 I remember once as a boy, my dad took me camping. At first I was excited to be spending a whole week out in the woods, but two days in I was sick of fishing and the batteries in my Game Boy had run completely dry. The third day I told my dad I wanted to go back to camp and play in the clearing around our tent. He looked worried about it at first, but after pestering him for about an hour, I warmed down and he let me take the five minute hike back to camp. We were from the city, and so much of this was new to me. Without my dad rushing me along to get to the river, that five minute hike got a lot longer as I got distracted by every cool plant, bug, and animal I walked by. I strayed from the path a couple times to check something out, but after I almost got lost for the second time, I decided to cut to the chase and just get back to camp. When I found the tent, I was immediately glad dad was still fishing, because if he wasn't, there wouldn't be anything to eat. Something had slipped into the tent while we were gone and swiped all the food we'd brought from our supply bags, but don't worry, they left my dead batteries right where they were. I cleaned up the best I could, zipped the tent closed, and went back to my regularly scheduled exploring. I don't remember how long I was rooting in the dirt looking for bugs, but I eventually noticed a little red fluff out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to look, what was staring back at me was a baby red fox laying on its paws and twitching its tail. I put my hand out toward it and made a clicking sound. I'm not sure what I wanted it to do, maybe smell my hand or something. When I moved though, it stood and turned away from me and looked back in my direction. I stood up too, and it started trotting calmly into the woods. After a few seconds, it paused and turned back to look at me. I took a step toward it, and it turned and started prancing away again with me a few paces behind. After a few moments, the dense wood started to thin a bit, and the foxes pace quickened and eventually I found myself running to keep up as it darted around ahead of me. We ran through paths and up the river. The trees passed by in a blur and I sprinted to keep up. We climbed a hill so steep that from the top I could see the canopy of trees we were just walking under moments before. That's when I realized how far we were from camp, so far that I couldn't see our clearing even from this high up. As impressed as I was with the view, the reality of my situation had begun to sink in. I had no idea where I was, and the only one who knew the way back was the fox and it was still trying to lead me in the other direction. I turned slowly back towards the fox, still out of breath from the climb up that hill. Before I could find it though, I spotted something else, another boy peering out from behind a tree. Hello? I said. He stared at me for a while, wide eyed and still as a statue. Hello back? He said, not moving from behind his tree. Did you scare the fox off? I asked, fearful I'd never make it back to camp without the fox to lead me. No, the boy said. He's right here. He still didn't move, didn't point anywhere. I looked all around, but I didn't spot the fox. How old are you? I asked after a while. The silence got awkward for a moment as he refused to answer. I'm nine, I said, hoping he'd say something back. I'm the same. Oh, that's cool. Do you live around here? I took a step toward him, but as soon as I moved, he retreated back behind his tree. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm not going to hurt. It's okay. He interjected. I just don't see many people this far into the woods. His footsteps made no noise as he moved out from behind the tree into full view. I'm Ena. He said with a confidence that was a complete departure from his earlier demeanor. Ena, that sounds like a girl's name. Not where I'm from. He sassed back. Where are you from? I pressed again. Hmm. He paused. I guess it's a lot like this place just a long time ago. Confused, I followed up. How'd you get here? I snuck into a big box full of my favorite yellow fruit. I ate so many of them that I needed a nap. When I woke up, the big box was on a big boat and when the boat landed again, I got off and I've been here ever since. So you just live in the woods? He shrugged. So what do you do out here by yourself? I run, he replied. I dig up bugs. Sometimes I hunt birds. I sleep in the sun and bathe in the lake and when people come camping, I like to play pranks on them and if I'm lucky, they'll have sweets to swipe. I laughed. Are there any cool places around here you could show me? Somehow I'd forgotten I needed to find my way back to camp and went right back into exploration mode. He turned and started walking a few paces before pausing to look back at me. When I started to move toward him, he took off running and I ran following behind. He showed me the lake he told me about earlier and an old rotten log filled with termites. He showed me the most beautiful spiderweb he knew of in a rabbit hole so big I could almost crawl in myself. When he couldn't think of anything else to show me, we played chase in the woods. After a few hours, I started to get hungry and remembered that I needed to get back before my dad realized I'd left camp. Do you know the way back to the clearing near the river? I asked Ina. He stopped cold and looked back at me over his shoulder with a frown. What would you want to go back there for? Up here there's nothing to worry about and no one to tell you what to do. Why can't you stay? I've had so much fun up here with you, but my dad, almost like a spell had been broken as soon as I mentioned him, I could hear my dad calling my name in the distance. My ears perked up and I reeled in the direction of his voice. A few seconds later he emerged from the forest and I ran into his arms, suddenly realizing how worried I had been that I was lost. We're going to talk about this when we get home. He said sternly, what have you been doing way out here? I've been playing with my friend. I turned to find Ina, but he was nowhere in sight. Dear friend, my dad asked. He was around here. I nodded. He was over. I reached out to the point I noticed the fox peeking his head out from a hole in the base of a tree. We stood there for a moment, waiting to see what the fox would do. Stay here, dad said as he stepped towards the tree. The fox retreated back into the hole as my dad knelt down beside it. Then my dad spoke in a voice he'd never used before, flat and silky smooth and in a language I couldn't recognize. Somehow the fox seemed to understand. It peaked back out of the hole as he spoke and then came cautiously out completely and sat down looking up at my dad, seemingly as entranced as I was. I couldn't make out a single word, but my dad kept speaking and the fox kept looking up at him, occasionally nodding attentively before eventually getting up and bounding back into the forest and out of sight. Dad sighed somberly and stood up. Alright, let's start back. He said, we've got a good two-day hike ahead of us before we can get back to civilization. I froze, two days, wasn't I only gone for a few hours? You have to be careful with foxes, he said, ignoring my question after a long pause. They're smart and not always well-intentioned. He started to lead the way back and then spoke again and they like to play with their food. Time passed and he's always refused to talk about that time I got lost. To this day I don't even know how he found me. We went camping several times after that and every single time a fox would visit and beckon from the edge of camp but I learned my lesson. Now I have a boisterous son of my own who loves the outdoors even more than I ever did. Yesterday I told my dad we were planning a camping trip. There was a long silence before he said, we need to talk. I stared at him as he continued, I think by now you've already guessed that the boy you met that time in the forest was no boy at all. I nodded, but he's not exactly a fox either. He took a deep breath. My part in this story played out when I was just a boy myself but Ina has been bound to our family since long before that. So you know his name too, I asked. I do. I know him well. My father had no taste for war and he wasn't ashamed of it. He started. When he got drafted we fled our home and hid deep in the woods not far from where I found you that day. Your grandpa told us how he used to play in that area when he was young and he knew it would be far from prying eyes. At first we just slept in a tent but over the coming weeks grandpa slowly built a small hovel with a single room and a thatched roof all by hand. It wasn't comfortable but we had what we needed to survive and grandpa was safe far from the swamps his friends were dying in. I spent a lot of time with my dad learning how to set up snares and catch fish, what kind of plants to look for and how to build a fire without matches but I think it became obvious after a while how lonely I was with just my parents and nature to keep me company. Until one day my dad brought a boy back to our camp, Ena. I muttered. He nodded back, Ena. I only saw the fox that day I found you but if I had to guess I'd bet he looked exactly the same the day I met him as when you did. Kids soon age very slowly and on their time scale he's still likely very young they also have a lot of control over the appearance of their human form the face that he uses is intentional. I looked at my dad confused I'll get there. He said. After that day, Ena and I were rarely apart. I didn't know what he was right away and it didn't make sense that my dad would bring this kid to our home when we were supposed to be hiding but I didn't question it. Years went by in our little home every day I'd pick a random direction and venture out into the woods and every day I'd find Ena without even trying. I thought I had some superpower but eventually things started to make more sense. The day he took me to meet his mom. His mom he made it seem like he was alone when he stowed away on that ship. I interrupted. There never was any ship. He was born here. He probably just didn't want you to know. I guess I shouldn't be surprised he lied to me. It's not like he was nine years old at the time either. I told you they're clever. I chuckled and shook my head. So what happened with his mother? She kind of blindsided me. Ena was showing me to this new section of the forest that I hadn't explored and then suddenly there was just another person. It had been a couple of years since I'd seen anyone other than Ena or my parents so I was shocked and a little terrified that we were going to be found out and my dad would be taken away. But then she spoke. Her voice was flat and smooth and when she spoke it felt like her words were penetrating deep into your mind. She was impressively tall but had a calming presence despite her imposing stature. She told me her name was Suki and asked if I was the boy her Ena had been playing with in a way that implied she already knew the answer. I nodded and she smiled back and came towards me with noiseless footsteps. She knelt down so that we were face to face and whispered hmm I guess you do look like one of his. She put one hand on my shoulder, gazed into my eyes, pressed her thumb into my forehead and suddenly I was somewhere else, a meadow I didn't know on a sunny day. I was so tall now I looked down and saw Ena holding my hand but it wasn't my hand and it wasn't Ena. He was identical but somehow I just knew it wasn't him. Then I blinked and it was night time. I was sitting next to a fire, the boy was there too but he was older now and I realized how much he looked like me. We were eating berries and laughing while two fish roasted on sticks leaning near the flame. There was a warmth in his laughter that was so disarming and in that moment I felt full and complete. I blinked again and that feeling was gone and so was he. Ena was there with me now but I felt alone. The fire was dying out and I was getting tired. Ena and I laid down next to the embers and I closed my eyes and when I woke I was myself again. Alone and in a thicket I didn't recognize but I somehow still felt like I knew where I was. I tried to get up but my body didn't listen and I started to panic. The sensation of it was strange. I could feel my body as if everything was completely normal but I couldn't move a single muscle. Then she spoke but this time it came from inside my mind. She told me to relax and that she was going to be with me for a while. She said she wouldn't hurt me but every once in a while she would need to take control and in return she would share as much of her wisdom with me as my human mind could hold. As soon as she finished talking she let go of her control and I was able to move again. For months after that I'd leave our camp every day under the pretext of playing with Ena. But as soon as I was out of sight I'd black out and wake up hours later in a remote part of the forest I'd never seen before. Somehow I always knew the way back home and she never left me with so much as a bruise. Did you ever find out what happened during those blackouts? I interjected. He paused for a moment and continued on ignoring my question. She kept up her end of the bargain though. It was like being wired directly into the universe. If I wanted to know what the pyramids look like when they'd just been built I could close my eyes and I was there. If I focused I could see my parents thoughts or even the thoughts of people I'd never met on the other side of the planet. The drawback was that she wasn't just an open book for me to look through. I had to know exactly what it was I wanted to know. As a kid it didn't occur to me to ask about the secrets of the universe or the meaning of life. But the one thing I did want to know was who was that boy in the visions and what did he have to do with me? For this she spoke and told me briefly a story she said was too painful for her to relive. It was my grandfather in the vision. The boy with Ena's face was my grandfather. His parents were drunks and abusive so one day when he was still a child he slipped out the window at night and vanished into the woods. Suki watched him closely from a distance while he wandered in search of food. When he eventually collapsed for the night she conjured a flame to keep him warm. This went on for days before she finally decided to take him in and care for him. She told me that she'd never realized how alone she'd felt before and that the years that followed were like a dream with him by her side and eventually as he grew their friendship turned to love and that love in turn bore fruit. They named him Ena after her father and for a while they were happy. That happiness wasn't destined to last though. My grandfather wasn't as lucky as my father when war came for his generation and he was called on to take up arms far from his home, far from Suki. Suki waited for him with unwavering loyalty but when he returned he'd fallen in love with another woman, a nurse he met abroad and they had a child together, my father. In her jealousy Suki fled into the woods and my grandfather never saw her again but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't keep Ena away from his brother and eventually me, both me and my father grew up with Ena in our lives. So why didn't I? I asked with envy. It was a request from Suki. The day she left me she asked that I be the one to finally sever ties with her and Ena so that she could move past the pain of my grandfather's betrayal. If I agreed she said she'd leave me with some knowledge that I'd find useful as I got older. Among that knowledge was God's tongue, the language you heard me speak that day. And after that she was gone. I never saw her or Ena again, aside from that time he led you into the woods and I lost all access to Suki's abilities. That's why we set up camps so far from where Ena eventually led you. I was hoping we'd be outside of his territory. I don't think anywhere is outside his territory. I chimed in. I saw a fox like him trying to lead me away every time we went camping even when we were nowhere nearby. Yes, he was always strong-willed. That's why Suki had such a hard time keeping him away from us. So wouldn't you tell him that day in the God's tongue? I told him that I missed him. I thanked him for his company growing up and to tell his mother I was sorry for intruding. We sat quietly and I stared at the floor as I thought through the story my dad had finally shared with me. So what should I do? I asked him. Well, if you go into the woods, Ena will probably show up, especially if you bring kids with you. So you'll have to keep your wits about you and make sure that boy never leaves your sight. So that's it. That's the story that I've been waiting my whole life to hear. That boy in the woods that day was my grandfather's half-brother. The way my dad avoided the question about his blackouts makes me uneasy though. I think he knows what she was using him for but I don't know why he'd hide it. I'm supposed to take my son camping this weekend but I'm not sure if I should anymore. Maybe I'll go by myself and maybe I'll have a conversation with Ena on my own.