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Thomas was only thirteen when his oldest sister started to fade away.
It started out small. Bits and pieces of her usual self changing. Where she was once talkative, she became quieter. Where she was once fast, Thomas could beat her in a race. Where she would lay outside in the sun, content, she stayed inside, tired. She slowly became a spectre of what she'd been before.
Thomas' parents explained to him that there was no cure. Your sister is going to die, they said, and we must be there for her.
So Thomas sat at her bedside and watched and talked to her. His sister had so many more stories than he had realized, and she seemed to want to get them all out. She wanted him to hear and remember, so that when she was gone he would keep her memory alive.
As the weeks passed, her voice failed. Thomas did the talking now. Her dark eyes seemed to look impossibly deeply into his own. She listened intently.
One dark night, Thomas was awake, beside his sister. Her heart was slower than before and it had been assumed that she would not make it through the night. He wanted to be there for her, so that she could die in the company of one who loved her. But he didn't want her to die. He wanted to make more stories with her, wanted to dance and run and enjoy life.
Suddenly, a hand on his. His sister's hand, cold and clammy. He gave her a look that seemed to convey his thoughts to her. She gave him a reassuring nod, telling him to do what he must.
So he ran out, arms pumping, towards the cabin of the witch.
The "witch" was not actually a witch, but a healer. She had saved the lives of many, some coming back from the brink of death. Thomas hoped that she might be able to save his sister. So he ran and then pounded on her door.
A young woman opened it after a few seconds. She looked as if she had only just woken up. Her hair was messy, and she was wearing a nightgown. She blinked at him owlishly.
"Please," Thomas said before she could get a word out, his voice full of pleading and sadness, "please come save my sister. She's dying, she needs help. Please!"
The woman stiffened, back straight with the resolve to help, and then nodded. "Let me put on some shoes, and then I will save your sister."
Once her shoes were on, she ran with him to his home. Thomas led her to his sister, who looked paler than before. The woman looked her over, and placed her hand on his sister's chest.
A green glow started coming from off of the woman's chest, travelling down her hand into Thomas' sisters chest. It seemed to do something, changing his sister's complexion to a healthier tone, filling in her cheeks and the dark bags under her eyes.
After two minutes of the green light, the woman stopped, and Thomas' sister woke up with a deep breath.
"Marie!" He said, and flung himself into her arms. She caught him incredulously.
"Thomas? How..?" She asked, then saw the healer woman standing beside her.
"Here.” she said, and handed Marie a biscuit of some sort. “Eat this, and then you should be completely healed," she said, "but be careful. And know that your brother cares very much for you."
"Thank you," Marie said, tears gathering in her eyes, "Thank you so much. How can I ever repay you?"
"Your gratitude is enough. Now, be safe. I must go before the whole town gets here." And with that final statement, the woman was gone, running away even as Thomas' parents came rushing downstairs to see what had made the commotion happen.
Two weeks later, the city had found evidence of the supernatural, and was going to send the person responsible to the government.
One day later, Thomas knocked on the door of the healer to thank her again, but she was gone. Later it was revealed that instead of going to the government, she'd taken only some cooking utensils and food, and journeyed into the mountain where nobody could find her.
And inside the mountain, Kindness' journey began.