Wave Without A Shore

He had never seen the ocean before. He’d heard of it from his mother’s tales and both the Fae and mortal travelers who passed through the forest, but he’d never been more than a day’s travel beyond the bounds of the vast woodland where his foster family lived. Not until a few days ago had he seen it for the first time, and the sight of it had beggared his imagination.

It still did, as he sat on a large rock that peeked from the jungle on the edge of the sand, watching the waves roll in and then back out again. Arms wrapped around his legs, knees drawn up to his chin, he sat still except for the slight rise and fall of his breath. A pungent odor from a plant he had rubbed on his hands and face kept the bloodsuckers away, but while his brown and green hunting leathers blended into the foliage the clothing was out of place for this climate and region.

For this world.

One moment he had been leaving the Grove to go hunting for some conies for dinner, the next he had been walking through a jungle that bore no resemblance to his home, the trees and plants he knew so well there vanished without a trace. This alien place had confused and frightened him at first, but he was beginning to get his bearings. Eventually he knew he’d have to go into the town – the port, was it called? – to trade for proper food and information, but he was delaying that inevitability as long as he could, anxious at the strange people he had seen, and their strange ways.

For the time being he simply watched, tucked in on himself and hoping – maybe, just a little – that someone would come find him first.

They'd touched to shore for a little while and Jiao was preparing to go into town and trade for what they needed; a list of ingredients, clothing, toiletries (of a very rudimentary sort) in her hands. Still, they were going to be at the port for a while, so she had time for a walk; glad to get out of the ship full of boisterous human men, she had happily headed down the beach, wings shining in the sunlight. Stretching her arms up and yawning, tired after several terrible nights sleep (getting used to nights on the ship had been a challenge), Jiao thought she might go to sit down for a moment, so she headed towards the edge of the jungle, where she could find some shade and the familiar awing of leaves and trees. As she walked towards the foliage, she became aware of someone sat there; hard to see almost, because of his (honestly, quite horrible) clothes, which blended into the surroundings. Jiao wanted to rest, but this person intrigued her; as she flitted up with her wings to get closer, she asked: "Are you hiding on purpose?" JIAO Some girls fight hard Some face the trial Some girls were just meant to smile

He had watched the strange woman's approach from the corner of his eyes, intrigued and more than a little awed by the beautiful wings on her back. She wore them out so brazenly, without any disguise or glamour, and that as much as anything was proof that he wasn't on his world anymore. He wasn't sure whether she would approach him, or if she wanted to be seen, but she soon answered that question by approaching - and proving that the wings were more than just ornamental.

He unfolded himself hesitantly, rising to bow to her, for though he didn't recognize her species she had enough features in common with certain sprites and elves among the hidden Fair Folk that there was no doubt she was more one of them than he was, given his halfbreed heritage. "Not... not on purpose, no, Fair One," he said shyly, looking up again as soon as it was polite to admire her wings once more. "I'm... I'm lost and not sure what to do next," he admitted with more openness than he had intended, but he was so relieved to see someone else who wasn't human that the honest words slipped out unbidden, and he felt a blush of embarrassment rising to his darkly-tanned cheeks. "Is this your land?"

"Fair one...?" Jiao was unused to the nickname but certainly not opposed, daintily putting a hand to her chin as she smiled at it. The way that the man obviously was fascinated with her wings helped too - Jiao tilted a little so he could see them better, slowly moved them back and forth so the sun would glide across their surface and shine; she had no reason to want to attract Kellan, but she had always been vain and loved admiration. He said he was lost; she shrugged as to what he ought to do next. "Whatever you wanna do, I guess." Jiao tilted her head, unsure of how this man had ended up all the way out here with such little idea of what to do. As far as she knew, those weird Outlanders only appeared within the Hollowed Ground. "My land? Hmm..." Wishing she could lie and say yes, Jiao sighed and shook her head. "No. It's not really..anyones land, I don't think. I live on a ship on the sea." JIAO Some girls fight hard Some face the trial Some girls were just meant to smile

He'd made a mistake, he could tell from the way she repeated him, unfamiliar with the title. Anxiety twisted in his gut, but she didn't seem to be offended by his lack of recognition. Her smile was downright pleased, in fact, and she even allowed him a better look at the gorgeous wings that gleamed in the sun larger than any mortal butterfly's pinions. He was distracted by them for a long moment, but her voice brought his attention back to her as she waved off his confusion and left him feeling even more embarrassed at his slip into treacherous honesty. He nodded humbly at her vague suggestion.

He was surprised to hear that she wasn't native to this land, and he glanced out reflexively towards the ocean as if he would spy her ship waiting there, where none had been before. "Oh... I... I've never seen the sea before," he admitted, wilting a little as he realized she wouldn't be able to help him much at all, if she was as unfamiliar with this place as he was. "I've only ever known the Forest and the area around it. We weren't close to any oceans. Can you at least tell me what this place is called?"

He hesitated, blush deepening as he realized his rudeness, and he hastily placed a hand over his heart and lowered his eyes. "I'm called Kellan, of the Guithair Grove. Honor to your clan, Fair One."

"It's so beautiful." Jiao said of the ocean, looking over her shoulder to view the waves as if they might have disappeared in the last moments. Even after a month or so in Torchline, she still found herself entranced by the water, the bubbling surf and moonlight shine at night. "This is Torchline...well, more specifically, this is Ahi Coast." She pointed down to the sand beneath her feet. Kellan suddenly seemed embarrassed, but she wasn't sure why. Still, the use of the nickname again made her smile. "I'm Jiao. You've been to the Greatwood? You said forest. You don't look like you're from the Greatwood...or were you somewhere else before that?" Jiao asked, looking at him curiously. "...Actually, probably somewhere else, 'cos I've never heard of Guu...gitar Grove." JIAO Some girls fight hard Some face the trial Some girls were just meant to smile

"Yes," Kel agreed, though a little more hesitantly. It was beautiful, but also terrifying in its vastness and the mysteries it held in its depths. No child of the Hidden would ever make the mistake of thinking the two things separate; beauty and danger often came hand in hand among the long-lived - and humans, too, for that matter.

"Ahi Coast? Does the name mean anything?" Was it named after a local deity or elemental spirit, perhaps? Or was it a human name, with some other connotation he was too ignorant to understand? Still, he smiled back with relief when Jiao introduced herself and didn't seem to mind his questions. "The Greatwood? It sounds like someplace I'd like to be," he admitted ruefully. "But I'm from the Aurangwy Forest. Have... have you heard of that instead, maybe? My Grove is within it." It was a faint hope but he clung to what he could. Jiao was clearly a traveler, and sailors might know more than most about distant lands. If he was simple displaced across the sea he could still make his way home again...

Though that didn't explain why his magic had become so weak.

He didn't mention her butchering of his Grove's name, not wanting to annoy the first person he'd found to talk to who looked at least vaguely like one of the Hidden.

The question of Ahi Coast's name was one she could not answer; Jiao shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not from here. Maybe you could ask someone else. There's a city not too far away...up there, see?" She pointed to Haulani, the rooftops just visible if one craned their neck to look about the jungle and beach enough. She shook her head at the forest he mentioned, though it did confirm to her that he was likely an Outlander. [b]"No..I don't think that's here. Ummm..oh, this is awkward." Jiao had never had to deliver this particular unfortunate news to someone before; she crossed her legs mid air and floated down to the ground to sit by Kellan and look at him more genuinely, make it clear she didn't mind staying for a little while. "...You probably won't ever see that forest again. People come here from their own worlds and they don't go back." She said, typically blunt, but tried to put a soft edge to her voice. JIAO Some girls fight hard Some face the trial Some girls were just meant to smile

He followed her pointing finger to the distant town, though he already knew it was there. He had been avoiding going into it, uncertain how to blend in or if he would make some grave error in this strange place, where he didn't know the local customs and laws. He only nodded hesitantly at her suggestion, suspecting he'd have to end up there eventually, but still trying to put it off a little longer.

Kel looked back as Jiao shook her head, disappointment in the slight sag of his shoulders and the dulling of his bright eyes when she didn't recognize the name of his home. Not even the trick of sitting in midair was enough to distract him from the hollow feeling in his gut, and he sank down slowly to the sand as she did, not quite collapsing but certainly feeling suddenly weak and disoriented as her words confirmed the worst case scenario. His breath started to come rapid and shallow and he had to force himself to stop, swallow, and breathe more deeply as confusion tumbled through his thoughts. He had suspected, of course... but it was something else entirely to have it confirmed, and he looked to Jiao with a quiet sort of desperation. "...What... what do you mean by 'worlds?' Did you come from somewhere else, too?" Was this normal here, his eyes seemed to ask helplessly.

Jiao supposed she could not expect Kellan to take the news well, but the sudden gasps and panic on his face unnerved her; she simply watched with wide eyes and a clearly alarmed expression, no idea of what to do to comfort him in this situation. After all, for her it had been a wonderful thing to finally leave home, to see new places...though she had had a choice in the matter. "Um..no, I come from Caido. The Greatwood." She repeated, chewing on her lip for a second as she thought of how to explain the situation. "Outlanders get teleported here from wherever they were. They don't...go back. This is a whooooole different world from wherever you were before. You can't go back to your forest." Maybe it was harsh to lay it all out at once, but she felt if she was in Kellan's position, she'd want to know right away how bad it was. JIAO Some girls fight hard Some face the trial Some girls were just meant to smile

"Is... Is Caido the name of your world?" he asked, lost and dazed though not as badly as he had been that first day he had arrived. "This world?" he corrected himself belatedly. He wished he'd arrived in the Greatwood instead, for at least that might have been slightly more familiar to him. Maybe. Moreso than this jungle and coastline were, at least, for someone who had never been outside a temperate zone.

He reached up to rake his hand back through his black hair, the dark tresses falling a few inches past his shoulders. Unable to go back? But... "My family is there," he begged. "My... my friends are there. Everything... my life is there. What... if I can't go back, what am I supposed to do?" He pleaded with the lovely nymph, looking to her for guidance and feeling far younger than his twenty-three years as the realization that he might be trapped here began to truly sink in in earnest.

"Yep." Jiao was glad that at least one of the answers was simple. Admittedly in Fae they had a different name for the land, similar but pronounced differently...but she doubted that Kellan's tongue would be able to get around it. He begged as if she had any hand in deciding where he got to go now; she could only shrug, a helpless expression on her face. "That's all sad, but...I dunno, do what everyone else does. Um...some Outlanders get really into fighting and stuff. Some of them read a lot of books. Oh - I know a couple that decided to become Kings and Queens and stuff...?" Personally she thought that sounded like a lot of hassle, but if Kellan wanted a hobby, that certainly would fill his time. JIAO Some girls fight hard Some face the trial Some girls were just meant to smile

He listened to the things she described, but none of them were for him, not really. He was a hunter yes, a warrior when required... but he had no love of violence or hurting others. He bit his lip and looked down, hating the tears that were threatening to fall when he had tried to brace himself for the worst. Only... he hadn't really accepted that the worst could be this bad.

He took several long, awkward minutes to simply breathe and get control of himself again, sniffing once as he looked up again to see the helpless indecision on Jiao's face, too. She seemed like she wanted to help, but didn't know how. It helped just to know that he wasn't alone, at least, that others had come through before, and that she felt bad for him. At least she was answering his questions, and he drew in a shaky breath as he nodded, not yet up to managing even a pretend-smile. "Thank you for... for helping," he said shyly. "I've been here for a few days but I haven't really known what to do. I... still don't, but you've given me some things to think about." Kel looked down at his hands again, still trembling in his lap, and he swallowed hard before looking up again at the Fae.

"The Greatwood... is it like here? Jungle, I mean? Or is it different? And how could I go there?"

Kellan seemed very unsettled, which Jiao knew was probably normal, but she was feeling increasingly awkward about it as the moments wore on. She found herself unable to give the usual sarcastic jokes or comments she might when uncomfortable, feeling like this was actually important enough to warrant her best try at kindness. "That's okay. It's a lot, I guess." There was so much more, she thought. He'd have to learn about the Gods and the Ascended and the Portals and the war and...so much, that fed into everyday life in Caido. It was never as simple as a quick introduction. Jiao shook her head about the Greatwood, peered for a moment into his mouth to make sure there were no fangs. "It's not like this, no. It's a lot more...um...I don't know the word for it, but big trees and dry...not like here. Everything has big leaves and it's wet and hot." She was sure this was a terribly inadequate explanation but horticulture had never been a particular interest of hers. "You could come with me if you really wanted to go there, but...the Fae don't like humans much. You wouldn't be welcome in Sidhe...it'd be better if I could take you to the human town in the Hollowed Ground." JIAO Some girls fight hard Some face the trial Some girls were just meant to smile