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(no subject)

Characters: Yorda and Cain
Date: January 11th, 2017
Location: Northern coast.
Situation: Cain finds a half-drowned girl on the shoreline. Yorda is her weird self.
Warnings/Rating: Dad jokes.

Yorda's first thoughts upon waking were I am dead. He second thoughts upon sitting up, wet sand and seaweed sliding off her, were I can't be dead. Everything hurts.

Pain wasn't entirely unfamiliar to Yorda. She'd taken a few falls and had the wind knocked out of her. But she'd never felt the raw ache of coming back from the brink of death. She flexed her hands, fingers curling and uncurling as feeling gradually returned to her extremities.

"Ico...?" She meant to call out more loudly, but her voice was hoarse and it sounded more like a pathetic squeak. She frowned, gray eyes scanning the foggy shoreline. Something felt off, but what specifically she didn't know.

She pulled herself up to the dry sands where she could rest away from the lapping waves. She needed to rest and recover some of her strength - any greater feats were beyond her.

And then, hopefully, she could find her friend.

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Exploring wasn't usually what Cain did for fun. Not anymore, but the habit was easy to pick back up. With the idea that they would be leaving the area soon and trying once again to dock the turtle somewhere safer for everyone, he realized getting out and learning what was more or less normal first was probably the best idea. Once they made proper landfall, who knew what could happen or what might change. He went out to the closest edge first, the one near the head of the unconscious turtle. There was a lot up here that people more magical than him could likely do, but sometimes the most practical approach could still be useful.

What he expected to find was terrain, maybe some interesting and cool things about how the edge of a turtle shell transitioned into beach. What he really didn't expect to find was a dot on the edge of the shore that looked more alive and human-shaped than some kind of crab scuttling along the sand. He increased his pace quickly and briefly considered the idea that this person might be a mermaid, and realize he didn't know what that would mean if they were. Friend? Foe? Startled passerby who hadn't expected a turtle suddenly in their way on the daily commute?

"Hey!" Either way, there would be nothing to gain without approaching it and ascertaining for himself.

She didn't know how long she'd been out since dragging herself away from the water, but the sound of another person's voice startled her into alertness.

It was a strange voice - nothing like hers, or her mother's or even Ico's. It was deeper, and foreign, and Yorda acted on pure instinct, staggering to her feet and trying to bolt. She didn't know what people on the outside would do to Ico. She certainly didn't know what they'd do to her, especially if the found out she was an inhabitant of the cursed Castle in the Mists.

The problem was that every inch of her still hurt. Being turned into stone could really take it out of a person. The other problem was that she wasn't that athletic to begin with. And the third problem was that Yorda had never walked on sand, much less tried to run on it. Her escape was more a series of slipping, sliding falls in the vague direction of an outcropping of rocks.

Okay, so unless mermaids could grow legs when on land (didn't that defeat the purpose of being a mermaid?), this wasn't what he had originally thought. That only made it worse because then someone had washed up with no wreck nearby and Cain shuddered to think of how she might have gotten there. When she started her incredibly haphazard run down the shoreline, Cain intentionally slowed himself and softened the tone of his voice.

"It's all right!" he tried. "I just want to see if you're okay!"

Which was the truth. The closer he got and the better picture he saw, it looked like a young girl. Easily startled, and out of sorts judging by her movements. If she kept running at this rate, he was probably going to end up chasing her down just to make sure she wouldn't go and get herself hurt.

Yorda stopped in her tracks when Cain spoke next. She could understand him! That alone got her to turn shakily to face him.

"Who are you?" Yorda croaked. "How do you know this language?"

Her mother had said it was dead. Dead and they were the only two that spoke it. Another way to keep Yorda isolated. Another way to keep her precious vessel from fleeing.

She took a few hesitant steps back any time Cain seemed to be getting closer.

When he caught her attention, Cain stopped. He didn't want to spook her, but the mysteries were beginning to fill in and he was going to have some explaining to do. It wouldn't be easy considering their awkward circumstances but he had done better under worse duress before. Just stay calm and speak properly. That was the start.

"My name is Jacob," he introduced calmly, hands moving to be seen no matter where he would end up putting them. Not a threat. "Where we are right now, language is... subjective. I'm speaking what's called English where I'm from and I imagine your language is something else entirely. Do you believe in magic? Or know about the multiple universe theory?"

"Jacob," she repeated, but she didn't offer her own name yet. At least she had stopped trying to back away, though she still had the look of a cornered animal ready to bolt.

She didn't know what 'magic' was. She had no word for it the way fish had no word for 'water'. It just was. Whatever 'English' was, it was alien to her. 'Multiple universe theory' sounded just about as strange.

Her brow furrowed, and she looked more than a little overwhelmed.

"I have seen..." She hesitated. "...stars." Maybe that's what he meant by universes? "From the window. Sometimes I see things that aren't but are."

All right, this was going to be more complicated than he anticipated. Still, there was room to work with here and hopefully he could make some sort of meaningful impact. This was a conversation better had somewhere warmer, with less fog and at least a modicum of trust between them. Not that he was going to complain. It was very definitely not her fault she ended up here or in this situation.

"This is a lot to take in," he said with understanding. That much was true. Even with all his experience and time roaming the earth, nothing had quite prepared him for the strictly impossible suddenly becoming daily practice.

Then again, he had never really expected to come together again with Abel, either. Maybe he really should start rethinking the idea of impossible.

"It's a lot to take in," he said again, leading, "but we're on another star right now. Somewhere else. Everyone uses the same words here. We were... pulled in, fell through cracks. You aren't home right now."

"Yes," Yorda agreed. "Home is gone." Oddly, she didn't sound remotely upset about this.

She wasn't really getting the whole 'other star' thing. Maybe it was a metaphor or a riddle. But she could work it out later.

"I passed through stone and shadow," she explained, as if this explained anything. "And then death. But I am alive. I chose." She emphasized this, because her choice was very important. It was the first one she ever made in her life. "There is another. Ico."

She frowned again, hesitant to explain more. Ico was marked by the horns, a cursed fate. What would this Jacob do if he saw a curse child roaming free?

But Yorda needed to find him.

"Ico saved me. The..." What was the word again? "The boat. It should not be far."

Cain wasn't here to push. Something was off in her movements and leaving her here to wander out alone wasn't really the decent thing to do — back home, Cain might have left her to it. If she was a foreigner like he was thinking, however, they all needed to stick together in a place like this and Cain was more than willing to concede some fondness for the familiarity of fellow humans and-or the nonkedan in a place where they were the minority. Solidarity.

"Ico isn't here," he said. Whether that was true or not (he didn't know for sure, to be fair), chances were stacked against her. "When people come here, it's one by one. We can look for him, but I'm concerned for you first. You said you passed through death... Are you all right now?"

Yorda wasn't terribly sure what it meant to be alright.

"I am free," she said with a nod. "And alive." She looked out over the crests of the waves where everything turned to white fog. There was no sign of the Castle in the Mists, but even if the horizon was clear, it would be gone from view, crumbled into the sea.

"I will find Ico," she added. "He's alive." Her tone was defiant, but it wasn't directed at Cain. Just the universe in general. Her friend was alive. If she could survive, surely Ico who had carried them both through such peril would be fine.

She didn't wait for further explanation. Yorda set off along the beach, her movements clumsy and awkward, as if she wasn't used to being in her own skin. But there was a determination about her.

Taking a deep breath, mostly for his own sake but also just so the girl could hear how put out this was making him, Cain started to walk along behind her. Not trying to gain any ground just yet, but he still couldn't in good conscience leave her be while she had to prove it for herself.

"This island is circular and much too large to circumnavigate in a day on foot," he said conversationally. "If your friend woke up anywhere else and decided to look for you, too, he could be further in and even harder to locate. Let me help."

Yorda came to a halt, and looked at Cain skeptically.

"You will not hurt him?" She asked. And then she amended it with; "Or bring him to those who will?"

"I have no intention of harming anyone today," Cain said honestly. To say he was unarmed would be completely disingenuous seeing as he not only kept his switchblade on his person at all times, but also had taken to carrying around his secret weapon even where it hadn't been deemed necessary. Surprises were always good.

Slowing to a stop when she did, he shook his head. "Nor to take him somewhere he might be hurt. There's a lot of... less-conventional people here, so I don't think anyone will take offense. Why do you think anyone would want to hurt him?"

She didn't answer why. The answer was complicated and if Cain was one of those on the outside, one look at the broken horns would tell him all he needed to know.

"Swear it," Yorda said. "Your oath that you will not bring Ico to any harm."

Cain considered that. Oaths were made for honorable men and honor had lost some form of meaning after the thousandth year or so. What felt right and what was necessary took more precedence than what was commonly agreed to be right or his own reputation. He knew what she meant, but to make promises was a little reckless. Still, if it made her feel better, he could definitely do that.

"Swear on my brother's grave," he said simply, holding himself still for that particular promise. One he had made before, one that meant sincerity in as much as he could muster. His own survival was worth more, but that was about it. What could it hurt to promise not to harm someone else? "Like I said, I'm not here to hurt anyone."

It was an oath on blood and death. Powerful. Binding. Whatever else, Yorda seemed satisfied and gave a small nod, before continuing on her way.

The 'search' went for a good few hours. For someone weak, waterlogged and half-drowned, she had a kind of tenacity that could only be found in the frugal elderly at a BOGO sale.

After about the third 'Maybe the other way', when her pace had slowed to hobbling, she seemed finally willing to listen to Cain's explanations. She was quiet as she let him speak, and her expression fell to such a pitiful, defeated look, one might mistake her for a puppy that had been kicked down a garbage chute.

His explanation wasn't too terribly deep, but he got through it quickly with how more facts led into further despondence. Cain hadn't tried to close the gap between them for quite a while, willing to let her tire herself out and see what would come of it. Perhaps he could take her back to the city to rest even if she would end up back out here again later in denial.

The turtle, different worlds, the Dreaming. Magic. Kedan. How everyone arrived. Time's unmoving state back home. There weren't too many things that needed to be explained. She could form her own questions to expand on her knowledge later. Right now he only wanted to see her calmed a bit before trying to push onward when she obviously wasn't in the best state.

"I think we should take some time and rest," he offered, softer than before. "Let you take everything in. Sit with me?"

Eventually she sank down next to him. Her earlier sense of triumph, her determination had faded in the face of facts. Even if Yorda understood the concept of 'lying' there was no reason for this man to tell outlandish untruths. He didn't know who she was or where she had come from.

She didn't cry. Her tears had dried up years ago. But there was no mistaking how utterly heartbroken she was.

"Where are you from, Jacob?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper now. She'd been hoarse before from her ordeals. Hours spent calling Ico's name had rendered her almost mute. "What is it like?"

Where Jacob was from was something entirely different from where Cain was from. Even if they were the same person, even if Jacob was merely a fake life made to help Cain live in the present, the same world was two vastly different kinds of places between Jacob's life and Cain's experiences. There were easy ways to answer this that Cain considered, but the girl was vulnerable right now and needed honesty. Just maybe not the truth buried inside of it.

"It's an amazing place," he said gently. Not to match her hoarseness, but in respect to it. That exhaustion was well-earned, looking for someone she obviously treasured. "People everywhere. Information whenever you could want it. I didn't grow up anywhere good," he continued. Even if slavery back in his childhood had been completely different from what it had evolved into during the present day, being the spoils of war and old enough to know better made the life incredibly difficult. "But I had my brother, and we made it okay. There's good and bad there just like anywhere else. Like there's good here, too."

Yorda couldn't imagine a place full of people and knowledge. The Castle had a library, but even after her creation it had mostly given way to generations of mold and rot. When her mother found her trying to salvage the musty books, what little had survived was destroyed.

To Yorda, who grew up alone and starved of information, Cain's world sounded like a utopia.

"You said before, your brother's grave." There was worry in her tone as she fidgeted. "Do you miss him?"

That question was only natural. Bringing up his youth and Remus, even obliquely, would get a follow-up to his earlier oath. He wasn't bothered by it because it was simply human to have relationships, for those relationships to come and go whether by parting or passing. His own life back home, with the ghost of his brother fully corporeal and surviving in his own way, was nothing he would bring up here. It didn't change the truth of his answer regardless.

"Yes," he said. Plain, simple, truth. Just thinking about it brought a weight against his chest and with no reason to hide it, his breathing deepened. "He... was the only family I had. My twin, actually. There's no time I don't miss him."

Yorda was afraid. The world had become a much bigger and more dangerous place than she could have imagined, and she was alone in it. But she wasn't heartless. Cain's grief felt old but raw, and she reached up to touch his face.

Despit her ghostly palour and the ethereal way she seemed to repel shadow, she felt very solid.

To her, Cain felt... off. He didn't feel quite like Ico in spite of there being life under his skin. He felt like her mother, or herself. Things that denied mortality, endless but unchanging, standing only partially in time.

"I am sorry," she said, watching him with her pupil-less gray stare. "It sounds like a wound that cannot heal."

He looked at her with a slight, wry smile for her closeness. She wasn't what his world would define as normal, that much was certain, but she was still human enough and young if he had to guess. Physicality had nothing to do with it so much as her demeanor, as detached as it currently was, and he appreciated the kindness.

"It was a long time ago," he said. Ages. Longer than the rise and fall of entire empires. It was still true. "I try to focus on the living now."

"Yes," she agreed, looking out over the water. Cain was right - she was young in appearance and demeanor. But parts of her were old, fragments and relics of things long ago, little puzzle pieces floating in the dark recesses of her mind, full of memories of a past that should have been forgotten.

"the past shapes all things. But it is the past."

She hesitated for a moment. And then - "I am Yorda."

There was no surprise to be found in those wise beyond their years. Such a saying didn't understand that wisdom wasn't simple for the aged, just for the experienced and the world held nothing back. Not for anyone, young or old. Those with years on them simply had more time to roll the die and have something happen from which they could learn.

He smiled for the introduction. There it was. He had been hoping, but realistically not expecting her to give anything she wasn't ready to give. This was a girl with her own past and priorities and he knew better than to barge into someone else's life, except where it now concerned his own. She was here now and beginning to trust that he had only intent to help her.

"It's nice to meet you, Yorda. Thank you," he said with an understanding nod, "for introducing yourself."

Yorda nodded. 'Thank you' was about the extent of her grasp of propriety and she echoed his gratitude back to him. And then, with the slow steadiness of a flower closing for the night, she drew her knees up to her chin and lay her had in the crook of her folded arms.

"I must rest now." It was a matter-of-fact statement. There was no imminent danger and whatever strength she had was completely sapped. She apparantly had no trouble sleeping upright, or on the surface of a rock."I will meet you again...?"

Cain saw her beginning to shut down and hid his frown. This girl was definitely apart from the norm on every conceivable level, so the fact that she needed to rest and yet didn't factor her surroundings into it was only another tick on the list. He didn't move, didn't want to startle her.

"Before we part ways, I'd like to take you into the city first," he said. "You're welcome to rest, but it's safer, warmer and more comfortable there. Someone's even set up a place for newcomers to stay when they get here."

One pale eye opened.

"A place of people...?" There was nothing but hesitation in her tone. Aside from Ico, Cain was the first living soul Yorda had ever encountered. She didn't really have much concept of a 'city'. Once she had stood at the top of the tower that her cage was in, and if she squinted, she could see the crumbling ruins of a city her mother had turned to stone. It looked like a larger version of the Castle in the Mists, with it's decaying walls and tattered spires.

She had pictured people there. Lots of people. But she had no idea what they did in a city, so in her imagination, they were all sort of just milling about. They talked a lot in her imagination, mostly because there's only so much conversation you can have with a wall or pigeons before you just have to admit defeat and retreat into your own head.

"How many?" She asked. It seemed like an important question and she was very apprehensive about other people. She may have believed Cain's explanations but they hadn't assuaged the fear she'd be killed on sight.

He could read the hesitance in her body language. It wasn't hard, and he knew he would have to speak persuasively to convince her it was safe. Whatever experiences she'd had before this hadn't been good, not only from this reaction but the fear for her friend from earlier. She would be safe in the Hotel; the real real trouble was going to be getting there.

"Quite a lot," he answered honestly. "Most people keep to themselves. There's too many people to bother everyone. I would be there too," he added, "so if it got to be too much we could go somewhere quiet. How does that sound?"

There was a long silence as Yorda weighed her options. There really weren't that many - she was sure now if she pressed the issue, Cain would probably let her be. And then what?

She'd be alone again, with little hope of finding her lost friend. And Cain didn't seem cruel.

But then, her mother could be kind too, when the mood took her.

She unfurled, getting slowly, shakily to her feet. And frowned - the latent power that had been poured into her should have taken care of some of the feebleness, but everything still ached. She would have to figure this out later though - for now she couldn't let any more weakness show, in case Cain decided it was better - and safer - to just do away with her.

"Lead," She said softly. "I will follow."

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