Hunter Or Huntress

Chapter 153: Counseling

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Tom was just sitting on the bed, back up against the wall with a sleeping Kiran in his lap, as he focused on the light coming in the tall narrow window.

‘Just look at the bright parts. There is nothing else in here,’ he repeated to himself as his eyes snapped to a quick-moving shadow on the far wall, the unmistakable feeling of being watched weighing heavier on him than he could ever remember.

He flinched once more as he heard the creak of the door handle followed by the slight groan of wooden hinges as he stared at the very slowly opening door.

‘Fuck, I really am starting to see shit,’ he cursed to himself as he just keep staring, his sleep-deprived brain debating on if this was real or not.

Then the bright white head of Jacky stuck itself around the corner, staring at him silently.

“What are you doing, Jacky?”

“I wanted to know if you were sleeping,” she replied, sounding a little guilty. He just let out a sigh as he started petting Kiran again.

“Little guy is.”

“I see… Put him aside, all clear, Joelina is in the library.”

“Right that… yes. Didn’t forget, I promise.”

“I’ve only been gone half an hour at most?”

“I know, I know. It’s a little hard to keep track right now.”

“Sorry… Paulina went with Fengi out to Yldril after breakfast too by the way.”

“Wow, we might have some actual privacy then,” Tom huffed sarcastically as he delicately started moving Kiran off onto the actual bed.

“Yup, Dakota is already down there, and Nunuk is awake. Come on now,” Jacky went, still in a hushed tone as she opened the door fully and walked over to the bed.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Tom protested as he got off the bed.

“Can you walk?”

“I’m tired. And maybe a bit delusional… But I can walk.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, Jacky, I am sure,” Tom grumbled, getting off the bed and cursing himself as he stumbled just a little bit, Jacky moving to catch him, earning a glare from him. “See. I can in fact stand up.”

“Hey, just making sure here.”

“I-... Thanks…” Tom reluctantly whispered.

Jacky though didn’t seem to mind his grumpiness, moving to the door and sticking her head outside, checking for people he assumed.

“God dammit I’m tired,” he let out with a yawn, flinching at the sound of running footsteps from the corridor. He just stared at the door to see if anyone was actually coming this time, Jacky tilting her head and looking at him.

“Everything alright?”

After a second's wait, the sound vanished with no one sticking their head inside or coming into view. “Yeah yeah… Just hearing things, that is all.”

“Right… Well, the coast should be clear. Off we go,” Jacky let out, taking his hand and delicately dragging him towards the door.

He followed, groggily dragging his feet out into the familiar hallway and turning right towards the stairs. He glanced left, feeling uneasy like someone was watching him once more. He was greeted by a dark hallway, unable to see the end of it. There was no denying that the floor and walls were changing as they entered the darkness. They were turning sandy, the walls made of the oh so familiar yellow clay or mud. “Uhm… Jacky?” he let out in a careful tone, swallowing once.

“What is it?” she asked, clearly confused, looking back at him with a head tilt.

“You don’t see anything strange down there, do you? Right?”

“It’s just an empty hallway? What’s wrong?” Jacky replied, promptly throwing a glance down said hallway.

“Oh nothing…” Tom went, looking at the floor, which definitely transitioned to sand just before the darkness. “Let’s not go that way.”

“Okaaay… you sure you’re okay?”

“No, I’m pretty sure I’m not. Let’s get downstairs. I want to talk with Linkosta as well. I am definitely seeing things.”

“You got it.”

Tom elected not to let go of her hand as he was dragged towards the stairs, checking over his shoulder a few times as they walked to see if the darkness was following. Much to his relief, it didn’t seem to be as they started going down the stairs.

Then he felt a hand try and grab his foot. A wet, cold hand. He tried to yank his foot away, looking down and seeing a blackened draconic hand reaching for his other foot, slick black icor dripping off of it. Not thinking, he jumped away from it, right into Jacky, who was just turning around to see what he was doing.

“What the? Tom!” she let out as she did her best to catch herself, skidding a few steps down the stairs before regaining balance. “What the hell?!”

“Sorry,” Was all he could let out, slightly ashamed as he looked down at his leg, the black mark already gone.

“The fuck are you seeing man? That ain’t normal.”

Tom didn’t really want to answer that one not in private, so leaned in to whisper to her. “Darkling that tried to grab my leg. Felt cold, wet, and sticky… and I heard it screech.”

“That’s messed up, man. Wait, didn’t you just show her things from home?” Jacky replied, if not quite whispering, then at least keeping her voice down.

“Yup,” he agreed with a quiet nod. “Which means I’m seeing more than just the fight.”

“You’re still sure I can’t just smack her head off?”

“Jacky!”

“What? I hate that bitch,” Jacky protested as she started carrying him down the stairs. Tom wasn’t really sure if he wanted off right now. It would be pretty damn embarrassing to be carried around like a scared kid… And none of it was real after all.

“Uhm… Jacky… could you maybe put me down?”

“And have you tried to knock the both of us down the stairs again? No chance.”

“But-”

“Shut it.” Jacky cut him off as she walked past the library where Tom was quite sure the inquisitor was.

‘Think you idiot, think. This is embarrassing… Uhm… Right, I’m sleeping. Perfect, no you retard, you can’t close your eyes!... God dammit,’ he cursed to himself as he glanced back, seeing the corridor dimming behind them. A pair of red glowing eyes peered out from the encroaching darkness.

‘You aren’t real. You are not here,’ Tom just thought to himself, staring at the eyes as they tilted to the side, a bit of hideous cruel laughter filling the air loud enough that he clutched his ears to no effect. “Oh please make it end,” he all but whimpered, feeling Jacky pick up the pace.

“What is it this time?”

“Just a dark knight following us, I think,” Tom replied, trying to close his eyes for a second, opening them to said dark knight standing like a stiff puppet in full view. The darkness lifted as it raised its arm, pointing at them once more and laughing almost maniacally before Jacky rushed down the stairs.

The second he could not see it anymore, the laughing ceased. Tom looked around frantically for any sign of what might be next. In the grand hall sat some of Baron’s contingent, all of them turning to stare as Jacky jogged by with him.

He just didn’t pay them any mind. A bit late to do anything about it either way now. ‘Calm down, retard, just magic mind messing shit, that’s all… just stick your tongue out at the next one or something,’ he tried to himself, letting out a slight chuckle at the joke.

“Please don’t start babbling in Danish or something. I don’t understand,” Jacky pleaded, just a hint of fear shining through her voice too as Tom just gave her a hug. “I’m fine, I’m fine. None of it is real… and I have to be sooo tired by now hehe.”

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The inquisitor had indeed gotten to work on the books. It was abundantly clear from working with her that she was more than used to long hours and little sleep, much to Sapphire's dismay. She guessed this probably wasn’t the first time Joelina was working right after being inside someone else’s mind either, even if the strain was showing every now and again.

Of course, the problem was that Joelina couldn't read anything the books said, nor did Saph and Apuma know what everything meant, even after translating it to the best of their ability.

Luckily for them, Linkosta had come back to help after a few hours, stating Nunuk was sleeping soundly, which had been a rare thing for the last several weeks. It was no surprise to Saph that the bookworm had in fact already been through a few of the books they were reading and as such proved very useful for trying to explain some of what Sapphire and Apuma could not. As time went on, Saph found herself just sitting there more and more. Which, if she was honest, wasn’t that bad at all.

Glazz, for her part, seemed utterly uninterested in what was being said and instead focused entirely on them and the inquisitor as she stood guard, unmoving. Their little session was eventually interrupted by Edita sticking her head in the door, looking around after having been allowed to enter.

“I require assistance, Inquisitor.”

“What with?” Joelina replied, looking up from the book, clearly trying to hide some annoyance.

“I cannot operate his thinking machine.”

“You got out his computer?” Saph questioned.

“He showed it to me yesterday. I wanted to learn more. I can’t find the books he showed me on it. I would like an assistant. I believe Sapphire knows.”

Joelina just turned to look at Saph with an expectant expression.

“Right…” Saph let out, doing a bit of thinking herself. “I mean, I have used it a bit before. Essy might be a better choice though.”

“Esmeralda is tending to the children. ‘They need playtime’ she said.”

“Go with her will you, Sapphire? I believe we will manage without you for now,” Joelina added, not taking her gaze off Saph.

“Of course,” she replied, trying her best to put on a genuine smile. “I’ll help out.”

“Very good. I will send for you if we need you here. And Edita… Do try to remember where any books of note may be found on the machine. I may wish to study them later.”

“Of course, Inquisitor. Thank you,” Edita let out excitedly, clearly not needing help with managing a genuine smile right now, unlike the rest of them. “Follow me, Sapphire.”

Predictably enough, Edita had taken Saph to the workshop where she had the machine sitting on a workbench plugged into the solar charger which was hanging out the window.

“I wanted to find what he based that thing on and see how much inventing he did as opposed to simply repurposing,” she opened, pointing at the lathe before sitting down in front of the computer.

“I think he drew that up on paper by hand.”

“Yes yes, but he said he didn’t invent all this. They must have some truly impressive things where he’s from, I bet. I want to see them.”

“Right… I don’t know where that might be. There has to be soo many things on that computer.”

“No no, we will work it out,” Edita replied as she tapped away on the keyboard. “The buttons are so strange. How did you spell it?”

“L-A-T-H-E,” Saph went helpfully, Edita consulted her notebook lying on the table next to the laptop where she had noted down the letters and their names. “I don’t see anything with that name… What does that say?”

“Progran… it says the same thing there, but with x86 afterward,” Saph said pointing at the screen.

“What does that mean?”

“I think it’s like ‘plan’ or something. You know as in planning something”

“Well that sounds interesting,” Edita went clicking it. “Right. What have we got?”

“Well, that says. Windows… And that says little-soft… What is this? It says windows defender there.”

“Think it’s window bars or something? Maybe shutters? I wonder if they make different glass than we do?” Edita went, clicking the name, which just resulted in another list of even more strange names. “I don’t see any drawings or pictures.”

“Are you sure we should be doing this? We might break something.”

“But we are just looking through its memory.”

“But what if this is more like its brain?”

“Why would there be windows in its brain?”

“I don’t know. It might mean something else for all I know,” Saph protested, shrugging. “I can show you where the movies are at.”

Edita just turned to look at Saph, not seeming quite convinced. “But I want to know what he used to design the lathe. I need to know how he made it.”

“Well, you can talk with me and Shiva about that. We also have the drawings on paper.”

“But I want to understand this thing too.”

“Right… Tell you what, there is a movie where it showed some factories full of machines. I remember he was showing Tink. I’ll try and find that. Then I can go ask Tom if he knows where he might have something about lathes at.”

“Isn’t he staying in his room? I’m not allowed to go in there now.”

“I’m sure he will be happy to see me. Here, let me,” Saph went, leaning in and starting to click through folders. She remembered where the movies were after sitting with Essy as the older woman had showed off the impressive machine and what she had learned about it while she was sick.

“No, I want to do it. What do I press?” Edita protested, putting her hands in the way.

“Right… so you go to files. That’s that one on the left with the F. Then that one with an M as the first letter.”

“Okay… This is so exciting. I need to learn this language.”

“You were the one that wanted to see the computer first. I offered.”

“I know I know… But this is too exciting.”

“We have many exciting things… Tell you what, I’ll check if maybe he has a book with the machines in it. You’ll love that, and we can practice English at the same time. For now, just watch the movie.”

“Okay… Would you show me the movie… There are two ‘m’ ones,” Edita replied a little slack-earedly.

“Right yes, of course,” Saph tried in her friendliest tone, going to find it for her.

“Thank you… Saph… did I make him mad with all the questions? Jacky seemed mad,” Edita asked, looking up at Saph, seeming rather worried.

“No, just tired. He’s been answering questions every day for half a year. I’m fairly sure he enjoys being the smart one, but everyone gets tired out eventually. After what Joelina did, he’ll need some time… Quite a bit I fear.”

“Okay… I’ll do my best to learn so I don't have to ask so much then,” Edita replied a little slack-eared looking back at the screen.

“I think he’ll appreciate that… Oooh, I see. It’s a bunch of little things about how stuff is made… I don’t know what half of it is though?”

“It shows you how it’s made?! Yes! Yes, I want to see that!”

“I’m working on it… Do you just want to start at one end and work your way through?”

“Sure. I want to see everything!”

“You got it,” Saph replied with a sigh of relief. ‘That should keep her entertained for quite a while… Maybe I can just sit here and watch. That doesn’t sound too bad… Yup, I am doing precisely that.’

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Well, now they were in the infirmary with Dakota and Nunuk just as planned. Tom was a little worried someone from Baron’s crew might have followed them down through the grand hall to listen in. He was at least not feeling like someone was watching him without knowing it at the moment. Mainly because the effects seemingly weren’t limited to darklings and war. He was in fact currently staring at a rather attractive human woman who looked ready for a trip to the beach. He had definitely seen her somewhere before, but he just could not remember where. She was currently standing behind Dakota like nothing was out of the ordinary and listening in on the conversation, though not saying a word, even if her mouth moved at times.

“I think he’s full-on losing it,” Jacky declared after a few seconds of awkward silence.

“I am not. I’m just seeing and hearing things.”

“And feeling.”

“And feeling,” Tom relented with a grumble, averting his gaze a little from the nice-looking woman.

“What do you mean? How exactly?” Dakota questioned in an authoritative tone, though her face betrayed she was a little confused, looking back once at where Tom had been staring.

“Some weird dark knight puppet looking thing tried to grab my foot. It was all cold and slimy and left a black spot on my foot. I blinked and it was gone, see?” Tom went, lifting up his trouser leg to reveal nothing out of the ordinary.

“That is no laughing matter, Tom,” Dakota replied in a very worried tone, looking to her bedridden mother, who was lying on her belly in the cot and looking at them.

“No, it is not. Joelina claimed this would recede, but you are claiming it is getting worse?”

“Well, it’s only been a day,” Tom defended as he went back to staring at the woman. She had freckles… and long flowing red hair… She was very pretty.

“He wasn’t seeing things like this in the morning. Only when he shut his eyes,” Jacky clarified, also throwing Tom a confused glance as he kept staring.

“Is this true Tom?” Dakota tried once more, glancing behind her. “Is something behind me?”

“Yeah and… yeah,” he replied reluctantly. “Been hearing things all the while. When I shut my eyes, I could see things from what she showed me yesterday. Now it’s all the time. And there is currently a human standing behind you, I don’t know who they are. Don’t worry, they aren’t there.”

“I see,” Dakota replied cautiously as she studied the area behind her more closely.

“So it is not just nightmarish apparitions?” Nunuk questioned, sounding like that at least wasn’t terrible news.

“It would seem so, yeah. But this is definitely the first case.”

“So it is getting worse,” Nunuk sighed, looking to Dakota.

“I will have to discuss this with the inquisitor. She is the only person here who might know if this is worthy of concern,” the gilded huntress replied with a prompt nod.

“She will just say what she thinks makes us do what she wants,” Nunuk interjected. “Pay extra attention to her demeanor. If this is truly a worry, it will show there when you tell her. She must be tired.”

“I will do so, Mother,” Dakota replied with a slight bow towards the aging lady.

“I think she will just try to get back into his head if we ask her like that,” Jacky grumped, crossing her arms. Tom was inclined to believe her on this one too.

“Then we will make clear that that is off the table.”

“Yes, that is why we were here actually,” Tom interjected. “We were talking about how to get her to not be such a… Difficult person to work with.”

“I commend the effort,” Nunuk added rather dispassionately. “It would be easier if she was not the nearest expert on what to do about this.”

“Or we could wait and see. Maybe she is still right that it will fade away.”

“It may be necessary for her to intervene…” Nunuk admitted, clearly reluctant to say it. “If she broke anything in his mind, how would we fix such damage?”

“What if she just causes more damage? He is not a dragonette. Or even worse, she doesn’t even try,” Dakota countered, arms crossed. “I would not put it past her.”

“Ehm… Essy said ‘she needs Tom,’ ” Jacky interrupted in a hopefully but clearly not happy tone. Tom guessed she wanted to agree with Dakota here. He honestly wasn’t sure right now, 'cause this is trippy as hell. “Cause all the things she’s bringing here are worth like, a lot, and probably not allowed to be here.”

“Uhm girls… would you let me try something?”

“What is it, Tom?” Nunuk asked in a caring tone, looking up at him.

“I want to see if I can touch them. They are just standing there.”

The three women exchanged some glances for a bit before Dakota spoke up.

“Why exactly?”

“Just wanna know if it feels different, or if I can even feel them.”

“That sounds like a bad idea,” Jacky protested, Tom nodding a little.

“Maybe… but I want to know if I can tell the difference.” He didn’t wait for a reply, instead walking past Dakota up to the woman and putting a hand on her shoulder, which went straight through like she wasn’t even there. “Huh…I guess not.”

“You really are messed up, dude,” Jacky added, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him back in. “What do we do? We wanted to talk about how to make Joelina not be a bitch to everyone, but now… please tell me we don’t need her.”

“Dakota, I want you to have that chat with the inquisitor, as few eyes as possible to start with. Let her know. If she doesn’t already, she will soon enough.”

“Yes, Mother,” Dakota replied with a prompt nod before throwing a side glance at Tom, who was still trying to touch the woman. His hand just went through her, but she seemed perfectly solid, and he couldn’t see his hand through her either.

‘Okay, this is sorta funny… I wonder if this is what it is like being on LSD?... Is this like a bad trip or something?’

“We need to do something about that,” Dakota continued nodding at Tom.

“He was doing better than this until we left the bedroom,” Jacky added in a mix of confusion and worry.

“Then take him back there and see if it helps.”

“Can do,” Jacky went with a nod as Tom felt her start to drag him off.

“What if I just need to think happy thoughts?”

“You need sleep, my dude. You are starting to sound drunk.”

“No really, I think it could work.”

“Okaaay. Think happy thoughts then. We’ll be going,” she went with a quick nod to Dakota and Nunuk. “I’ll stay with him.”

“Godspeed,” Dakota sighed looking at Tom with a perplexed and rather pissed expression. Tom wasn’t quite sure if she was mad at him or not, but this was so surreal.

Jacky had borderline dragged him out of the infirmary and back up towards their room. There were not actually any darklings or dark knights waiting for him around the corners. Instead, they encountered a flock of kids, who managed to perfectly fool Tom until they ran through him and down the stairs, playing some sort of game.

“Huh… I really thought they were here…”

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Well, it had certainly been educational watching some of those videos. And it did answer some questions as to just how Tom’s people had so many things. And such big things for that matter. Most of it was not even made by people. Edita had been beside herself throughout much of it, to Sapphire's relief. As they were watching, Tink and Junior had popped in to ask a question about some of the new equipment only to get dragged into watching the movies. When they found one about what the humans called a foundry, Saph had gone to fetch Shiva too.

It was all quite enjoyable really, but when Edita discovered how to go frame by frame through the videos, Saph had called it quits as it all turned into a documenting exercise. It was getting rather late anyway, so she decided to go check up on Tom and Jacky and then maybe go help out with dinner or something. Couldn’t hurt to check up on how they were doing.

She knocked on the door before slowly prying it open, being quite surprised by what she saw. On the bed sat Tom and Jacky. Jacky held him tight from behind like she was scared he would run away. He was in turn staring at the far wall talking away in his gibberish language. Essy stood by the side of the bed, Kiran sitting on Tom’s lap, looking up at the human. Jacky and Essy both looked over as Saph opened the door. Both simply stared at her. Her best guess was they had no clue what to do right now.

Jacky glanced back and forth between Tom and Saph, looking torn on if she should speak or not. Saph for her part just stood there staring worriedly for a few seconds, thinking that it was a mistake coming here. Jacky turned to Tom and broke the awkwardness.

“Look Tom, it’s Saph. She’s come to say hi.”

This finally got Tom’s attention, as he turned to look at Saph with a genuinely happy smile, giving her a wave. “Oh hello. Just having a chat with my Dad. Haven’t seen him in decades. This mind-stuff is trippy as all hell.”

“Your what?”

“My dad. I know he’s not really here, but still. It’s amazing. There were two Jackys before.”

“And you couldn’t tell who was me,” Jackalope grumped, Essy looking a little ashamed.

“How could I tell the difference? I made up the other one.”

“I still don’t get how that works. The one you made up was Essy.”

“What the fuck?” Saph let out, staring at the two of them.

“Oh yeah, apparently I’m losing my ability to distinguish what’s real and what’s memories. A bit like dreaming while awake. Joelina came up to try and check me out after Dakota told her it was getting worse.”

“That’s bad… that’s quite bad, right?” Saph questioned, turning to Jacky Worriedly.

“How should I know? All that damn woman said was ‘Interesting, I will have to consult someone’ then she fucked off.”

“Consult who?”

“Well, shock of shocks, Essy thinks she has something like our earrings so she can talk with, well someone.”

“Right… she could have mentioned that.”

“Oh I’m sure she has plenty more surprises,” Tom chuckled, going back to chatting away in Danish. Saph’s mind flashed back to the device Glazz had almost used on Jacky in the library.

“Probably… still, would have been nice to tell us we could talk with the capital.”

“I don’t think it is the capital,” Essy added in. “or if it is, then it is probably not just her mother or something of the like.”

“I get it, I get it. Could we talk about why Tom is sitting there talking to thin ai-”

Essy cut saph off, shushing her with a finger. “It is very important he believes it is real. Else his mind just fills in the blanks.”

“No no, I think I’ve got this now. I think,” Tom interrupted, looking at Saph with a big dumb grin on his face before looking back to the far wall. “Ain’t that right, Dad?”

“Essy, would you mind?” Saph asked, giving a sideways nod towards the door. The older huntress obliged, following Saph out of the room and shutting the door behind them. “Okay, that’s fucked up. What the hell do we do?”

Essy eyed down both sides of the hallway before leaning in for a whisper. “I have one idea.”

“Please don’t say ‘trust the inquisitor’ right now. That woman is single minded as all hell.”

“Fengi.”

“You’re shitting me, right?” Saph replied with a nervous chuckle. “Right?”

“No. He has some control over what he sees. Maybe Fengi telling him to not see imaginary things would work? Do we even know how her magic really works now?”

“She’s an enchantress, right? The whole thing with Yldril didn’t change that. Even if it works, it would only be for a little bit.”

“Dammit, you’re right. It may be better than nothing. Perhaps he could at least get a bit of sleep.”

“But Fengi has gone out to be with Yldril.”

“Then we get her back for this evening, Saph. Come on now.”

“Right right…”

Then they heard crying coming from inside the room. Human crying. Essy swung open the door in a hurry, revealing Tom sitting and bawling in Jacky’s arms as she tried to shush him back down again.

“What happened?” Essy was quick to ask, rushing to the bedside.

“His dad got an illness that made him forget, then he died.”

“Oh no,” Essy all but whimpered, going to give the crying human an almost motherly-looking hug. “It’s okay. It isn’t real.

Tom for his part just kept crying, Saph guessing the poor guy was probably so sleep-deprived by now he was barely functioning as is.

“I think I’ll go fetch Fengi. Dinner shouldn’t be too long now either.”

Essy just looked back at her and nodded her consent. “Go. We’ll handle this.”

“If you say so,” Saph just agreed, backing out of the room and debating on whether she should go out the greeting hall or up the tower. ‘I think tower. Nooo need for more questions.’

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