Itxaro

Second Day

Itxaro awoke to talking. It was dark, incredibly so. It had to either be late night or early morning. She could not see anything but she could hear Desdomena speaking from the other side of the room.
"Alvah, can my words still reach you?" the aberration inquired.
Itxaro heard no response.
"You must be truly dreaming now," she observed. "Sorry, I can not join you just yet. That terrible potion was quite potent, wasn't it?"
Her voice grew in intensity, on the verge of yelling while still somehow being soft enough for polite conversation. "It is not fair." There was a momentary silence followed by what might have been a laugh or a hiss. "I would have enjoyed it so much if it had been me that did this to you. They robbed me of such a lovely experience, I could only watch as you endured horrors of your own imagining."
The aberration truly was inhuman. Itxaro already knew that. She had met a Great One but at least the Great One did not hide its true nature.
"What do you think of your first encounter with humans?" Desdomena asked. "Are you angry with me yet? Do you wish we had stayed in that crypt of ours?" Seemed that the aberration was satisfied with the lack of an answer as she spoke no more and Itxaro could drift back to sleep.

*****

Itxaro prepared breakfast for her mother and grandmother along with a special meal for their guest to minimize his remaining symptoms. His only complaint was that he was still seeing an afterglow. The aberration was nowhere to be seen, likely back inside him.
The elder and lady explained how the titans crossed over the village due to his message. Itxaro was not there for that conversation as she was in the backroom but she heard him at least apologize for what happened. So, it really had been him that told the whole world he was still alive.
"I apologize with not being forthright on that account. With the state the world is in, I could see our fellow survivors casting out or killing those that risk drawing the attention of aberrations," he explained.
"You have been alone in the wilderness, you know how to survive," the elder accepted. "As long as we make it that you would prefer to live rather than endanger us, we can leave you as you are."
Itxaro brought the plates. The air was tense but the general atmosphere was corgel on the surface.
The tension rose as dark multicolored vapors streamed from his right eye. The vapors quickly condensed into the appearance Desdomena seemed to most often take, a simply dressed red haired beauty with pale skin and mismatched eyes of red and blue. There was no subtlety to what she did next, no words, not even an expression.
The aberration took the eating utensils from his hands and took a small piece of everything for herself. Itxaro thought for a moment maybe aberrations like her needed to eat as well but the way Desdomena went on to chew everything so methodically, it was obvious she was inspecting the meal. The blatant suspicion had an hostility to it all its own.
Desdomena turned her head to the man and a small smile crept across her lips. "It is safe," she stated, turning back into vapor and drifting into his left eye.
"Care to explain why there is an aberration dwelling inside you?" her grandmother asked the visitor once the inhuman presence seemed to return inside him.
"I believe a term you might recognize is that she is my familiar," he answered coolly. "It is more than that but if you know the methods to manifest and bind, then having a familiar would be something you would know as a possibility."
Itxaro's mother nodded her head in recognition of the term. Itxaro passed the food to everyone else and joined them.
"Are you Alvah or are you Zibin or are you both? You did mention where you are from, you can gain many names." The elder continued with the interrogation.
"Zibin was the name I was born with while Alvah was what family and friends called me," he was passive when he began but a bittersweetness crept into his words. "It took someone I care for seven years to use that name so I was not inclined to share it with strangers."
"Still that was the name you used when you invited danger to us," Lady Itxaro assessed.
"I thought I was facing my final moments when I sent that message out. I had no malice, especially against you." Genuine happiness bled through. "If I knew there were others nearby, I would have come to visit already." It felt like he was trying to tell a joke. He had passion but the execution fell flat.
"You are our first visitor in decades and most of your few predecessors were already dead," Itxaro's mother informed him.
"Pardon me, I know this is a strange question but do you know where this is?" he changed the subject. "I lost my way a long time ago and I would like to find it again."
"Where are you going?" Itxaro was the first to ask.
He smiled. "Anywhere would do so long as it is forward. I am more accustomed to open flatlands than woodlands and born somewhere warmer. I am hoping once I reach the coast, the beaches whether rocky or filled with sand will hopefully be more to my liking."
"Our own people are from far east of here and dwelled near the ocean," the elder recounted. "If memory serves, you will be greeted by rocky shores if you journey that way."
"That is excellent."
"But beware," the elder warned. "We were forced out by a horror from the depths. It is not safe there anymore."
"It is not safe anywhere. I just came from a small mountain range and been in a city passed by Cuh'rana," he noted. "How many mountains should I expect to cross?"
"Many. There will be a chain of them blocking your path once you leave the forest beyond to what will be deadlands. The deadlands are vast and once you are past them there will seem to be nothing but mountains ahead of you," her grandmother described. "I do not know how far west you must go to reach the other side but I would imagine even if the distance is further, it would be less strenuous if you decided to turn back. I would recommend you head north but you seem disinclined to welcome further cold. This forest meets the ocean north of here."
"A fair assessment," he acknowledged. "I might consider heading south and see where that leads me. Are we far enough to be at the great northeast peninsula?"
"No, you would have to reach the endless mountains before you have come that far." The elder clarified.
"That gives me an idea of where I am," he concluded. "Thank you very much. I think that is enough for me to continue my journey."
"Are you in such a hurry to leave?" Itxaro wondered aloud. She remembered overhearing Desdomena saying that this was the first time he met a human. Maybe the aberration meant fellow human or "in so long" but this was Itxaro's own first experience with an outsider. Surely, he had to have some curiosity.
Alvah bowed his head. "Forgive me if I do not feel welcome here."
"Stay at least long enough to heal," the elder suggested. "I imagine a month will do wonders but if you keep walking on it, it will only grow worse."
He tilted his head. "You would have me for that long after all that I caused?"
"There used to be an unwritten law of hospitality," the elder recalled. "Now that there are so few of us left such measures are all the more necessary."
He remained quiet. His eyes shifted to the side away from everyone. Now that Itxaro knew about Desdomena, she assumed this was those two having some silent conversation.
"What do you say?" Itxaro's mother prodded him,
He returned his gaze to reality. "Thank you," he answered. "I will accept."
"Good, good," the elder responded. "Itxaro will show you to your quarters once she has helped me with a few matters."
The elder beckoned for her granddaughter to follow while Itxaro's mother kept the man company. The subject seemed to be regarding his journey from the dead city he mentioned to where he was now, something Itxaro wanted to hear for herself.
Once they were in the ingredients room with the door closed safely behind them once more, the elder whispered into Itxaro's ear. "Keep an eye on him. Make sure he does not sneak away. Consider that your primary duty until the time comes for him to be useful. Of course, you will still be performing any deliveries but we will worry about that later."
"Yes, Elder Itxaro."