Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

“So why do I need to pick your name, isn’t that something you should do yourself?” Ethel asked the small leaf figure as they walked together through a dense forest.

“Because you brought me forth, slowly nourishing my protoform inside yourself.”

“I’m basically your mom then?” Ehel noticed they had passed the trees near them before and adjusted where they were walking. The realm was basically a very small planet, densely packed with trees. They were able to traverse it in about ten minutes.

“Kind of, I guess.”

“Well I think it’s wrong to name a kid who is already smart enough to name themselves. I get that that may be tradition, but I’m too old to care about tradition. You pick your name. Find something that feels like you.” Ethel stopped in a small clearing, the only one they had found. In the center of it sat a crystal clear pond. Every so often a small ripple of crackling energy would break the still surface. She sat down next to it and rested her feet in it. It helped her focus the powers she felt swirling around her, and that was something she knew she had to strengthen.

Besides Cal she was the only one who had made a spiritual connection and she wasn’t willing to let him fight alone. Whether he said it or not she knew the stress had to be getting to him, she planned to take as much of that as she could.

“If I called myself something like Mr. Oakbert you’d actually just agree and let me use that name?”

“Absolutely, is that the name you want? Ethel smiled at him.

“Yes.”