Cumulating Dreams
To be within another mind is an utterly erratic experience. From his studies, he knew no two minds were exactly the same, so Vaati knew to expect the unexpected.
Thus far, Marickiya's mind seemed relatively normal as far as normal could be applied in a situation such as this. He stood in a long hallway of gray stone. The ceiling was only a few feet above is head and the walls on either side of him felt as if they were closing in with their proximity. Down both walls were metal doors, each spaced out evenly. And each door had one small, barred square window. There were no door knobs. It was very bland and monotone, so Vaati began to walk. On and on he trudged looking for a sign of… anything really. The only difference, apart from the barred doors, was a distant light from each endless end of the hallway that seemed to evade him as he made his way towards it. It was a sharp contrast to the darkness that surrounded him on all other sides.
'There doesn't seem to be any end to this. What do you want me to do?' he thought to himself. He picked up his pace quite a bit and sprinted down the long hallway. Seeing that the light was still just as far from him from where he started, he came to a stop and looked around again to the same scenery. Frustrated, he elected to continue down the path he was already headed, only at a jog. Usually a subconscious would show an image of itself to him when he first entered their mind. But he didn't see anything that even resembled a human. Or movement for that matter.
After a few minutes of nothingness he stopped again and stamped his foot impatiently.
"Would this end already?!" He shouted at the walls in annoyance. He glared down the hall with his arms crossed, thinking. One of the doors maybe?
He turned to one of the doors and reached out to touch it to see if he could somehow force his way in. But something else caught his attention before he could place his fingers on the metal. The 'end' he had been running towards had just appeared in the form of a wall of iron bars as if it had been there the entire time.
"So you wanted me to ask for it," he mused.
He walked slowly towards the bars and realized then what he was dealing with. It was a cell. All the doors along the hall led to prison cells.
He warily approached the cell and he saw that his subconscious image he was looking for resided within; Marickiya sat upon the floor in a corner hugging her knees. He scanned the wall of bars and found the door. It creaked as it opened at his touch; he looked over at Marickiya and saw she didn't acknowledge his presence.
Any kind of cage usually meant the mind held a secret. The fact that this was an entire set of dungeons could mean she had one large secret, or many small ones. Admittedly, he knew next to nothing about either of his companions, but he could easily sense others' intentions. He never once sensed any sort of misgiving from this girl. No, he trusted her implicitly from the beginning and he never really understood why.
He advanced towards the prone Marickiya and quietly spoke her name. She did not stir. He knelt down beside her.
"Marickiya?" He said a bit louder. She still didn't move. She didn't even seem to hear him.
"Mari…" He went to touch her spectral arm but a voice broke the silence.
"What do you think you're doing?" He stood and turned quickly. A menacing woman with long auburn hair and dressed in desert garb stood at the cell's entrance. He thought he would encounter something like this; a defense against intruders. A spirit in a self-preserving state sometimes can project an individual that they believe to be stronger than themselves to their aid. This woman, he guessed, was a Gerudo.
"Who are you?" He inquired rather curiously. She didn't seem to be on the offensive so he decided talk was better than attack. He thought maybe this woman was the best friend Marickiya had mentioned before.
"My name is Marickiya of the Desert." She stated regally. Vaati started.
"Mari?" He said taken aback quite a bit. He looked down at the girl in the floor and back to the one standing in front of the cell opening. He noted the few similarities; the sun-bleached streaked and dark red hair, the skin tone, her normal haughty attitude... but after those the differences were too immense for him to see the same girl he had spent time with for the last few months. This Marickiya's proud demeanor made the one he had grown to know appear timid. Her hair was nearly waist length, and she was adorned in some fairly intricate jewelry.
"Only my friends call me by that nickname." She said. He raised his eyebrows slightly.
"And I am not your friend?" He said in reply.
"I do not know you."
Vaati thought about the situation he was in. Was this really Marickiya? Or a different person entirely that her mind conjured to protect itself?
"You are Marickiya," he said thinking through the indications presented to him.
"I know who I am. Now who are you?" She demanded. She certainly had the same spark as the Marickiya he was familiar with.
"My name is Vaati." He said, going along with the conversation.
"Vaati, what is your purpose here in this cell?" She asked of him.
"I am looking for Marickiya." He said slowly wondering whether this statement would earn him another chastising remark. When she squinted her eyes, he knew he was correct in his guess.
"As you and I have already established, I am Marickiya."
"Yes, of course." He smirked slightly at his confirmed assumption.
"But you seem to be more familiar with the other 'Me' down there." She gestured to the girl in the corner on the floor. He looked at her and back to the Gerudo.
"The other 'Me'? You are the same person?" He said forgetting his earlier musings.
"Yes. I represent her past that she has so detached herself from." He had yet to witness someone using a past version of themselves as a defense before. It was already a stranger experience, but it just kept on surprising him.
"That is why you do not know me. I become friends with you... er, in your future, I suppose." She accepted it.
"Alright. Now, why are you looking for me?" She demanded again now that formalities were out of the way.
"I have come to find out why Marickiya," he gestured behind him, "Will not wake."
"Ah," she unfolded her arms and looked less intimidating, "That is quite a story."
"You know the reason?" He seemed greedy in his questioning. She looked back at him with a hurt in her eyes.
"I know." She said. "She cannot wake unless there is restitution for what she has done.
Before Vaati could do anything, everything turned purest white.
...
There was a strong wind that tugged at his clothing. He had blocked the blinding light with his arms and now peeked through them to observe his new 'surroundings'. The ground seemed to be made of a golden dust. The wind was picking up that dust and was whipping it about in a swirling motion. Vaati was at a loss.
'What is this?' he began to wonder. Then he heard Marickiya speak from behind him.
"It is desert." Vaati turned to look around at her and there seemed to be no swirling gold in her direction. Blue sky could be seen above her and the gold, which he now realized to be sand, sat motionless at her feet. Everything became as still as it was around her. He didn't need to shield his face anymore.
Desert. He only knew of that word from his text books. Never had he seen with his own eyes this wonderment. Sand he also knew of but never experienced its annoyance, it's gritty uncomfortable-ness. Marickiya's spirit emulated it well.
"This is... a new experience for me." Vaati said, nearly at a loss for words.
"This is all I have ever known. This," she gestured at the abounding nothingness, "is my childhood."
"Why are you showing me this?" Vaati asked in interest. He didn't want to sound like he thought this had nothing to do with why he was there.
"This is where it began." Marickiya stooped down and softly plunged a hand into the sand and closed her fist around a portion of the gilt flakes. She stood back up and tendrils of the stuff began to pour out of the spaces between her fingers. Even though there was no wind, instead of falling back to join the particles under their feet, it seemed to disappear midway in its descent. He looked up from Marickiya's hand to her face.
"With the passing of the scorching sun came frigid nights. I was born into this world incriminated, charged with an illegitimate existence." She turned her palm upwards and opened her fingers, allowing the sand to flow out of her hand and into another swirling, dancing cyclone of gold. Before his eyes, a city within the desert built into the shelter of high rock swam into view around them, created by the sand as if someone had blown dust off of an old relic. She began her story.
"As far as I can remember, I have lived among the Gerudo. They are a group of female bandits that train their young to be just as cruel as their leader. The one male born to their tribe every one hundred years is their sole and sworn leader. No exceptions. In my time, it was decreed that we were not allowed to elope outside of the tribe. The punishment for such an act is death. I am sure you noticed, I say that I am a Gerudo, but I do not look the part." Vaati nodded with understanding. Pointed ears, lighter skin, she fit in with the Hylians quite comfortably.
"It is uncommon for a Gerudo woman to conceive a child before she is caught. The unborn is executed alongside the mother. I cannot say that I know how I came to be. Most of the Gerudo, ever loyal to their King, would never accept me as part of the tribe as a consequence. The only reason I was allowed to remain was another commandment by our leader. He never said I was one of the tribe, but he said I was to be trained like a true Gerudo. That was enough for some, but for others, they treated me as they would the condemned. I was an abomination."
Some commotion was coming from one of the nearby buildings. Vaati looked over to a large door-less passage, his curiosity piqued. He looked over at Marickiya who was already heading inside the doorway. He followed.
Once inside, he realized the building they were in was an armory; weapons of many sorts lined the walls and practice dummies littered the floor. To his astonishment, children were scattered around the room fighting the dummies with the assortment of weapons the room provided. They began their training at such a young age…
Then he spotted her. She was easily discernible among the other girls; she had not yet attained her now suntanned skin. She was almost as white as a Hylian and he could clearly see her pointed ears with her hair was tied back.
There was one lone adult Gerudo that loomed over the children. He gathered she must have been the trainer. She walked around with a quill and roll of parchment that was halfway unfurled and flowed behind her as she walked, writing down notes about each child in turn as she passed. She stopped at one girl with a raised eyebrow.
"Nalyra," she stopped writing and pulled the paper away from her face to get a better look. The girl, looking a little surprised at the personal address, stopped practicing and straightened up to salute her superior.
"Yes ma'am," she said respectfully. She almost looked as if she were trying to hide her weapon behind her back. Vaati didn't get a good look at what she had been using.
"Nalyra, you seem to have a pretty good handle on that weapon there," the trainer pointed to her right hand that was trying to stow what she was holding out of sight. The small girls' dark cheeks glowed a deeper crimson.
"Thank you…" she trailed away. Though the girl looked ready to get back to her training to escape, the trainer was not done.
"Where did you get it?" The child paled now.
"Um," her voice was getting quieter each time she spoke, "From the inventory…"
"That whip is not part of the regimented weapon supply we provide here in the armory," she said. She didn't seem to be angry but the girl, Nalyra, sure was frightened. She began stammering a lot.
"Ma'am," came a voice from a little ways away from the instructor and stuttering student. The trainers' eyes peeled away from her prey and looked over to where the voice came from. Her expression then became that of one having something foul smelling thrust under their nose. She looked down upon the young Marickiya with disdain and said nothing.
"I made these," she offered her own whip she had been using. The woman took the whip and examined it with no less disgust than she had with the small Marickiya.
"You made this?"
"Yes, I found a book in the archives that explained what it was and its uses, and I thought it might be useful for…" She trailed off just like Nalyra had under the gaze of the vulture-like woman.
The whole room was quiet then. All of the other girls had stopped to watch the scene between teacher and student, and everything seemed to be holding its breath.
And then the Gerudo woman began to whip Marickiya with her own creation.
Where there was as still a silence before, there was then equally as much noise. Screams permeated the air along with the whips' slashing movements and cracks against flesh. Marickiya cried out in pain each time, covering her face with her arms. After exactly ten lashes, the instructor stopped and peered at the sobbing child with disinterest.
"You're right, this is pretty useful, however crudely made," she said and dropped the handmade whip at her feet, Marickiya was curled up in a ball on the floor, tears streaming down her face and stinging cuts and welts erupted all over her bare arms and back. The rest of the girls that had backed up during the beating were standing stock still, staring in turn at the beaten girl and the trainer.
"I'll be reporting this to the higher ups. They'll decide what to do with you and your little creation." And she picked up her parchment and quill that had been discarded for the whipping and continued making notes all around the room. "Perhaps you'll think twice now before stepping out of line."
After she walked away, Nalyra slowly picked her way over to Marickiya and began talking to her softly, soothingly, pulling a small piece of cloth from a pocket and helped to clean off the cuts from the dirt they had acquired from her falling to the floor.
"She was my best friend. Naly was always there to help me. She even got a few beatings herself but it never deterred her. I was always amazed by her. I had very few friends at the Fortress. Later on, I grew closer to Nabooru."
A tall woman, garbed in scanty pink clothes, appeared before them. He caught glimpses of her and the young Marickiya training together.
"She personally saw to my training. I can only assume she had openly disagreed with the other women's treatment of me. She came to me one day and told me I wouldn't be in classes with the other girls anymore. I didn't fully understand at first, but I came to love spending time her. I thought maybe, she might have loved me, too. I never found out."
The scene changed to a dark night. There was a giant gate, opened just enough for the height of a person to walk through. Nabooru stood just before it with a long scarf draped over her shoulders and covered much of her head.
"Please, let me come with you," came the pleading voice of a young girl.
"It's too dangerous for me to bring you along." Nabooru sounded nearly amused. "I already told, I won't be gone long." She knelt in front of the girl, smiled sweetly, and gave her a hug. Marickiya looked disappointed, but returned the embrace. Pulling away, Nabooru gave her a stern look. "I expect you to be up and training on your own at dawn, okay?"
"Dawn?" The young Marickiya looked dismayed. Then she gave a sly grin. "How will you even know if I'm actually up at dawn?"
"Oh, I will know. Trust me." Nabooru stood up and waved to her as she walked into the sandy darkness.
"She didn't come back after that. No one knew what had happened to her. She told me what she was doing was an important secret mission. So, of course, I told no one of her disappearance into the desert. Even if I did, I knew they wouldn't believe me and I would be punished, just as usual." Marickiya turned her back to the gate and it disintegrated with a push from the wind. "It wasn't long before they picked up where they left off. When Nabooru was around, they wouldn't touch me. With her disappearance, it was worse than ever."
Vaati was angry, bitter. He knew all too well the pain of being bullied. She, though, had been lucky. Someone had wanted to be there for her. She had a best friend that helped her through all her pain. He wouldn't be surprised if without Nalyra, she would have turned into something similar to what he had become when he got old enough to understand. He sought revenge on an unfair world, never showing mercy to any living being. These thoughts swirled around in his mind with an unabated fury. He knew it was the influence of her conscious that was making him think like this. He had to force his own emotions aside.
"This went on my entire life here," she continued, "Even the other girls my age started to pick it up, the older women turning a blind eye. None of the younger ones really understood why it was okay to be so cruel, they just did it. They knew I was different, but they didn't ask questions about why. As we got older and the commandment of 'no outsiders allowed' was taught to them, some began to make the connection.
"One day, this assumption was voiced by a girl, Vinaya. She accused me of being an outsider and was threatening me. Nalyra, who was rising in the ranks, was quick to tell anyone off."
There was another change in the scenery.
"The Great Ganondorf only allows our own kind to live among us." A slightly older Nalyra's voice rang out before the scene unfolded before them. "If he allows someone to live here, and train here as a Gerudo, then she is one. If you disagree with our Leader, the one who made this rule in the first place," at this she gave an almost evil smirk, "I suggest you take that matter up with him."
The scene dissolved, yet the village remained. Marickiya began walking and Vaati followed.
"Vinaya, along with a few others, still did not accept me, but I accepted that was just the way things were. I had my friends with me, and I focused on honing my skills. The beatings and cruelty did abate quite a bit after that. No one wanted to outright admit that they questioned Ganondorf's ruling. Everything was done subtly. I can't tell you what hurt worse, the beatings, or the whispered accusations of having a traitorous whore for a mother that went on for years. I came to the Gerudo Valley as a baby. I don't remember anything before my life at the fortress."
"Why did you stay?" Vaati asked.
"Where else could I go? I had no other worldly experience, no family, no way of attaining money or food, no way of transportation… I was stuck in the Valley for there were no nearby towns. I would have had to have waited until I could make it on my own. I had no intention of leaving, though. It was cruel, but I managed." Her face fell into a pained look as she watched the sand below their feet get picked up by the wind and twirl around. "Well, I say I had no intention, but that was when the logical side of my mind was dominant. When I was in pain, I always thought of leaving. But then later I would think of it as a silly notion and dismiss the thought.
"All of that changed when I received Trysting." They had arrived outside of the entrance to the village where a large tent lay on one side. Marickiya headed across the bridge towards some stables.
"Your horse?" Vaati wondered idly. She nodded.
"I bought him from the stables near our village from a boy named Jerias." She stopped again and a boy with dirty blonde hair and a somewhat built frame appeared. "He helped me take care of Trysting."
She took a deep breath and the boy vanished into the desert like all the other visions.
"With Trysting, I started to play around with the idea of leaving. The only things that kept me from actually fulfilling these fantasies was that I knew nothing of the world outside the desert. That and I loved my one true friend and I didn't want to leave her."
The scene changed and Marickiya was hanging around the stables with Trysting and Jerias.
"There's actually a great lake just south of here. It isn't that far and it is very beautiful." Jerias was brushing the black mare's mane as he spoke.
"Really? That sounds amazing," Marickiya's eyes were bright and filled with wonder. But then, they lost their glow just as quickly as it had come. "But I can't leave here. You know that."
"Why not? It would be great to travel the world." Jerias tried to say but she shook her her head.
"I could get into a lot of trouble," she started to say. Jerias wasn't finished trying to sway her.
"So what? If you never come back, they wouldn't come after you, would they?" Marickiya didn't answer.
"That isn't the only reason I don't want to leave. I have people I love here."
The scene was gone again. Before Marickiya could show him anything else, Vaati spoke up.
"Well, I know that you did end up leaving. So, what was it that changed your mind?" Vaati was trying to hurry things along in her retelling. The longer he spent connected to her, the easier it was for him to mess something up.
"I never changed my mind." She replied, catching him off guard a little. "I was forced to leave...
"There was a series of events and people that caused this to come about. Firstly, was Vinaya." Vaati was used to seeing apparitions of the people she described and so awaited another to show him who Vinaya was. None was forthcoming however. Marickiya continued. "It became clear to everyone that she rejected me as a Gerudo. She was punished for disregarding Ganondorf's law. Her hair, which is a staple of the pride of the Gerudo, had been cut as a sign to others of her disloyalty. She blamed me.
"She wanted me gone. More than anyone else."
The buildings around them swiveled with color and a new area began to form. They were inside one of the building's catacombs, it was dark and lit by a solitary lamp. Vaati could hear harsh whispers.
"You're complete trash, you know that? You bring shame to our tribe." Vaati squinted through the shadows and he could see two figures in the semi-darkness, one being held against a wall by the neck and one doing the holding. He could see Marickiya as the one being held by the neck against the stonework. But there was something funny going on with the other woman. Darkness shrouded her form, he could not see her face, only hear her harsh words. Marickiya just glared at the other figure holding her and pried her fingers away from her neck just enough to breathe.
"How do you figure that?" Marickiya grunted, "I'm not the one who defied our King. In fact, I'm pretty sure that was you."
"Shut up!" She slammed Marickiya hard against the wall which made her sputter and cough for a second. Vaati couldn't help but think of when he had Lana in Marickiya's body against a wall just like this. It made him feel sick to his stomach.
"I see you for what you are. You may fool the elders, but I see you go off with that stable boy. You're just another one of those fools whose going to get caught." Marickiya's eyes flashed in alarm for the merest of seconds, then she glowered back at the woman below her.
"And you are just another bully who can't get to me." Marickiya spat back. They stared each other down for a moment longer. Then Vinaya dropped the half-Gerudo girl and stalked off down the hallway. The choking Marickiya on the floor dissolved as did the chamber and they were back outside in the harsh sunlight.
"Because I spent so much time taking care of Trysting at the stables, she thought Jerias and I were seeing each other."
"Were you?" Vaati couldn't stop himself from asking.
"Jerias seemed to think we were even though I told him repeatedly that wasn't the case. I spurned his advances but he kept trying, each attempt was more forceful than the last. Vinaya had been the one to see us and she turned me in."
Vaati didn't think he could stomach another tormenting flashback but the swirling colors appeared again and it showed them in the central square of the village, surrounded by onlookers. In the middle of the crowd were Marickiya and Vinaya again. Vinaya, to Vaati's mild surprise considering this scene took place in broad daylight, was still covered in a shadowy substance making it impossible to discern any distinguishing features. She was pointing a threatening finger down at Marickiya who looked like she had been thrown to the ground, beaten and with her clothes barely hanging off of her.
"I saw them!" He heard a voice shout dramatically at the people. "She has chosen an outsider over our King." The surrounding Gerudo began murmuring. Marickiya sat there silently, holding herself. She could not deny what had been seen even though what Vinaya thought happened and what actually took place were two completely different things.
"We have put up with her long enough! I think it's about time she were no longer among us." She picked herself up.
"Fine." Marickiya spat. "I'll leave. I have no more reason to call this place my home." Vaati spotted Nalyra in the crowd of onlookers give a gasp of surprise. But then Vinaya laughed and it was one of the most unnerving things Vaati had ever heard.
"Leave? What makes you think we'd let you leave and spread to other countries that we Gerudo are weak and allow half-blooded filth to live among our number?"
Marickiya took a step back with a shocked look on her face. Nalyra ran to her side, just as she always did.
"You go too far, Vin. What other proof do you have besides your word?" Vinaya sneered at Nalyra.
"My proof lies in Marickiya's silence. She does not deny it." She then addressed the women at large. "You were all quick to punish me for disloyalty, but you would allow one such as her," she gave a great sweep of her arm to point at Marickiya again, "To walk free when it is explicitly stated what we are to do betrayers?"
The crowd seemed to be murmuring more furiously now.
"Gerudo women, if you still uphold the Great Ganondorf's law, then stand by me now and seize this traitorous wretch who followed in her mothers' footsteps!" Marickiya was looking around frightened, and some women did move forward albeit hesitantly. Then a voice rang out.
"She has the right of trial! It is also Ganondorf's law." Nalyra shouted passionately. The approaching women looked slightly relieved and stopped their advance with a wave of assenting murmurs.
Vinaya was livid.
"Quiet!" Vinaya shouted. "She will stand trial then, for her crimes against our people. To make sure she won't try to escape her sentence, we should keep her locked away." The women seemed to agree with this sentiment. Marickiya scowled, tears stinging her eyes, when she felt a hand wrap around her arm. It wasn't rough as she expected and turned to see Nalyra had been the one who was holding onto her.
"What do you think you're doing?" Vinaya seethed.
"Your orders," Nalyra retorted with hatred in her eyes. Then she stalked away with her best friend and led her to one of the cells. The encircled women faded as the two entered the closest brick building.
"She took me there to explain how I was going to get out. I tried to tell her not to get involved but she became angry with me and said she wouldn't let Vinaya's unfair trial get me killed. She said she would come that night and get me out and if I wanted to stop her, I would have to scream out and get us both caught and killed. She left before I could say anything else against her plan.
"I was angry at first, but it made me realize how much she cared for me. Even though I wouldn't be able to return to see her, I didn't want to die and cause her any more pain. I waited for her. But then something I didn't expect happened."
They were in a cell and Marickiya lay against a wall with her eyes closed. There was a noise at the entrance of the cell, but it was dark and she couldn't see what was going on. She stood as the cell door opened and closed. Someone had entered. She moved a little closer to get a better look at who it was, and then stepped back twice and into the cell wall behind her.
"These have been banned for quite some time because of you. I'm working on bringing them back into circulation, though." The shadowy figure which he knew to be Vinaya was clutching a whip. He saw a wicked smile through the blackness. "I'm going to enjoy every second of this."
Vaati looked down at the stone flagged floor unable to bare it. He heard it though and he couldn't tell if it was worse. There were no screams this time. Marickiya wouldn't give her the satisfaction. On and on it went. Finally there was no more.
Vaati looked up. Marickiya was kneeling with a hardened look on her face. Angry red whelps covered her entire body. The gashes were deeper than her last whipping he had witnessed. Blood slowly trickled from some of the deeper welts like black tar. Vinaya breathed heavily for a moment, her eyes baleful and wild. Marickiya still wasn't backing down.
She managed to pick herself up and stand defiantly before her attacker.
Vinaya in fury lunged at her. She threw her into the wall where she was no longer able to keep her footing and slid to the floor. She waylaid every inch of Marickiya's body. With every landed hit, the scene would flash brightly, jolting him. He could almost feel some amount of what she had felt in this moment. Loud grunts escaped from Marickiya as she was kicked in the stomach a few times but other than that she still remained silent. Vaati heard the cracks of breaking bones and he couldn't stand it any longer. He tore his gaze away.
"Gods," he breathed.
Then she stopped. Both women were breathing extremely hard and Marickiya spat blood from her cheeks. Then with a great sigh, Marickiya fell to the floor in a heap. Vinaya stood staring for the longest time as she caught her breath. Vaati thought surely this was the end of the memory. Marickiya was unconscious wasn't she?
But it turned out it wasn't over and Marickiya was still barely conscious enough to remember this last part. Vinaya walked up to her and knelt down.
"You," Vinaya said as she gathered up all of Marickiya's hair in her fist. Vaati thought it absurd of her to be tying back her hair for her, but she went a completely different direction than what he expected. "…Are pathetic." And she took a dagger from her waistband and sliced off Marickiya's thick red hair all the way to the back of her scalp. It fell dismally around her face covering her eyes. It was then that Vinaya left. And Marickiya lay there trembling, willing herself to remain quiet.
"A few hours later Naly came and found me. She was horrified. She picked me up and carried me all the way to Jerias' stable. They bandaged me up and prepared me for the journey even though I was clearly unfit for travel. They knew that once Vinaya found me gone, she would come straight to Jerias."
The heap that was Marickiya on the floor was gone, into the blackness. The scene shifted once more. There was an eerie light that illuminated the area around the stables, moonlight. Trysting and another horse were being prepared by Jerias for a long journey.
After all he had seen, none of it was what had broken Marickiya. She was strong willed to the very end. He knew he was about to find out her breaking point.
Marickiya's next narrative was riddled with stuttering. "She f-found us more quickly than we could have anticipated..."
"So you thought you would just leave anyway?" Vinaya had cut them off at the bridge and, just out of sight, was Jerias tending to the horse a ways away listening intently.
"Vinaya, please," Nalyra said stepping protectively in front of Marickiya, "Just let her go. She won't be a bother to us anymore. Why does it matter?"
"You will be dealt with later, step aside." Vinaya said scathingly to Nalyra. But she didn't back down.
"I will not let you hurt her anymore," She bit back.
There was a yell from a distance and a brown mare came galloping into the fray. It was upon the three girls in an instant and it reared back from the bridge they were standing on, kicking Vinaya in the process who toppled over the edge of the canyon to a watery death.
Then Marickiya did something so shocking and amazing, all Vaati could do was stare wordlessly.
She jumped down after Vinaya.
Marickiya had just barely grabbed Vinaya's arm and Nalyra had Marickiya around her waist, holding her up.
"Hang on," Marickiya said down to her as she dangled dangerous over the cliff side. Vinaya struggled at first but then she looked up at Marickiya with the same hatred she always had just for her. Marickiya looked back and many silent words were exchanged with their eyes. The three of them were still for a moment.
"I'll go find some rope!" Jerias yelled desperately and he disappeared out of sight. At this, Vinaya's eyes narrowed. Mouth agape, Marickiya watched as Vinaya pulled out her knife again.
"No, wait," Marickiya became frantic. A distant voice called from afar and Nalyra was still trying to pull the three of them back to safety. Vinaya never spoke a word, only stared at Marickiya with those hate filled eyes.
"Don't do this." She pleaded in vain. Vinaya still said nothing. She had already decided what she was going to do and nothing was changing her mind.
"Don't!" Vinaya made to plunge her dagger into Marickiya's hand, but she, in a panic, had let go of the dangling Vinaya. She watched as she plummeted forever into a dark nothingness. Marickiya began screaming and flailing about, almost throwing herself and Nalyra down the cliff after the falling body. Vaati could not tear his gaze away from the falling Vinaya's eyes. The hatred, pure loathing, the blame they placed within Marickiya telling her she had done this to her was forever seared into him. Everything succumbed to darkness except Vinaya who was eternally falling. He wanted to shut it all out.
It was suffocating; a blinding pain. Every emotion that Marickiya felt at that time was being wrought on Vaati's own spirit. It took him a moment to notice that he was alone in this blackness. He searched futilely for any other presence. It no longer felt right to be connected to this consciousness. He wanted to retreat back to the semi comfort of his own mind. He could feel himself slipping, could feel the panic setting in. He was losing himself.
He gave a desperate cry. "Marickiya!" He turned once more and, as if in answer his call, she was there. His Marickiya, the one he had come to know, though hollow-eyed and empty.
She did not speak but another scene formed around them. They were in the Kakariko graveyard.
"Why did you kill me?"
A ghostly image of Marickiya detached from the original and whipped around to face a sallow looking, still shadowy Vinaya standing a few feet from her. Her mouth dropped open in shock.
"I didn't mean to," she whimpered. "I tried to save you."
"But you let me go. I fell because of you," Vinaya said. "If you had not run away in the first place, I would still be alive. It's all your fault." Tears streamed down the cheeks of the Marickiya standing before him. Something clicked into place for Vaati. Suddenly everything made sense. He did not need to see the rest of the scene to know what happened.
"It's all my fault." Marickiya, the one he had come here after, finally spoke. "I did it. I killed her." She repeated things like that and more and more of her voice echoed throughout the dark space. Vaati had seen and heard all he needed. With the revelation came clarity and he was able to push Marickiya's overpowering anguish away.
"Enough." He was firm and loud in his demand. He waved his hand through the air around him a quelling manner. The voices abated, but he could still hear little whispers flitting about. He set his sight on Marickiya. "Get up." He couldn't be gentle, he had to be unwavering, steady, if he wanted to get through to her. She ignored him. "I'm sure you have been told repeatedly that this isn't your fault. If I tried to say that now, it would go unheard."
Marickiya crouched on the ground, holding her head. The whispering came to a crescendo. "No, It was my fault..." Vaati spoke above her.
"She chose her death, and she deserved it." Marickiya violently shook her head.
"No one deserves to die. Especially for something as trivial as hatred." Vaati was still flabbergasted at her will to see goodness in bad people.
"Her hatred of you was not trivial." He was scowling and allowing the ferocity he felt be heard. He did not go to comfort her. He was intent on her feeling his justification. "It was not trivial. Her hatred, not just for you but for herself as well, was her downfall. She was beyond saving."
At this he decided to approach her. He knelt down and grabbed her by the elbows. He was not rough, but not gentle either. He pulled her spectral form up and forced her to look him in the eyes. "There's little I can say to comfort you. Sympathy is not what you need right now. I want you to listen to me." Her eyes were distant though she showed he had her attention. "You can't deny what happened. It is a part of you now." She teared up and started to shy away. He held her fast and she whimpered. "If you want to keep going, for those you care about, you have to accept this fact. Accept that there is nothing you can do to change the past. Hold onto that, and move forward."
Vaati wasn't sure if his words had gotten to her. She had stopped crying, but there was still that uncertainty within her. He hurt so badly for her. Her innocence had been taken from her. She never showed it, she was trying to bury the past but it had caught up to her. She had held it in for too long. Lana, who somehow had found out about it, used it against her.
"You can't hide it anymore. You need to face this." He let go of her forearms. He waited for her to make her decision. He could do nothing more to influence her.
Her eyes strayed past him and her breath caught. He followed her gaze.
Standing behind him, a ways away, was a woman with short red hair. She stood with her arms crossed and wore a frown. Vaati guessed that this was Vinaya. He looked between the two, then took a step back so that Marickiya could face her on her own. She looked almost ready to cry again, but when she looked over at Vaati something changed within her. She closed her eyes and brought a hand over her chest.
"I am sorry that things turned out the way they did." She began quietly, shakily. "I know I can't change anything now." Her eyes were open, clear of tears and sadness. Instead, the ferocity that he had come to admire in her was astir again. "You no longer have any power over me. I accept what happened and I have to keep going."
The Vinaya that stood before them blinked out of existence.
The two stood motionless staring at the spot where Vinaya had been standing. Then his Marickiya let out another breath, this one of relief.
"…Thank you." She breathed.
"Now nothing can hold you down." He smiled at her and she managed a weak one in return. "Are you you ready to come back?" She gave him a nod and his smile widened. "Then I'll see you on the other side."