Other Fan Fiction ❯ Seeds of Obligation ❯ Chapter Two: Threshold ( Chapter 2 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Hoshiko Saitou 
The two young women must come to grips with what's happened to them, but without knowing what exactly did happen, they find it hard to cope.
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.26.2007 | Updated On: 12.27.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 134 | Status: Completed
The two young women must come to grips with what's happened to them, but without knowing what exactly did happen, they find it hard to cope.
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.26.2007 | Updated On: 12.27.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 134 | Status: Completed
This chapter will develop the OCs a lot, but rest assured the canon characters will not be supporting characters. I don’t focus on them too much in the beginning because you already know them.
--- --- ---
With her fight or flight response kicking in, Bianca reached back, took off her one remaining shoe and threw it at whoever the guy was that had brought her there. Martin watched the shoe fly nowhere near his head and thump against the opposite wall.
By that time Kylie had woken up, but in her haze was convince she was dreaming. She’d been dreaming all night that Bianca was dragging her places, and every time she asked where they were going or why they were going there Bianca would say “I’m so sorry, but I’m glad you’re here.” She was never told, however, just where “here” was. The blurry form of Bianca and another man came into view. She passively watched the show as a faint, pale-blue light appeared in the man’s hand. Somehow, the light caused Bianca to pass out into his arms, and the fear that rippled through Kylie’s body shocked her into a full state of awareness. “Who the fuck are you?” she shouted, pulling herself to her feet with the support of the wall behind her.
“Calm down for a moment and maybe I could tell you,” Martin said, keeping his voice slow and even.
A few quick glances around the archaic room and her panic escalated tenfold. “Jesus Christ, were we ruffied by the Amish or something?”
Martin opened his mouth, not yet knowing what he as going to say exactly, but Jauffre and a few other Blades burst through the door. With hands on the hilts of their swords, everyone looked back and fort between Martin and the blonde woman, then down to the other woman in the short black dress and ripped nylons unconscious in Martin’s arms.
“Martin, what’s going on?” Jauffre asked. He walked into the room with tentative steps and stood by Martin, staring down at the petit woman that was facing them.
“I’d like to know myself. They were in my room when I woke up,” Martin said, finally resting the unconscious woman on his bed behind him. He noticed Jauffre looking at him with a questioning expression. “She’s unconscious, but seems fine.”
“You have about five second to tell me where the hell we are,” Kylie said, “or I swear to God I’ll run out of this place screaming rape.” Still recovering from the night before, Kylie found herself in the middle of a dizzy spell due to the stress of everything. Baurus rushed over to support her, making her feel guilty for having threatened them. She let her weight rest against him, calming her body down in an attempt to keep from throwing up. As she rested against the cold armor and let them take her some place to rest, she looked over at Bianca sleeping on the bed, slowly getting smaller and smaller as they carried Kylie off into another room. She lifted an arm and tried to reach the shrinking figure, unprepared for separation this early in their situation. Struggling was futile, however, and she knew that. As she remembered back to the strange dream that night, she whispered “You better be glad I’m here.”
--- --- ---
She knew the room was cold. It was a stale kind of cold that clung to the body and stayed there like a film. Her cloths were slightly warm, but itchy and baggy, making her squirm on the bed like she was trying to escape them.
“I know they suck,” Kylie began, “but it’s freezing up here.”
“Ugh, up where?”
“Get up, I’ll show you.”
Bianca grabbed hold of Kylie’s hand and used the leverage too pull herself out of bed. Looking down, she realized she’d been changed into a loose white blouse and long brown skirt similar to Kylie’s green one.
“Don’t worry, I changed you,” Kylie said. “Come on, let’s go.”
During their trip down the hall, Bianca felt like a museum piece being paraded in front of a curious audience. People in gear that probably rivaled her weight looked up from hammering metal, reading leather-bound books and slashing at wooden fighting dummies to watch her with intense gazes. She knew they didn’t mean to make her feel uncomfortable. If one of them had appeared in her bedroom she’d probably put them in hole and poke them with a stick. “How long have I been out?”
“A couple hours. I’ve been talking to the leader guy around here. He’s nice… enough. I’m still not in a great mood.”
“I’m still waiting to fucking wake up,” Bianca said, lifting her shirt so she could walk faster. “I feel like I’m stuck at one of those dorky Renaissance fairs my brother likes.”
Kylie grabbed hold of her friend’s arm and pulled her down. “We need to watch how we talk around here. Apparently the guy that knocked you out is some sort of important political figure and these people are here to protect him and kiss his ass or whatever.”
“You’re terrible at whispering,” Martin told them without looking up from his book. “And yes, in the time that you’re here I’d like it if you’d speak more respectfully. The people here are very hard-working servants of the empire.”
“Sorry,” Bianca said, her tone ambiguous. She walked the last few feet to the door Kylie was leading her too, pushing it open with added force to combat the strong wind on the other side. They walked down the tall set of stairs, the empire ahead almost growing out of the horizon.
She was statuesque for a few moments, back straight and body still.
“That’s the Imperial City” Kylie said, pointing off into the horizon. “Down there is some place called Boom-ha I think he said.”
“This isn’t happening,” Bianca stated. “It’s not. It’s just not.” She raked her fingers through her loose hair in frantic gestures as she began to pace. Her quick steps made crushing noises in the snow. “Kylie what the fuck happened?”
“You think I know?” Kylie shouted, pointing to herself. “You think I like this? You think I wanna be in this ye olde shithole?” She thought she’d gotten all her emotions out while Bianca was asleep, but the tears were back in a matter of moments. “It sucks, ok. Let’s just get that out now.”
The sound of her hard swallowing echoed in Bianca’s ears as she fought back the urge to cry as well. “What did we do deserve this?” She looked up at the sky and yelled, “Whatever it was, I’m sorry, ok!”
Kylie fell to her knees in the snow under the flood of her own thoughts. Everything that was her was gone; her family, her job, her apartment, her friends. All gone. And for what? Some temple full of medieval strangers.
“I can’t do this,” Bianca admitted, yanking her hair in frustration. “I’m not gonna be able to handle dealing with this. It’s too much.”
“You are not leaving me here,” Kylie said, her voice laced with threatening promises. She stood up and looked her friend directly in the eye. “I’m upset, okay; not suicidal. I know how much this sucks.”
“Do you really?”
“What?”
“Know how much this sucks.” Bianca began listing off non-existent luxuries as she counted them on her fingers. “We have no home, showers, electricity, cars, department stores, knowledge of the environments, friends, family, flushing toilets, supplies for our period, phones, radios, planes, TV, heat, AC-“
“I get it!” Kylie gave her friend a hard shove that caused Bianca to fall back and land in the few inches of snow below her. “Do you really think whining is gonna solve anything? Grow up.”
Ashamed, Bianca sat in the snow and finally started crying like she had needed to. Her legs were becoming cold and wet, but she welcomed any sort of physical sensation that anchored her to this new reality. She was torn between wanting to float away and being too afraid to, lest she leave the only person she had left anymore.
The sound of hoof beats got Kylie’s attention, but Bianca was too lost in her own head to notice. A person in steel armor rode up the steep path leading up to the temple on a stark-white horse. After staring at it for a few moments, Kylie finally noticed something a little off about the horse. “Holy fucking hell it’s a unicorn.”
The rider dismounted and took of her helmet. She was about to walk up the stairs, but the two women caught her attention. “Are you two alright?” she asked. Were it anyone else Kylie would have snapped at them, but this woman sounded genuine enough and had no idea what was going on. It surprised Kylie to see a black person in such a setting. She pretty much attributed the era to the Caucasian lords and ladies she’d seen in paintings. The woman was young, maybe 25 or so; though Kylie could see she carried herself with a lot of confidence and maturity. Her hair was piled on top of her head and few small pieces hung in front of her forehead. “Oh no, you’ve been crying. Is something wrong?”
“It’s difficult to explain,” Kylie said. “We should head inside and talk it over. Come on Bianca, before we freeze.”
To steady her nerves, Bianca took a few deliberate breathes and wiped off her eyes. She held her chin up high and straightened her back. “Alright, let’s go.”
--- --- ---
“Please, introduce yourselves,” Jauffre said as he sat at the foot of the table. Bianca and Kylie sat on either side of him. Jauffre had insisted that Martin sit at the head of the table, and the Blades filed in to fill the rest of the seats.
“I’m Bianca and this is my friend Kylie.” It was at that point that Bianca felt blessed by her name. If she was named Caitlyn or something of that sort, she’d have an even harder time fitting into a place with people named Jauffre and Baurus.
“Nice to meet you two ladies,” he replied politely. “Now, tell us exactly what happened before you found yourself here.”
Bianca nodded to Kylie to tell the story. “I’ll be honest, we got pretty drunk last night. We had been out dancing and then we went home. Nothing weird happened. I swear we have no clue how we ended up in his royal majesty’s bedchamber,” she said, motioning to the other end of the table.
“We do trust you. You should know that.” Jauffre said. “Your reactions are proof enough that you are not spies or assassins.”
“We’d be the worst spies ever,” Bianca said. “We fall asleep behind enemy lines.”
Under the table, Kylie gave her friend a deliberate kick to communicate that it wasn’t the time for those kinds of jokes. “What she means it we’re absolutely helpless.”
“We are more than willing to offer you refuge here, so long as you earn your keep. I must, however, ask that you stay here until our mission is complete. We’d like to properly escort you to where you need to be, but we cannot spare the time to do that at the moment.”
Flattered by their generosity, Bianca began to feel guilty for the frantic way she’d been acting. “I… uh... I’m very sorry that I threw my shoe at you, your majesty.”
The Blades couldn’t help but snicker in response to the way she had meekly phrased her excessive reaction.
“It’s alright, just promise you won’t call me ‘your majesty’ anymore.”
“Sire, you are the he-” Jauffe began. He’d been having trouble trying to acclimate Martin to the notion of being royalty.
Martin raised a hand and explained himself. “They are probably not even from this world, Jauffre. I am not their emperor.” He glanced back and forth between the two women. “What can you tell us about where you come from?”
“I think it might be the future, or something like it,” Bianca said, unsure as to how true it was. “You guys talk about magic and spells and stuff like that. What exactly can you do?”
The entire table raised a brow at the curious tone in her question. “You mean to tell us you have no knowledge of magic arts?” Fortis asked. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as a sign that he was doubtful.
“I’m beginning to think it’s really common place here,” Kylie guessed, trying to stay calm. If magic ruled day-to-day life in this world, however, she was headed for some major roadblocks.
“Depends,” the woman from outside the temple chimed in. “We Redguards don’t like to use much. A Dunmer, though, that’s another story.”
“What’s your name by the way?” Kylie asked. “And thank you for being worried about us.”
“I’m Marizia,” she said. “And it was no problem.”
“Jena, could you please get me the book on spell casting from that shelf?” Jauffre asked, pointing to a thick red book that was lying on its own shelf. Jena raised a hand and the book slowly levitated toward her grasp.
“Are you alright?” Cyrus asked Bianca, whose face had drained of all color.
“That doesn’t freak you guys out at all?” she asked in return.
“No.”
“Oh God, this is getting to be too much again.” She began to fan herself and focus on her breathing in an attempt to stay rational, or maybe to help her deal with the irrational.
“What did you just say?’ Martin asked.
“Oh God?” Bianca repeated.
“God? One?” He narrowed his eyes and looked off to the side. “Do you mean Gods? Am I mishearing you?”
“That’s really complicated,” Kylie explained. “There are a lot of religions where we come from.”
“And what makes you think this place you hail from is the future?” Jauffre asked.
“Things are more… advanced there. I could explain it to you all day and you’d probably never understand anything I was talking about, but it’s the best guess I could give you right now.”
“We may be a magic-using society, but time travel is not a possibility. If you two are truly from another world completely unlike our own, then we do not exist in the same frame of time that your world did.”
The conversation seemed to die after that statement, and Kylie felt her and Bianca were done discussing it for the day. “Is there any way we could walk around by ourselves?” she asked. “I think we need some private time to talk this over some more. I really do appreciate you being so nice, but I’m still not comfortable with all this.”
“I’d like to provide you with whatever you need to feel comfortable,” Jauffre said but if you want to talk in private it must be within the temple walls. There are dangerous people and beasts on these mountains. You’d surely get killed if you left without an escort.”
“That’s what I meant. I’m requesting permission to give myself a tour without someone over my shoulder. I would like to become acquainted with this place on my own.” She thought back to her statement and realized she’d begun to speak like they did. It was for the best, but she still felt odd speaking so properly.
“Yeah, we’d probably just look really dumb,” Bianca said. “I’d rather assume something is a bowl until one of you puts it on your head then have to ask ‘Is this a bowl?’ and be told no, I’m just a moron.”
“We wouldn’t say that,” Caroline assured.
“Oh I know, but that’s how I’d feel.” She formulated her thoughts and started her explanation over again, hoping to be clearer this time around. “Back where I’m from people think I’m really smart. I have a degree in culinary arts and business management and a minor in political science. I’m twenty-four and we… Kylie andI working on opening our own restaurant.” As she finished her statement, she noticed everyone was staring at her. “What?” She covered her mouth and gasped. “Oh no, that sounded really snobby didn’t it? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to brag. I don’t think I’m too good for this place or anything like that.”
“You cook?” Arcturus asked, ignoring any kind of boasting she’d done.
“Yeah, that’s what I do for a living,” she said slowly, feeling uncomfortable under everyone’s intense gaze. She felt like by saying she could cook, she’d announced that she was made of steak.
“Would be interested in making dinner?”
“Uh, if you got me some pants maybe. I don’t cook barefoot in skirts no matter what the time period.”
The floor shook with the sound of chairs being pushed back. The Blades cleared out in search of pants, leaving Martin, Jauffre and the two foreigners alone at the long table.
“The Blades are chosen for their fine combat skills,” Jauffre said. “However, other areas of expertise have slipped through their grasp. Cooking if very much one of those areas.”
“Hey, as long as I don’t feel useless,” she said. “I’d rather you give me a hundred things to do than leave me to entertain myself while you guys do everything.”
“So,” Kylie began as she stood up. “Are we done?”
“You may go,” Jauffre said. “Come see me if you need anything.” The two women nodded and let themselves out. After he heard the sound of the door shutting, he looked down the table at Martin. “It would seem we’re going to have a little version of you running around.”
“What?” Martin asked, furrowing his brow.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that girl is up reading till sunrise with you. She’s flat out told us she doesn’t like feeling useless. Isn’t that what you said to me when you got here?”
“Speaking of that, I should ask Marizia how her quest for the Daedric artifact went,” Martin said, ignoring the question. As he left to interrupt Marizia’s quest for pants he was completely unaware of just how right Jauffre’s statement was.
--- --- ---
With her fight or flight response kicking in, Bianca reached back, took off her one remaining shoe and threw it at whoever the guy was that had brought her there. Martin watched the shoe fly nowhere near his head and thump against the opposite wall.
By that time Kylie had woken up, but in her haze was convince she was dreaming. She’d been dreaming all night that Bianca was dragging her places, and every time she asked where they were going or why they were going there Bianca would say “I’m so sorry, but I’m glad you’re here.” She was never told, however, just where “here” was. The blurry form of Bianca and another man came into view. She passively watched the show as a faint, pale-blue light appeared in the man’s hand. Somehow, the light caused Bianca to pass out into his arms, and the fear that rippled through Kylie’s body shocked her into a full state of awareness. “Who the fuck are you?” she shouted, pulling herself to her feet with the support of the wall behind her.
“Calm down for a moment and maybe I could tell you,” Martin said, keeping his voice slow and even.
A few quick glances around the archaic room and her panic escalated tenfold. “Jesus Christ, were we ruffied by the Amish or something?”
Martin opened his mouth, not yet knowing what he as going to say exactly, but Jauffre and a few other Blades burst through the door. With hands on the hilts of their swords, everyone looked back and fort between Martin and the blonde woman, then down to the other woman in the short black dress and ripped nylons unconscious in Martin’s arms.
“Martin, what’s going on?” Jauffre asked. He walked into the room with tentative steps and stood by Martin, staring down at the petit woman that was facing them.
“I’d like to know myself. They were in my room when I woke up,” Martin said, finally resting the unconscious woman on his bed behind him. He noticed Jauffre looking at him with a questioning expression. “She’s unconscious, but seems fine.”
“You have about five second to tell me where the hell we are,” Kylie said, “or I swear to God I’ll run out of this place screaming rape.” Still recovering from the night before, Kylie found herself in the middle of a dizzy spell due to the stress of everything. Baurus rushed over to support her, making her feel guilty for having threatened them. She let her weight rest against him, calming her body down in an attempt to keep from throwing up. As she rested against the cold armor and let them take her some place to rest, she looked over at Bianca sleeping on the bed, slowly getting smaller and smaller as they carried Kylie off into another room. She lifted an arm and tried to reach the shrinking figure, unprepared for separation this early in their situation. Struggling was futile, however, and she knew that. As she remembered back to the strange dream that night, she whispered “You better be glad I’m here.”
--- --- ---
She knew the room was cold. It was a stale kind of cold that clung to the body and stayed there like a film. Her cloths were slightly warm, but itchy and baggy, making her squirm on the bed like she was trying to escape them.
“I know they suck,” Kylie began, “but it’s freezing up here.”
“Ugh, up where?”
“Get up, I’ll show you.”
Bianca grabbed hold of Kylie’s hand and used the leverage too pull herself out of bed. Looking down, she realized she’d been changed into a loose white blouse and long brown skirt similar to Kylie’s green one.
“Don’t worry, I changed you,” Kylie said. “Come on, let’s go.”
During their trip down the hall, Bianca felt like a museum piece being paraded in front of a curious audience. People in gear that probably rivaled her weight looked up from hammering metal, reading leather-bound books and slashing at wooden fighting dummies to watch her with intense gazes. She knew they didn’t mean to make her feel uncomfortable. If one of them had appeared in her bedroom she’d probably put them in hole and poke them with a stick. “How long have I been out?”
“A couple hours. I’ve been talking to the leader guy around here. He’s nice… enough. I’m still not in a great mood.”
“I’m still waiting to fucking wake up,” Bianca said, lifting her shirt so she could walk faster. “I feel like I’m stuck at one of those dorky Renaissance fairs my brother likes.”
Kylie grabbed hold of her friend’s arm and pulled her down. “We need to watch how we talk around here. Apparently the guy that knocked you out is some sort of important political figure and these people are here to protect him and kiss his ass or whatever.”
“You’re terrible at whispering,” Martin told them without looking up from his book. “And yes, in the time that you’re here I’d like it if you’d speak more respectfully. The people here are very hard-working servants of the empire.”
“Sorry,” Bianca said, her tone ambiguous. She walked the last few feet to the door Kylie was leading her too, pushing it open with added force to combat the strong wind on the other side. They walked down the tall set of stairs, the empire ahead almost growing out of the horizon.
She was statuesque for a few moments, back straight and body still.
“That’s the Imperial City” Kylie said, pointing off into the horizon. “Down there is some place called Boom-ha I think he said.”
“This isn’t happening,” Bianca stated. “It’s not. It’s just not.” She raked her fingers through her loose hair in frantic gestures as she began to pace. Her quick steps made crushing noises in the snow. “Kylie what the fuck happened?”
“You think I know?” Kylie shouted, pointing to herself. “You think I like this? You think I wanna be in this ye olde shithole?” She thought she’d gotten all her emotions out while Bianca was asleep, but the tears were back in a matter of moments. “It sucks, ok. Let’s just get that out now.”
The sound of her hard swallowing echoed in Bianca’s ears as she fought back the urge to cry as well. “What did we do deserve this?” She looked up at the sky and yelled, “Whatever it was, I’m sorry, ok!”
Kylie fell to her knees in the snow under the flood of her own thoughts. Everything that was her was gone; her family, her job, her apartment, her friends. All gone. And for what? Some temple full of medieval strangers.
“I can’t do this,” Bianca admitted, yanking her hair in frustration. “I’m not gonna be able to handle dealing with this. It’s too much.”
“You are not leaving me here,” Kylie said, her voice laced with threatening promises. She stood up and looked her friend directly in the eye. “I’m upset, okay; not suicidal. I know how much this sucks.”
“Do you really?”
“What?”
“Know how much this sucks.” Bianca began listing off non-existent luxuries as she counted them on her fingers. “We have no home, showers, electricity, cars, department stores, knowledge of the environments, friends, family, flushing toilets, supplies for our period, phones, radios, planes, TV, heat, AC-“
“I get it!” Kylie gave her friend a hard shove that caused Bianca to fall back and land in the few inches of snow below her. “Do you really think whining is gonna solve anything? Grow up.”
Ashamed, Bianca sat in the snow and finally started crying like she had needed to. Her legs were becoming cold and wet, but she welcomed any sort of physical sensation that anchored her to this new reality. She was torn between wanting to float away and being too afraid to, lest she leave the only person she had left anymore.
The sound of hoof beats got Kylie’s attention, but Bianca was too lost in her own head to notice. A person in steel armor rode up the steep path leading up to the temple on a stark-white horse. After staring at it for a few moments, Kylie finally noticed something a little off about the horse. “Holy fucking hell it’s a unicorn.”
The rider dismounted and took of her helmet. She was about to walk up the stairs, but the two women caught her attention. “Are you two alright?” she asked. Were it anyone else Kylie would have snapped at them, but this woman sounded genuine enough and had no idea what was going on. It surprised Kylie to see a black person in such a setting. She pretty much attributed the era to the Caucasian lords and ladies she’d seen in paintings. The woman was young, maybe 25 or so; though Kylie could see she carried herself with a lot of confidence and maturity. Her hair was piled on top of her head and few small pieces hung in front of her forehead. “Oh no, you’ve been crying. Is something wrong?”
“It’s difficult to explain,” Kylie said. “We should head inside and talk it over. Come on Bianca, before we freeze.”
To steady her nerves, Bianca took a few deliberate breathes and wiped off her eyes. She held her chin up high and straightened her back. “Alright, let’s go.”
--- --- ---
“Please, introduce yourselves,” Jauffre said as he sat at the foot of the table. Bianca and Kylie sat on either side of him. Jauffre had insisted that Martin sit at the head of the table, and the Blades filed in to fill the rest of the seats.
“I’m Bianca and this is my friend Kylie.” It was at that point that Bianca felt blessed by her name. If she was named Caitlyn or something of that sort, she’d have an even harder time fitting into a place with people named Jauffre and Baurus.
“Nice to meet you two ladies,” he replied politely. “Now, tell us exactly what happened before you found yourself here.”
Bianca nodded to Kylie to tell the story. “I’ll be honest, we got pretty drunk last night. We had been out dancing and then we went home. Nothing weird happened. I swear we have no clue how we ended up in his royal majesty’s bedchamber,” she said, motioning to the other end of the table.
“We do trust you. You should know that.” Jauffre said. “Your reactions are proof enough that you are not spies or assassins.”
“We’d be the worst spies ever,” Bianca said. “We fall asleep behind enemy lines.”
Under the table, Kylie gave her friend a deliberate kick to communicate that it wasn’t the time for those kinds of jokes. “What she means it we’re absolutely helpless.”
“We are more than willing to offer you refuge here, so long as you earn your keep. I must, however, ask that you stay here until our mission is complete. We’d like to properly escort you to where you need to be, but we cannot spare the time to do that at the moment.”
Flattered by their generosity, Bianca began to feel guilty for the frantic way she’d been acting. “I… uh... I’m very sorry that I threw my shoe at you, your majesty.”
The Blades couldn’t help but snicker in response to the way she had meekly phrased her excessive reaction.
“It’s alright, just promise you won’t call me ‘your majesty’ anymore.”
“Sire, you are the he-” Jauffe began. He’d been having trouble trying to acclimate Martin to the notion of being royalty.
Martin raised a hand and explained himself. “They are probably not even from this world, Jauffre. I am not their emperor.” He glanced back and forth between the two women. “What can you tell us about where you come from?”
“I think it might be the future, or something like it,” Bianca said, unsure as to how true it was. “You guys talk about magic and spells and stuff like that. What exactly can you do?”
The entire table raised a brow at the curious tone in her question. “You mean to tell us you have no knowledge of magic arts?” Fortis asked. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as a sign that he was doubtful.
“I’m beginning to think it’s really common place here,” Kylie guessed, trying to stay calm. If magic ruled day-to-day life in this world, however, she was headed for some major roadblocks.
“Depends,” the woman from outside the temple chimed in. “We Redguards don’t like to use much. A Dunmer, though, that’s another story.”
“What’s your name by the way?” Kylie asked. “And thank you for being worried about us.”
“I’m Marizia,” she said. “And it was no problem.”
“Jena, could you please get me the book on spell casting from that shelf?” Jauffre asked, pointing to a thick red book that was lying on its own shelf. Jena raised a hand and the book slowly levitated toward her grasp.
“Are you alright?” Cyrus asked Bianca, whose face had drained of all color.
“That doesn’t freak you guys out at all?” she asked in return.
“No.”
“Oh God, this is getting to be too much again.” She began to fan herself and focus on her breathing in an attempt to stay rational, or maybe to help her deal with the irrational.
“What did you just say?’ Martin asked.
“Oh God?” Bianca repeated.
“God? One?” He narrowed his eyes and looked off to the side. “Do you mean Gods? Am I mishearing you?”
“That’s really complicated,” Kylie explained. “There are a lot of religions where we come from.”
“And what makes you think this place you hail from is the future?” Jauffre asked.
“Things are more… advanced there. I could explain it to you all day and you’d probably never understand anything I was talking about, but it’s the best guess I could give you right now.”
“We may be a magic-using society, but time travel is not a possibility. If you two are truly from another world completely unlike our own, then we do not exist in the same frame of time that your world did.”
The conversation seemed to die after that statement, and Kylie felt her and Bianca were done discussing it for the day. “Is there any way we could walk around by ourselves?” she asked. “I think we need some private time to talk this over some more. I really do appreciate you being so nice, but I’m still not comfortable with all this.”
“I’d like to provide you with whatever you need to feel comfortable,” Jauffre said but if you want to talk in private it must be within the temple walls. There are dangerous people and beasts on these mountains. You’d surely get killed if you left without an escort.”
“That’s what I meant. I’m requesting permission to give myself a tour without someone over my shoulder. I would like to become acquainted with this place on my own.” She thought back to her statement and realized she’d begun to speak like they did. It was for the best, but she still felt odd speaking so properly.
“Yeah, we’d probably just look really dumb,” Bianca said. “I’d rather assume something is a bowl until one of you puts it on your head then have to ask ‘Is this a bowl?’ and be told no, I’m just a moron.”
“We wouldn’t say that,” Caroline assured.
“Oh I know, but that’s how I’d feel.” She formulated her thoughts and started her explanation over again, hoping to be clearer this time around. “Back where I’m from people think I’m really smart. I have a degree in culinary arts and business management and a minor in political science. I’m twenty-four and we… Kylie andI working on opening our own restaurant.” As she finished her statement, she noticed everyone was staring at her. “What?” She covered her mouth and gasped. “Oh no, that sounded really snobby didn’t it? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to brag. I don’t think I’m too good for this place or anything like that.”
“You cook?” Arcturus asked, ignoring any kind of boasting she’d done.
“Yeah, that’s what I do for a living,” she said slowly, feeling uncomfortable under everyone’s intense gaze. She felt like by saying she could cook, she’d announced that she was made of steak.
“Would be interested in making dinner?”
“Uh, if you got me some pants maybe. I don’t cook barefoot in skirts no matter what the time period.”
The floor shook with the sound of chairs being pushed back. The Blades cleared out in search of pants, leaving Martin, Jauffre and the two foreigners alone at the long table.
“The Blades are chosen for their fine combat skills,” Jauffre said. “However, other areas of expertise have slipped through their grasp. Cooking if very much one of those areas.”
“Hey, as long as I don’t feel useless,” she said. “I’d rather you give me a hundred things to do than leave me to entertain myself while you guys do everything.”
“So,” Kylie began as she stood up. “Are we done?”
“You may go,” Jauffre said. “Come see me if you need anything.” The two women nodded and let themselves out. After he heard the sound of the door shutting, he looked down the table at Martin. “It would seem we’re going to have a little version of you running around.”
“What?” Martin asked, furrowing his brow.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that girl is up reading till sunrise with you. She’s flat out told us she doesn’t like feeling useless. Isn’t that what you said to me when you got here?”
“Speaking of that, I should ask Marizia how her quest for the Daedric artifact went,” Martin said, ignoring the question. As he left to interrupt Marizia’s quest for pants he was completely unaware of just how right Jauffre’s statement was.