T&A — The Choice

Since Tj is aware of the vain tendencies of a Groac’h according to folklore, she and Adriane decide on a small compact mirror as their offering, hoping the Keeper would like it personally. Not long after, they clean up the pile, their guard comes back carrying plates of small fried fish wrapped in seaweed.

“Don’t tell me,” Adriane gasps. “Are they feeding us their previous victims?”

The guard overhears and says, “we have not done the ritual recently enough to have any failed participants still living. These fish are from our breeding pools.”

“So…their babies…?” Adriane whispers to Tj.

“The diet of fish tend to consist of fish, so I think they’re just talking about their farming methods,” Tj says.

“Oh, right…” Adriane tentatively bites the head off of a fish. And nods in approval. She eats the rest off of her plate with gusto, not even leaving a shred of seaweed behind.

“You can have mine, too." 

Tj pushes her share to Tj and Adriane eyes her suspiciously. 

“Didn’t you say it was safe?”

“I just don’t like the smell,” she justifies.

Abandoning her glower, Adriane shrugs and gulps down Tj’s share as well.

“What are you going to eat?” She asks, brushing crumbs off of her hands.

Tj rummages through her bag for another energy bar but doesn’t find one.
“I’ll worry about it when the ritual is over,” she says. “If we’re turned into fish tomorrow it won’t matter, after all.”

“Don’t remind me,” Adriane groans.

“Excuse me,” Tj asks the guard, “do you know what the ceremony will be like?”

“We will explain how it works in the morning,” is all he says.

☆★☆★

When night comes, Adriane nods off first, and then the guard falls asleep soon after. Tj is left alone with her thoughts. They lead her back to the key, which she’s kept in her hand since she found it, waiting for any semblance of a memory to reveal itself.

Tiptoeing so she doesn’t wake the guard, Tj steps out from under the roof of the doorless shack. All the way along the foreshore, similar houses stand up from the water a few yards apart. The undersides are illuminated by something making the sea glow a bright turquoise.

Tj walks onto the wooden platform and uses the stairs as a seat. She opens her hand where the key has left an impression in her palm and holds it up. The gem encrusted in the center reflects nothing, even when she points it towards the light. She rubs her thumb over it to check if it’s synthetic, but it even manages to leave mark on the wood when she gently scrapes it across.

Dropping her hand, Tj turns her gaze upwards at the night sky, filled with stars shifting too fast for her to identify any constellations. 

They shoot along in groups, leaving streaks of light in their path. Some move in loops like someone tracing their name with a sparkler. But the fact that they’re moving at all again solidifies for Tj that they must be on another planet.

A splash in the distance guides her eyes toward the beach where floating orbs of light move more predictably than the stars. She can tell that it’s groups of Olmeons who are still awake, probably preparing for the ritual.

Sighing, she gets up only to catch a glimpse of something peering at her over the platform. It disappears before she can be sure she even saw anything. She creeps towards the edge, crouching down, but she can’t even see her reflection in the rippling water.

Suddenly, it bursts up, splashing droplets onto Tj’s glasses. She focuses her gaze on what looks like an Olmeon with much smaller fins, and pale rather than blue fingers that stick to the wood.

“Hello,” Tj tries.

“What are you?” The child whispers with green eyes. 

What’s the best way to answer?

“I’m a human.”

“What is a human?”

It looks like that was the wrong choice of words.

“Hm. I think a human is the same as what you are. Just without fins and blue skin.”

The glimmering stars reflect brightly in the child’s eyes. “Can humans swim?”

“We are capable, yes.”

With a smile and no warning, the child grabs Tj’s arm with both hands. She tries to brace herself but it pulls her in. Bubbles crash against her face from the force of the impact.

Tj opens her eyes just enough to get an impression of what’s around her. She can faintly see the mouth of the child moving through her blurry vision. 

Righting herself, Tj swims up to the surface and holds onto the dock, keeping a tight grip on the key. The child pops up beside her wearing her glasses upside down.

“Did you see it?” It asks.

“What…?”

“The sklaer!”

Tj tilts her head and asks for her glasses back. With one hand on the platform, she ducks underwater and opens her eyes again. Orbs of energy travel on the floor of the ocean. They all file into one place as if they’re being sucked up.

Does that lead into the cave…?

“Tj, what happened?!”

When she  looks up, Adriane is standing above her. She offers a hand to Tj. Rivulets of water stream from her clothes as she’s hauled up and pools around her on the floor.
“You okay?” Adriane asks.

“Yes…”

“You’re clumsier than I thought,” Adriane says.

Tj gives her a wry look. “Hold this.”

She gives Adriane the key and slides her coat off, wringing it out onto the deck.

“Who is that?” Adriane nods her head towards the child, who sank a bit deeper into the water when she came.

Tj turns to it. “Do you have a name?”

Coming up slightly it answers, “not yet. I will get a name when I earn it!”

“Well. I wish you luck.”

The child flaps its fins before swimming away. Tj watches it skim the surface until it slips off to another house in the distance.

“What was that about?”

Tj shakes her head.

☆★☆★

Before daybreak, Tj and Adriane are awoken to be given a demonstration on how to present their offering. After practicing a movement that will leave Tj looking like a dancing ringbearer, the Olmeons lead them into the caves to “cleanse them” in the glowing pools before meeting with the ancestors. The bath leaves TJ’s skin tingling like she had been in carbonated water. 

They’re not given any time to dry off before getting herded through the forest in between a procession of the trident-wielding fish-men. 

On the way, they pass an opening in the trees that show her how high they’ve ascended from the beach. Even from that distance she can hear the waves crashing against the shore like thunder that complements the overcast skies.

“Psst!” Behind her, Adriane, has her head lowered towards Tj. Glancing inconspicuously at the Olmeons she whispers into her ear, “you scared?”

Tj feels around her mind and body like she’s checking her pockets for holes in the stitching, and she shakes her head. 

“Good. Listen, since last night I’ve been thinking. Maybe you should go with that key as the gift.”

“Why?”

“Doesn’t it have that ‘special item’ vibe? Like in the movies?”

“This isn’t a movie.”

“I guess you’re right. I was just spitballing. But either way, if this doesn’t work out? I’ll grab you, we’ll throw a raft together, and we’ll fight those sea monsters off ourselves, got it?”
Despite knowing the futility of this plan, Tj nods.

Adriane returns the nod with a grin and they continue forward.

When the convoy finally arrives at the top of the mountain. Greenery drapes around the edges of the gray rock, and strings of leaf drip down into the lake inside the giant hole.

The Olmeons have Adriane and Tj stand aside while they set up the ritual. Tj watches them spread baskets of colorful flowers, sand, and what look like tiny fish bones along the perimeter of the hole. 

They chant and dance while Tj and Adriane are ushered toward a large obelisk. 

“We might as well come up with some cool last words,” Adriane says.

“I thought you were planning to escape.”

“Yeah, but just in case.”

In the midst of the din, Tj is surprised when the Keeper walks out from behind the trees, as she hadn’t seen her the entire time they were getting ready. Everyone goes quiet and closes their eyes as she stands to place a hand on the obelisk. 

Spreading her arms, the Keeper bellows, “you have one chance to express your gratitude to our our ancestry. Present your offering now to the magnificent Gladeon and his successors!”

Tj fishes in her pocket for the compact mirror, but her fingers find the shaft of the key first. With one finger on the mirror, and the other on the key, Tj pulls out the key and holds it the way she was instructed.

She immediately feels regret at her decision as The Keeper approaches. She walks slowly, as though taking pleasure in the suspense, but the moment she lays eyes on the key, her expression becomes furious.

“This is…!” She backs away and shields herself from Tj’s offering.

“Is something wrong?” Tj asks.

“Why do you have this? What do you mean by giving this to us? How dare you.”

Not giving Tj a chance to talk, she raises her arm and makes a claw in the air.

Two Olmeons burst into the circle, dragging out a large net towards Tj and Adriane while the others form a chain to block them from leaving.

“I’m not going down without a fight!” Adriane faces them and locks in a stance that looks like she’s preparing for a kick.

Tj backs up and hears splashing. Water pools at her feet, soaking the soles of her shoes. She follows the flow to the obelisk, which has started to spurt water from its cracks.

“The ancestors…!” Someone gasps.

Soft rays of sun shine through a hole in the clouds, just enough to encase Tj in a warm spotlight from the heavens. From the parting, a glowing shard lands on the key where she holds it in her hand. It melds into the dull gemstone, imbuing it with a small spark of vermillion and improving its luster.

The crowd remains hushed as the hole in the sky closes back up, leaving them looking into gray clouds once again.

“O, Keeper,” someone murmurs.

“This must be a sign…!”

“O, Keeper, please listen!”

The people begin to plead with the Keeper, begging her to accept the judgment of their ancestors.

“Enough!” She turns to face Tj and Adriane with a cold glare. Everyone waits with bated breath to hear her next words.

Finally in a low voice she says, “we will accept your offering.”
Tj exhales and relaxes her shoulders.

After taking the key with a scrape of her nails against Tj’s palm and tosses it into the pool of water below. A spout of water like a geyser bursts up as soon as it hits the water, spraying everyone with water that forms a dim rainbow. 

It takes a moment to register for Adriane, but moments later, she jumps in the air with her hands above her head. Tj makes a small noise of surprise when she lifts her onto her shoulders with ease.

“We did it, we did!” She cheers.

Wrapping her arms around Adriane‘s head Tj says, “put me down!”

Adriane just keeps dancing. “I’m not gonna drop you!”

The Olmeons who had just been about to capture them now following Adriane’s example. Even Fereon gives them a curt smile. The Keeper has to shush them in a loud voice to be heard.

“As we agreed,” she says, “we will take you to the mainland. But you must agree to never return.”

“Yes ma’am!” Adriane gives her a salute.

#33

Adriane and I were guided back down to the beach by the enthusiastic Olmeons. They celebrated the whole way, as though one of their own had been acquitted. 

A narrow boat—not as big as the one used to transport Adriane when she was injured—had already been prepared for our departure, bobbing in the water as the Olmeons who had accompanied us shower further support by handing off a small sack of dried fish to us.

After stepping into the boat first, Adriane insisted that I sat in front of her, making sure I didn’t fall with the rocking of the boat, she claimed that enveloping me in her arms would keep me out of the water.

It is as I write this that I recall Adriane insisting that I call her “Ari”. 

When I questioned her, she claimed it was what her friends called her. Though I was not aware at which point we had become friends, I will oblige her and refer to her as such from here onwards.

P.S. Ari is currently peeking over my shoulder and reading my words, upset that I had not already considered us to be friends, but anyone else would agree that it’s a bit sudden.

—Tj.

“By the way, why didn’t you go with the mirror?” Ari asks.

Tj watches the bowman glide his oar through the water. “It was a whim.”

Ari puts more weight on her. “I need an explanation!”

“I also need an explanation for how you knew the key would work,” Tj admits.

“Truth be told?” Ari leans back again. “I saw something in it last night when you handed it to me. It was like a map of the stars or something, like it was the key to the whole universe!”

“I didn’t see anything like that.”

“Really? Huh.” Ari rocks them again. “Well, it all worked out, didn’t it? Let’s just be happy we won’t be sleeping with the fishes. ”

“But it almost went horribly wrong,” Tj reminds her.

“Buuuut it didn’t!” Ari laughs. “So what’s after this?”

Tj looks toward the looming fog. “Well, first of all, I want to figure out how we got here.”