Quan woke suddenly, a moment of fear as he returned to the moment he'd passed out. But he was outside now lying on clean linens. Bandages covered a good portion of his body. He turned his head and saw his father on a pallet beside him. Am I dead again? He wondered before darkness overtook him again.

The next time he awoke, they were inside a tent of some sort. A man was in the room checking his bandages.

“My father,” He croaked out.

“Will live, as should you.” The man held a cup to his mouth. “Drink this.” The water felt like heaven as it soothed his throat going down.

“Your injuries should heal just fine in a week or two. Once I removed the bolt and stitched up all your cuts, nothing was too serious aside from the blood loss. You’ll probably be able to stand by tomorrow, but I demand bed rest for at least a week. And then I will judge the progress of your wounds."

He focused on the man as he spoke. He had a calm authority about him. He looked to be in his late fifties and wore expensive fabrics as he mixed some herbs together while he talked.

“Your father is a bit more serious. His arm was severely broken, and the blow to the head wasn’t minor.” The man said.

“Has he woken up since he was hurt?” Quan asked. He had no idea if this world could handle the complicated issue of concussions or internal injuries.

“He has, long enough to be sure his mind is unaffected, and I have probed his spirit. I’m confident the more serious issue will be the arm reaching its full use as a blacksmith.”

“You probed his spirit? I’m sorry I failed to ask, who are you?” Quan said.

“An understandable oversight, given the situation. I am Sha Wren from the Wild Rose Sect, gifted healer and herbalist.”

“Why is a sect healer here? I mean, thank you, but this can’t be normal.” Quan said.

Wren laughed a bit and said, “Certainly not normal. A group of bandits boldly attacking a temple at the city’s doorstep and disabling the town's main blacksmith that everyone needs. And a boy of fifteen killing them all in a rage. Any one of those would set the area on fire with gossip, stories, and calls for action. Combine it all, and you’ve got quite a lot of attention. I think you will be quite the local legend after this. Now let's try and get some food in you."

~

The next day both Quan and his father, Hoon Lee, had woken and were judged fit to move. A wagon was loaded, and they were taken back home. It was a single-story home, but larger than most in the area and well maintained. It had rooms for all four children and a servant that helped his mother, Neo Siok when she was busy looking after the finances of the forge that was connected to the back of the property. Made chiefly of thin wooden walls and raised wooden floors, it was a building meant for warm weather climates.

Neo Siok had them both placed in a large common room where she hovered over them and had the family servant keep the three younger siblings away. Visitors came and went outside their healing room but were never to stay long lest they face Neo Siok’s wrath.

A couple of days later, when they had both recovered enough to be sitting while they ate privately, Hoon Lee softly started, “I once asked a priest about you. Why a reborn soul would appear in my family.” Quan froze in silence as his father had never addressed the topic. He had thought the issue a great secret. “The priests said Karma must have done it for a reason, and in time we would understand.” Hoon Lee smiled at his son and said, “I believe that without you, the bandits would have done much worse and perhaps killed us all. I will always be proud to call you my son Hoon Quan.” Hoon Lee then frowned, “The priest also said, when I knew why you had been sent to us, it would be time for you to move on and find the next step the gods had planned for you. It is time for you to join the Wild Rose Sect, my son.”

~

Only once a year did his father make a delivery. Other times people came to him. The local sect of cultivators made annual requests of his father and paid well. Thus, he filled a wagon he rented for the one-day journey to their mountain home and headed out each year. Quan was directing his younger siblings as they carried small boxes while he and a neighbour loaded the heavier items just two weeks after the temple's attack. He knew this year his father would be delivering him as well.

“There is quite a bit more this year than last, is there not, Father?” Quan asked.

“I am told it has been a busy year, and the king has sent words that all sects and governors should upgrade their equipment and training.” Hoon Lee smiled. “I will make more from this trip than I will from six months of work for the town.”

“Won't you take some guards then?” Quan worried, “Every year, you take the wagon by yourself, and it is so valuable! Bandits hit that temple right at the step of the city."

Hoon Lee nodded seriously, “The sect and the town have reacted strongly to the bandit's raid. There are even suspicions that a neighbouring kingdom funded the bandits. Everyone knows this load, and the road I travel is for the sect. It would take a great fool to steal from them and raise their anger even more. It is perfectly safe. You will come with me as well to talk with Master Chiro about training you.”

“Later,” Hoon Lee interrupted him as he started to speak. “Your mother is preparing a feast for us tonight, and we need to finish loading this wagon before we can partake. Now lift with your back, boy!”

A couple of hours later, two adults and four children sat around the dinner table as Siok directed the food she had prepared. The parents sat at each end of the table while the children sat between them, two to a side. Hoon Lin, the only girl, sat beside Quan, a mirror image of their mother at nine years of age. Opposite them, his two brothers, Fang and Fung, aged two years before and after Lin. In front of them was A feast of steamed dumplings, pork and beef, noodles and vegetables in several sauces. “Mother,” Quan asked, "You didn't have to go to all this work. He could not recall such an extravagance even at holidays as he looked at several of his favourite dishes.

Siok looked to her husband, who cleared his throat and addressed the younger children. “Tomorrow, I shall visit the Wild Rose sect. Quan has just turned 15 and will join me on my trip. When we are there, he will be tested, and I am sure, after that, begin his new life as a cultivator.”

Quan looked at his parents, accepting that it was at last time to take the next step. He worried about his family while his father was injured. “Father, surely this can wait till you are healed at least. Someone needs to fill the orders that come up, and with your guidance, we can make due till you are healed.”

“Son, we do not know if I will ever return to full health with my injuries.” Hoon Lee said, “However, I have already made arrangements with Master Chiro. He is sending me help for a reasonable exchange while I recover.”

“What does that mean?” Hoon Fang, the second eldest, asked.

“When Master Chiro came to place his order this year, he observed Quan at the forge. He felt Ki flowing from the boy and informed me that he should be taken to the sect for testing, even though he is years older than when he should have started. Master Chiro also has a son, who may end up being a mortal blacksmith instead of a spiritual one and sends him here to work with me.” Hoon Lee looked proudly at his son. “Tonight, we shall celebrate your brother’s future!”

“Does that mean he won’t be living here anymore?” Hoon Lin asked. When her father nodded, she quickly asked. “Can I have his bedroom?”

“Wow, I’m not even gone yet, and you’re looting my stuff!” Quan said in mock hurt, “How little you love me!” To which Hoon Lin stuck out her tongue at him.

“I don’t want you to go,” Hoon Fung, the youngest, said with a trembling voice.

“See, that’s the right attitude!” Quan said as he moved to hug his brother. “I will still be close and visit all the time, I promise!” he reassured him. “Now eat a dumpling,” as he shoved one in his brother’s mouth, making the family laugh.

The next morning found Quan and Hoon Lee on the road early, the forge cold and the family still in bed, besides a last tearful goodbye with his mother. The wagon heavy with the forge's iron and workings rolled down the stone road led by two large horses to pull the weight. The town gave way to pastures, then forest as a mountain loomed in front of them. And they began travelling up the slopes among the green foliage.

“If we keep this pace, we should be there in a few more hours.” Hoon Lee said after a couple of hours of quiet travel. “Before we arrive, there are things we must talk about.” Quan expected his father would now give him some kind of coming of age speech, family, honour. Or perhaps question him about his cultivation that he had been hiding.

“I have known for a long time you were special. I talked to a priest once who told me about reborn souls that sometimes remembered bits or even all of a past life." His father said instead. He looked at his father, waiting to see where this was going

“I think you know I made my peace with it long ago, but lately, I have come to think that you are something else than what I believed, and this seems the right time to ask.” Hoon Lee said.

“How did you know?” was all that Quan could think to say.

“I’ll tell you how if you’ll tell me why.” Hoon Lee replied. and when his son nodded, he continued. “At first, you were a very sick boy. We did not think you would live long. The priests were sure of it. I don’t know if you remember that, being so young. As you grew older, though and got better, I was just so proud of you, such a smart boy.

“In truth, it was your younger brothers and sister that did you in.” Hoon Lee looked at Quan and whispered conspiratorially, “You were not a very good child.”

Quan began to protest, and Hoon Lee interrupted him, “I do not mean you misbehaved. I mean that faking a child’s innocence is very hard. At first, I thought you were simply a serious child from your sickness, one who listened more and talked less. I was the youngest of my family and had not much experience with children to compare you to. I was too worried you would die at first, then too proud as you started to become a young man.”

“But then we had other children.” Hoon Lee laughed at the confusion on Quan’s face. “Do you remember when they each learnt to really talk, to get curious about the world? Why they would ask, all day long, every day. Why, why, why? You asked questions to be sure, but it was not the same. There were always signs, but when the younger ones came, the contrast left no doubt. You were different. Looking back now, as I compare your childhood to theirs, there were so many signs I did not see at first, but even so, there were enough.”

“I consulted a few priests about reborn souls. We are all reborn souls, you see, but once in a great while, someone retains their memories of lives before or regains them in some fashion. But still, you are my son, born of my wife, I thought. The stories they told me varied greatly, from men of great evil or great goodness. From those that did not know what they were to those that did. In the end, they told me nothing useful, so I decided to wait and see, for I loved you and could not make myself believe you meant us harm after all these years.”

Quan was silent for a few minutes, and Hoon Lee patiently waited as he guided the horses down the road. “I do not know if I will have the answers you seek. But I will answer all that I can, all that I know. You are right. I am not a reborn soul as the priests told you.” He let out a deep sigh. “I suppose the most important thing to say is this. I am not your son. I saw him die.”

Hoon Lee’s hands gripped the reigns in his hands harder, and after a moment, asked in a harsh breath. “Did you kill him?”

“No, sir! Not at all.” he looked at Hoon Lee and said earnestly, “I was living a peaceful life in my world when I was pulled out and brought here. I saw your son born as I was held in the room by whatever force pulled me here. I saw your son's soul leave his body as he could not survive in the body he was born to. Once he had moved on, I was forced into this body. I did not ask for any of this.”

“How is it you could live when my son could not?” Hoon Lee asked as he processed that.

He told Hoon Lee of all that had happened that first night with Manu in their home, leaving nothing back, ending with, “I am sorry I lacked the courage to tell you sooner. I came to love you as a father and then as a family and was afraid to lose it all again by telling you. You were a refuge when I had lost everything. It's why I haven't tried to run off and join the sect yet."

Hoon Lee listened and turned to look at Quan seriously, and then a smile slowly spread as he talked. “I believe you have told me your true story. You have not harmed me or mine, and in fact, have become the son of my heart even if you were not the soul that was firstborn. I will still call you son if you will still call me father.”

Quan leaned over to hug the man and said, “I will, Father.”

“Your mother will want to have words about your lying, though, such a bad lying son we raised. No respect.” He said with laughter. Seeing the look of fear return to Quan’s face, he said, “Yes, she knows as well as I do. She knew. First, I suspect. But we have talked about it, and It was decided this was the way we would handle it. I will tell her what you have told me. She will decide if she wishes to bring it up with you again or ignore the issue entirely. But you will always have a home with us."