Episodes and Epilogues » Places

         How do you keep everything straight?

Xallix' cheek is soft and warm; the coarse fur scrapes against Noah's thumb, and they smile despite themself. The soldier is half-asleep against them, languid and relaxed the way she only ever is when it's just the two of them. It's a strange feeling; Noah leans over, pressing a gentle kiss between their ears. This feels so familiar; the world steady beneath their feet, the universe silenced around them. This must have been what it was like before, Noah thinks; warm and steady, no fear of losing everything again -

The army is falling back, shouting for a retreat that is already in full swing. Noah can taste blood in their mouth, panting desperately as they abandon their shattered blade and strike out with their claws instead. A dull burn pulses at the base of their skull. They've overstretched themself; the familiar numbness tingles through their arms, crawling into their bones, and they throw the attacker of themself, looking, desperate, Xal, Xal, where are you, where -

"I love you." The admission is breathed into her neck, curled around each other in a tiny tent on what would become the deadliest battlefield of the war. Noah is warm and safe; a participant, playing with the universe's rules, scratching the hard to reach space behind Xallix' ears. It's not a role they're used to, not one they're entirely comfortable with, but this has always been the price of stability. Xallix purrs gently, claws trailing gently across Noah's spine,

Xallix bleeds out in their arms, choking and terrified; Xallix laughs and traces the scars across Noah's back; Xallix' eyes are cold and mistrusting as they collapse to their knees in a world they know nothing off; Xal, Xal, Xal, Xal.

I try not to.

         Eildi rested a rifle lazily on one shoulder, unsure of what to make of the creature slung over the larger woman’s shoulder as they marched back to the village. She’d been hesitant of her son’s story of the monster his new… acquaintance had slain in the woods on the opposite side of the river, but she knew when Keniht was lying, and this hadn’t been one of those times. Nonetheless she’d needed proof, so she’d grabbed her old rifle with the slightly rusted sights and the shard pack that always gave a bit more resistance when she reloaded, placed the giant red-headed woman in front of her, and set off into the forest.

That sure was a monster, all right. It could be difficult to recognize at first glance due to the way the skull was caved in and little bits of teeth dropped out every time it bounced against Carys’s solid back, but after a walking around it for a bit to see from different angles Eildi felt confident it was a kelpie. One half-smashed eye stared at her, and she wished she’d brought a sack to put over its head. Instead, she quicked her pace so she was a step ahead of the stranger.

Carys was another thing which set her anxiety humming. Eildi had no idea what to make of the woman; she’d seen homunculi during the war - large, fleshform golems that could decimate entire squads, but she’d never known them to have names. Never known them to speak. Never known them to still exist, not following their purge near the end. And yet here Carys was, as if she’d always belonged to the world. As if she were more than a military construct.

The two walked in silence for a time, stepping across the river and climbing up the opposite bank to reach the dirt path which led back to the village. The triplet moons shone high in the sky, Macha at the peak and Nemain at the lowest. Eildi heard crickets chirping in the grass to the sides of the path, and somewhere in the distance a fox called. She quickened her pace, and motioned for Carys to do the same; she had little doubt the two of them could handle themselves, but she’d rather not risk it, especially when Kajaa’s cooking was growing cold.

Eildi’s home was constructed in the typical style of northern Colry; from the outside, it appeared as if a thatch roof had been constructed on the ground, as if one had intended to have it moved onto a proper building but forgot. The entrance was low, and one was forced to bow their head in order to enter, wherein they would see that most of the home had been constructed below ground, allowing it to retain heat in the winter and keeping it cool in the summer.

The thatching was purely decorative; inside, one could see the true roof was constructed entirely of rood, and the walls of the home were tiled to prevent subterranean life from inadvertently digging through the walls. The floor had simple wood paneling, and rugs had been laid out in places as decoration. Smoke from a fireplace escaped through a small hole at the back of it, so that no chimney would rise up from the roof. The uniform thatching thus allowed the building to disappear into the surrounding hills if viewed from a distance.

A low table sat at the center of the main room, and the smell coming from a room off to the side revealed the location of the kitchen. Two other door ways on the opposite side presumably led to bedrooms, and a bit of searching would have revealed a bathroom leading off from one of these.

Kajaa came through the kitchen doorway as Eildi stepped toward the table, Carys struggling to fit her larger size through without banging her head against the top of the front entrance. He looked at the massive stranger for a second, then at his wife with a flicker of trepidation. Eildi smiled at him, and after a brief moment where Kajaa returned the smile, he returned to the kitchen.

“I assume you’re both hungry, now that you’ve finished your little woodland hike,” he called from this other room. “I tried keepin’ the food warm for you, but I wasn’t sure how long you’d be, and Keniht needed to sleep, so I’m afraid there might not be enough for both of you.” He came back into the main room carrying a large pot between two oven mitts, a ladle tucked haphazardly into the rear pocket of his trousers.

“And to be honest, I really wasn’t expectin’ to receive a guest,” he added as he set the pot down in the center of the table. “Not that we aren’t pleased to have you, I just prefer to have a bit of forewarnin’ before I start to cook.”

Kajaa pulled the ladle from his pants and set it on top of the pot, moving to join the women in sitting down before jumping back to his feet when he realized he’d forgotten to grab tableware. A moment later he was setting bowls and spoons before each of them. He collected himself a small helping of the stew, filling his bowl mainly with root vegetables and leaving the mutton for the other two. Eildi was rather less controlled in how much meat she left, though after a raised eyebrow from her husband she moved some of the meat from her bowl into Carys’s, filling the void with potatoes and onions. Kajaa cleared his throat, and she reluctantly added a couple of carrots.

Carys sat in silence as the other two ate, occasionally picking at the meat Eildi had given her with a finger. Eildi watched her out of the corner of her eye, occasionally flitting back to the contents she was currently shoveling into her face to make sure she didn’t accidentally choke. She’d more or less expected this reaction; she’d never seen a homunculus eat during the war, and didn’t see why they would need to if they were created artificially. It was Kajaa who actually spoke up on the matter; he’d also served alongside homunculi in the war, but a guest was a guest, and he wouldn’t leave a guest unfed.

“Is it not what you’re used to?” he asked, lowering his spoon.

“Kajaa.” Eildi gave her husband a look.

“What?” he protested. “Just because you never saw one eat doesn’t mean she can’t. Maybe she was on a special diet. Were you?” he asked Carys.

Eildi set her own spoon down. “She doesn’t need to eat it, Kajaa,” she said quietly. “Don’t force the issue.”

Carys pulled a bit of the mutton away with her fingers and put it in her mouth, chewing slowly. They both looked at her for a minute, then Eildi picked her spoon up again.

“Is it good?” Kajaa asked, a grin playing at his lips. Carys nodded, continuing to pull off small bits of meat. Eildi side-eyed them both, but said nothing on the matter. Kajaa returned to his own dinner after informing Carys that she was free to have more if she wanted.

They continued on in silence until the last of the stew had been scraped away from inside the pot, and Kajaa gathered up their dishes and brought them into the kitchen. Carys gazed around the room awkwardly, not quite sure what to do now. Her eyes touched briefly on the service medal above the fireplace before lowering to where her hands rested on the table.

“I’ll bring you to the tailor tomorrow,” Eidli spoke up, more to fill the silence than anything. “In return for helping my boy. Besides, it would do you some good to get out of those rags and into something which actually…” She made a vague gesture to Carys’s body, her modesty protected by the strips of cloth in only the most strained interpretation of ways. “Covered.”

         It was the last week before summer vacation ended and Mr. Sharky had given him the week off to enjoy summer before the school year started. Tyler went down to Cedar Lake and it was incredibly crowded. It looked like every family in town was there as well as a ton of tourists. Luckily for Tyler, he knew a spot where nobody ever went away from the beach and park area where all the people were. He started weaving his way through the thick forest that surrounded the lake until he reached a clearing by the water that he would visit every year. He laid out an old blanket and set down the cooler. The sun was beaming down making it really hot. He grabbed the bottom of his tank top and pulled it up over and off and threw it onto the blanket.

“Oh, hello. I didn’t know anyone knew about this place.” A voice came from behind a tree as young guy who looked to be the same age as Tyler walked into the clearing.

“Um, it’s okay. I only really come here at the end of summer.” He said as he looked the guy over. He was a little bit taller, sandy brown hair in a spiky style, a light dusting of freckles on the top of his cheeks and bright blue eyes.

“Name’s Tyler.” He said as he extended his hand for the stranger to shake.

“Ken.” He answered grabbing Tyler’s hand and giving it a strong shake.

“So are you new to the area, or just one of the tourists?” Tyler asked. He didn’t recognize the guy and this was a small town
.
“I’m new here, my family just the place on Stevens street.”

“No way! That’s the place across the street from me. Nice to meet ya neighbor.”

Tyler ran into the water and dove down to get used to the freezing water quickly. He rose up a few seconds later and looked over to the shore.

“So you coming in or what?” He called out to Ken. He looked nervous and out of place somehow. He gave a half smile as he set out his own blanket and cooler next to Tyler’s.

“Uh, yeah I’ll be out there in just a second.”

Tyler swam out a little farther to where he couldn’t touch the bottom of the lake then relaxed and floated on his back. He turned his head toward the shore and saw Ken take off his shirt and throw it next to Tyler’s. He was in really good shape and had nice body.

“Damn!” Tyler whispered, barely audible.Ken walked out into the water and swam out to Tyler.

“So, anything special I should know about this town?” Ken asked as he caught a glimpse of Tyler’s green eyes.

“Yeah, it’s a really open-minded place, even though it’s a small town. Oh and we’re really big dodge ball fans around here.” Tyler smiled, suddenly finding himself nervous. Ken smiled back.

“Dodge ball? That’s different. So are you gonna be a junior this year? You look like you’re about my age.”

“Yeah, I’ll finally get to be on the varsity team this year. I can’t wait, coach Janis says I’m the best dodger on the team and if it hadn’t been for my age I would have been varsity last year.”

“Cool, I wish I was good at some kind of sport, but my younger brother got all the physical talent. How’s your library?”

“Well the town library is huge, but the school library is average I guess. You an avid reader?”

“Yeah, I’m a bit of a bookworm.”

“I like to read too, I just wish I had more time to read more often, but practice takes up so much of my time. I only get to read right before bed usually.”

“It’s kinda weird how we have so much in common.” Ken said as a sly grin crept across his face. “Would you mind showing me around town sometime?”

Tyler was a bit shocked by the tone of his question. “Sure, practice doesn’t start ‘til next week. You busy tonight? We could go to the Burger Barn.”

“Burger Barn?”

“Yeah weird name, but it’s this awesome burger place and the onion rings are to die for.”

“Okay, it’s a date.”

“Careful what you say around here, like I said this town is very open-minded. Someone might take you up on an offer like that, I know I would.” Tyler chuckled nervously.

“Then I’ll see you at seven.” Ken smiled devilishly as he walked out of the water and grabbed his towel. Tyler was stunned. He just stayed there speechless and barely treading water. Did this guy just ask him out? Was he gonna pass up an opportunity like this? He came to his senses and got out of the water too.

“Wait, are you really asking me out?” Tyler asked.

“Yeah. Is that so bad? You said the town was open-minded.” He paused and looked shocked. “Oh my god are you already seeing someone?”

“No.”

“Oh no, are you straight? Did my gaydar mess up again?”

“No, you got it right, but it might have been a good idea to ask first. I’m just a little shocked is all. I’d love to take you to dinner tonight.”

“Sweet. You had me scared, I don’t think I could handle another mix-up. I gotta go take care of a few things and get ready, it’s already 5:30. You know where to find me.” He smiled as he grabbed his stuff and headed back into the woods.