The baby mantas wove lazily between the twisted trunks of the Sky Fruit trees, ducking beneath low-hanging branches, and furiously beating their tiny wings to stay off the muddy ground. Occasionally, one of the small creatures would poke it's gold plated head up over the leafy treetops and glance around, making sure that the larger manta still floated along above them, before ducking back down into the foliage with an excited hoot. Other than the mantas' happy calls and the occasional rustle of a faint breeze drifting through the trees' reaching branches, the forest was silent and peaceful. . . Or, at least, somewhat silent.

"Oi!" Tun complained, his voice echoing out the open window, scattering a small cluster of birds that had decided to roost on the cottage's stone-brick roof. The elder reached out, playfully shoving his sister in the shoulder. "Now, that's getting a little personal, don't you think?"

Tor lounged back in her chair, a smug grin hidden behind her mask. "Hey!" she pointed out with mock innocence. "This is war! Everything's fair game!"

Talia leaned forward in her stone seat, glancing eagerly between the bickering elders with wide eyes. Listening to the twin's argument was the closest thing she'd had to real entertainment in weeks! After all, strangers didn't cross through this part of the woods very often, and it was even rarer for them to stick around and tell the young spirit stories. . . "C'mon!" she cried, impatiently waving her stick in the air overhead. "Tell me another one!"

The twins exchanged an amused glance, then Tun shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "I mean. . ." he cast a dubious look at his sister out of the corner of his eye. "There was that one time with the stink bomb--"

"That we will not speak of!" Tor cut in, hurriedly slapping a hand over the bottom of her brother's mask. She slowly turned to glare at him. "Ever again."

"Aww. . ." Talia pouted, sullenly dropping back into the cushions that covered the seat of her stone chair. She gave a loud huff of disappointment and crossed her arms, nearly poking herself in the eye with the stick that--despite Naomi's constant pleading--she refused to put down. "Phooey!"

"Talia!" Naomi scolded, turning in her seat to shoot her younger sister a stern look. "Don't be rude!"

"But, I'm not being rude!" Talia cried, sitting bolt upright in her chair. She spun around to glower at Naomi, her two messy braids--still clotted with leaves and small twigs--whipping out around her head. "I'm never rude." Talia stated, a defiant look crossing her masked face as she turned away and stuck her nose in the air.

"Mhmm. . ." Naomi mumbled, watching the young girl dubiously. She gave a small sigh and turned away, slowly shaking her head. "And I'm a purple manta. . ." the spirit muttered under her breath.

Tun gave a small snort of laughter and tugged his mask out from his sister's grasp. Ducking behind the others, he reached out and pulled the last empty chair back from the table, it's stone form scraping slightly as it was dragged across the floor. He dropped down into the seat and leaned his elbows on the table, doing his best to hide a grin as Talia turned to glower at her older sister. For a long moment, he sat and watched the increasingly heated argument play out, but then the elder fell still, his amused smile slowly fading into an uncertain frown.

He had a strange feeling that they were being watched. . .

"Who. . .?" he mumbled, turning around in his seat and shooting a hesitant glance back over his shoulder. The words faded from his mind, and the sentence went unfinished. Standing only a few paces away, watching the elder curiously through shimmering golden eyes, was the child.

The flickering beams of sunlight that streamed through the open window reflected off his bronze mask and painted his snowy white hair with an orange tint. The child's cape fluttered slightly in the afternoon breeze, the strange red eye emblazoned on its back dancing in and out of view. His eyes, which had once stared ahead sightlessly, now glowed with a warm, cheerful light.

For a moment, Tun simply stared down at the child, the arguing spirits behind him long forgotten. Then, coming out of his stunned daze, the Elder gave a startled cry and stumbled back out of the chair, nearly slamming into Tor as he backed away from the white haired boy.

The child--seemingly just as alarmed as Tun--yelped and staggered backwards. Loosing his balance, he toppled over and tumbled to the cold stone floor, landing face-down on the ground with a resounding crash that echoed through the small living-space.

"Name of the stars--" Naomi yelped, her eyes going wide as she sprang from her chair and stepped in front of Talia's seat, shielding the young spirit with her spectral body. She glanced over at Tor who had already leaped to her feet, blade drawn and held out out ahead of her. "What in Sky was that!?"

"Guess we're about to find out. . ." Tor murmured under her breath, sliding into place beside Tun. Her eyes narrowed and she shot an annoyed look at her brother. "I swear, if this is another spider--" she stopped, her gaze finally landing on the child, who had sat up and was watching the twins through wide, golden eyes. "Oh. . ." she whispered, slowly lowering her blade to her side, it's sharp tip hovering just above the floor. She stared down at the dazed child for a moment longer, then turned her attention back to her brother. "So. . ." she nodded after a moments silence. "Want to explain what happened, here?"

Tun gave a hopeless shrug. "What!? How am I supposed to know!? He was sleeping!" the elder held both hands up and pointed them at the child. "And then he wasn't!"

"Well. . ." Tor muttered, turning away to hide a small smile. "That was helpful."

"Oh, come on!" Tun complained, still watching the child suspiciously. "You would have done the same thing!" but Tor was already heading over to the child's fallen form. . . Though it seemed that Naomi had got there first.

"Are you alright!?" the spirit dropped down to her knees, her mask doing nothing to hide the worry on her face. "You didn't hit your head, did you!? Here, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Err--I-I'm fine. . ." the child stuttered, wincing slightly as he looked up at the spirit. "I have a feeling this happens to me a lot. . ."

Naomi gave a small nod, but then paused, frowning slightly. I have a feeling that this happens to me a lot. . . That was odd wording. . . She tilted her head to the side slightly, ignoring the few loose strands of hair that fell across her face. "You. . . Have a feeling this happens a lot. . .?" she repeated, watching the child curiously. "What. . . What do you mean by that?"

The child glanced up, his shimmering golden eyes flashing with sudden uncertainty. "I, uhh. . ." he hesitated, glancing away. "Can't exactly remember that much? I mean, I remember something about falling, and. . ." he gave a weak shrug. "I kinda remember talking to someone. . . But I think that was just a dream. . ." suddenly, his face lit up. "Oh! And my name! I can remember that, too! I'm Leon!"

"You. . ." Naomi frowned slightly, trying to make sense of the child--Leon's words. "Can't remember anything else. . .? You don't know where you came from. . .? How you got here. . .?"

"Nope." Leon shook his head, plucking at a loose thread on the corner of his cape. "Nothing. . ."

Naomi stared down at Leon for a moment longer, barely even noticing as Talia crept up behind her to get a closer look at the newcomer. Finally the spirit glanced back over her shoulder, casting a confused look at the elders. . . But neither of the twins was paying any attention.

"Do you think he hit his head of something?" Tun whispered, glancing over and nudging his sister to get her attention. "I mean, how else do you loose all your memories like that. . .?"

Tor shrugged, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the edge of the table. "Yeah. . ." she mumbled absently as she looked the child over. "That would make sense. . ." There was something off about Leon, and it wasn't just his eyes or his strange white hair. . . She squinted, but still couldn't quite place what it was. . . She shook her head, drawn back to reality by Talia, who had stepped out from behind Naomi's back, and was advancing on the young boy, her stick raised menacingly.

"You. . ." she hissed, her voice so quiet it was nearly inaudible as she stepped forward across the cold, stone floor. She held the stick out, and glared down at Leon, who shrank back, startled. "YOU!" and then--to everyone's great relief--she bonked him over the head, and grinned excitedly behind her mask. "Will be my new best friend!"

Leon winced, rubbing the top of his head with one hand as he watched the young spirit cautiously. "I. . . Can't tell if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. . ." he mumbled, earning him another quick smack over the head.

"Of course it's a good thing!" Talia scoffed, grabbing the helpless child by the arms and dragging him to his feet. "There're never any other kids around here!" she gave his arm a hard tug, trying to drag the child of light towards the door. "I never get ta' do anything exciting! Now c'mon! This is gonna be so much fun!"

"For you, maybe. . ." Leon mumbled under his breath, shooting a pleading look over his shoulder just in time to see the twins waving after him cheerfully. Turning away, he heaved a loud sigh of defeat, and grudgingly allowed the small blue girl to lead him towards the exit.

Talia eagerly scurried over to the doorway with her newfound friend and shoved the pink cloth door aside, allowing the flickering sunlight to stream in through the opening. . . And that was when Tor realized what was wrong with the child. . . Because--though he stood directly in the path of the afternoon light. . . Leon didn't cast a shadow.