Sleeping Stranger

[Nephti]

23rd

Nephti rolled over in her bed, still half dreaming. Her eyes were heavy and she wanted to do anything but wake up. Sayana had been missing for two days now. Two whole days, not that she had been waiting too eagerly for her. The Eypharian had a knack at going missing for a few days, something Nephti tried to not worry about too much.

Instead, she had tried to be productive, in anyway she could. Not that that had succeed much, but even the smallest things were victories. Not big enough to be noticed as a change, but who knew? Maybe when Sayana did return, she would be pleased that Nephti had improved in several things.

The girl rolled over again, forcing her eyes open. A few more moments, she lay like that. There was no rush to rise, no rush to do anything. Having these lie ins really did her some good. She rose gently, placing two feet softly on the ground as she put on the dress Sayana had gifted to her. Her jewellery came next, followed by some lip pomade. She smeared in on her lips, pressing them together to mix the colour. No kohl today - Nephti didn't feel like applying it.

Instead, she began to hum a light tune as she took her hair, plaiting it in the simple swapping of strands. The Eypharian turned, still humming, before letting out a shrill scream, loud enough to be heard even outside the room. Her attempt at a plait fell across her back as Nephti stumbled back, snatching for the weapon that lay under her bed.

Bringing it before her defensively, she stared at the Zith, which had been lying ticks before in Sayana's bed, sleeping soundly. How did the creature get in, and why? Why hadn't she noticed? Questions raced through her head. Maybe that explained Sayana's disappearance - the zith that had hunted her had finally caught up with them, capturing if not murderint Sayana then coming to deal with the slave the woman left behind.

Slowly moving into a more aggresive stance, pointing the scimitar at the throat of the zith. She shuffled a foot forward, trying to find balance. "Who is you? What you want?" she asked, no, demanded in that broken Common of hers. She was Eypharian here, so she was the authority.

[Sayana]

The past two days had been a whirl of activity, not all of it pleasant. When Sayana had managed to return ‘home’ to the shack, she was grateful for the measly uncomfortable beds that it contained. Without waking Nephti, she nearly collapsed into the bed feeling so utterly exhausted that not even the pain of her wounds would keep her awake that night.

---

Sayana was awoken by a loud shrill scream. Groggily and with confusion she began to sit up, instinctively reaching for her throwing dagger. But the moment she engaged her left shoulder, she felt the wound rise up in pain and she couldn’t quite reach her weapon before… Oh. She was looking down the long curved blade of the scimitar, its point nearly touching her throat. At the end of the blade was Nephti, looking terrified as ever.

In response, Sayana held up her high hands and waved them briefly, showing that they were empty. To all else, the gesture might have looked like she was showing off her long black claws appearing at the ends of her fingers. Nephti had reason not to like her, but this…? However, it was when the girl spoke that Sayana became even more confused.

“It’s me. Sayana. Don’t tell me you had a nightmare or something. Or did I forget to wash off some of my makeup?” Quickly she wiped at her face, but everything she had said had been in the high pitched foreign language of the zith and inaudible by all other races. While Nephti might have noticed Sayana’s mouth moving, the illusion that had been placed on her wouldn’t allow any true Common to come out.

“It’s okay, really.” Sayana added with a bit of irritation when the weapon wasn’t removed right away. A betrayal… It gnawed at the back of her mind yet the girl seemed hardly in the right mind for such a thing. She looked pale and scared half to death.

Sayana slowly tried to stand, wary of the tip of the blade that was so close to her throat. Should Nephti try something rash or sudden, she would probably either sit back down or spring to action. Her high hands were raised to show she held no weapons and her other hands lifted to a lesser extent. But as she began to stand, another jolt of pain flared up in her shoulder and she winced as she instinctively brought a hand towards it. It would appear as though her wing moved to cover the bandaged wound yet on her chest was the visible embroidery and her wrists also had white bandages.

“Now is not the time for games, Nephti. I’d suggest you put that down.” Her last word was spoken in what she thought was a low tone of finality, yet it managed to just grace the audible range of hearing for non-zith and sound like a high pitched squeak of sorts. In her current illusioned state, Sayana’s most predominant features would be her dark black wings and the silky fur that covered much of her body other than her face. She still wore her usual attire including her black robe, red and black dress, vest, and boots. The illusion didn’t affect the redness of her hair, nor her key facial features apart from appearing to have fangs and her fur creeping up her neck.

Sayana speaking Zithanese

[Nephti]

The zith raised her arms, showing off the long black claws that served as deadly weapons. Her mouth moved to speak, but nothing came out, the strange language inaudible. The creature moved her hand, saying more in its language. Nephti trembled, scimitar shifted slowly around the monster's neck. One move, and she would slice her throat. One move.

The creature moved, but Nephti was to scared to strike. She was injured. Bandages almost covered her, the zith wincing the movements. In no state to fight the girl, that was clear. She didn't even want to, trying to speak and only moving to make herself not feel as much pain.

There was a high squeak, Nephti finally shouting out, "Speak in Common, zith," she demanded, trying to be confident but betraying herself with her trembling voice. Of course she wasn't confident. The Eypharian had woken with a zith sleeping near her, in Sayana's bed and wearing Sayana's clothes.

Wearing Sayana's clothes... she hadn't noticed it before, but the zith was dressed in the red-black dress that Sayana had worn when she left. So this monster was connected with her, and had had something to do with her. Nephti rose the blade up a little, examining the zith.

Her head was red too, like the hair Nephti had helped dye. Her face looked vaguely similar too. Similar apart from the fur and fangs. Why did this zith look so much like Sayana? How?

[Sayana]

Even as Sayana moved, Nephti stood practically trembling in fear. What was wrong with her? She was awake now. It was no nightmare. But then the girl demanded the strangest thing. “I am speaking Common!” Sayana shouted back angrily in what might have looked to be a snarl. And why by all the gods did Nephti refer to her as ‘zith’? Sure, she might now smell like one… For a moment she looked down upon herself, her chest with that crimson embroidery and her arms, a few of them tucked within her robe. But then her slave’s weapon lifted further, getting threateningly close to her throat once more.

She stared at the curved blade for several ticks, noting exactly where the flat was, and how it was angled. Then she struck. With her right hand she made a quick swipe at the relatively still weapon aiming for the safe flat part in attempt to knock it to the floor. If Nephti did indeed drop it, she would quickly move to place a foot on the weapon, otherwise she would rush forwards in attempt to grab Nephti’s wielding wrist and essentially disarm her that way.

If things were even remotely successful, she would reach to clutch Nephti’s marked hand for emphasis as she gazed intensely into the girl’s eyes. Welling djed within her, she focused intensely on a single word, her name. As if etching the letters into her very mind, she pierced out with her hypnotism as she spoke the next words. “It’s me, Sayana.”

Her eyes started to sting and she quickly looked away, breaking off the magic. She wiped red tears from her eyes. They were tears, right? Sayana… That’s who she was, wasn’t she? What if she wasn’t Sayana? What if all this was just a trick? What if the Eypharian girl before her wasn’t real? What if the house wasn’t real? For several ticks her eyes darted around and she looked both paranoid and confused, not to mention vulnerable to any sort of combat.

Sayana speaking Zithanese

[Nephti]

The zith looked down upon herself, then up at the blade, watching it for a few ticks. Before Nephti could realise, the zith struck, swiping at the flat part of the blade. The shock knocked it to the floor, disarming Nephti and making her helpless. The girl's eyes widened with fear, feeling at once terrified at her fate. Before she could move back, try to grab the scimitar, the monster beat her. The creature stepped on in, keeping it from Nephti's hands while one arm reached for her marked hand, for the hand where Priskil's gift lay.

How dare this creature touch something so sacred? Nephti felt anger replace fear, trying to yank her hand back.

Just as she managed to pull it back, falling back with the effort, she felt a name echo through her mind. Sayana. Sayana? So the zith knew her mistress. The zith before started to cry, wiping the tears away. Crying? Did monsters know how to cry?

This wasn't a monster. Nephti stared into her eyes, watching her, examining her. She had the same eyes, now filled with confusion and doubt. The same hair, the same clothes.

This was a city of illusions. Was this only an illusion? "Sayana?" she asked gently, watching the zith some more. The resemblance to Sayana was more than just there - it was extremely striking. And the thought in her head, the single word... That would have been hypnotism. The same hypnotism Nephti had tried to teach her.

"Sayana, is that you? Is that really you, Sayana?" She spoke in Arumenic, knowing that the Eypharian understood it, while a zith most likely wouldn't. Then, in common, "No harm. I no harm you, you no harm me. Please." If it wasn't Sayana, she didn't want to take any chances with a real zith.

[Sayana]

She appeared distracted, distraught, until Nephti spoke her name. Then she seemed to come to her senses and her mind was able to focus once more. She nodded vigorously at her name. Yes, she was Sayana. She had managed to get that across to Nephti. Something, somehow, was stopping her voice from being heard. And when Nephti followed up with more questions of her identity in Arumenic, she only hesitated briefly before understanding and nodding her head vigorously some more.

In attempt to mime her relief, she gestured all her hands to the heavens above and then brought her highs to her heart, nodding in gratitude that the gods had not abandoned her. Of course, the zith illusion would have a muted display with only two hands and wings but it likely did not appear quite so threatening.

When Nephti followed up with some quick words for peace, Sayana stepped away from the weapon on the floor in attempt to show that she didn’t mean harm either. Yet something was off. How had she lost her voice despite it sounding as though she were speaking just normally? If it had been the Seamstress… but she was able to just fine to the zith. Zith! Suddenly several pieces of the puzzle clicked into place and Sayana’s eyes went wide before she dashed over to the small mirror on the table. But when she stared into the reflection she looked the same. Perhaps a little wilder and with somewhat bloodshot eyes, but very much an Eypharian. She examined each of her arms and was painfully reminded of her shoulder wound. She had bandages but that couldn’t have set Nephti off.

Slowly she turned around. “But I look just fine. I’m not a zith.” She said and forgot that Nephti couldn’t hear for whatever reason. The lack of an immediate response reminded her of the fact and she began thinking of an alternate means to communicate.

She waved to Nephti to get her attention and then first pointed to herself, then her eyes, and then to Nepthi. She was about to start her next gesture when she thought it would be a good idea to clarify and held up a single finger. Then she held up two fingers and proceeded with pointing to herself again, then shaking her head, and finally flapping her arms about. However, what she didn’t anticipate was that the illusion would show her great wings flapping as well as her arms flailing.

Suddenly, an alternate solution came to her and she mimed writing with her hand. Quickly she scoured the shack looking for some sort of writing utensil. However, she had never bothered to keep a quill and ink with her, let alone paper. As she rummaged into the various cosmetics, she excitedly produced the kohl and found a section of wall. With sloppy writing she began to form words in Common.

I am Saya

Below it, she started the word ‘Eefarean’ but would gladly stop the moment Nephti recognized it. She also drew an arrow connecting the ‘am’ to her attempt at the word Eypharian.

Sayana speaking Zithanese

[Nephti]

The zith started to nod her head when Nephti spoke her name. She nodded more after the Arumenic, confirming that she was Sayana. If the Eypharian chose to believe her, that was. The zith gestured towards the sky then put her hands to her heart. Nephti was wary at first, watching clawed hands and large wings, but it wasn't threatening. Simple her trying to communicate.

Following her words of peace, Sayana stepped from the weapon, which Nephti tenderly took, placing on the bed behind her. Not near enough to the zith to give the creature a weapon and not have one of her own. The slightest bit of mistrust still remained with the zith. She darted out to a small mirror, examining herself with Nephti just watching. Did Sayana not know of her transformation?

Then she did a number of gestures. She pointed at herself, her eyes, at Nephti. She held up a number of fingers then flapped her arms and wings. Nephti made no sense from it, trying to understand what it means. "Sayana, it makes no sense. I don't understand!" she said in Arumenic, staying to the language to hopefully catch out the zith, if it really was an impostor rather than Sayana.

Then she mimed writing, searching the shack for writing implements. Nothing seemed of any use, until she grabbed a piece of kohl, forming words on the wall.
I am Saya
Eefarean
Saya? Sayana. But what did Eefarean mean? Nephti stared at the word, watching as the zith drew an arrow linking the arrow to the word. "Eefarean? Eypharian!" she exclaimed, realising what it was instantly after saying it. Sayana claimed she was Eypharian, but Nephti could only shake her head slowly, sorry for the woman.

"You were Eypharian. Now, zith. You are zith now." Could she not see that? What strange illusion did this, to change someone to everyone but themselves? Who had she angered to befall such a fate.
Or who could try to lie like this, what zith would try to impersonate Sayana? She needed reassurance that this truly was Sayana and not a monster. "If you are Sayana, prove it," she spoke once more in the fluid Arumenic, waiting for her response.

[Sayana]

Sayana nodded excitedly when Nephti spoke the word she was trying to spell, but she was met with the girl’s slow shake of her head. Confusion appeared on Sayana’s face as Nephti explained that she was no longer an Eypharian but a zith. She looked again at her arms, all six of them. She even opened up her black robe a little to be sure. Yet Nephti spoke and acted as though she was a zith. And only moments prior, she had come to the conclusion herself when she was unable to speak properly yet had conversed easily, fluently with the zith. Had she somehow unknowingly been speaking their language? Was that how all of them could so easily understand her, from the eldest to a mere child? The more she thought about it, the more reasons she found that supported the concept. Despite how impossible it seemed. But this was Alvadas. Nothing was ever truly impossible.

Nephti interrupted her thoughts and she looked up at the Arumenic words. It took her several ticks to understand. Proof! The girl wanted proof. She looked around looking for something that would be concrete evidence. Suddenly she had the idea to conjure the names ‘Timothy’ and ‘Andreas’ in Nephti’s mind. Perhaps that would help to prove her identity. Just as she was beginning to reach to the back of her mind for the djed, she stopped and realized there was a far simpler way.

There was a yearning, an ache to do more magic, but it could wait just a little bit longer. She mimed a small rectangle with her hands, then began to rummage through Nephti’s things. She made a point of being careful and delicate with the girl’s possessions, not wanting her to be fear that she was being robbed. Eventually Sayana found a tarot deck, either the old or the new. Glancing at Nephti she suspected the girl kept one of the decks on her person. Slowly she riffled through the cards and pulled out three. The ten of swords, the two of cups, and the three of cups. She put them in order of past, present and future then pushed up the middle card an inch to emphasize the three of cups.

The illusion of the zith looked from Nephti to the cards and back. Delighting in her simple proof, she decided to treat herself to another bout of magic. As it stood, the easiest way for her to communicate was through yes and no answers by nodding or shaking her head. She just needed Nephti to realize that too. She closed her eyes for a couple of ticks and focused intensely on a single thought. Curiosity. The yearning to discover, to reveal what was hidden, to ask and gain a little more knowledge. She nurtured and let it grow in the back of her mind. It started to become overpowering, unwieldly, then she locked eyes with Nephti to send it forth.

She staggered at the unexpected surge of fatigue. She quickly stumbled over to find a seat upon one of the beds. Her hands trembled and they quickly found her head as a headache erupted. Why did she do this to herself? She was no longer in peril. Yet if felt so good and she stole a glance towards Nephti, curious if she had received the intended results.

Sayana speaking Zithanese

[Nephti]

It was obvious that Sayana knew nothing of the fact that she was zith. The knowledge shocked her, as she looked over her body, confused. So only she did not see the illusion. At least it was an illusion, if this really Sayana. Better an illusion than for her to actually turn into those monsters. If it was an illusion, it could be removed, could be undone. Sayana could return to normal.

The zith looked around for something to prove her identity. Several ticks later, and she was searching through Nephti's possessions, delicate, careful. Eventually, she came across the new deck, for the old was concealed in the girl's hand, as always. The new one was beautiful, but the old was more personal, more precious. Sayana seemed to know this, glancing towards the Eypharian after taking the deck.

Slowly, she pulled out three cards, pushing the middle, the present, out to emphasize it. They were the same cards Nephti had revealed at the beginning of the season. The same cards that Sayana would know, cards that wouldn't have this meaning together for anyone else. A smile burst through her, Nephti placing her hand on the middle card. "Welcome home, Sayana."

Then she locked eyes with Nephti, the girl met with a feeling of curiosity. She suddenly wanted to learn, ask and discover, more than before. Nephti watched Sayana stumble over to find a seat on the bed, hands trembling. Hypnotism. The feeling wasn't her own, but forced upon her. Nephti didn't care. It only brought forward her own curiosity, letting inhibitions about prying disappear from the encouragement that Sayana had just provided.

But it also showed her something else. They could communicate like this, but it was painful and dangerous for Sayana. It was obvious she couldn't speak, and it wasn't like the hand gestures were very clear, only to be used for things that really had to be said. How else could they communicate, how else could Nephti ask?

Writing... but her knowledge of Common and Sayana's words were not a good match. Besides, they only had so much kohl and clean wall. But Sayana could still nod and shake her head. Yes-no questions would work.

"Is this illusion forever?" came her questions, expecting Sayana to maybe hold up some fingers to show how long. Then another one, "Is the illusion a punishment?" Trying to think of questions that had an answer of either yes or no was hard, for she had so much she wanted to ask. Instead, she was forced to stay simple.

[Sayana]

Sayana felt relieved when Nephti truly recognized and believed that it was her. It was hard to imagine that she could look so different that Nephti had been unconvinced for so long. Especially when she couldn’t see the illusion herself. But the headache was making it hard to think and it took effort to keep herself calm despite the effects of the magic. When Nephit asked whether the illusion was forever, Sayana smiled briefly glad to see that her hypnotism had worked for the most part. But she hesitated with the response. Was it forever? She certainly hoped not. A feeling of doubt crept over her and it showed on her face. After a couple of ticks she eventually raised her arms and shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. She really didn’t know but she desperately hoped it wouldn’t last for eternity. Quickly she followed up with a shake of her head. She’d find a way, something so it wouldn’t last forever.

At Nephti’s second question, Sayana considered it for a moment. The girl seemed insightful. Even she hadn’t realized that it could be a form of punishment yet it seemed to make a good deal of sense. After a pause, Sayana nodded. She then sat up straighter from her hunched position and displayed her chest with the embroidery. Each breath stung a little, but she was growing more accustomed to it as it healed. The illusion of the zith mimed threading in and out along the stitches of the embroidery and her eyes looked pained as she recalled the vivid memory.

In further explanation, she got up to sit on an old wooden chair with arm rests. She gestured to the bandages on her wrists and mimed struggling against invisible bonds that tied her wrists to the arm rests of the chair. Then with her right hand she pretended to thrust an invisible weapon into her left shoulder, where she had yet another bandage. Lastly, she acted out the slow careful stitching of the needlework upon her chest.

Throughout the demonstration she was careful to make her actions as clear as possible. And sometimes repeated them to ensure she was communicating the message. This time she was not in a rush since Nephti was now sure that she was indeed Sayana.

Then the urgings renewed themselves. As she looked into Nephti’s eyes Sayana found herself wanting power, control, dominance. Her fingers drummed upon the wooden armrest. She could use the magic just one more time, couldn’t she? The headache made it hard to focus but she concentrated on a single word and a myriad of emotions relating to it. Fear, strength, revenge, vanity, power. She grasped at her djed. Swirling it around and adding more emotions. Pain, torture, games. Channeling it, shaping it, giving it energy to push past the natural boundaries of a person’s mind.

“Seamstress.”

It was all released in a torrent. While the word might have been clear, the rest was a mess of feelings and emotions. She was trying too hard and trying to do too much. Suddenly she found herself coughing and spluttering. Doubled over, she found herself gazing at a small pool of blood with the iron tang still in her mouth. Her headache surged yet she still had one last thing to say.

Writing with a finger in the freshly coughed up blood she formed the words:

Must leed zith
Giv hope
You help

Anyone could see that she was not in good shape, neither physically nor mentally. She didn’t even seem to think it was odd to use her blood as ink. But even if she didn’t initially like the idea of sleep and rest, it was probably the best thing for her at the moment.

Sayana speaking Zithanese