"You truly don't remember anything?"
The wolf just shook his head.
Blaze resisted the urge to get up and pace, not wanting to put the wolf any more on edge. Though he had relaxed slightly as they'd spoken, she didn't miss the way he flinched when she moved too quickly, or the way his ears swiveled at every unexpected sound. And he hadn't moved from the Sol Emerald shrine, though now he was sitting rather than standing or crouching. Blaze knelt on the floor in front of him a respectful distance away, which was at least more comfortable than her earlier hands-out, see-I-don't-have-any-weapons pose.
Still, Blaze found it hard to stay still with the frustration and curiosity burning in her. Her fingers started tapping on her leg restlessly before she realized what she was doing and forced herself to stop. "Nothing at all? Not even a name?"
The wolf hesitated a moment, then spoke. He had an accent that reminded Blaze of Jian, and made her wonder if English wasn't his first language, either. "There are… faces. Feelings. But nothing… clear." He studied her expression for a moment. "You don't believe me." It was a simple statement. No bitterness. Just observation.
Blaze winced. Part of her was suspicious of his lack of memory; it was a convenient way to avoid giving answers on why he was here and where the Sol Emeralds had gone. But she'd had the same suspicions about someone else not long ago, someone who had also radiated a cool darkness, who had hidden in the shadows and watched with wary green eyes. In the end that person had more than proven herself trustworthy. With that in mind, Blaze took a breath.
"I think I do, actually. Innocent until proven guilty, yes?" She tried for a friendly smile, but he only stared at her.
Blaze sighed and stood. He flinched a little at the movement, but not as much as he had earlier. If he was telling the truth, Blaze supposed his jumpiness made sense. He'd woken up in an unfamiliar place to be interrogated by a complete stranger, and all without any clear memories or past experiences to draw on and tell him what to do. She grimaced as it struck her that she'd started questioning him without so much as introducing herself. Better late than never, she supposed.
"I apologize," she said, turning to the wolf, who blinked at her owlishly. "I never told you my name. I am Blaze the Cat, guardian of the Sol Emeralds and princess of the Sol Empire." Something in her chest twinged as she said it, old pain and older memories stirring to life. She forcefully shoved them away.
The wolf's ears perked forward at her name, and something seemed to shift in his gaze, though all he said was "It's nice to meet you." He sounded sincere, which was surprising. She didn't think she'd made that good of a first impression.
"Hey! What's going on here?"
A loud voice made them both jump. The wolf tensed, baring his teeth, and Blaze whirled around to see Marine peering at them blearily. Typical; the Emerald lightshow a few minutes ago hardly caused a stir, but the moment there was a conversation to be eavesdropped on, then Marine woke up.
"Who's this bloke?" She asked, rubbing her eyes. For once her tendency to default to English came in handy. She blinked at the wolf. "And why's he so short?"
Blaze glanced at the wolf. "We… don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Marine demanded, wriggling out from under the mosquito net and bounding over to join Blaze. Blaze grabbed her arm before she could get too close to the wolf, who had scrambled backwards at her sudden approach. Marine stood at the edge of the garden and put her hands on her hips. "You don't know who you are?"
The wolf shook his head.
Marine looked between him and Blaze. Blaze nodded. Marine frowned. "Strewth," she muttered. "That ain't right. No name? Nothin' at all?" The wolf nodded. Marine put a hand on her chin, looking thoughtful. "Well!" She snapped her fingers, making the wolf flinch. "We have to call you something, don't we? Like… Wolfie? Fluffy? Grim the Dark and Terrible? Jim? Ooh! I know! How about Coldst—"
"Maybe not," Blaze cut in.
Marine crossed her arms, pouting. "Well we need to call him something."
Blaze looked at the wolf. He'd retreated into the corner when Marine had run over, and now his dark fur melded with the shadows, broken only by his glowing purple markings.
"Would you be alright if we called you… Black, maybe?" Blaze suggested, trying to think of a name that was fitting while still sounding like a, well, name.
"Ah, Blaze!" Marine groaned. "That's not creative at all!"
"Black," the wolf said softly. He looked up at Blaze and nodded.
"Ah, fine," Marine grumbled. "But if you want a cooler name, just ask me, alright?"
Black smiled slightly, which was a first. Marine seemed to take this as an invitation to scurry over and invade his personal space. Black flinched, but he didn't back away.
"What are these markings?" Marine asked, grabbing his hand and turning it over curiously. His markings shifted to red, then to cyan. "Crikey, they change color! That's sick, mate! It looks like a moon from the stories, what's that about?"
"Marine—" Blaze started, reaching out to pull her back, then stopped short as she got a good look at the marking Marine was talking about. A glowing crescent moon with a round dot floating between its points, forming an almost eyeball-like symbol, was emblazoned on the back of Black's hand. The same marking adorned his other hand, the sides of his feet, and his forehead. "This symbol, I've… seen this before."
Blaze hurried over to her desk, ignoring the confused looks that followed her. She shuffled through the drawers until she found what she was looking for: a glass orb, about the size of one of her eyes, with a round silver base. She turned it over in her hands. Yes, there it was: the same moon eye symbol, painted on top of the orb and carved in a recurring pattern around its base. She walked more slowly back to the others, cradling it in her hands.
"See? It's the same sym—" she broke off as the orb suddenly started to glow in her hands.
Marine scrambled away with a yelp and Blaze instinctively jerked back, nearly dropping the globe before she caught herself. The orb stopped glowing. Blaze frowned at it, then cautiously extended her hands, moving it nearer to Black. It started glowing again, a soft purple light that shone around the painted symbol, casting the moon shape in silhouette on the wall.
"Does it normally do that?" Marine asked, eyeing it suspiciously.
Blaze frowned. "I've never seen it glow like that before, not even near the Sol Emeralds." Her frown deepened as she remembered the Emeralds disappearing. One problem at a time, she reminded herself. She pulled the globe away from Black, and it stopped glowing again.
"Where'd you get it, anyway?" Marine asked curiously.
"It's a relic from an old temple," Blaze explained, placing the orb carefully back in the drawer. "I requested access to the archives a few months ago when I got back." Marine huffed at the reminder of the adventure in Sonic's world she'd missed out on. "I thought… there was something I wanted to investigate." Blaze traced a finger along the spines of the old books sitting on her desk.
"What did you want with a bunch of dusty decorations?"
"I was looking into the history of the islands," Blaze said, finding the book she wanted and pulling it out. She started flipping through the pages. "Before the first guardian empress. Much of that early history is off limits to the general public, especially the old myths and legends."
"'Cause of Solaris, right?" Marine dropped Black's hand to gesture emphatically; Blaze was surprised Black hadn't pulled free on his own. "I've heard people say even reading about him can draw the attention of his eye! And then… FWOOM!" She threw her arms out dramatically, making Black jump. "He burns you up!"
Blaze cast her a flat look. "That's one theory. Ebon—the Empress says it's to keep people from falling back to the old ways."
"Like sacrificing people to Solaris?" Marine asked far too eagerly.
Blaze frowned at her. "And who told you about that?"
"Jie did! And then Jian said if I kept pestering her she'd sacrifice me to the sun, but I told her—"
"What does the symbol mean?" Black interrupted.
"Here," Blaze said, finding the page she was looking for and turning it to show them both. It was one of precious few pre-empire books that had illustrations intact. On the page, a picture showed the moon eye symbol carved into the front of a temple. "From what I've found it's associated with Lunaris, a sort of moon goddess believed in long ago."
Marine leaned forward to peer at the book skeptically. "Really? I thought Lunaris's symbol was the creepy eye." She pointed at another picture on the page. "There, that one! Creepy, innit?" Black leaned forward to look at it, then flattened his ears, growling softly.
"That is also a symbol of Lunaris," Blaze confirmed. She closed the book and set it back on the desk, much to Black's apparent relief. "Unfortunately there isn't much about Lunaris in the archives, as most things relating to her were destroyed by Solaris cults, so I haven't been able to find out what the symbols mean. My guess is they each represent a different aspect of her."
"Like the moon's her nice side and the eye's her mean side?" Marine guessed. "So does Solaris have two symbols?"
Blaze frowned. "Perhaps. I haven't seen one other than the sun symbol, but I wasn't allowed access to many of the relics relating to Solaris."
"So… what's it mean that Black's got Lunaris's mark?" Marine asked, looking over at him.
Blaze looked as well. The moon-shaped marking on his head—a perfect replica of Lunaris's symbol—glowed softly in the grey morning light. "I'm sure it's just a coincidence," she said, trying to convince herself as much as them. She looked out the window, blinking as she realized the sun was beginning to break over the horizon. Outside a rooster crowed, and she could hear the whispering of children trying not to wake irritable adults too early. Blaze forced a smile and turned back to her companions. "It seems none of us are going back to sleep. Are either of you hungry?"
I'll be taking a break for Easter these next few days. Updates should resume on April 19th!