. The last 5 years had been longer than the 420 I'd lived before it. Without my brother, Nilan, I realised I've grown up a lot too, admittedly there are only half the amount of people that he'd had to look after, but given he was twice my age, I'd say that was a fair enough trade.

Walking around greeting everyone as they woke up I tried my best to put on a smile, I still see the hope in people here and I don't want to shake it. I suppose it's different for us, the unbreakable bond that each of us share with one other person in this entire universe is stronger than even death. These people had to believe that everyone was coming back, one half of their souls were missing. Once again I found myself grateful that I'd never found my soul pairing, my Umesco, the pain I'd watched my people go through as they were ripped in two, it couldn't be worth it.

I arrived at the clan house, a grand tree where the grass and flowers floated all the way up to the clouds, every colour imaginable swirling around it. No matter how many times I see the tree I am still amazed by it, the true beauty of nature, and here she is, the heart of nature through all Alsoi, maybe through the entire universe.

Walking towards me was a figure I knew too well, she looked better today then she had in a while. So many people had simply stopped being after the disappearances, they walked around as if there was no life left in them. But she just kept going, "your brother would break if he found out I'd stopped living my life" she'd told me two years ago. We'd had a huge argument, I've never really had one before but after a particularly long day I'd accused her of not missing him, not caring about Nilan, of having never really loved my brother.

She seemed to forgive me and understand where my emotions came from, but it still hurt her and it had been very quiet and uncomfortable, for at least a year after.

I still find it hard to look at her sometimes, the thing about umesco's is that they usually look similar in some way, the woman in front of me stood just slightly shorter than me. Her long blue hair wrapped around her shoulders as she brushed it out of her face. But it was her eyes, the same deep and intense blue eyes that my brother had. I shook myself out of my thoughts as she approached.

"Gwese Votina" I smiled and took her hands as we pressed our foreheads together, a typical greeting between family members, and even though he wasn't here, my brother's Umesco was the closest thing to family I'll ever have again.

I made her tea and we sat by the fire outside, the suns may be shining this morning but the breeze was still bitter, one by one people approached us with worries, complaints or just wanting to talk.

Later on I'd need to leave and tend to the more delicate plants, it seemed that they would only respond to my magic and after I let one of the other girls 'help' me 6 months ago I vowed never to let anyone else touch my plants. They would still hum to me and grumble their issues over the poor girl.

After two hours of conversation with lost mothers, heartbroken fathers, and young ones coming to age who were realising that whoever their Umesco was, they were certainly not here anymore. I left Votina to deal with organising a clan meeting and headed to my garden.

As I sat down in the grasses and sung to the plants around me, they hummed with me and I felt peace for the first time that day. These plants were special, we used them for ceremonies or medicine, it was a high honour to look after them and it filled my life with joy.

I laid my head down on the grass, listening to the plants chatter when I heard it.

At first it was just one scream, but the chaos that followed erupted through the entire forest. Every animal and every plant was shouting. I jumped to my feet, sprinting towards the home tree. Through all the noise and cries I heard Votina shouting for me.

When I arrived at the tree, I stopped still, I couldn't breathe. I didn't know what I was looking at. The tears filling my eyes made it even harder to see. But as he walked towards me there was no mistaking those blue eyes, this was not Votina, the figure stood taller than me. He opened his arm and for the first time in 5 years, I was in his arms.

My brother was back.

They were all back.