An Age of Mysterious Memories

Agwai’s look appears, to my limited senses, to be one of disappointment, exhaustion, or disgust, and I worry that I’ve done something wrong, but they simply give me a light pat on the back and point me in the direction of the construction I had set up as my last act of the limit break. I can’t truly tell what expression was worn, simply the feel of the air around my body told the tale of a frown, for the most part. Feeling a bit tired, I wander vaguely in the direction I’d been given, and I notice that I hear the river rushing ahead. I must have built the houseboat raft next to it, and simply not noticed before.

Rather than heading back inside to sleep, I start to do exercises that I think are called calisthenics. I start awkwardly, weakly doing pushups, and situps. Each one is a struggle after which I slump to the ground before being able to complete another, my biceps and abs feel aflame by the tenth of each one, after which I flop onto the ground and roll onto my back, staring emptily upwards. I lay both my arms out on the ground, keeping my back flat, I rotate my hips to one side, bringing my knee outward, and then rotate to the other side, doing my best to keep my back flat. Similarly by the tenth alteration, my wrists, hips, and waist are burning terribly. Why my wrists? I think from keeping my arms flat on the ground while leaning to one side or the other.

Bored, and hurting, I just curl onto my side in the fetal position, and set about crafting in my inventory, trying to earn energy capacity back. My energy display is odd, when Lil lost maximum energy, their capacity just displayed the new number, mine shows a locked, greyed out high value number, and a blue, lower value number, which takes exceedingly long to raise. Eventually, frustrated with the lack of progress, bored, and sleepy, I take out the magical soapstone, and use it to clean myself. Then, curious about it coming into contact with water, I head down to the river, and dip my toes in from the edge. While sitting on the shore of the river, I scoop some water, and drip it over the soap stone. It feels like some soap suds form, so somehow it is both a magical rock that cleans whoever uses it, but it’s also soap suitable for a bubble bath. I wonder how the others would feel about a sudsy bathing experience. I almost worry that it might sound insulting ‘hey you’ve never bathed with soap, try this out because you aren’t clean enough’ is how I fear it would come off. Feeling drowsy, I allow my eyelids to droop closed. I send my soapstone back to my inventory, and feel my head bob low several times.

I awaken to my head falling beneath the surface of the river, its gently lapping waves not rushing quickly enough to drag me anywhere, but my own limbs too cold and stiff to propel me out from beneath its surface. I’d be furious, if I wasn’t so exhausted, thankfully my lung capacity is incredible at this point, compared to what I’m used to, so I don’t need to panic just yet. I try to think at Lil, and see through Lil’s eyes. Lil appears to be hopping around with Luni, which is fair, and to be expected. It feels like the tether that connects our senses must be strained, either from distance, or maybe me being submerged in water, as everything is a bit fuzzy. I don’t think Lil can sense me trying to contact them. Lil does however see Te running eastward, which would be towards the river. Huh, Agwai is also in that direction, they had been apparently walking away from the river, but are now heading back towards it.

I let myself bob in the water, just enjoying it, while holding my breath, until I feel a furry, warm embrace. Expecting Te, I start to thank her, but then notice the embrace is much larger, Agwai’s arms perhaps.

“Foolish child, are you alright?” Agwai’s stern voice came through loud and clear once I was clear of the surface, and being hauled back up onto the shore.

“Oh, of course, I’m perfectly fine, I must have nodded off and fallen into the river, once I was in there it was so relaxing I just went with it.” I shrug haphazardly as I answer.

“Hm, it does seem your aura is accepting more of the water. Perhaps you are becoming one of us.” Agwai explains, though I can feel myself being wrenched out of their arms by much smaller arms. This, I’m thinking, is probably Te. Agwai’s words send me into curious thoughts though. I’ve been with Lil much longer than the shellcrackers, was I picking up any of Lil’s aura? Was I becoming part dragon until I met them? Or is it literally because I’ve spent so much of my adventure dunked in water, this specific river in particular?

Ah, yes, I’m being lightly throttled now, those are definitely Te’s arms around me, shaking me by the shoulders. She has my full attention now. I feel a twinge of pain between my shoulderblades, as one of my stiff muscles knots and pinches when it unleashes from its locked position as it warms up. Why does a muscle unlocking allow it to twist and pinch? It pulls from the left side of the middle of my back, all the way up to the base of my skull, which even pulls slightly on my jaw.

“What are you doing you big Jerk?” She asks, as if it weren’t obvious that I was getting myself into mild trouble. Yet again, even if she intended it condescendingly or angrily, her insult comes off endearingly, with subtle tones that warm my heart to hear.

“Apparently going for an unscheduled swim.” I laugh, as I jokingly reply. Te socks me in the cheek for my cheekiness. Part of me wonders if I really just tipped over into the river, I feel like I wouldn’t have had a held breath if something hadn’t made me apprehensive first. I wasn’t consciously roused until under the water, but I’d had a lungful of air. And there’s the pain in my back, but maybe that’s just a weird muscle thing. I hear Agwai exhale stuffily and begin to walk away.

Te continues to hug me, I guess warming me up, maybe she can tell my muscles are so stiff and unmoving. “Why were you even by the water?”

It takes me a moment to recall, “Oh, I was just trying to see if my magic soap rock reacted with it, I’ve had it for weeks now, without thinking to try it out.”

“Your what?” I feel her pawed hand flip my hair away from my eyes as she seems to be checking me for head injuries. I'm pretty sure most of the family saw me take it out when we met, but Teuila might have been preoccupied if Lil and Luni were correct about our mutual twitterpation.

I summon forth the stone, and present it to Te as I cautiously take a step back to gauge my muscle stiffness, as well as my balance. My legs seem capable of holding me upright, so I start pulling items from my inventory that I received from Vampguppy. Te seems almost as excited as the first day we met, when she grabbed my hand and dragged me along for a shoreward run on the pristine sands near the coast.

Te seems most absorbed by the Orb of Direction, it’s kind of a neat item, but I don’t really need it, I feel like its effects have sort of baked themselves into my natural sense of direction by this point.

I smile at Teuila's cheeriness and curiosity, asking, “Do you like it? I want you to keep it if you do, I’ll make you a pouch to keep it in, so you don’t have to hold it in your hands.”

Teuila sounds ecstatic, “Really? Yes yes yes. So your magic, it’s okay, you can summon things again?”

“Well, yes, though my energy reserves are tiny, miniscule right now.” I respond while terribly slowly crafting a small, leaf-leather, vine pouch for Te. I happily hand her the Orb, and the pouch when it materializes out of my inventory.

“What does that do? How does it affect your magic?” she queries, full of curiosity about me, I realize we haven’t really had a chance to just chat and get to know one another. Her pitch is also at an adorable level of glee.

To answer Te’s query I point in the vague direction I believe the raft that I constructed, to be in. “I couldn’t do anything like that, before I did that, and now that I’ve done it, it could be months before I can do something like that again. Then it would lead to me being useless again for weeks on end I suppose.” I feel a light rap on my noggin. Te playfully punishing me for being self-deprecating.

Teuila lightly admonishes my self-deprecation, “You’re not useless, you’re recovering, there’s a difference.”

I half-frown in reply, “Well, while I’m recovering, I can’t even look after myself, much less help out. Oh wait, speaking of which, do you think I upset Agwai by asking if we could journey back to my home, where there is plentiful fishing?”

I can sense Teuila resting her chin on her index finger while her thumb rides her jawline, “Hm. Agwai has been snippy lately, seems like Laomati normally kept everyone together. Lao has been so sad these last few weeks, I’ve never seen her like this before, not even after the first tidal wave.”

“Oh, oh that’s right, she’s been through that horrible event at least twice, that’s awful. I’m so sorry. I thought she was infinitely stoic, with how cool and calm and collected and accepting she was. I guess losing more family was the straw that broke the camel’s back as it were.” Puzzled for only a moment, I recall why Lao might be in such a state, and I'm saddened to my core.

“The straw that did what now?” Teuila seems to partially be joking, but none of us have ever seen a camel, and we probably shouldn't have phrases that reference them planted in our heads.

I try to answer as if it were a serious question regardless, “Oh, it’s a saying, uh, where I’m from, I guess, although I’m the only person I’ve ever known, other than Lil, but I remember things, like idioms, phrases, words, meanings, math, events. A straw that broke the camel’s back is when a lot of bad things happen, and eventually even just one more little bad thing, or another big bad thing, eventually the person collapses under the weight of the feelings they had been putting off, or a machine breaks down, or stuff like that.”

“Wait wait, you’ve never met anyone else other than Lil, do you mean no one at all?” Te is playing with my face, stretching my cheeks into smiles and frowns, and I try not to laugh so I can answer her question. She already knows that I've only ever met Lil before them. Well, I also technically met some beavers, bullies, a bear, a snake, and a monkey-ape-ninja.

“No, I mean anyone at all. I woke up, alone, naked, cold and afraid, a few months ago now I guess, I don’t know how I got where I was, or who I’m from or where I’m from.” As I remember my own body, not having seen it in quite some time, I run my hands along my arms, especially the hand I used to accept Lil’s flame, I can feel terrible scars. I imagine it looks somewhat terrifying.

Te, almost seeming to be sensing what I’m thinking, traces my scars as well with her own hands. The soft pads on her pawed digits are simultaneously smooth, and rough, her rounded claws she’s careful not to scratch my scars with. “It’s okay, they’re a reminder of everything you’ve done for us, a beautiful portrait of how you saved us. They say ‘I gave everything for a family I just met, and would do it again.’ Also, they are already fading. I’ve never dealt with burns before, but I have a feeling you’ll only be left with sterner skin, and little else.”

Blushing at Teuila's expressive praise, I express my gratitude, “Thank you Te, I guess I was starting to get self conscious, thinking about my body. You really aren’t weirded out, or grossed out by them? The scars, I mean.” Normally Teuila is much quieter about her own emotions on any given topic, her feelings and views of things outside of a logical or combative perspective anyway.

“I would gaze upon your scars for a thousand lifetimes in thanks for saving my kin. But also, no, Dork, they’re perfectly fine.” Te starts off poetically sweet then nails the sentiment home with an endearing insult. I can’t help but to chuckle. Whoever Te is, whatever she is to me, I’m so happy to have met her, and Lil, and the other Shellcrackers.

“You’re the meanest nice person, or the nicest mean person, I’ve ever met, hah.” I chuckle as I clasp Te’s hands. “So Te, what do you like to do, what were your goals before all of this, what’s your dream?”

Teuila, without missing a beat, rattles off a fairly expectable answer for the most part, “I like to get better, faster, stronger, to train, to climb, to swim. I was going to be the best of us, a hunter, a fisher, a warrior. I still am, I suppose, it’s harder now to get better, faster, stronger. Until we decide where we will stay, anyway. I really want to soar the skies under my own power. I dream of flying, or at least gliding along the breezes like a gull, the strength of my own limbs carrying me aloft. I want to be that strong.”

“Heh, Te, I hate to break it to you, but flapping your arms, no matter how strong you are, is never going to get you up there, but I do have an idea.” She lightly socks my jaw for my cheekiness. While she’s doing that, I’m using what little inventory energy I have to try to combine Vampguppy’s dorsal webbing, with wood, vines, and sap. It feels like it takes forever, having to do tiny portions of every mini combination I want to do one at a time, and waiting for the energy to regenerate while I combine inventory materials.

Te and I continue chatting about what it might be like to soar through the air. When I complete my little project in my inventory, I ask her to turn around. “Te, would you mind turning away, sticking out your arms, and closing your eyes?”

“What? Why? Are you going to get me back for all the teasing?” I can feel Teuila eyeing me suspiciously.

“Hah, you wish, there’s not enough payback in the world to tease you as much as you tease me. No, I just did something in my inventory I think you’ll like.” I respond to Te, and she obliges, taking a tee pose in front of me, facing away. I carefully try to gauge her exact shape and form with the senses available to me, using my odd nearly external version of proprioception I let my hands drift near her back and shoulders, gauging where to materialize the item. I have a feeling my inventory space magic would handle it for me, but just in case it doesn’t, I want to be as careful as possible. I summon a winged harness out of my inventory, I imagine it looks something like a manta ray, or just an angular cloak. I think it successfully appears on Te. Because I think she’s subvocally squealing with glee. “You can open your eyes.” I state, though I doubt I needed to inform her.