Written Wonderland

"Wait." She stopped abruptly and looked at the man out of her periphery. He unfolded his arms and reached a hand toward her, and Jaz's stomach jumped into her throat in irrational hope.

But just as quickly, he dropped his hand to his side. Jaz squeezed her eyes shut, still unable to move from where she was rooted.

"Will you accompany me to the village? Someone there might know more about your kind."

Jaz pursed her lips as she considered this. I'd certainly like to know more about yours, Jaz thought bitterly, though she didn't like whatever he was so far.

Her eyes flicked angrily toward the man but softened as her gaze fell again to his hands.

"I'd appreciate that. Yes." At least this time he'd made a request. "Though I'm not keen on telling everyone what I told you. Especially if they're going to treat me like a murderer." She said the last word savagely, her anger mounting.

"And I'll need to... eat something out of my pack first." She looked away from the man and tried to take a step... and couldn't.

Gods damn it. I did wait! Jaz thought.

With a roll of her eyes and a scoff, she looked at the man and gestured at her feet.

"May I move now?"

At first the djinn flicked her eyes angrily to him, but then she softened.

"I'd appreciate that. Yes.," she answered. "Though I'm not keen on telling everyone what I told you. Especially if they're going to treat me like a murderer."

The anger that had flashed through her eyes certainly echoed in that last word, but Ren didn't let it wound him. Not that she gave him much time to respond, anyway.

"And I'll need to... eat something out of my pack first."

Ren watched with a quirked eyebrow as the djinn looked away from him, and then just stood there. Hesitating? Finally she rolled her eyes and looked back at him, gesturing to her feet.

"May I move now?"

Ren's first impulse was to roll his own eyes at what seemed to be melodramatic compliance, but then a different possibility came to him, and he couldn't stop his eyebrows from shooting up. Still, that was a hard conclusion to actually arrive at. He crossed his hands over his chest again, his eyebrows dropping and his gaze narrowing with uncertainty.

"...Yes."

A number of questions or honestly even experiments had crossed his mind, but going that route seemed dangerous for now. If they were going to try to establish trust with each other, the last thing he should do was exploit the first weakness he may have found. Of course, if she gave him call to... he'd certainly tucked the possibility in his back pocket, just in case.

"...Yes," he said, and Jaz could hardly help the long, slow exhale that came with the release. She waited another few moments to move from the spot--she wasn't about to make what had happened any more obvious than she already had--before she took a step back toward the table, pulled her bag off her shoulder, and starting rummaging through its pockets. With a glance up at the man, she decided to wait until they were outside to try to force something down into her stomach. Eating in this enclosed space with this creature watching her made food sound even less appetizing.

"If we're going to be travelling together, what should I call you? And... what do your... kind call themselves here?" Jaz asked.

The djinn sighed before stepping back to the table and rummaging through her pack. Ren watched for a moment, but decided while she did that was as good a time as any to pick up his own pack from the floor. He hadn't necessarily packed that morning intending to go to the village, but it would do. He might've taken the time to think about whether he wanted to grab anything else now that his destination had changed, but the djinn drew his attention back.

"If we're going to be travelling together, what should I call you? And... what do your... kind call themselves here?" she asked.

"Ren," he answered plainly. "We are humans, here. You are... Jaz?" He felt a little awkward double-checking, but the way she had offered her name at the start of this whole encounter had been a little out of the blue.

"Ren," he said without embellishment. "We are humans, here. You are... Jaz?"

She nodded warily, grateful she had given her shortened name and not the longer one. It seemed she would need to keep her cards close to her chest with this... human. He had a terrible habit of knocking the ones he could see out of her hands.

The elders had spoken of the humans, but there were so many species they had told her about, and Jaz could not bring herself to remember which ones were which. She thought she remembered that the goddess had a soft spot for the humans, but she couldn't be sure. But, if that were true, maybe they weren't all bad.

Though she had the impulse to ask the man's permission first, she refrained from speaking and went to turn the knob of the door, which, this time, did not put up any resistance. For that, she could be grateful. And, when she stepped back out into the wild of this new landscape, she felt a grateful for the protective presence of... Ren. He was perhaps an unwilling and skeptical guide but helpful nonetheless. For now. Despite his directness, she thought she might miss him once they finished at the village.

First, though, she pulled a thin wafer out of her pack and undid the wrapping. It was light colored and did not smell like much of anything. The elders had given her several of them and instructed her to eat them once she started experiencing this kind of hunger. Tentatively, she touched part of it to her tongue and found that it did not taste like anything either. At least, not at first. She was grateful for its subtlety. Then, growing braver--or at least uncomfortable enough with the sensations in her abdomen--she took a proper bite and chewed.

The crunch of it was satisfying, and once the wafer had started to melt a little on her tongue, she could taste new flavors. Smoke from shared fires in the winter evenings. Sparkling laughter after one of Tigre's stories. Water from the mountain stream near their village.

All these memories of her home--which already felt worlds and ages away--made Jaz want to cry, and water did well up in her eyes. But, the hunger in her stomach and the gnawing, aching pressure of it did subside somewhat, especially as she continued eating and successfully finished the wafer.

That done, she pulled an incense stick out of her pack and held it to close to her palm, where she tried to make fire. At first, nothing happened, and again, Jaz painfully remembered how far she was away from home. But then, she closed her eyes and tried to make sense of this world's distant relationship to magic. It wasn't completely absent. Maybe there was just a different knack to it. Letting her eyes relax so Jaz could blindly feel her way between the air, she searched for something that felt alive, and felt it rooted deeply into the soil. It was quiet and faint and whispering with the voices of the dead, which unnerved her, but she introduced herself to this new magic, speaking her long, full name, and offered herself as a vessel for a small piece of it. Though the magic never responded directly, Jaz felt warmer and knew it had, at least to some small degree, worked.

Opening her eyes, she made a fist and then suddenly spread her fingers wide, palm up, and there was the flame. She smiled at it and laughed happily, glad to have something of her identity back. She felt it waning quickly, though, and so did not waste time lighting the incense, smelling of lurriwick flowers and honeyvine, before the fire in her palm extinguished itself. She inhaled deeply and then tucked the stick into a belt at her waist where the smoke casually wafted around her.

Looking to Ren where he had come outside to meet her, she said, "All right. I'm ready."

The djinn--indeed, Jaz--nodded, though seemed dissatisfied about something in his answer. Still, she accepted it, and went ahead and made her way out the door, and Ren followed silently after. He made quick work of locking the door behind them, while Jaz ate the food from her pack. He went ahead and walked past her, thinking they'd go ahead and get on the road--her meal looked plenty portable enough, biscuit or wafer or something like--but the djinn didn't follow after him, so, he paused and turned around curiously.

She was taking her time with the food, perhaps not even noticing he'd walked past. Something relaxed in him, and it took a moment of watching her for him to figure out that it was because he was seeing her experience something genuinely a little bit novel. Either she'd been spoiled with fresh-cooked meals at her village, or food really was a rare experience for her. Maybe both, but disgust was nowhere to be found in her expression. If anything... sorrow? Ren felt a tug in his chest again--a temptation to imagine what she might be feeling, to revisit his own long-lost home. Instead, he averted his gaze, taking in the scenery of the forest around them. This was home now, and it was quite a fair bit better than his old one.

He returned his gaze to Jaz when he caught movement in his periphery. She'd gotten something else out--incense?--and held it to her palm, then closed her eyes, perhaps praying or meditating. Did she pray to the goddess of dreams? Ren almost couldn't even help sending a small, wordless prayer to his own goddess--a promise, he supposed, to work toward harmony even in this strange situation, and to guard against whatever corruption this djinn of Dehaljadrun's realm might knowingly or unknowingly harbor.

Then all at once, Jaz held up a fist and them splayed her fingers out wide, and a flame suddenly flickered above it. It startled Ren, but Jaz laughed with such joy that it calmed him, her gaze as innocent as a child beaming with the pride of having pulled something off. He couldn't help at least a moment of awe that crossed his expression, earnest curiosity blooming above his ill-ease. Jaz lit the stick of incense she'd brought out, and then the flame extinguished, and she tucked the gently smoking incense into her belt.

"All right," she said. "I'm ready."

Ren was a little bit speechless for a moment, weighing if this changed anything. He didn't suppose so; she'd already turned to smoke, what was creating a flame with just her hand? She didn't do anything reckless or dangerous with it, and as far as he could tell from the scent, the incense seemed harmless enough--pleasant, even. Not so great for stealth, but the sweet scent shouldn't attract anything worrying, and it wasn't like they were on a hunt. He made note to pay careful attention to whether it impacted his senses otherwise, but that was about the only other thing he could think to worry about for now.

Finally he nodded, and turned to lead the way out of the clearing.

"Does that have special meaning to you?" he asked after a moment. He didn't stop walking, and only glanced back for a blink, but he did offer a brief gesture toward Jaz's belt, where she'd tucked in the incense.

There was not a clear path where he led them - certainly, leaves and branches needed to be brushed out of the way - but it was easy enough to traverse. It became evident as he moved that Ren had traveled this way many times, his body quite comfortable with the rhythm of foliage and roots in the ground. He was patient and considerate in his movements, too, checking back on Jaz just enough to ensure that he neither left her far behind nor accidentally loosed any branches before she'd clear or catch them herself.

When she looked at Ren, his expression held no contempt for perhaps the first time since she'd met him. He looked soft and open, curious even. She couldn't help looking him over more properly, taking in the long sweep of his light brown hair, his height, and the softer set of his strong jaw.

She'd remember him later for how he looked here, staring at her with something like awe.

She supposed then that the humans weren't familiar with their own magic, and that made her sad for them. Perhaps there was something she could show them about how to connect with it again.

After a moment, though, Ren nodded and started leading the way to the village. Jaz tried very hard not to get distracted, but there were so many new varieties of plants, insects, and the chirping of birds to call her attention. Such a wealth of creatures out in the open here!

Jaz watched Ren traverse the subtle path with familiar ease, likely because he had done this many times. Did he know the names of all the plants? Did he know what each of them offered?

"Does that have special meaning to you?" Ren asked ahead of her, only looking back long enough to gesture at the incense on her belt.

She smiled at the question. It was gentle, far gentler than his other questions, and she wondered if maybe there was a path to friendliness after all.

"It helps with..." But she paused. What did she really want to say? Starvation. Loneliness. "...homesickness."

She let another pause stand and worried that he might think she was lying, so she kept talking, accepting the branches that Ren gently held out of the way for her.

"I helped make this batch myself. We use them as gifts and to hold memories of special occasions The smoke... calms us. It's... a friend."

Jaz thought of when Tenaya had harvested the flowers, offering the plants a gift in return. How Jaz had ground the materials herself and Soldana had blended them with water from the stream to make the paste. How Tigre had split the sticks and soaked them in the mixture before baking them over the fire. And though the memories stirred up the loneliness, they also brought a piece of her home here, and she was grateful.

She had been following a few paces behind Ren, but she caught sight of a bright red spot inside one of the plants they passed and grew curious. She bent down to inspect it and determined the red was a conical sort of berry, its plump seeds inviting. Jaz continued inspecting the plant, surprised by its imposing thorns. She touched one thorn gently with the pad of her finger.

Hoping Ren was still within earshot, she said, "It's like it's inviting interaction and pushing it away at the same time."

She didn't know what that meant about the safety of the berries themselves, but she was curious. Her body was still rolling the wafer around in her stomach, trying to figure out the puzzle of digestion.

"It helps with..." Jaz started to answer, but paused, the words not coming easily. "...homesickness."

She paused again there, perhaps thinking of leaving it there. Ren felt the weight of a deeper answer in the air, though, and was quite content to remain quiet while he waited to see if she would follow through; and she did.

"I helped make this batch myself," she said. "We use them as gifts and to hold memories of special occasions The smoke... calms us. It's... a friend."

Ren nodded, though he wasn't sure how well the gesture read while walking through the brush. Still, he wasn't sure how else to immediately respond. He was grateful for her answer, to be able to share in more context together as the smell wafted between them. It helped him feel optimistic for ending up on good terms, whatever this encounter would ultimately be.

He wondered if there was some similar context he could give her in return, and his hand flickered up to press against the necklace that hung beneath his shirt, though that was almost certainly too heavy for their present wispy rapport. Jaz's footsteps went silent behind him and he relaxed his hand back down to his side as he looked over his shoulder to see why she'd stopped. She was crouched down by a raspberry bramble, inspecting it curiously.

"It's like it's inviting interaction and pushing it away at the same time," she remarked after gently touching one of the thorns.

Ren watched her quietly for a moment, unsure how to respond. One comment almost bubbled up - something about many plants doing that - but it didn't feel particularly worthwhile. He also couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't just talking about the raspberries, but if so, he had even less idea how to respond to that. Finally, he settled on an offering.

"The berries are safe to eat, if you would like to try them."

After a few moments during which Jaz grew curious about the berries with the deepest color, berries that looked like they might fall at any moment, Ren said, "The berries are safe to eat, if you would like to try them."

Jaz turned to look at him from her crouch, weighing the unrelenting features of his face and wondering if he was lying to her. How much did she trust him? And did she want to try these otherworldly berries enough even if she did?

She turned her gaze back to the berries and made a decision. Carefully navigating the thorns, she selected four berries that looked the most plump and ready to fall. Then, standing, she held her hand out to him in an offering, tilting her head slightly as she watched him keenly.

Jaz looked at Ren over her shoulder and then back at the berries, perhaps weighing how adventurous she felt. He thought about reassuring her that the taste was pleasant, but he wasn't sure he could guarantee that for her - were djinn taste buds different from humans? For that matter, he suddenly worried a little about claiming the berries were safe for her, for the same reason - were djinn stomachs different from humans?

Before he sorted through all that, Jaz had returned to standing, holding her hand out to him, four plump berries in her palm. Ren exhaled with a soft hum, his lips curling slightly toward a crooked smile. She was wise to offer the berries to him first.

"I guess," he stated a little sheepishly, "I did realize, I can't know that these are safe for you, if your stomach is different from mine. But I don't know of any species these are unsafe for." With that disclaimer out of the way, he gave Jaz a subtle nod as he accepted one of the berries from her palm and popped it in his mouth to eat.