22: Striking A Blank

"All of this… was so… close?"

"What are ya going on about now?"

There were several trees scattered here and there. Fruit hung from their branches and littered the ground beneath them. They resembled pears or apples at a distance. I snagged one without straying too far from my new guide and bit into it. Tangy juice ran down my chin.

Dumbass! You were eating those dirty… You could have been feasting on THESE! What a coward.

"I, um… You said we're following a stream or something, right?" I took another bite of my new treat, forgetting her comment about manners, and kept talking. "I don't see it anywhere." I heard her sigh at my mumbled mouthful.

"Aye, there's a stream over there, through those trees." Fabrienne pointed off to the side. "We're close enough if I need to refill the canteen, but we best keep a distance. Small sips, got it? Nasties get thirsty, too, ya know. It probably feeds into that fountain ya fancied so much. Lucked out with that one, didn't ya? I didn't think it still worked."

I would have been able to take a proper soak instead of washing up with a pot and worrying about ruining the fountain's water. Maybe then I wouldn't have felt so stupid or ashamed when she explained the 'backyard' I was too afraid to explore. I kept my mouth shut to avoid asking more stupid questions and sounding like a buffoon.

We continued our hike through the dense trees in silence for a while. I constantly had to watch my step, trying not to trip on any exposed roots or fallen branches littering the forest floor. My lack of any proper footwear and the uneven terrain were a poor match. The cloth bandages I wore were the equivalent of thin socks.

Occasional birdsong broke up the monotony of our journey until familiar barks of a flying fennec interrupted their songs and chased the birds through the treetops. I wondered if maybe the mother or the pups had joined us, but dismissed the idea. The furry trio had their lives back in the ruins.

Probably not. I wasn't that important to them—

Whack!

"Ow! Stop it!"

"Nysh, what's the matter this time? Stubbed your toe again? Step on another rock?"

"No. I mean, yeah… but that's not—"

Whack!

"Something keeps hitting me in the head."

"Keeps…?" Fabrienne wasn't too far ahead. She stopped to let me catch up. This pattern of her waiting for me gave her plenty of breaks. I didn't get much rest, though. "C'mere, then. Let me take a look at ya."

"It's not like I'm bleeding, but…"

The points of impact left small bumps I was nursing. She grabbed onto my head and pulled me close, brushing my hand away without understanding the concept of personal space. I preferred more distance between us.

"You don't need… It just keeps happening. That's the… eighth? No. The ninth time something hit me. It's starting to—"

Fabrienne's hand flew to the side of my head in the blink of an eye, and I flinched. She snickered almost immediately, brought her fist to my face, and opened her hand. Something the size of a ping-pong ball sat in her palm.

"Was that…? Is someone throwing those at me?!"

"Yeah." Her snicker swelled into a full on body-shaking fit of laughter. "And no."

"I don't—What's so funny?"

"They're using your head like a rock." Still laughing, she pulled the bandit's dagger from her belt and wedged it into the object. "See? They wanted to crack the shell." Tears were forming in her eyes from how much she laughed.

"The shell?"

She cracked open the unfamiliar nut.

"They? Who—What are they? S-stop laughing! Why are they using my head for target practice?!"

"Probably just some hungry critters, maybe birds or flying fennecs." Fabrienne finally reeled in her laughter. "I never thought I'd see such a—"

"But… That doesn't explain… Hmph!"

"They aren't trying to be mean, Skyler. I bet it's because ya don't resonate."

There it is again. I HATE that word. Everything… Everyone's such a judgmental piece of… What the hell is wrong with this place?

"I don't even know what the hell that means! So just because I'm not all 'Kumbaya' or 'Namaste', or whatever… I’m not just a freak, I'm a rock?!"

"Kumbaya? Namaste?" She stared at me with a confused expression, still trying to stifle her laughter.

Perfect. Now neither of us understands each other. Why does this keep happening to me? I just… I sighed. Calm down. Breathe. Don't give her an excuse to abandon you like 'It' did.

"Can you…? Please, just tell me what that means. Those bandits… They said the same thing over and over. I don't get it. What…? What's wrong with me? Am I… doing something wrong?" I was tired of being the butt of this increasingly frustrating cosmic joke.

"Here…" Fabrienne unfastened her cloak and wrapped it around my shoulders. "Wear this." Still ignoring my personal space, she fastened it over my tattered pajama top, a fashion statement all its own. "How's that? Comfy? It should help a bit." Without an actual answer, she pulled the hood over my head to protect me from any more flying nuts. I would have put it on by myself if she handed it to me like a normal person. Treating me like a child all the time wasn't necessary.

"Y-yeah, I guess." Comfy felt like a lacking description. The cloak held back the smothering humidity and heat, the opposite of what I expected. No wonder she wore it all the time. "Thanks… Fabri."

"Good." Fabrienne beamed with a smile. I guess she was proud of her ability to belittle me and prove herself superior. Unable to hide beneath the cloak's hood, the light of day revealed the freckles on her face to me for the first time. In an awkward moment of realization, I looked away to survey the treetops. I didn't need her accusing me of gawking again. That wasn't all, though. A small quiver and bow were strapped to her back, along with the statue's sword.

How the hell was she hiding that thing under—and moving like… that?

I thought for sure she left it behind at the ruins somewhere when I went to say my goodbye.

"As for what resonance is, well… almost everything resonates to some extent. Let's keep moving. We'll walk 'n' talk at the same time. Come on, or I'm leaving ya behind." Fabrienne fiddled with a scarf and her hair, probably feeling warmer now without her cloak. She picked up her pace once more.

"Wait, so… then I do resonate, even if it's… just a little?"

My words came between breaths. Talking and trying to keep up with her left me winded, regardless of my new fashion accessory. Maybe the pace was her way to prevent me from asking too many questions or interrupting like last time.

"N-no. Ya don't. You're an odd—"

Go ahead. Finish it. Land the final, critical blow. An odd what? Just call me a freak and get it over with.

I wanted to be upset, but her tone didn't sound like she was using her particular choice of words to be cruel this time.

"You're… different, Skyler."

"What a wonderful surprise. Really, that’s… just great. I'm… different? Yay," I muttered to myself.

Fabrienne stopped short and looked back. She couldn't have heard me though, not at that distance, and especially not while hopping over logs. I couldn't deny her skills. I felt like I was in the presence of a tiny, agile ninja. She made jumps that couldn't have been easy for her height, or with her luggage. That alone had to hold more of her focus than me. The look had to be a coincidence.

I was panting when I finally caught up to her again.

"Different isn't always bad."

How did—? Is she part bat or something?

She took a swig from her canteen and then tossed it to me.

"As I was saying, most things resonate. Animals, plants, the ground you're walking on." She pointed at my feet. I looked down, following her finger, and she snickered. "It allows us to… have an understanding, or… awareness, of what's around at any time. It's a sense the same as any other: taste, smell, sight, sound, or touch. Any interactions with someone else include a feeling of… them. There's no need to ask. We can just tell when they're happy or sad. It connects us on a deeper level. We read one another's… intentions." She slipped her fingers together in a swift motion, interlocking them, with her thumbs pointing up. "All of us a chord, playing a part in the greater song. Ya get it?"

Shit. They're all psycho psychics? Don't think that, you idiot! She's gonna hit—Dammit! No wonder she looked at you when you thought—Why is she looking at me like…? She's reading my mind right now! Stop it, Skyler! She'll—Wait. No. She's like the bandits. She… 'can't' read me.

"Well?" Her brows rose, and her eyes widened. She was obviously unaware of my rapid-fire thoughts.

Phew… I'm safe.

I relaxed and shook my head. Of course, I didn't understand. It sounded like she was describing something similar to the sixth sense of an empath, or a comic book super power.

"Hmmm… How about…?" She glanced around and placed her hand on the trunk of a tree. "I'll use this tree as an example." She closed her eyes and furrowed her brows slightly. "It’s… not getting enough sunlight… I think. I don’t have a lot of plant experience like a farmer would, so I can’t tell ya much. Though, I can sense several small birds roosting in the upper branches near the top. They're nothing we need to worry about."

My eyes panned up the length of the tree's trunk. I hoped she didn't mean there were larger birds out there somewhere we actually would need to worry about. I squinted, trying to peer through the branches for any sign of the birds. Nothing but leaves. I couldn't tell if this was all a big show, another joke on me. I looked back at her, unimpressed.

"So… why am I a rock, exactly?"

"Well, they… um, can have the lowest levels of resonance."

Perfect. Even the rocks resonate. I don't. I'm less… I'm literally LESS than a rock.

She had that same look on her face, as if asking me yet again whether I understood. I gave her a small, forced, polite smile and nodded. I needed her to move on.

"Great! I knew ya would get it, b-but don’t worry. I can obviously see ya aren't a… um, rock."

Hold on. Is she covering something up? "O-kay, and what does that mean? How do you see me?" Do I actually want to know?

Her demeanor suddenly shifted from 'forest expert' to something else. She tensed up and looked down, kicking at the ground while wringing her hands. I thought the question was simple, but this version of her worried me. Either she had a horrible poker face, or her answer was going to be more awkward and insulting than the resonance explanation.

"You’re, well… since ya send nothing out… It’s like you’re, um, not really… here? I-I mean, I know ya are. I can see ya, right… there." She pointed. "But it’s like you’re… hollow? No. That’s wrong. Blank? Nuh-uh… Empty? N-not in a bad way, though! Nysh, there’s gotta be a better way to describe it…"

A better way? Instead of just calling me broken? Hi, I'm a malfunctioning antenna, and you are? Come on…

Fabrienne continued stammering, trying to find the right words to say. I don't think the words she so desperately searched for even existed. I stopped listening. Her unintentional insults went in one ear and out the other. At least she wasn’t being hurtful or hateful like the bandits. She tried to be polite about it.

Her attempts to describe me sounded like I was nothing but a shadow, an illusion, or a ghost. The bandit's wraith comment made sense now. Actually, I was probably closer to a puppet—both real and fake at the same time—since I had a physical presence that apparently made me hard to ignore. In this twisted game, she might as well have labeled me an NPC.

"Stop, Fabri. It's… it's fine. I think I get it."

I still didn't. Not really.

She stopped rambling, and her shoulders eased down with a calming breath. Her explanation took a more awkward turn than either of us expected. She clearly didn't know how to say what she wanted to, and I wasn't going to torture my only source of help by letting her continue trying. It would've just made things worse for one of us. Me, probably.

"C-can I… learn it?"

"Learn? To resonate? N-no, I-I don't think so. From our first breath, even before we're born, it… well, it just happens. Someone who doesn't—can't resonate is simply… unheard of. S-sorry, Skyler."

That's it then. I'll always be this way, forever a freak, as long as I'm stuck here.

I suspected as much before asking, but I still had to know. Apparently, it was like asking if water could be anything other than wet. I'd have been better off not asking about resonance at all.

"Don't worry about… I'm used to… Are we almost there?"

"Almost? We're not even halfway." The bad news never stopped. "But the faster we move, the sooner we'll get ya some tasty food. Oh, boy! You're in for a big surprise, a real treat, if ya enjoyed my jerky. Remember that bakery I mentioned before?"

"Yeah…"

Her effort to cheer me up was obvious, promising me more wonderfully delicious food. I guess I didn't need to resonate in order for her to notice my disappointment. Too bad her topic of choice only made me hungry again. I should have grabbed another of those fruits when I had the chance.