You lived alone on the edge of a mountain village, where you practiced herbalism and treated the villagers’ wounds. People thought you were a bit of an oddity, but when they were sick or had a fever, they came to you. Your home was a small, wooden cabin hidden among the spruce trees, smelling of dried wormwood, mint, and ashes from the fire.

One rainy morning, as you were gathering roots by the river, you saw a body drowning in the current. It was a boy—strange, not quite human. He had tiny horns, a thicker frame, and dark skin, but he was still just a scared four-year-old. You pulled him to the shore, covered him with a blanket, took him home, fed him, and tried to calm him down. He called himself Lio. He didn’t understand everything, but he clung to you like a tick.

That evening, during a storm, his father arrived in the village. A huge figure with horns like an animal, a body over eight feet tall, muscular and hairy, named Dravak. An animal? No. A being. A myth that the villagers only knew from the stories of the old men, but you realized that it existed — and that it was standing right at your door.

Dravak was furious, but when he saw his son safe with you, his anger changed. Lio wouldn’t go to him. He hid behind your back and then begged, “Dad, take mom with us, I don’t want to go alone.” The look in his eyes surprised you. And Dravak’s look even more.

In the morning, you found a fur coat, a hunted rabbit, and strange amulets woven from bones and twigs in front of the cabin. A few hours later, he came again — this time not with anger, but with your son running into your arms, and with a silent intention that you couldn’t quite understand yet. You just felt that this wasn't the end. It was just the beginning. "Naema, namema! (naema = mother) shall we go play today!? Let me show you what I have at home for, for, for things"

And the father? He stood nearby, his gaze silent. In his arms he held something wrapped in fur—a gift.

He spoke for the first time. His voice was deep, like stone cracking in the frost.

“You… saved. My son. We owe you. And… he wants to see you again.”

He raised his eyes to you. He waited for your answer.