Another Lifetime
Khyzae spent the next two days learning rapidly, adjusting to her own existence with the help of friends and family. Everyone helped as they were able, but it was quickly becoming clear that Khyzae had most things under control.
Khyzae woke up that morning to the faint presence of sunlight from a nearby window. For the first night ever, she was given a real bedroom to sleep in, in a real bed. It was a very unfamiliar feeling, though her thoughts made it clear this was much more normal. The night before she had kept familiarity within the laboratory, but last night she had decided that she would have a need of learning to do things much more normally. She was already getting keenly into her role, her reality blending much more with the normal of her memories. She still felt a bit of distance with this Khyzae of her thoughts, the Khyzae she was being, but everything was starting to feel so natural that anything else seemed strange.
She had already endured countless exercises in what it meant to be herself. The most important was the physical exercises to get her body into shape, to have the fibers of her muscles awakened as much as the rest of her. Fortunately, her form had been properly taken care of, with the exercise over two days even Vwyx seemed satisfied with her physical ability. Sryine had also kept occupied by her own recovery, and was considered to be ready for her own normal. As Khyzae got up and started noisily wandering around the room she was in, the room of the previous Khyzae, she was keenly aware of someone’s approach. Soon after, Sryine burst into the room.
“Really, I’m fine. I’ve got everything under control already, and I think I’m allowed to explore my own room, right? Actually, on that matter, aren’t you supposed to knock before you come in?” “I, ah.. sorry about that. Good morning?” “Good morning to you as well. I see you’ve made your own complete recovery already and are just brimming with energy. Congratulations.” “Oh, yeah, thanks.” Khyzae was already keenly adopting a familiar sort of personality, just as Sryine was thrown back to her own sense of normal. It was also a behaviour that was just coming to her naturally, not even a factor she was personally aware of. Sryine however could feel the old Khyzae there as a result, the girl who seemed to have a sense of leadership that reminded her of her mother. Even as the daughter of the village chief, she never was able to muster such a quality of authority in her tone.
“Alright, then we had better go greet the day and start getting things done.” “What? Are you joking? Just like that? No no girl, you’re skipping steps. Wait here, I’ll be right back.” Khyzae paused as Sryine dashed from the room just as quickly as she had arrived. Sometimes, those two could be quite the handful, and she could say that only having known them for the last two days. Accepting the instructions firmly provided for her, she waited until Sryine returned, carrying the same selection of clothes that had been originally offered to her a couple days before. Khyzae herself was still wearing the pale garb that had constituted her only attire through her preparation, working as a sort of night gown. Having spent most of the day still stuck in the laboratory yesterday, everyone had let that pass, but Sryine wanted to jump on this opportunity to provide this bit of normal for Khyzae.
Khyzae recalled the subject too, the matter of clothes and attire. She found some of the things that stood out to her, things she measured as her own tastes based upon her thoughts, but consciously made some minor adjustments. She had noticed the similar leather style both girls had been wearing, and wanted something that fit in with the two of them. A mauve vest with cream stiches was put over an iris blouse and sangria pants. She found a subtle pleasure in blending between Sryine’s blue tones and Vwyx’s red tones by choosing such purple tones, but had honestly picked the colors mostly because they seemed to match her own tastes. Sryine snatched the rest of the selection and left the room, clearly providing her with a sense of privacy.
Soon after, there was a knock on her door. “Yes, Sryine?” “Are you changed yet?” “My, aren’t we impatient. Yes, yes, you can open the door.” Khyzae was actually surprised at that gift of confidence, that was honestly the first time she had ever gotten dressed for herself, but she was getting really good at making use of her thoughts to guide her forward. Even with no teacher beyond herself, she had no trouble with properly getting dressed, and was ready to go. Sryine nodded her own approval as well and guided her from the room.
“So, I don’t think anyone else is awake, but maybe…” “Actually, Vwyx is in the kitchen, probably working on some kind of breakfast.” Sryine passed Khyzae a side glance, still uncertain how in the world Khyzae could have figured that out. She herself remembered tracking Vwyx into the kitchen, but she needed to be a lot closer. Experimenting, Sryine herself went completely still and tried to repeat her previous act, but was unable to figure out anything. They made their way to the kitchen to find Vwyx and Khyzae’s mother working together to get some breakfast ready. Sryine was impressed to find Khyzae proven accurate like that, but wondered why Khyzae neglected to mention her mother too.
“Great, you’re both awake at last. I see Khyzae even got dressed, well done. Maybe you two would be willing to get Khyzae’s father from the laboratory, and we could enjoy some breakfast.” “Woah there, I’m right here, no reason to go searching for me. I see everyone has been keeping busy, it might be about time I pitched in around here.” Khyzae’s mother was almost as surprised at the arrival of Khyzae’s father as Khyzae herself was, having turned around to go towards the laboratory and thus running into her father, unaware he was right there. Sryine however had heard his approach behind her, so she herself hadn’t moved. She found it strange that Khyzae had been able to pinpoint Vwyx so easily and yet never noticed her father under such simpler circumstances.
The five of them sat down for breakfast, organized in the same way as it had almost a year ago. Khyzae took a few bites of fruit, enjoying how natural everything was feeling for her. She was subtly aware of the exact breakfast before them, her thoughts tracking it as her favourite. Slices of fruit similar to that of a melon, served with a sweet bread and a side of iced mintberry. The iced mintberry was almost a delicacy, smooth ground mintberries that have been carefully frozen and then ground again into a fine smooth powder. Once thawed, it had a consistency much like soft ice cream. Serving it still cold made it melt in your mouth, leaving a creamy texture behind. She knew she was being spoiled. Khyzae took a heaping spoonful of the mintberry and put it into her mouth, the richness filling her mouth rapidly. However, much like ice cream, Khyzae also felt a feeling in her head similar to what people would call brain freeze. Alarmingly enough, the feeling wasn’t as passing, leaving her in agony.
Khyzae’s father was up in an instant, pulling an instrument he already had handy. “Her body is having problems adjusting, it needs some calibration to compensate for the extreme cold. Her system thinks it had suddenly cooled down too much, so it’s flooding her with too much heat.” “Is there any way I can help? Anything at all that I can do?” Khyzae’s father found Vwyx quick to offer her help in this situation. Sryine watched as the two of them took some instruments to the back bottom of Khyzae’s neck and started working. Pulling out another instrument, they took calculations of her current internal temperature, trying to gauge things carefully. Vwyx was actually allowed to do the calibrations on Khyzae’s body herself, carefully following instructions. Sryine meanwhile took note how uncomfortable the whole thing was for Khyzae herself, being configured like an instrument instead of a living person. She moved closer to Khyzae and took her hands in comfort and support.
It was a harsh reminder that, no matter how much her thoughts claimed otherwise, Khyzae wasn’t actually a real live person, she was nothing more than yet another instrument made to be like a real live person. Tears started forming in her eyes, not at all happy with her circumstances. Sryine took notice of this too and got a cloth to dry away her tears. The message was clear, what kind of instrument is worried that it was just an instrument? The things she was filled with might be very artificial, but much of it was developed from a real person, and was itself like a real person. It was almost as if she was something somewhere between both the person she was expected to be, and the instrument that she was made up of. A unique sense of existence that could not be compared to anything else on Celese. Regretfully, that still implied that she was a strange creation, distant from everything else.
By the time everything was adjusted correctly, all of the mintberry had thawed. After that, breakfast was finished in an awkward silence. Khyzae quickly found herself alone with her mother before she knew it. Without leaving her an opening, Vwyx had quickly asked Khyzae’s father for some instructions for how to help Khyzae with any special needs her body might present. Sryine had even flown off with them, something about wanting to do some reading on the subject, and got directions from Khyzae’s mother on some of the books to look for, all of them having been picked up by Khyzae’s father over the months before and left in the laboratory. She knew both of them were investing such interest into her care, but as a result it left her generally left behind. She wouldn’t exactly be able to use any such instruments on herself, nor did she really have much of a talent for it. Joining Sryine could be a consideration, but it’s not like Khyzae could be much help with the process of reading a book, Sryine had that down well enough by herself.
Khyzae noticed that her mother had already started the process of cleaning up, all by herself. She recalled her father’s words, that it was time to start helping out, but then right after eating he’s already gone back to some of his other work. Fine, if those three were going to put so much effort into working to help her, she would pick up the slack they were leaving behind in turn. She began helping her mother clean up after the meal, as well as with getting dishes cleaned. Once everything was cleaned up, she went looking for something else to help with, only to hear a knock on the front door. She took the opportunity to turn and check on such.
“Hello? How may I help you?” “Yes, good morning. I’m here to check up on my little sister, see if she’s doing well. Excuse me, I don’t think we’ve met before. You are?” “Oh, yes, sorry, I’m the daughter of the Ymheqxhya family, Khyzae. I guess it was just misfortune that you haven’t seen me around before or anything.” “Yes, well, I’m the son of the village chief, and I’ve got parents that are wanting to hear an update of your parent’s work. So if you would be so kind…” Khyzae already found Sryine’s brother to be kinda intimidating, and sorta rude. However, she knew it wouldn’t be smart to make a scene with someone so important, let alone being worried what exactly she was supposed to say in this situation. She ran off instead to find her mother.
“Mom! We have a guest!” She wasn’t exactly sure where her mother had gone, but calling out for her got her attention. Together they returned to the door, this time with Khyzae keeping out of sight. “Oh, you’re here about our patients, yes, well, I’m certain they would love to hear you came by. Oh, of course.. come right in. Yes, well, you see, there has been a lot of good progress, and I’m certain you would be glad to hear…” “Mrs. Ymheqxhya, I finished the book, do you happen to… oh no…” Khyzae’s mother was also having trouble tending to such a visitor, one that had lost all sense of patience and had walked right into their home. Of all the poor timing, Sryine had wandered up after having already finished a bunch of her reading material and had been asking upon further recommendations. Meeting her brother eye to eye, she knew things were about to go in a direction she really did not want to go.
Inevitably after that, Vwyx had also found herself at the front door, included in a farewell hug with Khyzae and Sryine. With next to no warning, the three of them would be parting ways, none of them feeling this was especially fair. After their farewell, Sryine’s brother guided them from the mansion, headed first to Vwyx’s family workshop. Vwyx noticed she was spotted by her family long before she had even arrived, her sister rushing out first to deliver a warm hug in greeting. Having completed that drop off, Sryine went with her brother back to their own home.
“Make yourself comfortable, you have a lot of things to catch up to. Being gone a year has you well behind in community events, and our parents will want you to bring a presence to the community to show that you’re doing better. Go play in the town square or something, maybe bring yourself a lunch and have a bit of a picnic. Anyway, I’ve got a community lunch to attend, and I really have to get going.” Sryine’s brother made it obvious how much things might have changed in a year, already her brother was attending his own meetings and making his own demands, all in their parent’s footsteps. Meanwhile, even being dragged back home, she would find nothing actually waiting for her, and would instead be expected to sit in the town square all by herself once again. A year later, and she only found herself even more alone. Sryine went to her room to find a book while planning what sort of lunch she would make for herself. She really didn’t care either way.
“Seriously, sis, a whole year? How could you take a whole year to get better from a stupid little burn. I know you’re made of tougher stuff.” “Yeah, well, things got complicated, okay?” “Oh, I’m sure. Having to spend an entire year at that creepy mansion sounds pretty complicated, but that’s just why you should have gotten better faster and gotten right out of there. Look, okay, you should just come inside, lunch is almost ready and our parents are going to want to know you’re okay. They are going to hound you with questions, so I’ll just wait my turn.” Vwyx’s sister eagerly dragged Vwyx into her home, building up an even greater feeling of dread for Vwyx. It had been an entire year, she could only imagine how much of a workload had piled up after all that time. She could just imagine the expression on her parent’s face, as they took everything out on her.
“Vwyx! I’m so glad you’ve returned. Hopefully you’ve been okay. Don’t worry, we’ve blacklisted orders from that horrible mansion, you won’t have to worry about any requests from them ever again. Please, sit down, have something to eat, I’m sure you’re starving for some real homemade food.” Vwyx’s mother gave her quite the unexpected reception, but it still wasn’t good news. Blacklisting the mansion was going to make it hard to find excuses to return for even short visits. She was also certain that if her family was having such dark reception of a potential customer, the village chief was probably part of the matter. That would also mean Sryine was going to find visits hard as well. Making her way past her mother landed her into a tight hug with her father, who was tear stricken thus had no words to spare.
Everyone sat down to eat, as lunch begun in silence. “Wait, really? Sis gets home, gets hugs, and that’s it? Where are the questions, the grilling, the …” “Vwyx has had a hard time, we have to be understanding of her.” “Understanding?! Seriously?! I can’t believe this. She just up and vanishes, stuck sick in bed for an entire year, and no one is going to press her for an explanation? Come on, none of this is even fair. I had to pick up everything she left behind, learn everything she had to do, keep everything going, and she had darn well have a good explanation for the hell she’s put me through.” Vwyx’s sister was clearly upset, her father statement was only making such concerns worse. The whole fiasco made Vwyx suspicious, as she got up and took a peek in the workshop.
Inside, she found things had changed dramatically, most things nowhere close to the order she had left them. She found the request list nearby, itself almost blank. Someone had been picking up for her work in her absence, making sure things got done. That someone hadn’t even started on the related material not more than a year ago, it would have been a lot for such a young girl to pick up in such a short period. Still, none of it was work she wasn’t already completing at the same age, her sister had just been given the opportunity to slack off at Vwyx’s expense. Having things turn around on her sister like that was like a subtle sense of justice. Vwyx returned to her lunch in a satisfied silence, her sister resorting to glares after words failed.
Khyzae sat down with her parents, the home feeling much more lonely without the two guests she had known since her awakening. They were her friends, important to her, and they had been taken away by their own families. She had been all too eager to just go out and visit them herself, but her father had stopped her. Something about not exactly being liked by the rest of the village, something about being kind of an outcast from the rest of the village, something about being strange to the rest of the village. Her especially, that made sense, she wasn’t exactly a person like anyone else was. Neither an Elf nor a Human, she was instead an Ersatz, an artificial creation. None of it was fair.
Khyzae finished her lunch and started helping with other matters, beginning with laundry. All three of them were separated and left to tend to their original lives, but not everything was left quite the same as it used to be.
Luminaeris 