From the moment Hush opened his eyes into his new life as an Esk, he knew his purpose. Forgotten were the struggles of the ancient Tortoise, the lost creature flipped onto his back as unexpectedly and without warning by the curious Coyote pup that had left just as quickly when the creature's curiosity had waned. Gone was the knowledge that he would surely perish as his struggles weakened, hunger, thirst and dizziness overtaking him. He had been too old to recover, but his life had been full and good and he let go of his struggles after a time, his flat, hard-toed feet, cracked with decades of taking life at his own pace, ceased their waving towards the endless sky in search of firm earth once more.

Then she had come, her dark eyes and angled nose curious in a more gentle way. She touched that nose to his exposed underside gently, then into his mind, she spoke. 'I can not save you little one...I can not nurse you back to health, for you are at the end of this life and even should I right you and attempt todo so, you would live but a week...' her voice in my mind was ever so soft, a hush that soothed his parched soul and eased him further. 'So I instead offer you a choice. I shall do just that, and you will live as you have always been, in peace until the end...or I can grant you rebirth, so that you may join me as I am. You will lose what you are now and forever, but gain what I am. Do you wish to live as a spirit, tied eternally to this earth on which you rest, but not alone as I shall be here too?'

The old Tortoise considered it as slowly as he had lived, and she waited patiently, not prodding or insistent as the pup's nose had been, until he has come to a decision. "I choose rebirth, for I am lost and yet you have found me. I shall remain here with you, so that you will never feel lonely again."