In a strange world as a Doppelganger

Chapter 36 - A talk under the stars

What is my name. That's not something I've really thought about if I am being honest with myself. I haven't had much use of a name so far. No reason to have one. Can't say I remember what it would have been before coming here either.

"I don't know", is the response I muster.

"You don't know? How can you not know your own name?" they look at me and now that we're up close I can see the features clearer, I'm pretty sure they're a woman.

"I never had a need for a name I suppose, must I have one?"

"Huh, never thought about it that way", she looks up towards the sky with the lightshow of a sunset playing in full force.

"You could give me one if you want?" not that it would really be my name but I wouldn't mind having someone refer to me by something more than a You when trying to get my attention.

"I don't think I should though, it might end badly", she smiles awkwardly at me.

I give her as quizzical of a look as my featureless face allows. "How would naming someone end badly?"

"Well... I'm the child of a hag. There's fey magic within me and it's not always predictable what effects it might have. Especially when it comes to names."

"Hag? Fey? What's that?" I tilt my head slightly to emphasize my ignorance.

"You really don't know?" her brow furrows. "Where are you from?"

"No clue. I woke up here in the forest a couple of weeks ago now", I turn my gaze toward the trees and think of the rain that poured on me when I first came to.

"Well, assuming that what you say is true and you really don't know anything about anything. A hag is a type of fey creature, the fey are those with connections to the first world. The fey are things like fairies, gnomes and things with a primal connection to the land and to creation. I am a changeling, the child of a hag. With that comes a sliver of a connection to the magic of beginnings and therefore I should not be allowed to give you a name willy nilly", her face definitely reads seriousness.

"There seems to be a lot of things I don't know", that's a lot to take in there but I guess I need to come up with a name myself unless I want to deal with unexpected effects. "Since I'm a doppelganger, just call me Doppie for now."

"Doppie?!" She suddenly bursts out laughing. "That's too precious."

I can't help but be taken away by the sudden laugh and start laughing myself. It really is a name with almost no inspiration behind it and completely lacking in creativity.

We talk well into the night. I learn that her name is Vera. She was exiled from her coven for a transgression she won't tell me though. She likes animals and animals likes her. While we were sitting there more than a few critters came up and fed from the palm of Vera's hands.

She told me a little bit about the differences in our magic when I explained that I was a sorcerer. We both draw our power from the world around us, the nature and the very life of the world. The difference though is that her power comes from a place called the first world and that she has a connection to plants and animals. Whereas my magic comes from the primal elements, mostly the element of water. With practice I should be able to use more versatile magic, drawn from more of the elements.

Even though she showed me some spells and I found that I knew them or something very similar, there was also magic that I could not copy. She explained to me that those of sorcerous origin usually only know a few choice spells but they tend to be able to master those to a higher degree as the power comes from within.

Eventually she just leans on my shoulder as we sit and before too long, she drifts off to sleep. Sitting there, thinking of my experiences here thus far. There really are so many things I don't know. I thought myself inquisitive and curious but really, I never knew of this grander concept and the things beyond the woods. The world seems so big now and I so small.

The chill of the early hours crawl across the ground along with a thick mist. The kind of mist that lays very low to the ground. Almost like tendrils or long fingers, the mist seems to make itself come closer to us specifically. A shiver runs through my body and as I look around there is a shape that catches my eye. A silhouette in the treeline. Large and intimidating I see something shift slowly beyond the very first row of trees. A pair of small, sharp eyes looking in our direction, but they move up and down freely within the shapes boundaries. Looking dead at it and it back at me, there's a presence that brushes against my mind.

"Will... you... keep... her... safe?" a small voice, a large voice and a sad voice. All at once, overlapping but also the same. The shape within the trees shifts in an amorphous way and I can tell it waits for a reply.