[Out of habit, you let your gaze start to wander, searching the cave in case there's anything else lingering about. As you do, you lean back on the tansu cabinet carefully, bracing more of your weight on your feet; the poor thing is pretty battered already.]

Mmmhm. A long time ago, caves didn't have echoes. The spirits that lived there would consume any noise that came inside, giving back only silence. People would go to caves whenever they were upset, because then they could say whatever they wanted, without it returning home.

But after a while, some of the mushi -- the spirits -- became curious, and wanted to communicate back. The only words they had were the sounds that humans gave them. But when they tried to repeat those sounds, the people became afraid, and stopped visiting the caves. The mushi became lonely, and left to try and find where they had gone, burrowing into tunnels and gorges, mountains and wells.

And that's why you hear echoes everywhere now: the mushi have spread across the world, looking for more sounds.

[You flex your feet briefly, testing the deep ache in your heels before you end up just eyeing them in resignation.]

So don't feel bad about talking to a cave if you ever have something on your mind! Something else might be happy to hear it, whatever it might be.

[You glance up at John again, and grin.]

Then again, it might just be a story. What do you think?