Where Safety Feels Like A Stranger

Sun awoke sometime the next day. He almost forgot where he was and confusion seeped into him. He was actually comfortable for once and not overly cold. He lay on something soft with actual blankets covering him. He almost forgot the previous day with the Illyrian girl helping them. How could anybody be so kind to strangers? It didn't make any sense to him. How in the world could anybody do anything for someone they'd never met before? The Fold would help their own but not like this. They'd had to be careful with who they helped because the Has aconite government persecuted them so heavily. He rolled over in the bed, sunlight streaming through the window. He was definitely hungry but he wasn't sure what time it was. Would Kali be willing to feed him if it was halfway through the day? He was pretty sure he had no reason to fear Kali, based on how she'd treated his family the previous night, but doubt niggled in his mind. No, nobody in Hasaeon would treat strangers this well. The Fold had to be so very careful since there were strict, heavy consequences for those that didn't convert to their religion. Why would Blake and Kali take in so many strangers? It just didn't make sense to him. He stayed in bed for a bit, mulling over what to do. He did need to get dressed and his body demanded food. So he rolled out of bed and pulled on some of the ones he'd gotten at the Sanctuary of second Blessings. They didn't fit perfectly, but it was better than the dirty, bedraggled, worn clothes he'd been wearing for a while now. He'd have to burn his old clothes and wash the current ones. These probably needed washed too, but he simply could not bring himself to put on the dirty, road-stained clothes he'd been wearing for months now. He left the room and found his way down to the kitchen. Nobody else inhabited the room but he found serving dishes with food set out on them. They sat on the hearth where it burned at low embers to keep the food warm. He looked around warily, not certain if anybody would come after him or not. The Fold ate in communal feasts quite often and he wasn't sure if the same was true for Illyria. But this was a lot of food. He was incredibly hungry since it'd been days since his last meal. He could sometimes go up to a week without any food during their long travels, preferring to give the food to his younger siblings so they could have the energy to continue on. He grabbed a plate and started patting food on it. A hooing came from the corner, making him freeze. An odd bird sat in the corner of the room. It was silvery grey, though it looked dull in the daylight. It rotated its head from side to side, blinking slowly, "Erm, hello there," he said, not sure if it could understand him or not. He knew there were divine animals, sacred to the Ssilent Ones that could understand people, but he'd never met one before. He was pretty sure the Has aconite government and religious officials kept such animals either locked away or simply killed them. They didn't want anybody to honor the silent ones, so getting rid of their sacred animals would aid and abet that' The owl hooed again, though it was longer and sounded like it had intelligence behind it. "Uh, sorry, can't understand you." He wished he could but he'd never been around sacred animals for the Silent Ones before. He wasn't sure if he'd ever understand them or not. They'd walked for four months. He wasn't sure if they'd ever go back to Has aeon or not. Maybe he'd come to understand the animals if he stayed here, but he wasn't sure if this was permanent or not. It was so hard to know when so much was up in the air. He sat at the table and started to eat. Shortly after, a young teenage girl came up. She had the same cat ears, black hair, and amber eyes that Blake and Kali did. Even so, he shifted uneasily. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked. She didn't seem aggressive, at least. "And how did you know I was here?" Her timing was odd and seemed like she'd been told he was here. How? Nobody had been in the kitchen with him... It didn't make sense. "We set up Seraphina in here to tell me when you guys were getting food. From the sound of it, you guys were in a sorry state last night. I'm Marina Belladonna, Blake's younger sister. Batna the you didn't do anything wrong—especially if you mean the food. Mom made it and left it out especially for you." She stretched a bit. "What's your name?" "Sun Wukong." He looked at the bird. assuming that was Seraphina. "How did she tell you when one of us comes?" That was beyond strange to him. Marina hadn't even been in the room with Seraphina. Already, Illyria was proving to be a strange place. Marina blinked. "Do you not know about Everwild companions?" "What's Everwild?" The word felt strange on his tongue. "TheEver wild. Larrick's domain.' Marina gave him a strange look. "Don't tell me you don't know about the realms of existence." Sun shook his head. "I do know of them, but not really about them. They're seen as too sacred to enter into lightly." They were the realms of the Silent Ones; not just anybody should enter them, let alone as easily as Marina's words seemed to be implying. Did Illyrians meet with the Silent Ones on a normal basis or something? It made no sense to him. The Silent Ones were to be worshiped, yes, but not met with on a daily basis or something. What was she implying here? He couldn't make heads or tails of it. "That's really weird to me. It's a rite of passage for Ani markers to go to the Everwild and get a companion. I'm a Dreamweaver which isn't an Animancer, but considering my family is largely made of Plantcallers, it makes sense I was given an Everwild companion." Sun stared at Marina. "I don't know what half of those words mean. I can speak Illyrian. but I don't know it inside and out." He was completely lost on what she was talking about. He wasn't a native speaker and this was really his first time talking to people that knew the language fluently. "Do you knowanythingabout magic?" He shook his head. "Magic is banned in Hasaeon. It's seen as the realm of the false gods by the Hasaeonite government. The Luminant Fold, my religion, worships the true gods, who we call the Nocthara, and we can't risk more reprisal from the government by using magic. I know it exists, but that's about it." Apparently Illyrians could use magic openly without such fears. How very strange to think about. He really had no idea what to think about it. "I don't know what any of the terms you used mean." Marina frowned. "Not able to use magic? Outlawed? That's so weird to think about. It's so odd that they would ban it; magic is beyond useful. And what do you mean false and true gods? Do they have a made-up religion or something?" "They basically flip flop the demigods and real gods. They see the demigods as the real gods and the real gods as tyrants." There was more to it than that, of course, but he didn't feel like getting into it in depth. Illyrians worshiped the Silent Ones too which was good enough for him. He just wasn't sure how much detail he should give out in general. "What time is it, by the way?" He wanted to know how late he'd slept. He was so out of sorts he couldn't tell the time. "Past fourteen rise." "What?" What did that mean? "The fourteenth hour of the day." Sun scrunched his face up. "Hasaeon splits the day into two, twelve-hour periods. So that'd be…two strike, I believe." "Strike? What kind of weird measurement of time isthat?"She made a face. "Well, clocks strike the hour, so." He shrugged. Chime was another common term in the Fold. Hasaeon at large didn't like excess noise, so the only way people knew the time was to use sundials. The Fold had developed more accurate and reliable timekeeping devices that chimed the hours with certain melodies. They had to be kept within homes,though, due to the Fold was a minority technically outlawed by the government. “What's a clock?" Marina looked at him. He described timekeeping devices and how the smaller pieces were in homes. "Oh so like a mini tower. Cool." She smiled. "We have one in town, but it's hard to hear out here since it's at the Sanctum and we live so far from it. Do you have one?" He shook his head. "No. We had to leave ours behind when we fled." It had been a luxury piece for certain and no ton his family's list of things to grab when fleeing in the middle of the night. They'd only been able to grab some clothes and meager food supplies before needing to be spirited away. Marina frowned. "Oh, that sucks." He gave her a look and she explained what it meant. "Do you want to see Mom or Blake?" That…might be good." He took a bite and swallowed. He couldn't eat anything more though he wanted to. He'd only eaten about half of what he'd gotten but he didn't want it to go to waste. Woald they bury the leftovers like the Fold did? How did they handle excess food? He was incredibly curious. "Has anyone else in my family come up? " "An older man and woman came up with some young kids a couple hours ago, but they went back to their rooms. I'm assuming those were probably your parents and younger siblings. Other than that,no, nobody's come down. Do you think you should get them all?" "Good question, honestly, I'm not sure if my parents want to be bothered but my other siblings do need to eat. I'll see if I can speak to my parents." He looked down at his plate. "What should I do with the rest of this?" It was one thing to give away food that hadn't been touched yet; it was another when he'd eaten from the plate and his silverware had touched his saliva. Not wise to put it back into the communal serving platters. If he was any indication, his family probably wouldn't finish everything that had been put out for them. "We'll throw the scraps in the garden to feed the plants. Not a big deal." She got up and took his plate from him, then dumped it into a container. There was no ritual to it like there would be in Hasaeon. It was strange to see. The Fold buried excess food while most Hasaeonites made sure there was nothing left in the first place. It was so odd to see food just…thrown away like that. Were they really so wealthy that they could frivolously throw food out? Even when there were no weight additional people in the house? It was wild to see such blatant disregard for food when Hasaeonites held it in such high regard. "Can you go get your parents?" "Sure." He stood up, almost tripping over himself due to how full he felt. It had been a very long time since he'd felt like this. In the months of travel, he'd only been full a few times. It was wild that he should have enough food to want to fall back asleep despite the fact he'd just woken up. His family would be very happy to have full bellies again. They'd been too long without enough food and, now, they could all eat to their heart's content. It was almost enough to make him cry especially Fen and Xue who couldn't understand the situation at all. He went and found his parents in a room where Fen and Xue laid asleep on the bed. Shu Fen rested against Yi ting, her and looked at him.“What can Ido for you, tal?"she asked, eyes partially closed. "I was wondering if you wanted to talk to Blake or Kali with me. It's two strike.We should probably wake the others too."He was reluctant, but there was a lot they needed to talk about with the Belladonnas. They had all been without consistent rest and food for far too long. He completely understood why his siblings were still asleep, but he thought they might enjoy some food too, considering how hungry they'd been for so long. The flavors were far different in Illyria than in Hasaeon, but he certainly wouldn't complain about food. Shufen sighed."We probably should."She stood and shook Fen and Xue awake, though they fought it and cried a bit. Sun's heart went out to his youngest siblings since they truly did not understand the gravity of what was going on and why they couldn't go home. They understood the government didn't like them, but much more than that was beyond them. Nuance didn't come easily to kids so young. Sun at least had the life experience to understand the ins and out. There was really no good 'why' unfortunately. Prejudice just seemed to be part of human land Faunus) nature."Would you mind going and getting the others?" "I can do that.”He went to find the others which wasn't hard, considering the closed doors. Rong, Jian, and Huan were rough to rouse, but once food got mentioned, they snapped awake. He waited in the front room on their floor for everyone and he smiled when everyone gathered, leading them down to the kitchen. He was pretty sure Fen and Xue had already eaten, but Haan was clearly struggling to not run and go fill her belly. Yiting had everyone sit down, then let Rong, Jian, and Huan go get food. "You're gonna need less than you think," Sun said in Illyrian. It felt wrong to not use their native language, but they were going to have to get used to speaking it. Huan screwed up her face, trying to understand. She had only started Illyrian lessons about a year and a half ago, so she hadsomeunderstanding, but it'd be tough for her. Fen and Xue felt bad for them, but nobody could do anything about it were locked out completely since they hadn't started yet. Sun until they started learning the language. They would have to, considering the entire Wukong family may never return to Hasaeon… Yiting said a small prayer to the Silent Ones, then allowed Rong, Jian, and Huan to eat. It was then that Kali and BLake came up. Kali offered them a graceful smile. "May I sit?" "It's your house and your food," Yiting said. Kali nodded and sat down. "Now, I'm sure you all have a lot of questions, but hold off for now. Ghira, Blake, and I all talked." Sun glanced at his parents who gazed at Kali warily. “You all can stay as long as you want and need to. We arenotgoing to push you into homelessness in a country whose ways you don't understand. However, with the addition of your family, we will need help with the harvest and growing more food. Would you be willing to do that? I'm going to have Blake open more land since we need it." She smiled. "That's all we really ask of you. Reasonable?" Yiting and Shufen looked at each other, conferring in their native language. Sun listened, putting in every so often. It wasn't a hard choice, but it would be a hard transition for the Wukong family. "We can agree to that," Shufen said. "Though we will need to be taught, we've lived in a city most of our lives and have never worked the land. Will you help us learn what's needed of us?" Sun and his family couldn't afford to be put out because they had nowhere to go. They had no knowledge of crops or anything like that, but they were willing to learn." Fen and Xue can't speak Illyrian... Will they have to work? They aren't that old." Kali smiled. "We can teach them the language. For now, we'll start you in the herb garden. It won't be as hard as working the land fully. I can see you're all quite thin and no doubt weary from your travels. Take a few weeks to rest and recover before we really have you start helping. Are any of you Plantshapers?" Shafer frowned. "I don't know what that means." "Can any of you use magic?" Shafer shook her head. "We know magic exists but that's it. It's outlawed in Hasaeon." It was Kali's turn to frown. "So none of you know if you evenhaveit?" Shafer shook her head. "We'll have to take you to the Sanctum and have most of you undergo the Rite of Awakening then." When Kali saw how ill at ease they were, she smiled. "Don't worry. There won't be any harm. It's a simple ritual that simply awakens your ability to manipulate Aether if you can. Every child at the age of twelve has it done here in Illyria. It's gentle and only takes a few moments." Shufen shook her head. "Magic is outlawed by the Hasaeonite government. The Nocthara are seen as tyrants by the government and their worship is outlawed. Even mentioning the other realms of existence is outlawed. I've been to them a few times but rarely.” “Nocthara?” "The real gods, not the demigods. I'm not sure how to translate the term. Thyri, Velora, Lorrick… The Nocthara. Raelan, Zeloran, Leianis... The Ashkorae. Again, I'm not sure how to translate it." Kati nodded. "I see. Well, after you've all eaten, we can go to the Sanctum and have the Rite of Awakening performed on most of you. If you have magic, though, you will have to spend time there to learn to use it. Our Sanctum is a mixed one to the Divarchon, so there should be those that can teach you how to use it. A lot of smaller Sanctums only focus on one deity, so people have to travel to larger Sanctums for training." Shufen nodded. "I wonder what sort of magic we'd have, if any." Kali smiled. "We'll just have to see. Magic is usually passed down along family lines, but the Divarchon sometimes have other plans. Like most of Ghira's line are Plantshapers and Beastcallers. but Marina is a Dreamweaver. None of the children inherited my Deathsensing and Shadowbinding." Sun glanced at his parents. Deathsensing? Shadowbinding? He could see the terms had spooked them too. Kali's smile didn't waver. "All it means is that I can see the Twilight Veil near somebody as they approach death and I can control shadows. Neither is nefarious, I promise." "Okay," Shufen said, though they remained ill at ease. Kali fell quiet and allowed them to finish their meal in peace. Everyone only ate a portion of what they had gotten like Sun had. He wasn't surprised i he had heard stomachs could shrink when one hadn't had enough food for a long enough time. He felt bad about how much would go to waste, but Kali didn't seem perturbed. She explained about the compost bin and to put anything leftover there. Sun's family clearly felt the same way he did but followed her directions. She smiled again. "Now how about we head to the Sanctum?"