Lin Ho was a healthy and happy child, growing up near large terraced rice paddies outside of Ziquejie, China. The middle child in a family of five boys, he was constantly surrounded by family and friends. His parents were strict but loving, and they all worked together in the rice paddies. Lin Ho splashed through the paddies as soon as he could walk, and began doing limited work by the time he was five. Now ten years old, he was working regularly alongside his mother, family, and all but the youngest of his brothers. It was a hard life to those not used to it, but Lin Ho could not conceive of any other way to live. At least until he woke up.
Tye blinked in the darkness. A cool breeze blew through the hut, carrying the odors of old mud, sweat, urine, and animals. Another boy's arm was draped over his chest, and his own legs mixed with those of yet a third. Tye was confused for a moment, and then memories flooded in. Memories of growing up as a peasant boy in modern China. The warm tangle of bodies that he was part of was made up of his four brothers, all sharing a large, woven sleeping mat. His mother and father slept on the other side of the hut, which was open to the cool night air. All of the others were asleep, and Tye had to move slowly to ease out of the human dogpile without waking any of his siblings. He was obviously a kid, not yet into puberty. Ten. Lin Ho was ten. Tye was ten.
Making his way to the open doorway, he looked outside. Moonlight reflected off huge, terraced rice paddies that he could navigate blindfolded. Tye understood his family was poor, yet he and his brothers had never gone hungry or lacked for care. The easy familiarity of sleeping with four brothers was amazing to him now. After growing up once with little to no family, it felt wonderful to have the sense of closeness and love. His wish had come true and proven even better than he might have hoped for in some ways. But he was a peasant boy with little hope of doing more than working the rice paddies until he was too old to do anything else. Did he want to have this life? Could he change it? Reborn as someone else, he might not even have the power he had before!