113: Orphan Age
Chapter 113: Orphan Age
REYTH
It was both strange and comforting for Reyth to be back with the other Sisters.
The journey to the Homelands could easily take a year or more, especially if the one traveling didn’t rush. With all that Reyth had to learn and do during her trip both there and back, the travel alone had taken years. The countless negotiations, the struggle for influence, and eventually the assignment of Quests, it all took time.
She was Aravel, so she looked almost the same as before, at least in age. Her shoulders were slightly more broad, her body more wiry and less soft in places, but she was still recognizably herself. Her Sisters had welcomed her back with friendly tones, though her experience elsewhere let her see through their attempts to the curiosity beneath. She hadn’t explained why she had left, nor when she planned to be back, and those questions lingered with the others of the Sisterhood.
Elder Thanwy was still there, and had welcomed her back. She was getting old now, truly showing the title of Elder in how her body was aging. Another eight of years, perhaps two, and she would step down to relax in her twilight years. Reyth had memories of it happening many times before, so she felt no sadness for this, only gratitude that the Elder had not asked any questions. Her Bloodline was even older than Reyth’s, so perhaps she knew that such things had personal reasons.
Reyth had been given a very good room, despite her long absence. It felt… cozy after so long in more temporary homes, or even sleeping out under the stars as she had often done. Her pack lay to one side, next to her mat, still not unpacked. She would need to do that, soon. She had clothing that needed washed and mended, then stowed. Her rugged travel clothes were not suitable for life among the Sisterhood, but she knew she wouldn’t be staying for long. She’d need her gear again soon, maybe in less than a year.
The world was so big, and even the comfort of ‘home’ now felt stifling.
She leaned out the window with a sigh, turning her head to look at the new expansion to the walls. Rougher in texture, not yet smoothed perfectly to match the rest, it was still well on its way to matching the aesthetic of the rest of the settlement. The buildings within that section were larger than the rest, but many were simpler and with fewer windows. Places to hold the goods that the dwarves provided, so they needed none of the comforts of the other buildings that held the warriors and merchants who stayed there.
A long sigh escaped Reyth’s lips. Her tail swayed as she watched another wagon trundle past, laden with metal weapons for use against the bugs. She’d run into a small group of them on her way back, and her escorts had struggled to take them down quickly. The well-forged iron and bronze weaponry from the dwarves, along with more exotic metals that her people were still learning how to use, would shift the balance back toward the elves and their allies.
Her road, which had started as a personal project she’d struggled to convince others to work on, was now seen as essential. Multiple nations of the Homelands had pooled resources to aid in its construction, and the work was moving much faster now. She didn’t even need to be there, any more.
It was too convenient.
“Was my entire Quest just so we could get weapons for fighting these creatures?” Reyth murmured that to herself with a melancholy dip of her ears and tail, drawing herself back from the window.
“You have it backwards.” Behind her, a familiar voice gave a light, reassuring statement in a casual sing-song voice.
Reyth spun about, only to end up tangled in a sudden hug, muzzle bumping muzzle with Wryna’s warm body. The other elf giggled, giving her a squeeze with a happy tail wave and a bright-eyed ear-wiggle. It was an affectionate, friendly hug, though once again Wryna’s lack of boundaries meant it was a little closer than Reyth would prefer.
She blinked. Warm body?
“Wryna? You’re… warm?” Reyth tucked her arms around the other elf, feeling her back, inhaling her scent. Her scent. She had a scent now, earthy and light, and her body felt… real. Like another living thing, instead of the strange half-life that had made her skin crawl when she thought about it for too long.
The hug released as Wryna hopped back, her tail still swishing in excitement. The strange elf tilted her head, wiggling her ears and nose at me playfully. “I’ve been getting better at making a body. Do you like it?”
She stepped back further and twirled around… then stopped to stare at Reyth. Her eyes wandered over the lighter, more delicate fabric of the new tunic, meant for daily life in the safety of the walls, and then down to her own rougher, durable travel wear.
“Hmm…” the strange elf mumbled. Reyth blinked, and in that instant, Wryna’s tunic resembled the more comfortable one for wear around the home. No gestures or magic needed, it simply was.
Even when she was being adorable, Wryna was a little creepy in Reyth’s mind.
Shaking that thought from her head, Reyth refocused herself on the question she’d been asked. “You’re still very strange, but I do like it better.”
It was an honest answer, even with the vague sense of wrongness that still clung to Wryna’s presentation. Reyth pushed that thought aside as well. Wryna was strange, but she seemed to mean well. In other circumstances, she might have even called the bizarre elf a friend.
“What were you saying about me getting it backwards?”
Wryna looked up from patting her ‘new’ clothes and blinked. “Hmm? Oh, that?” Her tail made a dismissive flick at the air. “No, I think the fighting thing is just so there’s an excuse to need the metal aside from dungeons. I don’t really know. I think it was my uh… father who set that up.”
The tone in her voice when she said the word ‘father’ sounded… off, to Reyth’s ears. She remembered that Wryna had struggled to explain parents, so it wasn’t out of the question that this was just a word used. Naturally, Reyth still had to ask. “Your father?”
Before answering, Wryna flopped back onto the sleeping mat, her tail thumping on the floor beside her as she looked up at the ceiling. “Yeah, my father. You’ve met him, actually! He was the original Wryna, I just swiped his body template.”
Reyth clucked her tongue politely, but didn’t bring up the obvious contradiction. That didn’t matter. Wryna was getting better at reading social cues, or maybe she anticipated the confusion, because she elaborated after a few moments of staring at the ceiling.
“I know what you’re thinking, Wryna was a girl.” She snorted. “Sex doesn’t mean much when it comes to beings like him. He prefers being male, so I call him that. My mother prefers being female, though. I’m not sure my grandfather really understands sex at all, but… anyway. That’s kind of what I’m here to talk to you about.”
That made Reyth tense. “S-Sex?” Her ears started to heat up. She’d already told Wryna she wasn’t interested, was she just insistent?
For a moment, then playful expression returned to Wryna’s face as she peered back at Reyth. “If you’re offering, sure! But not right now, thanks.” Her tone had returned to the light and airy one she’d used at first… but then her ears tilted and her voice steadied into a more serious tone.
“While I am curious about that, I’m not sure I’d be very good at it,” the strange elf admitted. “I meant I wanted advice on how to handle my parents. I’ve been very good about hiding my presence from them, but I’m pretty sure my mother already suspects, and my father could probably figure it out if he weren’t so distracted all the time.”
The way Wryna looked at her when she said that made Reyth pause, staring down at the strange being that looked like an elf. She knew Wryna wasn’t really an elf, but that expression cut through her own concerns as she realized something important.
Slowly, Reyth lowered herself to the mat beside her unusual companion. She took a deep breath before she asked, “You’re just a child, aren’t you?”
Wryna didn’t take offense to the question. She rolled over and propped her head up on Reyth’s lap, looking up at the attendant-turned-traveler. Her ears tilted in a slight hint of a smile.
“I’m much older than you, but I couldn’t really see you in the way you think until recently,” she admitted. “I’ve tried to help my parents, but I’m afraid, Reyth. I’m not supposed to exist. I think father could erase me if he wanted, and the past few octads of years… I’m scared of that.”
It was a confession said with a quiet voice, lacking the fear that Reyth expected, but the eyes were earnest enough. She slid her fingers through the other elf’s hair and sighed. “I don’t think a parent would do that, but I’ll help how I can. What advice do you want? How could I help? It sounds like your parents aren’t… elves.”
“Elf, dwarf, rooken, vaskan… whatever, all of you are people, and I’m not.” Wryna sighed, but she continued before Reyth had a chance to ask about the unfamiliar term. “My parents have lived as people, they… mostly think like you. Should I try to hide and stop doing things? If I don’t help, they probably won’t find me, but I want to help. I like this place, and I don’t want it to change or die. Or should I show myself to them and explain who I am?”
Reyth stared down at the rambling girl in her lap. After a moment, she stroked the hair again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Wryna. I don’t know what you are, or who you are, or who your parents are. But if you want to help them, and they’re really your parents, I can’t imagine they’ll be angry at you. Just be honest with them. That’s all you have to do. Do you really think they’ll just get rid of you?”
Wryna’s eyes looked upward, and her nose twitched once. “He could. He could just… change me. Any way he wants. And I might still exist but I wouldn’t be me. Or… or he could make a god to manage me. I’m not sure I could survive that. What if everything I do can be done by someone else? Would I be me? Would there be room for me to think and react?”
Such a casual mention of making a god to manage the girl made Reyth almost jerk her hand back. She fought down the impulse, reminding herself that this was just a child worried about approval. “I’m not sure I can give you advice about someone who can create gods…” Reyth herself wasn’t sure she believed this, now. “I think if they’re someone you think is worth respect, they wouldn’t hurt you. Just talk to them. Or would you rather be like me, and never take the step you know you need to, until you’re forced to by a strange elf you have to chase across the rooftops?”
The attempt at humor made Wryna blink… then lift her ears in amusement. “I guess I can’t argue with that. I’ll find a way to speak to them. Maybe mother first, she might understand better… no, no definitely father…”
“I think you already knew this and were just wanting someone to tell you to do it,” Reyth murmured. “I know I just needed a little push. If I thought I could understand, I’d offer to be there with you.”
Wryna laughed, rolling out of the lap and pushing herself up to sit next to Reyth. Her tail swayed, then lightly tapped the other girl’s back. “I might be able to arrange that, but I don’t think anyone would be happy. Unless he visits again soon, the only way I could link you up is through the gods talking. I’m pretty sure they’d be angry about someone like you hearing the things they talk about.”
A little nervous twitch flicked Reyth’s tail. “I’m not sure I could handle speaking to gods.” She tilted her head and lowered both ears. “So… your parents are something strange. Who… what are you, Wryna?”
The girl slid arms around Reyth’s arm and hugged it, leaning in to rest her cheek on one shoulder. “Me? Oh, I guess I never told you. It is a little strange for you, isn’t it?” She closed her eyes and sighed.
“I guess you could call me the System.”