The Will Of A Life: Astras

Settling With This Worlds Standards

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CHAPTER 8
To settle in
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   Once the two finally left Comera lowered her hood and the cat hopped out. It sat on the bed and quickly worked itself off to sleep. Comera got out of bed and walked over to the mirror questioning if she would ever stay awake for more than a few hours in the house. Focusing on the mirror, she realized that her repeated fainting had prevented her from taking care of her now messy hair. Tiredly rubbing her eyes at the trial to come.
   Tracing her long braid across the room to find the end she saw that quite a lot of it was still under the blanket even though she had already walked across the room. going back over to the bed she pulled her braid from under the blanket and saw just how insanely long it had really gotten in all of the time she spent in this world. With her hair nestled over the white sheets she slowly pulled it to the floor. She soon found her shining black hair for quite a bit near the end had turned a pale white. Either way she knew that she really couldn't keep carrying all of this behind her as it was insanely heavy. Regardless she undid the end and sat on the floor while she slowly unwound the braid.
   Eventually her hands tired and she laid down on the floor. Placing her palms against the boards she summoned a slurry of hands that unbraided and brushed out her hair, as they neared her head she took off her hood and placed it on the bed. As seemed customary by this time, Ashen hopped right in. The door opened once more and Vera slipped in.
   “Are you ok, Love?” She said, noticing her on the floor.
   “Hair day.” She responded. Vera laid on the floor next to Comera. She offered a small smile. The hands finished undoing her hair and moved back into the spots they had originated from.
   “Why don’t you cut your hair, it's gotta weigh a ton by now!” Vera mused.
   “If my hair is any bit knotted while somebody else brushes it there is a chance for me to accidentally kill them,” She asserted, “plus the strings I use to attack things like golems, can only stretch as far as my body is long, hair included.”
   I know your braid is extremely massive but how long is your hair actually?”
   “Too long,” she said looking at her hair out of its braid that trailed around the room, “how long was I out?”
   “Well if it's any constellation it's Froster tomorrow.” to this Comera’s eyes widened.
   “A whole week?!” she denoted.
   “Indeed, well if you count the amount of times you’ve passed out here already a week is a good assumption.” Vera responded.
   Looking over she traced her long line of hair around the room then raised a hand and started doing her hair with the help of the inky hands. Sitting up she recalled the cat and thus posed a question. “Do you guys keep any pets here?” she asked Vera.
   “Well I suppose not counting rodriks dragon we do keep a few animal spirits and other small creatures for Nora,” she claimed, “why do you ask?”
   “Well I think I went back to my world for a bit?” Vera explained as she walked over to the bed.
   “Well that doesn’t make much sense because you've been here while you were out, and nobody reported you missing?”
   She picked up Ashen and turned back to Vera, “I don’t think you have these in your world” she claimed holding up the cat.
   “What in the world is that!? Vera cried, placing her hand on her sword's hilt.
   “Calm down, Calm down, it's just a cat, they come from my world,” she explained holding the kitten closer to her, “they are completely harmless compared to the monsters you have here.”
   Calming herself Vera stood and cautiously approached the kitten. Comera lightly stroked Ashen’s fur, instructing Vera to do the same. She cautiously reached out and petted it lightly, finding its fur quite soft. Comera sat on the bed with vera and offered the kitten to her. As soon as Comera let go of the kitten Ashen dropped straight through Vera like she wasn’t even there. Vera looked puzzled and questioned if that was normal. Comera was completely confused she knew that this wasn’t how cats were supposed to work. Noting how Vera had acted upon meeting the cat in the first place she determined to make some sort of excuse.
   “Some cats only let certain people hold them,” she said knowing that she at least wasn’t lying, “so that could be why.”
   “Oh… it's a strange little creature, adorable nonetheless, but strange.” Vera decided.
   Ashen cautiously waddled in and out of Vera’s body like a ghost through a wall. Comera held out a hand and small dots appeared under the kitten and next to Comera, she closed her hand to a fist and the cat transferred from the place next to Vera to comera’s side in an instant. She tapped the kitten’s little forehead and noted that she could touch her. She began to mentally try to piece together the strange happenings of her kitten.
   Comera’s Evidence:
-Comera can touch ashen
-Vera can touch ashen when Comera does
-Ashen can’t be touched when Comera lets her go
   Conclusion:
-Comera is keeping her
-Ashen can only interact with others when in contact with Comera
   Looking back towards Vera, Comera posed the question, “can I keep her?” she looked at the kitten with a loving gaze as it purred beside her.
   Vera was skeptical at first but the look in Comera’s eyes she knew it. This thing she called “cat”, she knew would make her feel happy, calm if anything. She had only shown that look twice before. When she accepted Vera’s love, and when she gave Nora the little crown.
   With a heavy sigh she accepted the kitten, “Welcome small thing…uh does the…cat…have a name?” she paused.
   “I’ve deemed her Ashen,” Comera replied.
   “A lovely name for such a lovely cat-thing” Vera claimed in response.
   “Their young are referred to as kittens,” Comera informed, “you can tell from its small size.” Vera looked confused as she mentioned that spirits don’t grow. This in turn confused Comera “you know how Rodrik keeps his holy dragon Sylphin right, and that holy dragons aren’t dangerous to humans when tamed so people try to tame them instead of hunting them for resources?”
   “Ah indeed, Sylphin is considered a guard animal, because she doesn't attack humans and is generally always guarding her master, Rodrik. Why do you need me to confirm such information?” Vera responded with a hint of curiosity in her voice.
   “On Estatia beasts like that are considered as “pets” and are treated with the same respect as sylphin. The species of a cat is one of the most common pets,” Comera explained, “they aren’t spirits though.”
   Vera listened intently as Comera explained the common cat and how pets worked in her world. She had become completely enthralled in these pets and asked a never ending river of questions, Comera answered them all with a happy smile. It had been so long since she had spoken a word of her world it had scared her to even think of it but now she hoped the questions would never stop coming. She was happy that she had studied animals as much as she had, for she could finally have a reason to continue remembering that world. She could finally stop shutting that world out of her head. So she kept answering question after question hoping they never ended.
   They had talked for hours and eventually Comera couldn’ even remember what the first topic they had talked about was. Eventually a knock echoed from the door. “Come in!” Vera called.
   The door creaked open and a small pitter-patter of footsteps scurried through the room. A tiny little Nora with her fluffy black hair popping out the front of her iridescent little hood. Her mask sat to her side clipped onto a blue purse. She was in a striped white and blue shirt with long-sleeves and a pair of cute little white overalls, with the little crown atop her hood. She shuffled in and upon seeing Comera she ran up to her and sorted through the little purse she had been carrying and carefully she pulled out a little bag and handed it to her.
   Comera looked the little bag in her hand. It was black silk with ornate white patterns. She wasn’t sure what could be in such a small bag.
   “Mr.Yan says this will help you sense you haven't eaten in a while,” Nora exclaimed, opening the silk bag, “so you gotta eat this! He said it will taste really bad but you gotta eat it or you’re gonna pass out again.” She held out a little spherical pill in her left hand and held a piece of paper close to her chest in her right. She unfolded the scrap of paper and read the instructions with the most commanding voice she could muster from her tiny body, “place the pill in your mouth and keep it there until it's all dissolved, it tastes quite despicable but if you pass out again we aren’t sure you’d be waking up between now and next froster. If you are done with the pill, burn this paper and the taste will go away.”
   Vera looked at the pill like it was poison before bolting from the room shouting that she can’t stand being anywhere near that medicine. Nora stumbled a bit from just the little breeze Vera’s sudden departure had caused. Vera poked her head back in the door and stared intently at the medicine sticking her tongue out at it. Nora looked over her shoulder at Vera with a certain fire in her eyes shouting “go away or I’ll tell Yan you’re sick too and he will make you have medicine too!”
   Comera chuckled to herself as Vera slinked out of the doorway once again. She took the pill from Nora’s hands and popped it in her mouth, “but this is really sweet?” Feeling it in her mouth she realized that she had barely eaten anything in this world. Her summoners had forced her to drink the blood of monsters and other beasts and she had never entered town because she had nobody around her to lead her in her blindfold. She wouldn’t have dared to go without it. So she had only eaten bitter monsters that felt just as bad if not worse than drinking lethal poisons.
   This pill felt sweet compared to all of the horrid things she had eaten since entering this world. The difference was tantamount to the difference between salt and sugar.
   Nora looked even more mortified than when she had run from the meeting that brought her to meet Comera. She ran from the room faster than anything her size should have been able to move.
   Nora ran through the long tall halls counting the turns and doorways as she went. Left, right, left, left, right, now right! She practically fell through the door and Yan screamed before rushing to help her. Nora started to cry and mumble how Comera was dying. Yan seemed completely confused by her mumbling.
   Leon dragged Vera into the room by the collar of her shirt and tiredly tapped her forehead with the sigil appearing there. Vera then assumed an annoyed and tired voice. “I don’t even want to deal with the captain anymore, how did she even become our leader” Leon complained using Vera’s body, “Comera isn’t dying because she thought that medicine was sweet, she hasn’t eaten real food in what seems to be years. Haven’t you noticed her body is completely doused in the cent of monster meat and blood. She had obviously showered often even before she came here and the scent of monsters would have left her once she did, but you’d need to kill years worth of monsters just to obtain that scent for a while. The scent of monsters never leaves after you’ve eaten one.” As the sigil left Vera’s forehead, she looked solemnly in the direction of Comera’s room. She didn’t know what to say, she couldn’t just tell them about Comera's past but she couldn’t stay silent.
   “Sounds like Far and Fir will be making something good for dinner tonight!” Yan exclaimed, seeing the expression on Vera’s face, he decided to change the mood. Returning his gaze to Leon he asked “can you deliver that request to them?”
   Leon nodded lightly, bowed, and was out of the room before anybody had noticed he left.