A/N: Hey, it's been awhile! I found out that I have ADHD! It explains SO MUCH.

I *really* struggle with expression (and plenty of other things) and this story helps me work through that as I can. All reviews and feedback are appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this far! I hope someone has at least found it interesting since I know my skills are poop lol. I might do better with fics as more of a oneshot style, we'll see. I really want to finish this one.

Chapter 6: Meeting

With a deafening crack of otherworldly thunder, Meru was pulled through to the other side of the great barrier. She toppled through the thick miasma of magic and down a path of leaf litter.

Thud.

She tumbled over a fallen tree with great momentum where she came to her eventual stop. The young woman lay stunned under the cover of low branches and foliage, head spinning and breathlessly in the dark. She stayed there a while, taking in the sounds and smells of her current surroundings. She heard the chittering of animals and wind whistling through the evergreens, smelled the moldering leaves and wood, felt the grass freshly crushed beneath her aching body, and beyond that… beyond that…

She heard the whispers of unfamiliar spirits echoing through the trees.

The shock left her numb and heavy in the underbrush unable to move, unable to keep her eyes open. Through bleary eyes and the dark she eventually realized a man was there

Guaraha… I can't go back, I've just made it out…

She lifted her hand to his shoulder and shoved disdainfully to get away from him, shouting something and not knowing what, running on pure adrenaline—there was no way he was going to drag her back home to be his wife! Not now and NOT EVER—she managed to free herself from his grasp and pushed herself to her feet, wobbly and staggering away between the trees. Meru desperately tried to get as far away from her betrothed as possible, her eyes and throat burned, she ached horribly, and still she pulled herself along.

Until her knees buckled below her.

She desperately clawed at the nearest tree to pull herself back up, but her strength was sapped. Her vision went black.

Meru awoke with a gasp.

Her head swam, her body ached, and she wasn't entirely sure of her location. Stabs of nauseating pain sunk through her any time she opened her eyes to the light, and she groaned.

She froze as the nauseating pit grew in her stomach.

In those moments alone the shame of what she did pressed in on her, and she realized just how foolish she had been, how thoughtless she was to sneak away to escape her expectations and responsibilities with no explanation, no goodbye, nothing to anyone. Guaraha was surely absolutely furious with her for trying to run away, when would it be okay to tell him about..? What shame would be thrust upon her for not successfully producing a child? For her relief? She heaved a hot and trembling sigh in a new and isolating darkness. The weight of that truth held her there, alone. It was her secret, her burden to carry for as long as she lived.

"I was a fool for thinking I would ever get away from here… that I was ever destined for anything different." She thought to herself, bitterly, "I can't believe I was delusional enough to think the Moon was ACTUALLY talking to me!"

Her body ached, but still in her frustration she took the pillow to her face and screamed. When she had exhausted all the breath in her lungs, she sucked in a deep breath and screamed into it again, and again—

—and then Lloyd walked into the room with pause as she continued—

—and again, and again, and again. She screamed with her whole body, coiling around the pillow and shaking each time. She screamed until her screams turned into sobs. She sobbed until her nose was clogged with snot and she had to resort to terrible, dry, ragged gasps of breath.

None of it helped her head. She stubbornly tucked the now hot pillow beneath her chin just enough to expose her nose to the cool air and slowly squeezed some in before tucking the pillow further and sucking the air in through her mouth. She took a slower breath in this time and hugged her pillow closer, hiding her face in its warmth once more. Breathing behind the pillow became less labored, easier.

The man decided it was safe to announce himself once her breathing relaxed and she sat up at his voice, though she sat up begrudgingly, tiredly, still hugging the pillow to hide her puffy face.

"You're awake" he said, she heard him near her bedside. He spoke in her language.

He saw her visibly prickle and she forced her swollen eyes open just slightly to squint at him through her migraine. All she could truly make out was that he wore dark clothing.

"Who," she asked, rather nasally, "are you?"

"I'm Lloyd," he said, careful to not smile at how funny she sounded, "...I found you in the mountains"

"Lloyd…" She said slowly. She tried to remember, but there was nothing, "I don't know that name"

"You don't know my name because we've never met. Here, take this" he said, and handed her a handkerchief. She accepted it cautiously and eventually, unceremoniously, cleared her sinuses into it. She was the absolute pinnacle of ladyship.

He held his hand out to take it back but she kept it, embarrassed and glowering as best she could. It wasn't much more than piteous considering her face was blotchy and damp with tears.

"Well…I thank you" she sniffed, "but, please tell me my fiance isn't… well, I… is he with you?"

He blinked at her matter-of-factly, "well, no… You're not home anymore"

It was her turn to blink, "... what!?"

"Right, forgive me, I need to take this slow…" he said, "okay, do you remember what happened?"

"Um… Yes…" she said with a hand to her head. She recalled a bright light and traveling through the barrier shielding her home, darkness, Guaraha grabbing her—or maybe it was actually Lloyd, "actually… maybe not exactly… um… where am I? Where is Guaraha?"

Guaraha. She had called him that when she hit him and staggered down the path for as long as she could. Lloyd noticed the tone of fear in her voice when she said that name, as well as when she mentioned her fiance now. It wasn't difficult for him to quickly conclude that they were the same person.

"You're in Deningrad, a Human city, and currently we're in a tavern in that city. Guaraha isn't here, you came through a barrier alone and called me that name when I found you."

"Oh…"

"You flew out before me with a crack of thunder and fell into a tree, and ran off when I tried to help you. Was this Guaraha trying to hurt you?"

Meru shook her head and sat silently after everything she just heard, taking it in. Guaraha wasn't there, she was out… free. She didn't have to worry about trying to leave again.

"He—I apologize for thinking you were him. Oh, no, I was so delirious… I'd rather not try to talk about him now" she laughed through the pain and held her head, shocked and embarrassed still at her situation. So she had made it to the Human city of Deningrad with the luck of a passing stranger, another Wingly. It was not at all like she expected to end up in a Human society, but she had arrived all the same.

"Oh… I'm Meru, by the way. You told me your name so it's only fair I tell you mine"

"Meru…" he said thoughtfully, "you're the first I've met of our people in the outside world"