It had been hours since I picked up the first book, and there were no signs of anyone showing up. Frustrated, I stood up and walked to one of the holes in the wall. Placing my ear next to it, I could hear birds singing. It was already daytime. My predictions were wrong.

Since I was hungry, I decided to give up on waiting and prepare something for myself. It was the owner’s fault for abandoning me like this. There wasn’t any meat, but there were plenty of vegetables to work with. I also managed to find an old piece of bread, dry pasta, an almost empty box of crackers, two bags of dried mushrooms and a few berries.

I also happened to find a couple of cookbooks to guide me, so I tried to make pasta with mushrooms. While I didn’t have any butter or cheese, I did find some vegetable oil I could use to replace the former. Probably. It somehow felt like cooking wasn’t a talent of mine.

That feeling deepened when I tried to turn the stove on, only to discover that I had no idea how to. In my defence, it didn’t have any buttons or knobs that I could find. I thought it was a glass stove when I looked at it from the bed. Now I didn’t even know what it was. All I could see was a black metal surface with a tiny red gem inserted on a holographic disk at one corner.

“Guess I’ll make a sandwich then.”

Just as I said that, I heard rocks grinding to my right. My sight shifted to the origin of the sound, and my eyes widened as the once solid wall cracked open at the centre. A door-sized fragment began sliding outwards and then to one side. I immediately grabbed the knife I kept close to me and prepared to defend myself before the stone gate fully opened.

Soon enough, the ‘door’ was out of the way, and a blue-skinned woman stepped into the cave. She carried a bow in her right hand, while her left held a basket full of plants, canned fruit, some eggs, a bag of marshmallows, and an empty green bottle. A dead rabbit hung from her shoulder, and a narrow quiver full of arrows from her waist. The strange selection of items pretty much confirmed she was the cave’s owner.

The lady stopped the moment she laid eyes on me, her fearful gaze focused on the knife I kept pointing at her despite my previous assumptions. We remained the same for what felt like an eternity until she finally spoke. There was only one problem...

“Kessan deh nov, Nïn. Yg ten Dæn ney last.”

I can’t understand her.

Seemingly confused by my lack of words, she frowned and said something else. “Ven Dæn stöp?”

This time, it sounded like a question. No matter, I still didn’t know what she was saying.

“I, uh… w-what?”

The blue lady frowned momentarily at my stammering before she lowered her head and sighed. She then cleared her throat and asked, “Is this better for you? Do you understand me now?”

She had a bit of an accent, but she spoke slowly enough that I could understand her. It was good that we could finally communicate, although that didn’t mean I would lower my guard. I nodded in reply to her question.

Looking slightly disappointed, she lowered her head again and muttered something in that mysterious language before looking back at me. She lifted her hands and presented what she carried to me. “I am going to place these down. We can talk after that.”

Not letting go of the knife, I nodded again. She took a step forward, and I backed in response. Chuckling at my reaction, she kept going until she got to the kitchen table, where she put down the basket and then hung the rabbit upside down near a high cupboard. She did the latter whilst exposing her back to me, as if to show she trusted me not to attack her.

Predicting her next trajectory, I moved towards the beds. As expected, she then walked to the corner and leaned the bow and quiver against the wall, right next to the basket with arrows. Once she was free from all the load, she sat down at the table and offered me the seat next to her. I approached nervously.

“It is fine,” she said calmly. “I mean no harm to you.”

I grabbed the chair and set it across the table from her. Even though she seemed friendly to me, even though she could be my own family, I didn’t trust her enough to sit so close. I placed the knife next to me and faced her. My actions seemed to disappoint her a little. It made me feel guilty.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, taking the initiative.

My stomach answered before I could. She chuckled briefly and stood from her seat to grab the bag with marshmallows. She opened it and took a handful for herself before handing the rest to me along with a cup of water she filled up from the sink.

“Do not worry, I will prepare something better for you later,” she said as she sat down. “Do you feel any pain?”

“No,” I answered. “Why?”

“It was a terrible accident. Do you not remember?”

I shook my head in response. “I don’t even know who I am.”

She raised an eyebrow and stared at me in silence. “Ah~ You suffer from anm… ame… amnesia!” the lady finally said.

She began muttering in that odd language again. I stayed silent as I ate the sweets. Looking at her as she rambled, I realised she looked like the girl from the family painting. Her eyes looked tired, and she was a lot older, probably enough to be my mother, but the similarities were there.

Wait...

“Mum,” I muttered.

My voice seemed to pull her out of her thoughts, and she looked at me with wide eyes. “What did you say?”

“Are you my mother?”