Chapter Twenty-Five: The Messenger

Raph blinked in shock. "What?" He croaked.

Bren pointed.

The turtle turned his head. On the next cot lay a human girl, which was a bit startling after only seeing animals for the past five days. She was perhaps fourteen or fifteen, and had the brown skin and textured hair of a Hawaiian or islander. Worn shoes and a ragged leather bag lay on the floor.

Well, she sure isn't April. Who on earth is she? No way did Don send her!

"Who?"

Bren, who had come around to stand by the feet of the cots and crossed his arms, shrugged. "She came to the base pretending to be an Iesh'sha—that's a race of arrogant, powerful people—and talked with Vesuva. She has a note that's supposedly from your brother Don, which we couldn't read, but more importantly, she had the weapon that matches yours."

"My sai?"

As Raph tried to turn to look, Bren stepped softly forward up to a little table and picked up two identical red-handled sais. It is! Don must've found it on the rooftop where Casey & I were fighting—or I guess if he didn't, she did.

He attempted to pull his arms out from under the sheet; Bren rolled his eyes but helped Raph. The turtle looked over both sais: they were definitely his.

He let his head flop back onto the pillow as he looked up at Bren. "It's mine." He lacked the energy to grip the handles, much less twirl them between his fingers, but the familiar weight on his lap was comforting at least.

Bren nodded. "That's what Vesuva and I thought too—good." He eyed Raph. "Let's get some alemnea treatment in you. You can't handle pills just yet, but I already made up a liquid form. I'm afraid it might not taste pleasant, but it will help your body continue to come up to normal levels."

Don's jaw would've dropped at the lack of fight Raph put up to taking this medicine: he simply watched Bren find the bottle and pour it into another glass. I guess I trust him enough to let him feed me medicine. He did save my life and all. And it would be nice to feel more alive and less like I'm about to fall into a coma. Not that his ultra-relaxed, limp body had any gumption whatsoever to do anything besides lie there. And even then, Raph's eyelids still seemed to weigh much more than usual. I guess besides being a bit dizzy and as limp as Klunk when he's sleeping, I don't feel too awful. At least I'm not beat up like after a night of fights.

Bren approached, and Raph swallowed the thick green liquid as quickly as he could. Not too bad. Sour. Like sour candy that's been living in the dust under Mikey's bed for a while, kinda— but it could be way worse.

After a little more water to wash down the taste, Raph licked his lips. "Note?"

Pausing as he set down the water glass, the raccoon hesitated. "It's in her bag, I'm sure… I don't really want to go through her belongings…"

I guess that would be invading her privacy, but… if Donnie sent me a note with this girl, I gotta read it! Who is she, anyway? She turned up when Leo, Mikey, and Master Splinter got captured, and Casey and I were attacked? That's not weird at all. And how did she get here, anyway? The brainiacs here said it wasn't possible.

"How?"

"How did she get here?" Bren moved back to the foot of Raph's cot, between his cot and the girl's. Good thing he's good at guessing what I want to know from just one word.

"Apparently she's a Jior—I've never heard of it, but one or two in the base have heard rumors of a people who can travel between worlds at will. She says she came into your home accidentally. And she says she came to take you back."

Raph pondered this. Travel between worlds… that's pretty crazy. But I guess we've seen some pretty crazy stuff in our day. Now, if she would just wake up so I can watch her awake, watch her body language, and read the note from Don. She looks pretty innocent, but maybe she's working for whoever kidnapped Leo and Mikey and Master Splinter. Maybe she forced Don to write the note. I'd be able to tell; Don could slip something into the note so I'd know not to trust her. Why is she sleeping, anyway? What time is it? From the sun and the noise out in the main room, it's not exactly the crack of dawn.

"Why is… she sleeping?" My first full sentence. I still sound like I just finished fighting the Shredder by myself with no breaks, but it's a start.

"When she arrived last night and Vesuva brought her to see you, I could see she was so exhausted she was going to pass out if she didn't sleep soon. It was late then, so I haven't woken her up. I asked if this traveling ability was easy, and she said no, so I'm guessing that's why. Besides, pretending to be an Iesh'sha must have been a bit stressful too. If she was found out—I don't know what the humans would've done."

Sounds a bit like Don, working past the point of exhaustion and blowing it off when Leo or I call him out on it. "What's… her name?"

"Saja."

The girl started.

The pair froze and watched her wake up; in a moment, she blinked open her brown eyes and sat up. Atop beautiful-but-now-wrinkled clothing she wore a corded device that looked a bit like a lapel mike. Raph eyed the cobbled-together casing. That looks like Don's handiwork.

She jumped again when she found herself being watched. She recovered quickly, however, and stood up. She brought her hands together and bowed in a style not unlike Japanese, graceful despite the awkward, narrow space between their cots. "I am… Saeyaja K'el, or Saja. I am… so happy… to finally… meet you, Raphael."

It took Raph a moment to realize that the forgnathu earbud hadn't supplied a translation. She had spoken those halting, accented words in English. She speaks English? His surprised brain thought, followed by She doesn't look dangerous awake either.

"Uh… pleased ta meetcha," Raph growled. That sour candy medicine must be taking effect already, because I feel slightly more alive.

The girl cocked her head, and reached for the little bedside table. She picked up a device that matched the one she wore. "English… talk…" She hesitated and offered it. "I only speak a little of your language," the forgnathu translated as she now spoke softly in a language different from that of the Da'an and Othila. "When I accidentally teleported into your home, Don brought these out, and they work pretty well."

"The forgnathu only works for the person wearing it," Bren muttered, half to himself, as he accepted the device on his patient's behalf and clipped it on for him.

When I woke up in the sleepy forest, I did not predict wearing two translating doohickeys at the same time.

This done, Saja watched him, fidgeting with her flowing sleeve.

"You can sit down," Raph said. "Yer makin' me nervous, hoverin' there like that."

The girl sat, relief and embarrassment flitting across her face.

"So. Don sent you. Bren said you had a note from him?" Yep, I'm definitely feeling more like a turtle. At least, I'm up to talking. Moving anything besides my mouth, not so much.

As soon as the translation came through, Saja grabbed her leather bag from the floor and pulled forth a folded paper. With the quickest of glances at his hands lying limply on his sais, she unfolded it. Raph started trying to gather energy to lift his arms, but Bren smoothly stepped forward, took it, and held it up for him.

Raph cleared his throat. "Uh, other way." Well, I guess I don't have to worry about either of them reading over my shoulder. Especially Don's handwriting. Hiding a smirk, he read the now-righted message.

"Raph, it's me. This girl is Saja. She showed up in the Lair right before Leo called me to say he'd been kidnapped. Weird, I know, but I trust her. Unless she's crazy good at acting, she's just a lost traveler. Her ability to teleport only lets her choose a general area, so it happened to land her here. Oh, and be nice—I think she's an exile or something. Anyway, all my research on the dart that hit you has told me basically nothing. It would take me ages to figure out how to get to you on my own. She says she knows where you are—that's something. I have to stay here to rescue Leo and Mikey, since the Gamer—that's what he calls himself—actually has them. I already have Master Splinter, and he's okay. No, she's not pointing a sword or gun at me. I'm fine, since you're probably worrying about me. Just please, go with her, okay? I need your help beating up the Gamer. -Don."

Raph nodded to Bren, who set the rambling message down on Raph's lap. I'm not sure if I'm surprised or not. Don trusts her. I guess she did pass the other tests.

He twitched his finger over the corner of the note. The Gamer… what kinda freak is he? A crazy one, to mess with our family. As soon as I can move, Don, I promise I'll help you get back Mikey, Leo, and Casey, and take down this shellhead.

He looked up at the medic. "Can I have more of that green stuff? I gotta go help my bro take down the nutcase who thought he could mess with our family."