#stranded event 8

Amelia had inspired him. In a negative way. He tossed the earliest of his notebooks on the smoldering fire of his smoker. Words recorded three years in to his solitude. The pages kept by luck and determination. 

But he didn’t want to read the block lettered writing in it anymore. That Kaz in written words wasn’t who this Kaz was anymore. 

Over the crackle of the fire he heard footsteps. Kaz looked to the horizon lining the ocean. The dark star-speckled sky teased it would begin to turn lighter. Not quite dawn, but close. Then, his eyes adjusted to the dark turned down the slope that led from the beach up to his cave dwelling in the cliffs. 

Isela walked light, like she constantly skimmed across hot coals. And, well...No one else ever came out to his living space. There were no other steps to recognize. So he frowned as he watched, waiting to match footsteps with the person approaching.

“Miss Tamyra Williams.” Kaz called down when she was in sight. He’d say what a surprise, but he wasn’t all that shocked. Kaz would tell her to come up, but she would. 

The discovery of the video camera was fascinating to Wren for a number of reasons. One of them being that she had never seen anything like this in her whole life. She had hear about things like phones and camera’s that had the ability to record people and play it back, but nothing like that had ever made its way on Meridium. At least not in working order. Plus the recordings on it seemed strange, yet very relatable to their current situation. Perhaps the jinn was trying to give them some hints, thinking having this in play could make things more fun.

It was a stroke of luck to have this thing in her possession, already watching the videos a few times but still trying to figure out more. Who these people were, where they were now and why  all of a sudden, this camcorder was resurfacing. She had already been nearly tricked while here at the lagoon the first time with Kaz but it seemed like the right place to be right now. This was where the camcorder was found, perhaps it was even the water the people in the video were talking about. Either way she watched the video another time, speaking along with some of the dialogue, so focused on it that she didn’t notice someone else approaching her.

Tomas had left her side at some point, but that was okay. She knew he’d be by her side soon enough at the Heart Tree, like the quetzal had told them both to be. She saw a few people also heading in that direction, but she did not know them, and if she did, well, today she had better things to do.

Like that friend who was approaching her. She knew her name. It was... it was Tyra. Something like that. She was better with faces than names. But Lily wasn’t interested in talking, not right now, so she turned away and kept walking.

Today she would take in the beach, and the green grass, and the treeline. This place that she had almost called home, almost but not quite. It had never quite crossed that threshold. It was beautiful, yes, but it was no Labyrinth. Even with Libby and Father and Sister, it wasn’t home.

Lily lifted her face to the sky and grinned, taking it all in. One last memory before she went home. She would watch whatever the quetzal wanted her to see at the Heart Tree, and then she would finally, finally be home. She could almost hear the music that awaited her.

Isela had gone to Kaz as soon as the crowd dispersed. She replayed everything Aurélie said. What one of the Aurélies had said, the real one. As far as Isela could tell. Memories gone and then returned, as the Frenchwoman had physically arrived back through the lagoon. 

Wounded. Isela had echoed to Kaz: she said she knows who she is now, but it can all be taken away too. Despite brainstorming ways to keep themselves safe, the eerie remarks stayed with Kaz as he trekked over to the lagoon. 

Finding someone already there was unexpected. The lagoon on south beach didn’t particularly bother Kaz. Most stayed away from it in the best of times. Kaz couldn’t exactly tell who it was with their back to him, standing near the slippery rocks, so he approached cautiously. “You’re a brave soul,” he drawled slow and lazy. Or mental. Or... the thing that Isela described... 

Some had extensively long but easily accessed memories. Power lines high above the neighborhoods of their minds. From a distance the beast sniffed out someone dangling from one of those lines, and all it took was a jolt of high-voltage reminders to knock them loose. In an instant, the beast had someone new to coil scaled muscle around. 

Kaz Raval’s memories were thick hair matted. At the core: persistent song lyrics, caked blood, angry scar tissue. Silence and scents, and sometimes Ani tugged on a soft black thread of the hair and the memories knotted tighter. 

What a mess. But not much longer to untangle. 

-- 

Before Ani left Kaz, she said: Follow the clues. It’s what you do, Kaz. This is what you were meant to solve. She’ll give you all the answers! And when you find her, let her in. 

He stood alone by a stream. He was supposed to find... who now? Wasn’t he meant to run from her? Ani never answered his questions, and he didn’t understand why. Should he be running from his sister too? 

Fuck. This isn’t right. Kaz couldn’t keep playing along when he kept forgetting parts of himself, could he? 

As he looked across the stream, there was... ah. Uhm... huh. 

Toni called out from the other side of the water. Kaz only heard her because of his attunement, as the water rushed by heavier than usual. Broken hand lifted to acknowledge. “Hey...” Tez, Tel, Terri? Not the her Kaz had been tasked to find. 

He climbed one of the rusted ladders attached to the side of the train but didn’t proceed further. His feet stayed on a rung while drumming fingers rested on top of one of the train cars. It wasn’t a bad view over to the heart tree, but it was an unsettling one. 

A high-minded group of people made an attempt at preventing others from breaching an invisible perimeter around the tree. They did so by begging loved ones, implored them to remember who they were, to turn around. To avoid going too near. 

Another scuffle began, but it was on top of the train. Joaquin versus the roof of a carriage, from what Kaz could tell. Dark brows pulled together in a question. “The hell you doing, hermano?” A pause as Kaz scratched at the scruff on his beard. And fully yawned. “If you need me to help, I’m gonna need two business days to think it over. Cool? Cool.” 

A fish. An odd looking one. As Kaz had described it to Tomas, it resembled a wrasse. With two tails, one orange and one vivid green. Spiked dorsal and pelvic fins doubled to four. And a double set of coral snipping jaws. Unusual. Different. Kaz had seen untold numbers of caught fish in his traps, but. His concern: can we eat it, can I throw it on the smoker?  And so, he asked Tomas to have a look at the giant fish caught in a trap. 

They headed towards the the sea stairs, near where the trap had been set. “Libby said you don’t like Dylan.” Could’ve said Bob Dylan, but he much preferred whatever impassioned thoughts might follow the phrasing, his comment.

The chatter rose and fell as they walked. Weeks out from the farm attack, and his shoulder was in the process of healing. Fingers still in splints, but less pain overall. Kaz knew Tomas had been injured during the attack on the farm. But he seemed fine. Most of the time. Some... of the time. 

Kaz came to an abrupt halt a few yards from the stairs. Someone was sitting with their back to them. A thick head of dark hair. Longish, any natural waves weighed down by the length. Gold skin. Not golden-- but gold, churned gold and honeyed flecks, similar to the mango gelato Kaz used to get at the market. Probably a pint left in his freezer, for whoever had the misfortune of emptying his apartment back in the day...

Kaz rarely whispered. He operated on one stagnant, drawled channel at all times, unless there was a specific reason to alter his voice. But then, he lowered it to ask Tomas: “Who is that?”

Lily wasn’t there when the warning was first issued; she was cleaning the Hardy House, sweeping out dust and organizing Flora’s things so they weren’t so scattered. Tomas was also there — she could hear him in his bedroom, talking to Flora, who was chattering back at him with equal enthusiasm.

She half-smiled and shook her head. Libby would be back soon, and then they could have dinner, and she could ask them about hosting a party. But until then, she wanted Libby to come home with one less thing to do.

As she went outside to sweep the dust and farm-dirt off the stairs, a bird trilled. It was a call she’d only heard in the jungle, and at the sound of it Lily’s head snapped up. She turned toward the source and saw that a quetzal had landed on the edge of the roof, only a few feet from her. Male, with a brilliant red chest, iridescent green feathers, and a long, sweepingly elegant tail plume.

“Oh, hello friend,” Lily cooed, keeping her voice soft. The quetzal called again, head turning away, but black eye remaining focused on her. She clicked her tongue and took a step forward. The bird turned to face her fully, silent, and she smiled at it, lifting her hand. “Hey. It’s okay. Why are you so far from home?”

Why am I? she thought, but before she could think further on that, the quetzal took a step forward, stepping onto her wrist. Lily laughed and carefully escorted it to her right shoulder, and it stepped up naturally. Giving it a once over, she determined that it didn’t seem hurt, no missing flight feathers or injured wing.

Well, if it wanted to keep her company, it was welcome to it. The windows were large enough it could leave freely if it wanted.

Lily went back into the High House, unable to resist looking at the beautiful bird on her shoulder, and stopped when she saw Tomas had left the room. “Tomas!” she greeted with a grin. “Look! I made a new friend.”