Location: ---
Ari'sora looked around the now empty room thoughtfully.
So it seems like I have to save the children that are trapped here...and when I do, they fade away, and leave some tools behind when they go. I would wonder if they were dead, seeing as how they fade away once I save them, but both of the kids I've helped so far have been me when I was younger. Does that mean that they are memories instead of ghosts? And what does it mean, exactly...am I saving myself somehow when I help these kids? Is that even possible? How can it be? The past is the past. It can't be changed...right? Does it really matter either way? Maybe the more important question to ask is how will saving me save this place? Because I'm pretty sure that's what I'm supposed to do...and then there's the tools. They fit into this somehow. They have to. But what, exactly am I supposed to do with them? And when? I have a feeling that nothing will work unless it is done at the right time, and in the right order. Then there's Shadow. I still need to find her, too. She's alive...I know that. And she's here in this place...somewhere. But I haven't seen so much as a glimpse of her fur while I've been searching for the children. Does that mean that I have to find them all first and help them before I can even start looking for Shadow?
There were no answers to her questions. And it was nearly impossible to think with the haunting song that filled this world. But that didn't stop her from trying.
What else do I know? The scent of almonds. That's right. Whenever the monsters are nearby, I can smell almonds. Is it a warning of some kind? If so, I'll take it. I need every advantage that I can get.
The sound of another child crying distracted her from her thoughts. Everything else could wait. With any luck, it would sort itself out, and she would just somehow...know what to do when the time came. For now, though, she had another child to save. And if the pattern she was beginning to notice held up, there would be another monster to fight soon after she succeeded in finding the child. She would have to be ready for that.
The crying child could be heard even over the mournful lament that pervaded this place. And that was saying something. But it meant that she was able to follow the sound as she searched, and she wasn't going to complain about that.
Her search brought her into what looked like the remains of a child's play room. There was a chest in the far corner, but it was cracked, and partially caved in from where a ceiling beam had fallen on it. Wooden blocks were scattered around the floor as were the broken remains of other toys. A beautifully painted broken rocking horse that was missing one of its rockers caught her attention, as did a doll that was missing its head. The head itself had rolled over to the wall where a series of broken shelves could be seen; probably a place to store all of the toys when they weren't being used. Mi'zuri had had toys like those. She had not, of course. But she could remember a time when she had waited until everyone else in the house had fallen asleep, and she had stolen a ride on Mi'zuri's rocking horse. And there had been another time when Mi'zuri had flung her doll to the ground in a tantrum because she couldn't have a piece of candy she wanted. Ari'sora had felt sorry for the doll, so she had picked it up, and given it a quick hug. She had been punished for both of those crimes; for daring to play when she was meant to be working, as well as for daring to sully Mi'zuri's precious toys by touching them.
Ari'sora pushed those thoughts aside. That was neither here nor there, and she had a job to do. The child she was looking for wasn't immediately visible, but she could still hear her crying. That told Ari'sora that the child was hiding somewhere, probably trying to compose herself before she got in trouble for bothering others with something as unimportant as her feelings. Her eyes fell on the closet that was partially hidden by shadows in the corner across from the chest.
She approached the closet slowly, and hesitated before she opened the doors. The child she had been searching for was huddled in the far corner of the closet, with her knees pressed up against her chest as she sobbed into them. Ari'sora guessed that she was about seven arcs old, and her mind began to search for possible memories that this child might be a reflection of. There were an awful lot to choose from.
"What's wrong?" she asked the little girl quietly, not wanting to startle her.
"I was bad." the child confessed as she looked up at Ari'sora reluctantly.
"What did you do that was so bad?"
"I yelled at 'zuri cause she wouldn't tell me what she learned at school totrial."
Anger flared in the child's eyes.
"It's not fair! How come I can't go to school like 'zuri does? I want to learn and be smart, too!" she protested.
Ari'sora remembered this trial. Mi'zuri knew how much she wanted to be able to go to school and learn new things like she did. But to her sister, it was a boring chore that she couldn't get out of. Looking back at it now, she realized that Mi'zuri had been jealous of her. Not for all of the work that she had had to do, or how she was treated, of course. But she was jealous that Ari'sora didn't have to go to school. She had felt that if she didn't have to go to school, then she would have been allowed to play rather than work like Ari'sora did. And it was a combination of that jealously, and boredom with the subjects she had to learn that had goaded her into refusing to teach Ari'sora the things she had learned. She turned her attention back to the child.
"Well...you know how to read, right?"
The child glared at her indignantly as she nodded, and Ari'sora couldn't help but grin at her response. She had been very proud of her ability to read, and any implication that she couldn't, or that she was bad at it was an insult that she couldn't bear lightly.
"Of course I can!"
"And you like to read, right?"
The little girl nodded again.
"I love to read. But...I'm not allowed to read very often, though."
"So why don't you teach yourself, then? When you get the chance to read, pick something that will teach you about something that interests you. That way, you can learn about the things that you want to learn about., and you will get smart that way."
The little girl beamed at her.
"I will! Thank you!"
The little girl hugged her. Ari'sora hugged her back, but froze when the scent of almonds filled the air. She pushed the little girl behind her. She didn't know what would happen if the monsters managed to hurt, or worse, kill one of her past selves...and she didn't want to find out, either.
"Stay behind me, okay?"
Ari'sora felt the little girl nod against her legs more than she saw it happen. She stepped out of the closet to give herself a little more room to maneuver just as the wolf like beast entered the room. When it saw her, it growled fiercely, the fur along its back rising up in a clear threat.
Ari'sora tensed as she drew her bow, and nocked an arrow. There wasn't much room for her to work with. Once the monster began its attack, she would have maybe a few trills to shoot her arrow before it was upon her. Maybe. But if she didn't wait, it would just dodge, so she didn't really have much of a choice. The wolf leaped at her, and she released her arrow. The monster's momentum actually helped in the fact that it caused the arrow to penetrate even deeper into its flesh when it struck. Ari'sora was bowled over by the weight when the wounded monster crashed into her, but her luck held. Rather than shred her the way it had torn Shadow apart, the monster's wound caused it to fade away with a final snarl. The scent of almonds faded away slowly.
For several trills, all Ari'sora could do was star in shock as she processed the fact that she was still alive. Then the child she had helped earlier hugged her again.
"Are you okay?" she asked hesitantly.
"That was scary." the child said as she buried herself in Ari'sora's lap.
"Yes, it was. But I'm okay now. What about you?"
"I'm okay." the child said softly.
"Thank you."
The little girl hugged her again before she faded away like the others. In her place was a saw. Once more, Ari'sora wondered what she was supposed to do with the tools that the children left behind when they faded away. It almost looked as if she was supposed to build something. But if so...what? And more importantly...how? She didn't know the first thing about carpentry.
Ari'sora was distracted from her thoughts when she heard another child crying. She stood slowly, and placed the saw with the other tools. Then it was time for her to begin the search once more.
The next room Ari'sora found herself in was clearly a kitchen. Or it had been at one time. Now the metal door on the brick oven was badly rusted, and warped; one side had been torn off of its hinges so that it was impossible to close. The wooden counters were cranked, and rotten. Ari'sora noticed these details absently as she searched for the child she could hear crying somewhere nearby.
She found the child huddled on the stone floor of a tiny larder that was just off of the kitchen. The young girl looked to be about nine arcs old, something about the sound of her cries made Ari'sora think that she was in pain rather than being frightened, or grieving.
And to think there was a time when I couldn't tell the meaning of one cry from another. That was for babies, sure, but the same principle applies here. I've learned a lot while working at Luna's Dream. she mused.
"What's wrong?"
"My back hurts. So does my shoulders." the young girl whimpered softly, as if afraid to say anything for fear of being heard "complaining."
Ari'sora remembered those trials well.
"May I see it? Maybe I can help."
The girl started to ease her way out of the larder, but the scent of almonds made Ari'sora freeze tensely, and her reaction made the frightened child freeze as well. The scent of almonds. Ari'sora was quickly coming to associate the pleasant scent with danger.
"Stay here. There's something bad in the kitchen, and I need to make it go away before I can help you."
The young girl nodded, and drew back into the shadows of the larder while Ari'sora stood, and moved into the kitchen proper. As she did so, she heard the now familiar chilling snarl of a beast. Like the others, it looked much like a wolf. But this one was considerably bigger than the others she had fought. Ari'sora drew her bow, and nocked an arrow.
The creature snarled at her again, and stared at her. Ari'sora stared back, waiting as calmly as she could...which really wasn't all that calm. She was getting used to fighting the monsters, but that didn't mean that she enjoyed it. Her hands shook as she waited.
When the monster leaped at her, she unleashed her arrow. The arrow flew straight and true, biting deep into the chest of the monster wolf. The wolf howled in agony, as it faded away, taking the scent of almonds along with it. Unlike some of the others, it had been alive when it faded away. Ari'sora wasn't sure if that meant that it would survive its injuries or not. But for now, it was gone. Ari'sora waited a few bits, and when nothing else attacked, she figured that it was safe enough to turn her attention back to the child she was trying to help.
The young girl came out when she called for her, and Ari'sora hissed under her breath in sympathy when she saw how red and blistered her back and shoulders were. Ari'sora had suffered many severe sunburns like the one the young girl had while she had had to spend long breaks outside weeding the garden during the worst of Saun's heat.
"I think I know of something that will help." Ari'sora promised.
Aloe was good for burns. She had read as much in one of the books she had been allowed to read as a child. She didn't know how to make the remedy she needed, but with the way the rules seemed to work in this strange place, she wasn't certain that she needed to.
Ari'sora stared at one of the rotten wooden counters, focusing her mind intently on her need for a sunburn remedy. And after a few bits of intense concentration, she had the aloe sunburn remedy she needed to help her younger self. She gently applied the cream to the young girl's back. Her younger self whimpered as she did so, but she didn't protest, or try to pull away. And after a few trills, Ari'sora could see that the remedy had worked because of the way the young girl's back and shoulders relaxed with relief.
"Thank you." the child whispered quietly before she faded away like the others before her.
Ari'sora felt strangely accomplished, as if helping the echo of her past had helped her in some small way. Something that was wound so tightly that it hurt deep inside her eased up just a little. Then she forgot the feeling as she noticed the screwdriver and the bag of tools that the young girl had left behind when she faded away.
Of course. More tools. she mused to herself.
There is definitely a pattern here. I still don't know what I am supposed to do with these tools, though...
Rather than wait until she heard another child crying, Ari'sora gathered up her new tools, and began searching once more. She didn't have to wait long before a child began crying somewhere in the house. As she followed the sound, she realized that she was retracing her own footsteps until she found herself back in the small library where she had started. The room where Shadow had died. She hated that room with a passion.
The child that waited for her there looked to be roughly eleven arcs old, and she wasn't alone. As Ari'sora took in her surroundings, she saw that the child was crying brokenly over the mangled body of a nightpup. Ari'sora's eyes moistened with unshed tears. She knew that nightpup.
"Haru?" she asked softly.
The girl froze, and looked up at her.
"Haru's dead. She's the only friend that I've ever had. Did...did you know her, too?"
Ari'sora nodded. For a long trill, it was all she could do to do even that much. Her eyes were fixed on the too still body of the faithful friend who had saved her life on more than one occasion. She remembered this trial well, and the pain it had caused; pain that was hitting her again just as strongly as it had so many arcs ago.
"She was my friend, too." she said softly.
Her younger self looked at her warily, but didn't question her words. Ari'sora knew that she was supposed to help this child...but how? Time was the only real cure for the pain and grief caused by the loss of a treasured companion. Anything she tried to say or do would be meaningless...and very likely not trusted by the child she had been at that age. By then, she had learned not to trust anyone other than Haru.
A low growl startled Ari'sora from her thoughts, and the scent of almonds filled the air. She whirled around to face the monster that the familiar scent heralded. Ari'sora was really starting to hate the scent of almonds. The monster snarled at her when she drew her bow, and nocked an arrow. But Ari'sora was in no mood for it, and she snarled back. In her head she knew that nothing could hurt Haru now...but logic didn't make her any less determined to protect the first friend she had ever had. She also needed to protect her younger self.
When the wolf like monster attacked, she was ready for it. Using the same strategy that had worked for her in the past, she waited until the wolf was in motion before she loosed her arrow, aiming it for where the monster
would be rather than where it was. And it worked. The creature's own momentum worked against it, causing the arrow to do more damage when it struck than it might have done otherwise. It howled in agony as it faded away.
Ari'sora's younger self stared at her with wide, wary eyes.
"You...you saved me." she said softly.
Ari'sora nodded simply. The girl glanced at Haru.
"Haru saved me too. That's why she...why she..."
Ari'sora nodded again.
"I know." she said quietly.
"Haru was a very good friend to you." she added after a trill.
"Thank you for saving me."
"You're welcome."
The girl's eyes widened.
"You...you're me, aren't you? You are! You have to be. That's why you look so familiar, and why...why you know Haru..."
"Yes." Ari'sora said simply.
She wasn't certain what else to say. None of her other younger selves had recognized her.
"Are you...does...does it get any better?" the girl asked bleakly.
The tone of her voice made Ari'sora realized that her younger self feared very much that it wouldn't. That was one fear that she could ease. Ari'sora smiled as she nodded.
"It does. It won't happen for arcs yet from where you are...but things will get better. We're...better now."
She hesitated to say that she was "okay" because she wasn't certain if she really was, and she wasn't willing to lie; not even in a dream. But better? That was something she could definitely promise her younger self. Her younger self smiled.
"Thank you." she said again before she faded away, taking Haru's body with her when she went.
This time, her younger self had left a drill behind when she faded away. Ari'sora bent down and picked it up. She stared at the drill for several bits. A drill. A hammer and nails. A screwdriver and some screws. A saw. Each were different, but they all had one thing in common. They were tools that one could use to build something. Or...to fix something. Ari'sora looked at the ruined house she was in. She was starting to get an idea of what she was supposed to do with the tools that her younger self had left behind. She could feel Shadow's presence around her strongly, even if she couldn't see her friend.
"Well, Shadow. It looks like I have work to do."