Chapter Text
There’s something that doesn’t quite sit right about waking up suddenly in a surge of adrenaline, not knowing where or even when you were. This seemed to be happening a lot to her lately.
Time. The concept of past, present, future, minutes, seconds, and hours. She knew what these things were intrinsically, but trying to think of how she learnedthis only drew a blank, leaving her head feeling overheated and though her brain would explode out of her skull.
She sighed out, shakily, the tension and stale air she had within her. She stood for two seconds not breathing, just being, before taking in another full breath filling first her stomach and holding again when the breath reached the apex of her lungs. Another two seconds and she resumed breathing naturally, glad to have averted completely falling apart in some…. cave?
Indeed, as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could see the rough-hewn walls around her.
******
Acclimating to life in Kilima was not an easy task. The days were long and tiring. Everyone seemed already so close knitted, she felt like her existence was an intrusion on their lives. An unwelcome burden no one had asked for.
She had just finished bringing a rather shiny pebble she found to Einar, the Galdur who spent his days fishing at the docks. Somehow, the Galdur seemed to be more human than the Majiri. They felt familiar and welcoming, lacking the capability to even have alterior motives based on her research at the library.
Caleri even seemed to somewhat tolerate her presence as she leafed through page after page, desperate to close the gap between now and her origins, but careful to not dog ear any of the pages. Not much existed in the children’s section that she was currently allowed access to, but she continued reading all she could mentally bear anyway.
She passed Jel and Hodari on her way through town, exchanged pleasantries with the respective designer and miner, and ducked into the Inn. The morning was rising to its peak as everyone was busy starting their day, stocking up on supplies and helping the locals with their requests.
Chatter and utensils clanking were the most present sounds this morning, with the smells of chapaa bacon and oatmeal breakfast married with steak and searing meat on the grill.
There were other humans running around, trying their best to flirt with and woo the man standing behind the bar in the corner but all she could do was roll her eyes. She didn’t know much, only existing for a few weeks and all, but she did know that none of the humans knew anything about their lives before showing up here. Nothing about who they are themselves.
What is the point of trying to get close to someone else when you don’t even know yourself?
Not that she was keen on trying to know herself, fear of the unknown was heavy and ever present in her mind. What if she didn’t like what she found out?
She wasn’t paying attention as she zoned out, just taking in the sight of the Inn from her lone table in the corner. She was looking nowhere specific, perhaps an interesting knot in the wood graining, wishing that the void would choose to swallow her back up at any moment.
That is, until she recognized a slight shift in her left peripheral, and noticed Reth smirking in her direction before playfully tossing a wink. He was the Majiri cook, taller than herself but shorter than Jel or Nai’o, dark auburn hair twisted and pulled back with a cloth. His eyes were piercing and impossibly sea-foam green. Her body reacted opposite her thoughts as her face flushed bright red, almost turning the same color as his own skin, as though she had been caught staring at him instead of just trying to not exist.
“Sorry…,” was the only thing she could choke out, hating being the center of attention when moments ago it had seemed so empty. “Try your luck again next time, pretty boy.” She stood, trying to retain composure and exude confidence and control.
It worked for two steps until she promptly tripped on a pile of air and tripped, falling straight onto her elbow.
That’s it, give ‘em the ‘ol razzle dazzle.
Ashura must have still been upstairs getting his workout routine in, because unfortunately for her when she finally sat up, the hand outstretched to her belonged to the cook.
She winced, placing weight onto the elbow she had just fallen onto and standing on her own. She was nothing if not self sufficient.
His face underwent a series of emotions, starting with horror and landing somewhere between disappointment and nervousness. A hand reached to his neck instinctively as he chuckled and muttered something about not needing a hand after all.
She dusted herself off, pulling down the side of her skirt which had become stuck to the front of her shirt by a splinter from the wood floor. Yep. The very embodiment of beauty and grace, it was clear by this moment alone she was a great chosen one of Embra.
Kehda stood to his neck when face-to-face, shorter copper hair falling to her shoulders in loose curls and blue grey eyes that were framed by black eyeliner.
“Listen,” he started quietly, voice both sensitive and musical, “I know you don’t seem to want any help, but that elbow looks bad. I’m no stranger to injuries myself and I know fixing your elbow alone is nothow you want to live your life. “
He gestured animatedly as he spoke and she couldn’t help but chuckle, smiling for the first time since she had walked in.
Reth seemed to spring back to life at the sounds of a laugh, however small, and a warm comforting smile spread across his face.
She held out her uninjured arm in his direction as a truce.
“As far as I know, my name is Kehda.”
“And as far as I know, mines Reth! At least that’s what they keep calling me. Does that mean something bad?”
Kehda laughed again as they shook hands, his warm calloused hand in her own. It may not have been the one she fell onto, but it was stinging brightly from catching (or attempting to catch, rather) her gracefulfall.
She allowed him to lead her to the back of the inn behind the bar where a first aid kit was available. It was clear he was not lying earlier, the case was tattered and worn with age. Half the supplies in the wooden box were already missing, and…
“Um… quick question. Why is there a spoon in there?”
He shrugged.
“Soup emergencies.”
She raised an eyebrow as he placed a disinfectant and bandage on her scraped elbow.
“Wouldn’t a straw be better for soup emergencies?”
He froze in place and his eyes went wide.
“Well, now we don’t pass safety inspection this month. Gonna have to get that emergency soup straw before next month.”
He beamed at the exchange and she felt at peace too. This was not the pompous salesman she had pegged him to be. He seemed pure, different somehow than anyone else in town she had met. She felt an unexplained kinship woven between the two like a knotted string. What was she being woven into, though?
She left the inn once he had finished up the first aid, thanking him again for his help and promising fresh carrots from her next harvest for his next batch of creamy carrot soup.
******
Sleep came fitfully that night in the summer heat. Kehda was so tired from mining and chopping trees all day that her body hurt everywhere and nothing was comfortable. This was the consequence of trying to distance herself from the mornings feelings of hopelessness at the Inn. Before she fell on her face. Kehda groaned with her face in the pillow, musky from sweat and the humidity.
She made a mental note to see Tamala for any sleep potions she may have.
Her body tossed and turned fitfully and with one blink she was dreaming vividly and suddenly.
She felt the sensation of air rushing all around her as though she was flying. She didn’t know where she was going but took in the way the world looked underneath of her basked in the glow of the moon and stars. She felt freer then than at any moment she could remember.
Slowly she drifted slower and slower closer to the moon soaked ground, but the ground started shaking and crumbling away from underneath her, right in the spot she was heading for. She was heading right for the void.
Kehda screamed as she flew into the void.
******
“Hey! Kehda, hey, snap out of it you’re going to fall in.”
Reth had just finished his second shift for Zeki and was doing his best to inconspicuously climb through the gate by the southern docks. The world felt fuzzy, as though everything was charged with static in his current sleep deprived state. Was he hallucinating, or was that the girl from the Inn earlier, Kehda?
She was walking with determination towards the dock but showed no intention of slowing down as she got closer, only staring straight into the sea ahead.
Reth called out to her in the hopes she would take heed and realize she was in danger but she didn’t even react. Her expression was pained and absolutely terrified in a way that was too easy for Reth to understand and relate to.
“sh*t.”
He was tired but he had to do something, anything. Something was very wrong here. His chest tightened with pangs of concern and empathy for her current state. He didn’t have time to think as he ran over and grabbed her by the waist to pull her back from walking straight into the sea. She screamed as they fell back onto the dock, and the only thing Reth could do was hold her gently but firmly until she regained her bearings, not wanting her to accidentally fall off the dock when he had only just stopped that once.
The void she was falling through slowly lightened and was replaced by warmth and the pleasing sound of crickets and frogs in the early morning. Her throat suddenly stung and she understood she must have been screaming for real.
The realization suddenly hit that this was definitely not her bed and she attempted to sit up quickly and take in her surroundings. She met resistance as soon as she tried to move and the ground under her groaned.
Kehda looked down and saw there were hands around her waist and another set of legs next to her own. Waves gently lapped against the rocks with the morning tide. Chapaas nearby squeaked eagerly to catch the first meal of the day. The docks?
She turned her head to the side and saw a concerned set of eyes bluer than the sea in front of her.
“Reth? What are you doing here?”
Her question was genuine, but Reth couldn’t help but to laugh causing them to both gently shake from his laughter despite his concern.
“What am I doing here? Good Dragon, Kehda, you were one step away from forgetting where the dock ends. Were you trying to hurt yourself?”
His eyes welled briefly with empathetic concern.
“I don’t know honestly… I was trying to fall asleep. I blinked and then I was flying. But the ground crumbled away to nothing and then I was falling into nothingness.”
Reths grip had loosened as she spoke and she sat up.
“I’m really sorry. Really. I didn’t mean to be a bother. I’m fine and I’ll get myself back home. Thank you, Reth.”
Before he could even protest she was up and walking back up the hill towards the human plots. His heart ached to hear her speak the words replaying in his own mind each day.
Reth didn’t wish that pain on his worst enemy, and he had already decided this was most certainly his friend. He looked around and took in the morning view. Einar waved joyfully from the dock in the distance, unaware of the chaos. Reth groaned, layed back down against the cool wooden dock, and tried to remember what day it was.
