What's your name?

Rykar had been hoping to fall asleep. To consider her options. She was also lying to herself as she regretted all the things she would now not have the chance to do. After all, had she not asked her sister to talk to the prince, Rykar would've possibly spent most of her time simply staring at the ceiling as Dextera slept at her side. Instead she found herself at a small bar, when neither she nor her sister drank, sitting across the Otherworlder.

He seemed normal. Normal enough to go unnoticed within the crowd of any city around the world. In fact, the only way he seemed to be different was in appearance. He was tall, of delicate features. Almond eyes of a dark colour and cotton candy coloured hair that was slightly long but would not reach his shoulders. His expression was one she hadn't seen in so long. A lost look, turning him into a person that was essentially just a walking shell.

What was left in him reminded her all too much of the man she'd seen every day, as she walked to school. A man who sat in his front garden for what seemed to be the entire day and night, peeling apples. She never knew if he ate them. Never really asked or stopped to watch what happened with the fruit. Each time she saw him he was always in the process of starting a new apple. Always. Not once had she ever arrived to see him finish.

"He can't speak our language?" Rykar asked the prince, who was at the moment too interested in showing off the tattoos on his arm to Dextera. Some of them were permanent, the others changed according to his mood and day. He currently was proud of showing the butterflies decorating his forearm, proud of the detail. "Or the Common tongue?"

The prince seemed exasperated. "No. He can't."

"But you've talked to him."

David turned to Dextera, who flashed him a gentle smile. "Of course I can." He said. "I can speak Surrian as well."

"How do you know the language he is even speaking in?" Rykar asked, causing the prince to turn his attention towards her. "Do they speak the same in the Otherworld? Or was an Otherworlder your teacher?"

The prince smiled brightly, seemingly proud of himself. "I just can. Languages are a gift that have been passed down through my family."

Rykar felt as though he would continue speaking so she glanced at Dextera who asked the prince about the right way to learn Surrian. "It's such a beautiful language." She said, in a voice that was all too monotone and so very obviously uninterested.

Rykar took her phone and after a few clicks she stood up. She hoped she seemed trustful enough and tapped on the Otherworlder's shoulder. He looked up, somewhat surprised and life returned to his eyes. Just for a bit. She offered her hand. Silently, quietly. Almost as if she were making a promise to him in between the screams of joy, the sound of music, and the clamorous party that surrounded them.

The Otherworlder reached out and then hesitated, his fingers lingering over her hand. Rykar wished she could tell him that all she wanted to do was help. That was it. To offer him an option that the prince had seemingly kept to himself, likely not out of malice but due to it not affecting him. So she smiled and took his hand, using her head to gesture for him to follow her.

They walked out the bar and into the bustling street. Her phone leading them to the person who would hopefully open the world to the Otherworlder. She'd heard of them before. How lost they usually felt in a world too different from their own. There were stories that people told whenever the topic came up and those that didn't end in tragedy ended with a single horrifying sentence, "Their bodies stay and rot away."

Every few steps she would turn to look at him. His eyes caught between taking in the world around him or withdrawing within himself. She would squeeze his hand slightly whenever he seemed to lose himself, something her mother always did when their siblings didn't feel like speaking but needed someone by their side. And she always kept her smile. A gentle one, not the kind of smile that was unnerving and would ask for you to run away.

Rykar found the person she was looking for inside a small box on the road. Their limbs poured out from the box, resting wherever they fell. A small neon sign on top of it declared who they were and a single sheet of paper told customers to simply speak their request.

"A universal translator for him." Rykar said, kneeling before the box, letting go of the Otherworlder's hand. "Not a fish nor a worm. Write it into his soul so that he won't struggle." Translating fish and worms were cheaper, but the creatures were not fun to deal with in the long run and Otherworlders had the bad luck to be trapped in a strange world they could not navigate. She at least could speak the Common tongue and rely on her country, as well as the resources those she knew offered to her.

It was also good for Otherworlders to not seem all too foreign since their very presence was known to shift the way of the world. Whether it was for good or bad was unknown. Her sister's teacher had lost that ability one day, out of nowhere. Others remained as such until the country they inhabited chose to remove them, placing them either on a single island that no one knew how to find or leaving their disappearances unspoken for. There wasn't much information regarding Otherworlders other than through stories told at candlelight.

The person in the box looked up and raised its hand, asking for the Otherworlder to hand his over. "What's the price?" Rykar asked.

"The colour red."

Rykar looked at the Otherworlder, who seemed to try and make sense of what was being discussed. "Can I pay it? And can you make it the colour yellow? I don't like the colour yellow."

"Red."

She sighed. "Fine." Rykar turned to the Otherworlder and asked for his hand. It took a while before he allowed the man to take his hand and begin.

Writing on people's souls was something that few in the world could do. Most of them specialised in a specific code that they would write into a person. Translators, such as the one they stood before, had slowly lost their importance due to the increasing use of the Common tongue. Rykar herself had only ever seen it once, when Ruby had tried to cheat her way through Rishtik. To her dismay the teacher noticed and she subsequently failed and was forced to do community service.

It took what seemed an eternity. Almost long enough to make her wonder if she had lost her mind. She asked herself what colour her sister's hair would be. Caldera's copper locks had always drawn the attention of others, a colour that wore its best when underneath the sun. Then there was the fact that she had not asked what shades of red would be removed, since pink could also be considered as part of the spectrum.

"Finished." The person said. "Thank you for your service. Payment shall be received in 24 hours."

She thanked him quickly and turned to the Otherworlder, whose eyes had widened in panic as he'd finally understood what had been said. "Payment?" He muttered, turning to her. "I- I understood them."

"You should be able to understand now." She said, finally standing up and stretching her legs. "Do you have a name?"

The Otherworlder smiled awkwardly, "I can understand you." His eyes left her and turned to the buildings. The signs, the writings- he could now read it all. "What-" He turned back to her. "What did they do?"

"A translator. Everything you say, hear, read will be automatically translated into a language you understand. Right now you probably think you're speaking your language but to me you are singing Altlanian, since that's my mother tongue. Had I first learned the common tongue then to me you would be speaking that." Rykar explained, somewhat fascinated with how the Otherworlder was adjusting to his new skill. "That reminds me. What's your name?"

"Daniel." The Otherworlder said, finally looking at her. "My name is Daniel. I'm… I'm not from here." There was relief in every word he spoke. "I don't know where I am."

Rykar laughed and then stopped herself, uncertain if it was rude. "What has the prince told you?"

"That he's a prince." Daniel said before admitting, "I think I stopped listening after that. Something about a festival."

Rykar looked around and then turned to her phone. It had been a while since they'd left her sister, all alone with the prince. Even so the chances of her sister suddenly switching careers were still quite low and the amount of 'Help' messages she'd received were still not enough to worry.

"Follow me."