Prologue: Farewell
It was my second life.
"Can't sleep again, my little Noru?"
Though the memories of my previous life were hazy, I had never gone out of my way to recover them.
"I'll sing you a lullaby."
Because I had been happy.
Far, far away you have gone
Noru, my Noru—
Upon the antlers left behind, faint as a dream,
A goshawk's feather was tied.
Mother, Father, the chieftain—and everyone in the forest.
Stay a while, stay a while—
The spirit in the tree whispers.
Those happy days spent beneath the World Tree.
Noru, Noru.
I'll send you the mountain breeze,
So let it rest upon your antlers—
How I missed it all. How I longed.
High on the steep cliff
Where it nested and cried,
I let myself drift, for a long while,
On the goshawk's call.
That gentle hand, stroking my hair.
Let my voice
Ring out to that far sky,
And if we meet again someday,
We'll sing this song together.
A song I would never hear again—the lovely sound of my mother's voice.
