Rorri

　　Rorri looked up from the letter as he finished reading it aloud. They were sitting outside his hut on his dirt stoop, all three in a line with Pak in the middle. Kano wrapped his arm around Pak`s shoulders. Pak stared at the ground and quietly cried. He was so still and so silent, Rorri could only tell by the way the grass beneath him bounced when the tears hit.

　　"You`re just like her," Rorri said, smiling. "You`ve got her nose and her lips, and she had a droopy eyelid on the same side as your scar. I don`t know what it was from, but it dragged when she blinked, too. And she never f-fit in. She was too good for the Plateau-"

　　Rorri choked, overwhelmed by a sudden wave of grief. She was dead. He`d never see her again. He dropped his head, letting his long red hair veil his face, and covered his eyes with his free hand while the letter trembled in the other. His head hurt so much from all the sobbing he`d done already, and he was starting to feel sick. Part of him had already known she was gone - he`d felt the shift when she stopped showing up in his dreams - but now he didn`t even have the flimsy hope that he might be wrong.

　　"I want to meet her," Pak said, freezing Rorri`s thoughts.

　　"...What?"

　　"Can you teach me the mind-reading thing?"

　　Rorri glanced at his son, catching his eyes for only a moment before they darted away.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

　　"I can t-try," Rorri said. "But, erm-"

　　"I don`t care," Pak cut in, bouncing his foot. "Whatever it is. Consequences, seeing things I don`t want to see, whatever you were about to say, I don`t care. I want to meet my mom."

　　Rorri stayed quiet for a while. Pak`s foot wouldn`t stop bouncing. His whole silhouette shined the color of nervousness, a pale yellow with thin coils of white woven in. Rorri had seen the color in his own body hundreds of times.

　　"...Okay," he said. "Just... try not to explode my head or anything."

　　Kano`s eyes widened. "Can that actually happen?"

　　"Maybe." Rorri shrugged. "It`ll probably be fine."

　　"I won`t explode your head," Pak mumbled. "I`m not that powerful."

　　"You`re more p-powerful than you think." Rorri stood up and swept his hair back, parting the strands that had stuck together from where they`d caught his tears. "I need a nap, first. Really wasn`t expecting all this today. You might want to get some rest too. A tired magician is a terrible magician... Your mother taught me that."

　　Rorri whispered to the Forest, and the ground next to his hut shifted. Roots sprouted up to form the skeleton of a shack, and nearby trees inched closer, flattening and widening until they became gnarled, knotted walls. Leaves rained down from the canopy until they covered the floor, and then the roots took a conical shape to form the structure of the roof. Spindly branches connected the gaps, budding flowers of every color. Rorri gave the two a casual salute, then disappeared into his hut. Pak and Kano shared a look of awe.

　　"Your dad is so cool," Kano said. Pak snorted, then took his hand, and the two retired into their new shack.