In Which Justina Finds Herself in an Impossible Place and Meets Her New Friend


Justina drifted awake, a deep ache in the marrow of her bones. She blinked until the fuzzy shapes around her coalesced into recognizable forms. A quiet uncomfortable sound crawled up out of her throat. As her eyes focused she saw a woman leaning over her, a strangely familiar woman, although Justina knew with absolute certainty she had never seen anyone who looked like her before. She was small and delicate. Her eyes were very dark, the pupil blending into the iris and hardly any whites. From a distance her eyes might have looked almost normal, if unusually large, but this close Justina could see that the pupils were rectangular bars. And twitching toward her groan the woman's ears were delicate, long, tapering to points, and the same soft light brown as her hair. A deer's ears. Justina closed her eyes again. This was impossible. Just another dream. It didn't feel like a dream, but dreams never did when you were inside of them.

"She's awake! She's going to be okay!"

It was the voice that made the connection in Justina's mind, the missing piece. She mumbled "Xanaria?"

"Yes! It's okay, we're safe now."

"You should be dead!" The new voice sounded very chipper about this, "but you're not, so that's okay."

Justina opened her eyes again to see a fuzzy face mere inches from her own. It was upside down and swinging slightly. She blinked at it.

"You didn't need to do that, though. That hurt. You could have just had Xanaria come back and I could have opened the door. You aren't supposed to come through together like that, it doesn't work. How did you do that anyway? And why aren't you both dead? Or lost? Or lost and dead? You need a bath, would you like one? I have several." It blinked back at her.

"What?"

"Let her be," Xanaria swung the creature carefully out of Justina's line of vision, "I think she got hit a lot harder than I did and she doesn't need to be able to count your boogers."

"I don't have boogers."

Justina turned her head, and regretted it instantly. Dark clouds boiled around the edges of her vision and her head felt like something pointy was being jammed between her eyes. She closed her eyes again, and swallowed hard against the rising nausea.

Justina felt a cool dampness on her forehead, and the pain eased slightly.

"Give it a moment, but then I'm going to help you sit up. You need to drink some water and I'm worried what will happen if you start choking right now."

"Okay."

When the pain had receded a bit, Xanaria put a gentle arm around Justina's shoulders and helped her sit up, tucking pillows around her to keep her upright. She also helped her hold the cup. At first Justina didn't think she would be able to keep the water down. But as she drank the pain and nausea did lessen. She took a deep breath. And gagged. Something smelled strongly of old vomit. Looking down she realized it was her. He jacked was missing, but she could see the stains all along her right arm and splashes across her pants.

"Oh god."

"Yeah. Sorry. I got your jacket off and the nice creature who lives here helped me get you away from the puddle, but I wasn't in any condition myself last night to get you properly cleaned up."

Justina looked at her new friend, concerned. She hadn't noticed earlier but Xanaria looked beaten up. She had dark bags under her eyes, her face was pale, and the hand holding the cup was shaking slightly.

"Are you okay?" Justina asked her.

"Yeah, I only got a little of it. I didn't pass out, although I was thrown away from the Metastone pretty roughly. It passes, and at least we aren't dead so there's that."

"There is that, I suppose." Justina chuckled a little, but cut it off when she felt it trying to twist toward hysterical. "There is that."

"About that." The tan furry creature dropped down beside them. "Have you figured out why you aren't Dead? I didn't feel the Metaverse twist to save you. I think I would have felt it. I wonder why I think that?"

"Okay, we've gone through a lot already for asking this question but what is the Metaverse?"

They cocked their head confused, "It's the Metaverse."

"But what does that mean?"

"That is a really big question, and most of the answers come down to: I don't know." They ran a little paw across their face, looking painfully embarrassed. "I think I did once. Smaller questions, please!"

"Maybe later." Xanaria put in. "I don't think any of us are quite up to unraveling the mysteries of the universe right now."

"Metaverse."

"That either."

"Okay!" They whipped out a long tail and wrapped it around one of the many vines hanging from the ceiling, but when they went to launch themselves upward they flinched and tumbled back down curled protectively around a blood soaked stomach. "Oops."

"Sleeping Goddess!" Xanaria yelped "What happened? Why didn't you say something?"

"I did say something. I said 'that hurt.' You two shouldn't have torn through the place between us like that, it's not proper and it damages things."

"Let me look at that."

"It's okay. I'll heal. You will too. But for now it hurts, gotta be careful!" And with that the creature disappeared around a bush, then they popped their head back around and said "There's a bath over that way about 15 yards," They pointed with a tail, "When you're ready for it." And vanished again.

Xanaria asked, "Do you think you can go back to sleep? That would probably be the best way to heal, if you can."

Justina thought longingly of slipping back into unconsciousness for a while, but took stock of herself and sighed, knowing she would never be able to. "No. I think if you can help me to that bath that might be the best thing for me right now."

Xanaria nodded. Through trial and error, they got Justina to her feet. When they were both standing Xanaria barely came up to Justina's shoulder. Still, by leaning together and putting their arms around each other they managed to stagger off in the direction of the bath. Feet sinking deep into emerald green moss, Justina kept her eyes on the ground and their footing while Xanaria made sure they were moving in the right direction. Justina blinked and squinted. She kept thinking she saw little glimmers of light coming up through the moss. She dismissed it as another symptom of the damage she had taken. It would pass.

After a few slow and painful minutes of walking they came between two bushes, and there it was. A wide bathtub made of some silvery substance with wide flat seal flippers for feet sitting out in the open. It was screened only by a loose circle of chest high bushes. It was already full, hip deep in steaming clear water. There was no shower head but there was a bucket. It was clipped to one side of the tub and made from the same silvery material.

There were three chairs in the little circle of bushes. Letting go of Xanaria, Justina staggered over to one of them and sat. With a groan she bent over to untie and remove her boots. She heard Xanaria make an odd sound. Looking up, Justina saw Xanaria was looking at the bathtub and blushing a delicate pink.

"Erm, you can go first." Xanaria said, "I'll see if I can get the caretaker of this place to show me where some towels are, and hopefully some clean clothes."

"I hadn't thought of that. Thank you Xanaria, you're a lifesaver. I mean, you were literally today, but also figuratively with this." Justina knew she sounded like an idiot but she was exhausted and the words just wouldn't come out right.

Xanaria nodded and smiled a tired smile her blush receding. Then she turned and left again, even her limp looking graceful. Justina shook her head, and finished pulling off her boots already looking forward to a long soak.


A couple hours later Justina was lying in the hot water feeling worlds better. She was admiring the silvery material of the tub. It was textured on the bottom to produce a good grip. It had a clear resin or plastic coating behind which Justina could see little circuits, like those in a solar panel.

"A solar powered bathtub?" She mused aloud quietly. "What would you even use electricity for in a bathtub?"

"Nope!" The fluff ball was back. "Not solar powered here. But it is powered by ambient light and the slight motion of the air. It keeps the water warm and clean all the time!"

Justina thought she should be embarrassed by the creatures' arrival, but she didn't have the energy.

"Ah, I suppose that makes sense."

"Xannie found these! She said you would want them." They laid a grecian looking dress across the back of a chair. Although it seemed newly made, it's design and fabric were ancient styles. A powder blue fluffy towel followed it over the back of the chair before she got a good look.

"She doesn't like nicknames."

"Oh. Okay! Xanaria found these! She said you would want them." They nodded, seemingly pleased with themselves.

"Thank you. She'll probably be wanting a bath of her own soon, won't she? I should get out." The idea did not feel like a pleasant one but at least it was possible to contemplate now. The ache had been warmed from her muscles, though it still lingered in her bones.

"Oh no! I found her a bath of her own. She said you might need a while." They scratched absently at their side and Justina noticed a thick off white bandage wrapped securely around their middle. It had some small red spots where it was already beginning to bleed through.

"Are you okay?"

"No. But I will be. Xanaria told me I had to let her bandage me. She said it would keep my insides in and that I shouldn't drip on things while I'm waiting for it to heal. She was right. It helps me move easier. I'm not used to being hurt."

Justina's stomach clenched. "I am so sorry."

"You didn't mean to. And you didn't know. So that's okay."

"Still, I'm sorry"

"Thank you and," they looked a little ashamed, "I won't be able to get you home easily. There was a lot of momentum imparted when you came through and we went spinning off wildly. Getting too close to metaverses hurts right now so I can't really connect anywhere, but I think your world will be especially hard until I'm all healed. The Metastone has more range, Xanaria could go out to an avatar, but I can't get anyone out in person right now."

"Could I use the Metastone?"

"No," they giggled, "Only pilots can use the Metastone."

"How do you know I'm not a pilot?"

They cocked their head, eyes wide. "You aren't."

Justina let it go. "Okay. There's no rush, I'm sorry I got you in this mess. I will need to go home when you are better, though. Those people who were chasing us have my husband and I have to find out what they've done with him."

She sat up suddenly staring at her left hand. Her head spun, and she wasn't sure if it was from the sudden movement or the realization that her wedding ring wasn't on her finger.

"My coat! Xanaria said she took my coat because it was covered in vomit. Where did she put it?"

The creature hopped back a step or two. "It's back where you left it. It's still really icky."

Justina climbed from the bath. She still felt like she'd been hit by a bus, but she could move on her own. She grabbed the towel, and after a cursory rub down, slung on the grecian dress. It was a little rough against her damp skin but she barely noticed. She ran the towel over her hair, grateful it was short enough that it didn't take long to dry, and tossed the towel back over the chair.

"Can you show me please? I'm not very good with directions even at the best of times."

It didn't take long for them to make their way back to the place where she had woken up. There was a soft blanket laid out and a couple pillows that she must have slept on, although she had been in no state to notice them when she first came to. About 10 feet from the blanket she saw nasty scorch marks on the moss that covered the ground. They spread from a burned out area just a bit larger than a human. Across it was splashed dried vomit and she could see drag marks where Xanaria must have pulled her out of it. The vomit was only visible on the burned moss though, the places it should have continued onto the green moss were already gone. Absorbed by the moss, maybe. And there, abandoned and crumpled on the moss, was her jacket.

Justina's heart sank. It wasn't her coat, it was her green jacket. She remembered carefully removing her ring and placing it in the little inside pocket of her coat, and then zipping closed the pocket because she had done that everyday, every morning for weeks just before entering the library. She'd started twisting it around her finger every time she was waiting for a page to load. Every time she thought of Tom. It had become painful. When she had noticed the blister she got annoyed with herself. So she put it in her coat pocket until she was done with her research for the day and then put it back on. She knew it wasn't in her green jacket. Still, she checked every pocket in it, uncaring of the mess she was getting on her hands. Oddly, the jacket was clean in the places that had been pressed against the moss all night, but Justina barely noticed.

She saw her bag nearby, the one thing she had grabbed before starting to run. She dug through that as well. She a broken pen that had leaked all over the outsides of her notebooks, but no ring. She sat there in silence for a moment trying to think if there was anywhere else it could be, besides locked away in a world she couldn't reach.

"Do you want a space of your own?" The fluffball piped up. "Then you can keep all your things there and you won't keep losing them."

"Oh, um... Yes, that would be nice."

"Wonderful! Pick a spot and pick out things you want! I have been decorating, but you can move anything you like. Oh, um. I don't think I can move a whole bed right now… but I can help move anything smaller that you need!"

"Maybe for now I could find a bed and sort of build some space around it."

"Okay! And when I'm healed, if you want to move to a different spot, I can help with that too!"

"Thank you." Justina was suddenly very tired. The bath, the lessening of her pain, the adrenaline and disappointed shame of losing her wedding ring, it was all suddenly too much and she really wanted to lie down.

"You should be dead, so you can do all your gathering together after you sleep. We can find a bed first, you sleep on it, and then you can do all the other things people do when they're alive!"

"Thank you. Can you show me the way?"

"Okay. What kind of bed do you like?"

"What's closest?"

"A medical cot."

"What's the second closest?"

"A big fluffy thing all full of feathers."

"Let's go for that one."

They walked in silence for a minute, or Justina walked, the fluffy creature tried to swing between the vines, but it looked painful and they flinched with each hop.

Hoping she wasn't being horribly rude Justina tentatively offered. "I could carry you, that doesn't look comfortable and it's clearly my fault, so if it would help I'll gladly carry you. You can point me in the direction to go."

"Okay."

Their little hand like paws clung tightly to the neckline of her grecian dress. One tail wrapped twice around her waist, the other tail pointed her in the direction she needed to go, and they slowly made their way. They were very light for being the size of a large house cat and Justina was grateful for it.

After a moment of silence Justina asked "What is this place?"

"This is my home."

"But where are we?"

"Right now? Spinning between metaverses. I'm doing my best to keep us from bumping into any, that could be very unpleasant."

"So, then, this place is yours and you guide it through space?"

"Nope. But also yes if it helps."

"What?"

"I'm it's and we ride what are like, and aren't at all like, currents between metaverses. I think we were a lot more once."

"But you choose where it takes us. We can go anywhere."

"Yes, precisely! But also no not at all."

"Can you be a little clearer?"

"Not really. You're missing a couple dimensions, poor little things."

"Can you take us where we want to go?"

"Sometimes, if the currents are kind. It could take a while. I can take you where you need to go, at least when you're needed there."

"So, it's like a ship riding interconnected rivers."

"Okay, if that helps. But not really."

"If I talk about it that way, will I usually be able to come to the proper conclusions?"

"Define what you mean by usually."

"More than three quarters of the time."

"Oh! Then yes. River boats is usually right."

"And so then you're like the pilot of the boat."

"No. Xanaria's a pilot."

"I still don't know what that means."

"She piloted you."

"What?"

"She went inside and pushed you around."

"It wasn't like that at all!"

"Maybe not, but it could have been. So that's what she is. A pilot."

"Are… there are lots of people who can do that?"

"Define lots."

"I don't know, thousands?"

"Then yes. There are lots."

"You're telling me that I could have run into any number of these pilots in my life!"

"Oh! You mean just in your Metaverse. Then no by your definition there are not lots."

"You know what, as many questions as that answer brings up, I don't think I can deal with that right now. But we will come back to that later."

"Okie dokie."

"So, if you wont use the word pilot in the nautical sense, would you say you're like the captain of the boat?"

"Oh no, Captain's give orders that other people ignore so that they can do their jobs. I just do stuff."

"What about the skipper then?"

They cock their head slightly. "Yes. I am like the skipper, and also the tiller, and also the ship's cat. And also- oh hi Xanaria!"

Coming from the other direction Xanaria, smiled and waved "Hey, guys! Look what I found! Clean underthings!"

"Oh, thank God! Where were they?" Justina asked.

"I'll show you. What are you guys talking about?"

"I was trying to get the little skipper here to explain things to me."

Xanaria grinned, "Oh, no bad idea. I'm glad I got back before they turned your head inside out."

"They did their best." Justina grinned back.

"Skipper huh? I like it." Xanaria looked at the creature still clinging happily to Justina. "Can I call you Skipper?"

"Sure! I like that. Skipper, skipper skipper skipper."

"Well, at least something good came out of this conversation." Justina sighed, "I don't have to keep calling you That Little Fluff Ball anymore."

Skipper looked up at her "I like that too!"

"If it's all the same to you, Skipper is much less of a mouthful." Xanaria admitted.

"Hello! I am a Skipper!"

"Indeed you are, Skipper." Justina ruffled the fur between their oversized ears. "Do you mind if we make a little detour so Xanaria can show me where she found those?"


A short time later Justina fell into an old fashioned four poster bed. It's canopy had been torn away, the wood was badly scratched, and the fluffy comforter smelled faintly of chickens, but in that moment it was the most perfect bed in the world. She blinked up at the impossible ceiling for a moment but fell asleep before she could figure out what was off about it.

She slept deeply and dreamed vividly of running barefoot through a dripping forest. Of the sound of hunting horns. And of a beautiful woman with velvet soft rabbits ears and a mouth that smiled easy but always had a bit of melancholy tucked at the edges. She dreamed of something important, something left undone, but it shredded like mist before she woke.


Xanaria knew she should go to sleep too, she hurt, and not just physically. She felt like she'd been awake for days, fallen out of a tree, rolled down a hill, and disappointed her mother. There was an ache deep down in her bones that sounded like what her grandfather used to complain about when the weather was changing. She knew she should sleep the worst of it away, but she was walking instead.

She looked around with wide eyes. Half the strange and incredible things she had seen when she had first walked through this space had names now. She looked at the strange lightweight and sharp cornered table with the impractical drawers and her mind told her it was a "file cabinet." The small and impossibly lifelike paintings pressed between the pages of the book she found inside of it were "Photographs."

The spidery runes inscribed on way too many things in this place spoke inside her head now. She had found a fine smooth stoneware cup with a painting of a fox on it. Before she had enjoyed the picture, but now she knew that the runes on the bottom said: "Microwave and Dishwasher safe Made in China" The big ones on the front told her, "Checkmate" and tiny ones told her "Copyright: GalaxyTails"

So instead of sleeping she wandered between bushes recognizing things she had never seen before in her life. Her eyes were wide with awe as she saw a "bicycle" and a "basketball hoop" and a coiled up string of "fairy lights" which, despite the name, she knew were completely harmless.

I know I'll need to rest soon, but I can handle another minute or two- oh look! It's called a wireless power tool kit! That actually makes sense now…