Regrettably, Kaina came awake. Her entire body was metaphorically on fire. She raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, and was surprised by its unsteady indolence. Closing her eyes, she let her hand fall. With a mighty effort, she struggled to roll over onto her side. Bad idea. Pain wracked her body. She dug her hand into the soil and pulled, forcing her body to roll just in time to vomit. Then she lurched away from the mess. Tears blurred her view of the shattered skies.
Darkness claimed her yet again. In her mind, she had merely blinked; but all at once, the sun had set. The air had cooled. Kaina opened her eyes and tried sitting up. It was a difficult endeavor, and she quit. She would be fairly content to rest and regain her strength.
Until she heard the noise. A distinct rustle, behind her. She rolled over and looked up, her wings automatically unfurling. The raccoon stopped to observe her, then continued on its way. Sighing and wishing she'd had more time to grab a weapon, Kaina laboriously pushed and pulled herself to her feet. And stopped, her eyes passing over the startling unfamiliarity of the forest.
It worked! She was out of Partholon!
Good. Her family was safe. She was the last mad Fomorian, and now they were safe. Just as safe as they were before she had been born; something that never should have happened. Too bad not even Etain had predicted her demonic birth.
Wondering if there were other mad Fomorians on this planet, Kaina sauntered to the tree line and stepped out onto the sidewalk, finally feeling at peace. She felt liberated! She had ensured her family's well-being! She looked up at the moon - and frowned, realizing the sky was in fact, not broken. The strips of darkness ran in front of the bright orb. What were they? Her eyes followed the bands to a wooden pole on the sidewalk. It was not a statue. It was not even decorative. And it was much too narrow to be a house.
Suddenly she felt like a child again, filled with wonder and questions. It was not a feeling in which Kaina was able to take delight. She moved through the streets, in excruciating pain. Thankfully the absence of the sun was allowing the air to cool, and she felt her strength returning, albeit slowly - but at least it was.
Entering civilization was a shock to her Partholon-accustomed senses. Some of the homes were brightly lit, but she could see no candles and no lanterns. She stood for a moment, scowling in wonder as she self-consciously folded her wings against her back. She reached up and pulled her hair out of her closed wings, letting it fall to (hopefully) conceal them. Then, impulsively, she looked down at the wrap that enfolded her body. Unlike her perfect, golden cousin; she did not have the inclination to dress in semi-transparent silk. Kaina's wrap was a much more modest fabric; and though she had never felt the urge before to bind her wings to her back, it was suddenly the only thought on her mind. This world was obviously different…but just how different was it?
Had she made a mistake?
Kaina prowled through the neighborhood, initially planning to avoid the homes that were brightly lit; but a problem arose. Even the sleeping houses would magically light up as she walked by; and no amount of repetition could make it less scary. Her eyes scoured everything she passed. She couldn't help noticing the shiny colorful things on four wheels. Partholon had four-wheeled things, too; but there was always a horse at the front. These things had none.
It seemed this planet had a strange custom of their own. Every single dwelling saw fit to just leave their garbage cans at the side of the road. Weren't they scared of attracting wildlife? But the sudden urge to vomit into the nearest receptacle left her bitterly glad they had been so conveniently placed. Obviously the hot air coupled with the exchanging of worlds had taken a toll on her.
One of the houses was much larger, and featured excessive windows. There was a particularly long mode of transport inside; and Kaina observed that the entire building was like a parking space.
She stopped to study it in depth and nearly jumped out of her skin when the entire building suddenly started to make this horrible ringing sound. It simply would not cease! Terrified to her core, Kaina began to run over the unfamiliar terrain. Her heart hammered in her chest. Suddenly there was another ringing sound that repeatedly fluctuated in pitch. Up, down. Up, down. And even though Kaina was fleeing the racket, the accursed noise grew louder…louder…and louder still. Then the screaming, blaring, flashing vehicle roared deafeningly past. Kaina fell to her knees, watching its spinning lights pull away into the night.
What kind of magic was that? It had to be the strangest ritual she had ever seen.
One of the houses lit up and a human shape passed in front of the curtain. With effort and a lack of options at her disposal, Kaina struggled back up to her feet and walked forward, feeling the pain of landing on the cement every time she bent her knees.
Kaina was feeling the effects of trading her planet for another as she angled up the smallest hill she had ever seen. To her blistered feet and flaming sides, it was comparable to attempting to scale the castle walls. Her talons were of no assistance; but she could only be glad she was past that awkward stage of stepping on them.
To her left began a consistent hedge of small evergreens that circled a property. There was no house in the ring of trees, which confused Kaina. She found a break in the fence and ambled through. There were stones placed all over the grass within the hedges. Some of the stones were tall, some were medium, and some were almost level with the dirt. Some were decorated with flowers and some were not. But they all appeared to be inscribed with names and numbers. It was almost like a gravesite, Kaina mused. Except there were no statues of the deceased, carved in their likeness; to remind the living of their faces. And in Partholon, there wasn't the added futility of numbers, taking up precious space that could have been used to say more nice things, or to create more room for an even bigger effigy of the departed.
A ways ahead of her, the moonlight streamed onto the ground, and she could see the blades of grass. But there was also a range of blackness that was neither grass nor dirt. She walked up to what turned out to be an open plot, with a coffin inside; and she cracked it open, looking at the perfectly nice clothing that would just get buried with this woman. Why? She didn't have places to go, people to meet, secrets to keep.
She was wearing a pink wool sweater and a belt, and her upper body appeared to be very much like Kaina's - without the wings, of course. Of course her shoes said she also didn't have talons. Not realizing she was criminalizing herself, Kaina worked meticulously to remove the woman's sweater and then her belt. Sitting on the ground in the graveyard, she pulled her hair over one shoulder and used the belt to tie her wings down against her back. It may not be enough to prevent her from opening her wings if she really wanted to, but the gentle reminder would (hopefully) caution her against foolishness.
She pulled the belt on tightly and secured it shut. Then she pulled on the sweater and pants. Looking down at the woman's pale face, she leaned over the plot. "Thank you," she said softly, and closed the coffin. It was not inscribed at all, and Kaina had to wonder if the numbers on all the other graves were a mathematical problem that somebody was still attempting to answer - or had died trying. Perhaps the woman Kaina had just undressed?
She stood and looked around at the other graves. "Please don't haunt me," she whispered.