Not Like Us

Yet again, there was that eerie calm as Hua awoke, lying in something warm and soft, clearly a bed. No fear of where she was- after all, she was essentially a dead girl walking, wasn't she? For a time, she simply lay still, pretending that she'd not yet woken, thinking over what she'd just seen. The court, then, was a sort of purgatory… but Nara's attachment to her seemed irrational, there had to be more to it… 

Well, no point in pretending to sleep for very much longer, Hua sighed and slowly opened her eyes to see a plain white ceiling. She lay in a relatively small bed with sheets soft as silk, and, as she looked around, it was a plain room that she observed, with a desk, a small cabinet and nothing more. Sitting up made clear a door in one corner, but beyond that, nothing.

Shifting, Hua stood slowly, and grunted as a wave of dizziness rocked her body, sending her to her knees, wincing at the twinge of pain that accompanied this. She was weak, stomach churning, gnawing at itself.

"How long, since I've eaten…" Hua muttered slowly, standing up and making her way to that door in the corner, opening it. Outside, a simple hallway, but she could hear humming, and slowly walked toward it, emerging into a plain sitting room with a sofa, table, and small bookcase. To her right, just as simple, a kitchen sat, and in it, a girl with pale skin, ashy hair and eyes like the innards of a volcano.

"You're awake," The ashen-haired woman mumbled, averting her eyes. "Awake a-and uh, still naked- my name is Emily, and um, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but, first, I picked you up some clothes, they're um, hallway, first door on the right, I left them on my chair, if you don't mind-" Still looking away, hands fiddling with some sort of contraption in front of her, Emily kept her gaze trained firmly downward.

"Thank, you," Hua spoke aloud, wincing. Her throat felt as if a raccoon had clawed its way out, but she turned, regardless of her need for water, and walked back to the hallway, nudging her way into the first door on the right. Another plain bedroom, though the bed was bigger here, and in the corner sat a squashy armchair with a small nightstand beside it. Indeed, clothes lay folded on that chair, and Hua picked them up, angling her head, inspecting the outfit. Plain white underwear and plain black pants with a rugged, long sleeved black top- cheap, durable materials like something a page would wear. 

"Well, not like I mind the nudity, but it would make things difficult," Hua muttered to herself, disliking the silence of the room as she dressed quickly. Only when she stepped back did she notice, under the chair, the socks and durable walking boots, only slightly worn. Sitting, for a moment, she pulled on both, wiggling her toes- all in all, everything fit closely, the boots a bit tight and the shirt just the slightest bit baggy. The pants and undergarments, though, fit perfect- Emily either had a good eye or a housemate around Hua's size.

"Thank you," she called out to Emily on returning, and the flaming-eyed girl nodded tiredly up at her. She was short, and possessed a pair of elegant gray wings that rustled lightly almost constantly, as if restless. "Where am I?"

"One thing at a time, girly," Emily replied gently, pushing a mug full of water across the counter. "Sip this, you've been out for days, and if you're not feeling symptoms yet, you will be soon. Your hair is a mess, would you care to let me brush it? I bathed you, but I didn't want to cause you pain while you were unconscious." To this, Hua paused for a moment, confused.

"I… why are you doing this?" 

"One thing at a time," Emily repeated gently. "I don't want your head to be spinning if I dump too much info on you at once- now your hair is in snarls, will you come sit?" She gestured to the sofa, and Hua, after hesitating only a moment, slowly took up the mug of water, walked over and sit. Emily grabbed a hairbrush from somewhere she must have left it and slowly walked over, standing behind the amnesiac and beginning to separate strands of her hair. A moment later, she gripped the ends of Hua's hair, around her shoulder blades, and began to brush the inches below that.

"Alright, what's your name?" Emily asked quietly, still slowly working the brush, and Hua sipped her water, shuddering, struggling at first, to swallow.

"My name is Hua." She replied quietly. "The name, I don't.. Never mind," She finished, shaking her head, and Emily hummed knowingly.

"It's okay to be disoriented, expected even. Now, do you want to ask me questions, or would you like me to give you the story, as best I can, to why you're here, and let you ask what you may at the end?" Her voice was understanding, gentle.

"Tell me the story, please, and, if you don't, mind, tell me why I'm here," Hina grunted out, taking another sip of water after.

"Sure, sure." A pause. "I didn't witness any of this story, so don't take it as concrete fact, okay? I think I know what happened, though, just don't get mad at me if I'm wrong?" Emily hummed once again, voice lilting, musical. 

"Of course," Hua answered simply, to get her speaking. 

"Alright. This nation is called Starria, and they don't enjoy visitors who aren't human. It's a nation of warriors, led by strong men and served by soft women- those who don't fit the archetype are unwelcome. For a long time, it was possible to live under the radar, but lately, I've even had soldiers poking around, and had to use magic, disguise myself as a human. There are tales, among the countryside, of demons, demi humans, and the like being prosecuted, or even executed without trial, purely because we weren't born as a weaker species. If I had to guess, it's all fear, to blame…"

"I… I admit, I don't know how true this is," Emily continued, humming, raising the brush higher. "There are stories of a brewing war- demons of the ocean invading from the west coast of Starria. Be that true, or a farce to villainize non-humans more, I don't know, but for six months, this nation who by and large hates magical beings trained human mages on summoning- the goal was to summon ten magnificent heroes. Human warriors of other lands who had battled demons all their lives, who would deliver us from our fate at the oceanic monster's hands." Emily paused, a moment, letting the girl sitting in front of her absorb this information.

"I see," Hua muttered, soft, and meant it.

"Trouble is that magic isn't something you can master in the space of six months," Emily continued slowly. "Starria by and large detests magic, and trying to train mages in such a short time… it was foolish. The nobles held a grand ball, to celebrate the heroes, and at the end, the summoning would take place for a live audience. The idiots tried to turn a magical ritual into a live event to turn a profit in tickets…" A sigh. "It went well, all things considered, but it didn't go how they wanted. Of the ten heroes, four were women, and six were non-human, to some degree. I'm not sure what happened to the witnesses, but I have it on good authority that the women and non-humans were swept off and imprisoned until there was a decision on what to do about them. After all, women are to serve, and non-humans aren't welcome, how could we possibly elevate them onto a pedestal for the common folk?" Emily paused for a moment, letting Hina process. Racist kingdom rushed their magical hero summoning, got the parameters wrong, and imprisoned anything that wasn't a strong male warrior to decide their fate.

"Continue…?" Hua asked, quiet, sipping her water again as Emily moved up, the brush around the nape of her neck now. 

"Well there's tell that one of the heroes came to her senses and killed a guard while fleeing, throwing herself into the ocean and, presumably, killing herself. However, I was fishing at the beach when I saw you floating in the water, barely conscious and half drowned. I brought you here to help you recover, and learned of what happened in the capitol later, from an informant who helps non-humans like me.

"Got it," Hua muttered, soft. "Summoning went wrong, execute the failures. I remember running, and jumping… you found me and brought me here to recover. I was meant to be a hero, considered a failure, and now, I'm…"

"Dead, say the rumors. You're lucky you chose to jump instead of fight- in your shape, you'd never stand a chance against a prison guard's number of soldiers. Can't say for sure that I'd have had the same courage," Emily added, quiet. 

"Do you, have, a mirror…?" Hua asked softly, closing her eyes and finishing the water. "I don't even know what I look like… I don't remember anything from before the summoning. I only became conscious enough to understand where I was, once I was in a jail cell. Everything still feels surreal."

"Er, yeah, let me finish your hair and I'll get you a hand mirror," Emily affirmed, quietly. "As much as the soldiers have been hunting down anything non-human though, I'm planning to leave. The neighboring kingdom, Mir, is a trading hub with like fifty or sixty species native to it. I wouldn't have a home there, but I'd be safer than here, so I've been planning to move next month when summer rolls in, fully. You… also, may, want to consider headed for Mir, all things considered. We… could travel together, if you'd be interested You've got nothing in this world, but this isn't the place to start a new life."

"Sure, but, is there a way to figure out where I'm from?" Hua groaned quietly, Sitting up a bit as Emily took the brush away from her head and walked off to a closet. She returned with a small hand mirror, handing it over, and eagerly, Hua took it, looking down into the glass. Pale skin as if she'd spent years underground without seeing the sun. White hair streaked with black, and green eyes- she might have been human if not for the odd black hues sprinkled into her hair and the tail behind her, which, on close inspection, was slightly rough, and also black and white.

"Right, duh, the tail must be why Nara was calling me badger…" Hua sighed quietly, shaking her head. "Damn, and so close to being able to pass as a human with hair dye… that would remove all the headache, wouldn't it…"

"It would," Emily nodded quietly. "And, to answer your question- I wouldn't know how to find out where you're from. You're welcome to stay with me in this home until I leave next month, or you can leave anytime. Travel with me, don't, your call- but I promise you that Mir would be a lot safer for you than this place, no matter how you look at it. If there is a way to understand where you were, and who you were before this… the place to find out is probably with a more talented mage than anybody here, anyway."

"So it's not safe here, for me," Hua muttered, noticing that, under her hair, the skin of her ears darkened to a color like ebony, along with a small patch near the top of her jaw. Her hair hid the odd look, but, regardless, she wondered why… "

"Mhm?" Emily asked softly, snapping Hua out of it.

"Right. Not safe for me here, but Mir is safe, and you'd be willing to travel with me early next month, when the ground is drier. If anybody can tell me where I was, before this, it would be a more talented mage, which, I'm guessing would also be an easier find in Mir?" 

"Correct." 

"Why are you offering to let me stay here?" Hua raised an eyebrow. "I am grateful, but…"

"I have the money and the room. Why shouldn't I offer to help?" Emily shrugged. "If people forget simple acts of kindness, then the whole world would become one big Starria. I've lived here all my life, and I'm… ready to say goodbye," The girl with ashen hair sighed softly, voice trailing off into a whisper. "I um…" 

"It's okay," Hua whispered quietly. "It's okay to remember. Would you like some space?" 

"What? Remember?" Emily, quiet, brow furrowing.

"You're not ready to say goodbye to Starria, are you? It's something else," Hua murmured softly, closing her eyes, a wave of fatigue slowly rolling over her.

A long pause.

Silence, between the two. Somehow easy, comfortable.

Emily never answered.