The Girl was going to need a name.
Kylo had stumbled upon that revelation when he'd gone up to check on her. It was night now and he had brought with him just a single candle out of concern that she would misuse a candelabra on the backside of his head if presented the chance.
Her tower room was pitch black on this heavily cloudy night, but with the aid of the Force Kylo quickly identified that girl-shaped pool of nothingness that he's come to seek out with his mind. She had rejected all his efforts to make her a half-proper bed, and instead had curled up in the furthest corner of the octagonal room from the entrance hatch.
"So how are you settling in?" he asks.
No answer, hiss or growl or otherwise. He brings the candle closer and a single eye, narrowed with suspicion, glares back at him. She has completely encased herself in the bedding and clothing he has provided for her, and for all the world could have been mistaken for a piece of sea debris washed up on the shore.
"You look uncomfortable."
The eye doesn't blink or waver.
Kylo sighs. Brings the light closer. Reaches out to pull the black cowl -his black cowl- away from the rest of her face.
And then comes the growl. The warning with the intention of readying herself. Something about biting off the approaches fingers.
Kylo retracts his ungloved hand and returns the glare he's receiving.
"Noted. Though that's hardly a kind way to be treating the man who saved you from death, took you back home, and made you dinner. Perhaps an inkling of gratitude may be in order, M'lady."
And there it is. This is no lady he's dealing with. Naming her seems like a risky necessity.
"I'll have to think of a good one," he promises, "don't worry."
A name to do with the ocean, perhaps. Or maybe the opposite and name her after the land or sun.
He pokes again at the girl's mind. Her own kind must have called her by something, but whatever it is remains a mystery. He pushes harder and the singular eye narrows.
Fine then. Be that way.
A blink. That's all he gets for his efforts.
"Well goodnight to you as well."
Kylo leaves, bracing himself for what he hopes won't be a very restless night.
"This would be so much easier if you'd just give me your hand and let me hold you up."
The girl, still named, looked almost offended. She swatted away Kylo's gloved hand with a now very familiar growl and attempted once more to stand up on her own. Kylo crosses his arms then, shaking his head at a display that was equal parts comical, pathetic, and rather annoying.
She kept trying to push herself up, practically sliding vertically along the wall until her arms couldn't hold her anymore. Then she'd collapse, legs folding under her spider-style. Her back would scrape against the wall, prompting a whimper from her and a wince from Kylo who knew the extent of her injuries there.
She'd apparently been doing this all night. Kylo was sleeping down below, strategically placing himself in a cot near the door so he could hear if she managed a successful breakout. He'd been treated more than once to the sound of her body clobbering itself to the floor. At the time he'd assumed she'd been trying to escape or perhaps smashing his simple possessions in a fit, but apparently she was endeavoring to do something far more industrious.
And now, on her third failed attempt in front of him, there was a streak of red left behind on the brickwork. Kylo's patience snapped.
"Let. Me. Help."
He pushed the words alongside a coercive impulse. He could sway the girl's mind, that was how he could put her under the day before, but gods was she difficult about it. About many things, in fact, least of all her refusal to let him go near her.
This time his efforts are enough to make her pause, and she looks up at him with a slightly dazed expression. Kylo wastes no time and descends, snatching her up off the floor with a grip under her armpits.
She shrieks then, yowling like a cat with its tail stuck in a door. Her hands lash out, trying to claw at his face but her tantrum falls quiet when he augments his own strength with the Force to lift her feet off the ground. Now, with her legs dangling in mid-air, he catches the renewal of her fear.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm trying to help you."
He places her weight down and shifts his grip to hold her wrists firmly and at arm's length. She immediately collapses, but he catches her before she falls and stands her back up.
"Find your balance. You have to be able to stand before you can walk."
He feels like he's talking to a child. The way the girl's legs tremble is exactly that of a newborn colt. And she glares and pouts and snarls just like any wild creature having a tantrum in his arms.
But she does seem to get the concept. After a few failed attempts they finally get her to the point that she can stand shakily on her own.
He backs away then. The girl now seems frozen in place, as if she's scared to move and undo all her hard work.
Kylo can't help but smile, feeling oddly proud of this bizarre moment he's just taken part in.
"Pretty soon you're going to be able to run from me and I'll greatly regret this moment, won't I?"
The girl shifts, nearly collapses, then catches herself. There's a certain sway to her bosom that accompanies the movements, and Kylo once again debates how much of a fight she'll give him if he tries to put her in clothes.
"This is very inappropriate, you know that right? If anyone were to see me with a naked girl locked up in my tower I would be hard pressed to come up with an explanation."
It's morning now and soon he'll have to leave and meet his Knights. Otherwise, if he doesn't, they'll come here to find him. That would be problematic.
"Come on, let's hurry up with this. Take a step."
Kylo beckons her toward him. When she doesn't move he steps closer, reaching out and letting his hands hover in the space between them. She doesn't immediately recoil, and he takes that as a sign of progress. That and she hasn't tried to bite him once in the last hour.
"It's been nearly twenty-four hours now since I found you. Very nearly. That means I must go soon and you must make more of an effort."
He pushes an image of her walking into her mind. Tries to show her one foot in front of the other. She pushes right back. Shoves him out of her mind like she knew he was in there.
It's Kylo's turn to blink dumbly at her. Did she really just do that?
"Impressive," he says after a long moment. "Try this instead."
He throws another image at her. This time one of her eating. Now that gets her attention. Her chin lifts up then, rising from the rather sulky scowl she'd been giving him.
Kylo reaches out again, opening and closing his fingers against his palms. Her lips push forward, pouting. She was not an unattractive woman, far from it, but Kylo resolutely refuses to even begin to acknowledge that line of thought.
"Walk to me a few steps. Just the one, if that's all you can. Do that and I'll feed you."
For some reason this is very important to him. Kylo has long ago stopped pondering the deeper parts of his own psyche, too many impulses and emotions he's buried to the point of obscurity, but this strange need to see this slip of a not-human girl take her first steps was extremely insistent.
The girl stands a little straighter. She had been stooping before, her knees buckling inward, but the wordless promise of food seemed to give her new resolve. That, and Kylo assumes she was tired of dragging herself across the floor all the time.
She takes a step. Immediately starts to fall and her other leg sort of lurches forward. She collapses then, falling to her hands and knees now two paces closer than she had started.
And when she looks up at him there's something that could almost be the start of a very human smile on her face.
Kylo purses his lips and nods.
"Very good. Now practice that a thousand and one more times and you'll be ready to make a proper getaway from me."
She won't get far, but that's not the point.
The girl waits, her fingers tapping against the floor. She's waiting to see if he's going to make good on his promise.
Finally, Kylo lets himself smile.
"Alright, but I can't guarantee you'll like it. In fact, I can almost guarantee you won't."
His cooking wasn't that bad, was it? Perhaps. But it's time for him to leave and he hurries downstairs to reheat the leftovers from dinner last night. Since she'd been good and had only thought briefly about cannibalizing him, maybe he'll throw in a sweet biscuit alongside.
Then it will be off to a busy day of protecting the humans on the island from the rest of her kind.
Author's Note:
So how do you think Kylo should go about picking her name? And he also really needs to get her to put some clothes on. IMO I've always seen him as quite the prude and having this gangly butt-naked woman flopping around, limbs all akimbo, is offending his delicate sensibilities.
But progress is being made with them! Kylo's onto something with feeding her. A feral half-mermaid with a mouthful of food is a feral half-mermaid who can't currently bite him. Something to think about there, Kylo!