Somewhere in the woods approximately 100 miles east of Seattle.

The sweet but sharp smell of sun warmed grass filled Jason's nose.  On his back he could feel the moisture radiating off the blades of grass, dampening his shirt and shorts. Dappled sunlight sneaked between the gently swaying evergreens, their deep green needles swishing in the breeze. The air was cool, almost cold and brisk. Air felt different here than it did back home. His dad tried to explain about elevation, air temperature, things like that, but to a eight year old boy, he almost instantly lost interest. To him the air just felt different and that was all he needed to know.

Every year for as long as Jason could remember they would come up to the cabin. His grandfather had built it back when the roads into the woods were still dirt and gravel. Jason's grandfather passed away before he was born and had left the cabin to his father who told him that one day it would be his as well. He liked the thought of one day having the cabin. He proclaimed that he would move up there and live like Grizzly Adams on the TV. Of course when his mother pointed out all the things they didn't have up at the cabin, Jason immediately decided that he'd still live in Seattle but visit the cabin in the summer like they always did.

Jason's eyes had been closed lying there in the grass, the dappled light making red and orange spots under his eyelids. He was waiting for someone, someone he'd waited a whole year to see again. He didn't hear it at first, the sound of the trees whistling in the breeze and the calls of the birds masking it, but finally he heard the quiet rustling approaching him.

Excited energy about burst from the boy as he laid there fidgeting a little, his eyes still closed, poorly trying to act as if he didn't hear anything, yet trying to stifle a giggle. The closer the sound got the more distinct it was. It was footsteps, human, followed by the soft swish of some wispy material. He had to bite his lip now, small hands grabbing handfuls of warm grass trying to keep himself rooted in place. The gentle patting of soft feet and swish of material stopped just short of him. 

He didn't have to see to know who it was, the presence of familiar one, one that instantly made his little heart flutter happily and excitedly. They sat down beside him, before leaning over him. There was a soft rustling sound and he felt soft silky tendrils of hair brush his arms and tickle his face, making it even harder for him not to move or laugh. A soft yet very amused noise came from the other person.  

"Are you asleep little Jaybird?" a woman's voice asked in an almost sing-song way. 

He couldn't help the giggle that bubbled from him, but still he desperately tried to keep the charade up.

The woman giggled again, and he felt her lean down closer her hair curtaining around him. He felt her block the dappled sun. The smell of the forest wafted from her. Rich warm earth, the crisp mountain air, the smell of pine needles and summer wildflowers all of it mixed into a perfume that could only belong to one person in the whole world.

"I don't think you are." she cooed again, though this time he felt fingers mercilessly tickling his sides. 

He couldn't keep it up any longer and he erupted into a fit of giggles trying to curl up and get away from the slender fingers that now had slipped under his shirt tickling bare skin.  

"Inna! Inna that tickles!" he cried out, still giggling madly as he tried to bat her hands away.

"Ah ha! So you are awake little Jaybird. I knew it!" she declared sounding rather proud of herself.

When the woman he'd called 'Inna' pulled her hands away Jason finally opened his bright blue eyes, squinting a little, the friend he'd waited a year to see came into focus.

To a eight year old she was tall, but ad adults went she was short. Her skin was fair but tanned by the sun giving it a warm glow. Long flowing bone white hair that went past her waist curtained the two of them, the soft silky locks swaying in the breeze. Her features were soft and delicate. A small button nose, soft cheekbones, and full lips that seemed ever in a smile. Her eyes were a pale lavender tinged with blue as if made out of illuminated quartz.

It wasn't till you looked just behind her temples that anything seemed amiss about her.  From just above where her ears were sprouted a pair of  antlers much akin to those of an elk.  They were close to two feet long, each one had a slight brow tine that framed her temples. They did curve back but only just barely. If her ears were not hidden one would find them to be elongated as well not to much elk or deer like but more to what one would call 'elf' pointing to a blunted but definite point. Looking closer one could even make out subtle spots like that of a fawn  on her sun kissed shoulders. More would be found down her back but the flowing and simple dress she wore hid those.

"Inna! Inna! I missed you!" he declared throwing his arms around her neck and hugging her tight.

Smiling, she wrapped her arms around him pulling him in close and holding him there. She held him close as if he might vanish if she didn't hold on tight enough. "I missed you too my Little Bird." she said pulling back enough to cup his cheek in her hand, sweeping back a few stray coppery locks of curly hair.

"I'm not so little now Inna. See? Look how big I am!"

The horned woman let go of the little boy allowing him to scramble to his feet and stand tall his hands proudly on his hips as he struck a pose.  She gathered up her dress and stood as well an ever present smile on her face. "My Little Bird getting so big. I found so many new pretty rocks for you, they sparkle so bright in the sun they almost hurt your eyes!"

Inna offered her hand and without hesitation Jason clasped it and the two of them walked deeper into the forest where he began to fill her in on his year, the one free hand gesturing wildly as he provided sound effects and all in his regale of his school year. Her attention never left him, her focus solely on him, soaking in every detail, every word. 

She waited for this, waited for him, every year without fail.  As a forgotten deity with just one boy as her only believer she cherished him, more than anything.

The room was suppose to a warm and welcoming place. Jason seemed to think it fell short of that with its clean almost clinical modern look. It did have a few plants, a few knickknacks that made it a bit more welcoming but the clean crisp design overpowered those little warm touches. It was more inviting than say a hospital room, but not by much. Despite all of that he’d opened up and split nearly the last thirty years of his life in this room. That however wasn’t because of the room but the person in it.

Dr. Maria Laten had been the first person to actually listen to him. From his preteens up until he’d met her he felt like he’d run the gambit of therapists. Time and time again he’d heard the same things over and over again. It was a ‘phase’ that he was would ‘grow out’ of it. All of them were just trying to treat a symptom and not actually get down to the root of it all. None of them seemed to think that he warranted the time and effort to dig deep.

Dr. Laten had been different. Their first session she’d asked questions that no one ever had. Everything seemed to open up, fall into place, and most important make sense. Instead of focusing on the issue she didn’t acknowledge it at first. She wanted to hear everything, anything about his life that had lead up to it. For the first time in his life he didn’t feel crazy. She’d been the one that took a twenty-nine year old man who was depressed and confident he’d lost his mind and turned him completely on his ear. She’d been the one to suggest taking up an artistic hobby. Little did either of them know it’d spiral into a full fledge career and a fairly successful one. She still even proudly hung his first photograph. It’d been her homework assignment. It was stiff, perfectly centered in the frame yet horridly out of focus but it was a photo of him taking the photo in a mirror. She’s insisted the camera not be up at his face, she wanted him to look at himself in the mirror as he took the photo, truly look at himself. He’d do it much different today, but she refused to take it down.

That had been five years ago. He’d sat down in the chair countless times before for an innumerable  amount of hours. Today was different though, something had changed, something big in Jason’s life and the past, the reason he’d first come to her was going to have to be dragged up from the past.

Dr. Laten had an air about her. Dignified wasn’t quite the word he was looking for, but it was the only one that ever came to mind when he thought of her. She was always dressed sharp and elegant. He’d never seen her in anything one could remotely consider casual. Not that he showed up in sweats or anything, he always felt a little underdressed for their sessions. And while she was closer to fifty and he was closer to thirty he felt the gap in their ages helped rather than hinder. She wasn’t old enough to be his mother she was at that what he’d described as “babysitter” age.That had got a laugh out of her when she confessed she had been a babysitter in her teens.

Dr. Laten was the hugging type. The start and end of every session there was a warm but firmly platonic hug. Not a cold clinical handshake and nothing so intimate like a peck on the cheek. Her subtle but sweet gardenia perfume she always wore filled his senses. Both taking their seats there was a short silence between the two of them. “You cancelled your last appointment. The note said it was for family reasons?”

Settling into the chair Jason let out a long sigh and nodded. “My father took a turn for the worse quite suddenly. He passed about a day after I got up there.”

There was a flash of concern across Dr. Laten’s face her brows gently pulling together. “I’m so sorry to hear about that. Are you alright?”

Again he just nodded, chewing on his lip before taking in another breath. “I am actually. It’s been a long time coming. We all had time to come to grips that it was terminal. None of us expected it to be so quick, but in a way I think we’re all glad it was quick? Not anymore drawn out than what it already was.”

“Do you want today’s session to be about his passing? Do you need to work through it still?”

Looking up at her he shook his head. “No, actually I’m fine with his passing. It’s well what he left me in his will that I want to talk about?”

Her brows pressed together and deepened further. “What did he leave you?”

“He left me the cabin, to do with as I pleased.”

Dr. Laten tried to hide it but there was still a subtle bit of shock on her face. “Oh, I see.”

“I don’t know what to do. Last night I dreamt of her for the first time in years.”

“How did the dream make you feel?”

“A little scared I think. I finally let her go. I hadn’t thought about the cabin about any of that in years. And within a second I felt like everything was, was coming crashing back down on me. I just don’t get what he’d will the cabin to me. He’s the one that kept me away from there, why leave it to me?”

“Perhaps because he thought you’d need to go back there.”

“For what?”

“To find true closure.”

“So you think I should go up there?”

She was silent for a moment before she nodded. “Yes I do. I think you need to go up there and finally put an end to that chapter of your life Jason. After that you can do with the cabin whatever you wish. Fix it up, tear it down, make it a vacation home, sell it, that choice is up to you. Maybe make a weekend or week of it. Say a proper goodbye.”

Worrying his lip once more he finally nodded. “I’ll head up there tomorrow then. Not even sure if the place is still standing. Guess I’ll see what’s waiting for me up there.”

There was a long pause between the two of them Dr. Laten looking up at him, her head tilted a little to the side looking at him over the top of her glasses. "And how are you doing? Your neurologist wants me to ask as well as your GP."

With another sigh he nodded. "I know I know."