Episode 02: Ghosts of the Past

Chapter 04

"So," Matthew began tentatively, glancing up. He was the only person to speak in over a minute. Seated around the table as they were with Sea and Wy on one side and Canada and Jack at the other, the air was more than a little tense. After all, their first encounter had resulted in accusations and fighting, literal fighting. Not exactly the best way to begin a friendship. "What do you guys think of Lazlo so far? Not that you've really seen much of it…"

"It's…interesting," Wy said. In all honesty, it didn't really seem all that different from the Principality what with humans and D-Bees, magic and technology, existing side-by-side. She didn't even feel particularly nostalgic since she hadn't frequented Toronto much before the Cataclysm, though she could remember it enough to know that it had undergone change.

"A lot of the old spirit of the city is still here," Sea chipped in. "Funny how even after three hundred years, that hasn't changed."

This caught Canada's full attention. "You remember the city from before?" Sea nodded, Wy shrugged her shoulders. "What was it like?"

"Well, multicultural," Sea began hesitantly. "With a fairly large population. A bit of urban sprawl, you know, city stuff."

"Ah, I see…" Canada said, having difficulty imagining the city as anything different from how it was now by that description. Still, he had to forge on in the conversation lest the atmosphere become anymore awkward. "Then, you two are centuries old, right?" More nods. "So are Jack and I. We both woke up sometime after the Cataclysm and made our way here where we met some two hundred and fifty, two hundred and sixty years ago?" This time, the nod was from Jack. The two newcomers looked to her, but her face remained stoic, her dark brown eyes unreadable. "We've stuck together ever since. We even co-own our own business, the Silverfire Forge. It's, well, it's not very big, but we are well known in the area.

"By the way, we haven't been properly introduced, though I guess you already kinda know me…In any case, my name's Matthew, and this is Jacqueline, and uhhh this is where we live." After gesturing briefly at their surroundings to further indicate that this was the space in which they inhabited, Canada looked to Jack, hoping she would add something, anything, to the conversation.

She seemed to cave in a little at the sight of his imploring gaze. "Hi," she said. Her voice was surprisingly soft, almost calming, and it contained a slight accent. Something…French-ish. "Call me Jack."

"Uh, hi. I'm Wy, like the question word, but without an H."

"And you can call me Sea for short."

Jack narrowed her eyes at him. "Short for what?"

"…You don't really need to kn-"

"It says in your file at the police department," Jack cut him off. "That your names are Peter A. Kirkland and Melanie J. Thompson. I'd wager these are your real names. After all, there's no fear of being discovered if you aren't even in the system."

"Jack, please," Canada, or more accurately Matthew, pleaded gently. He felt more than a little embarrassed at his friend's brazen rudeness. His words seemed to have an effect on her, however, since she didn't continue voicing her strain of thoughts.

The room was silent for a moment as neither Sea or Wy said anything in response. The line between divulging too much and too little was treacherous enough without the added pressure from Jack. Turning to Sea, Wy tilted her head towards the room behind them. She stood up and starting making her way into the next room without waiting for an answer. Sea got up to follow her, but not before apologising for his partner's behaviour. "We just need to discuss something, if that's alright."

Jacqueline continued to eye them suspiciously, while Matthew simply seemed uneasy about the change in tone. "Sure. I'll, uh, just go make us some tea," the Canadian offered, also standing, but making his way to the kitchen on the left.

In the entrance hall, Sea casted Globe of Silence around himself and Wy, allowing their conversation to go unheard from the outside. The side effect of the spell was that they had no way of knowing what their two hosts were saying on the other side of the bubble. This worried him less, however, than the two of them finding out about their conversation.

"Well, this is a bit of a shitstorm," Wy stated.

He sighed. "It could be worse, I suppose."

"How? Canada doesn't even know he's Canada!"

"So, it is him?" Sea inquired. Though others could detect him through the Nation Sense, Sealand was unable to use the ability himself. It made the task of finding his fellow Nations on his own rather difficult, but luckily he had Wy now to make up for that fact.

"Yeah, it's him. What's more, I'm getting a presence off of this Jack as well, but she's not familiar to me in any way. Do you think she could be a new Nation?"

Sea thought for a moment. "It's possible. I mean, the Apocalypse changed so much, why wouldn't there be new populations with new Nations? Though, I'm not sure who or where she's representing. As far as I know, Canada as a whole was pretty devastated."

"We can figure that out later, I guess," Wy said. "We still need to decide what to do with Canada. Technically, part of the mission is complete: he's alive and safe, and still functioning at least passively as a Nation. If there are new Nations here, though, he might not represent all that he used to. We should find out what he's now the Nation of, though only he will know for sure." She sighed. "This would have been a lot easier if only he could remember being a Nation. I don't much fancy the idea of spending the next two weeks poring over history and geography texts."

"Why don't we help him remember, then?" Sea offered.

"In less than two weeks time?"

"It could work. In any case, we can always ask for an extension, or even come back at a later date," the blond pointed out. "It's not like any of us are running short on time. Whether it takes two weeks or two decades, we'll meet with success eventually."

Wy didn't share her partner's optimistic certainty. She doubted Canada would be able to recall his lost memory so easily, let alone quickly. The mind was a tricky thing, and there were few, if any, quick fixes. It would probably be faster, and more fun, were they to just map out the wilderness of North America themselves.

But Sea was right; they couldn't just leave Canada or the new Nation out here to figure things out on their own. It wasn't fair to them, and it wasn't fair to the peoples they represented and were supposed to watch over. Each of them had had a mentor at some point in their lives, another Nation to help guide them in the ways and nature of their kind. Even if they couldn't get Canada to remember, at least they could show him and Jack how to be proper Nations.

"Alright," Wy agreed reluctantly. She was already dreading the headaches that were bound to ensue. She had never been a very great teacher.

With a final nod from Sea, the spell was ended. The sound of a kettle beginning to boil reached them from its source in the kitchen. Walking back into the dinning room, they were greeted by Jack's continuously suspicious stare, and a table laid out with two bowls, one for milk and one for sugar.

Not long after they had seated themselves once more, Canada walked in carrying four mugs of tea. "Sorry about not having proper tea cups," he said, handing out the mugs. "Or a teapot. We don't really get many visitors."

"It's cool. We're not really used to being guests," Sea confessed, reaching for the sugar. Wy swiped it up before he could get to it, however, her expression letting him know that she would only give it up if he began the explanations. The whole idea of getting Canada to remember had been his, after all. He briefly contemplated sassiness, but knew it wouldn't get him anywhere. "We weren't lying when we gave you our names. Members of our kind often have two: a human name that we use among humans, though this is largely unnecessary these days, and the name that identifies our larger manifestations. Wy and I just choose to use the latter."

Except for the sound of the sugar bowl sliding across the table, the room had fallen silent again. After enough time had passed for Sea to finish preparing his tea just the way he liked it, Matthew, who had been staring into the shallow depths of his own mug, finally asked, "What do you mean by 'larger manifestations'?"