Zeke, as it turned out, was harder to find than Rais had let on. Go figure. What Kiah had the impression was supposed to be a walk down the street to ask for directions had turned into a day long hiking project. Everywhere they went were scattered, lame excuses for small villages, all of which knew of 'Old Zeke'. The looks people gave Rais while remembering the last direction they'd seen him going in were not encouraging.
In fact one man, who seemed to recognize Kiah as new, waited until Rais had his back turned to catch her eye and whirl one finger around his ear in the universal code for "insane", which had apparently permeated every possible dimension. Kiah thought it was appropriate for that one of all gestures to have survived so well here.
They walked on.
By the fourth hour trudging through nowhere Kiah had tripped three times- on a mostly buried bookshelf, a mostly buried rubber tire, and a uselessly lost coil of electrical wire, respectively. The last straw came in the form of a hardcover, blank paged book that saw fit to fall from nowhere and land right on her head with a hypothetical 'BONK!'.
"OW! GODS CURSE IT!" She rubbed at the sore spot on her head while glaring at the offending book.
"Careful what you say that about. Random gods do occasionally end up here, and you never know if one might hear and take you seriously."
She groaned. "Is there even any guarantee that Zeke is still somewhere around to find? I mean just how ol' is ol' Zeke anyway?"
"Oh, not nearly that old. Late twenties, I might guess."
"Then why does everyone call him old?"
"Well there's just a certain quality to the name that makes you want to tack it on, isn't there? Aha! Look, I think we've found him." Rais stopped to point at the trunk of the first tree in a dense clump; it's trunk sported several long, deep gouges as if someone had dragged a large knife through the bark many times.
Kiah gulped and tried to ignore the sudden disquiet in her stomach. "And that's from... the dragon?"
"Yep! Although I don't like this location at all...." Rais gave his tail a swish before looking worriedly around. This small clump of trees seemed to go on for a way and then stretch off for a mile or so to the right, towards the 'fenced off' wilderness wall of mountains and dense trees.
Anything could break through the fence and stay lurking in the trees all the way out here, and nobody'd notice. The rational section of Kiah's brain was deeply relieved to find itself being allowed to speak again.
"Oh well! If they're around here it must be safe enough. C'mon Kiah."
She paused reluctantly for a moment, but really, what else was there for her to do but follow? Excitement at the prospect of someone who actually had something in the way of progress towards a way home was tugging at her irrisistably. Just stay on your toes. She loosened her dagger in it's sheath and gravely passed into the shadows under the trees. Almost immediately she heard loud crashes and dull thuds nearby. Something big was walking around. Thundering, even. "Uh... are you sure this dragon is frien- AH!"
A beaked blue head popped out at ribcage-height from behind a tree in front of Kiah, who froze and watched as it was followed out by a pair of long floppy ears and a bulky, four legged body. And short stubby wings. And capped off by, you've got to be kidding me, a little cottonpuff tail. It took a step in front of Kiah, settled back on it's haunches to stare her directly in the face with giant pale blue eyes, raised a silver talloned paw-
-and poked Kiah gently on the tip of her nose with a cheerful "boop!"
Rais tried not to laugh at the look on the girl's face as the dragon turned and loped away awkwardly, for all the world like a giant blue rabbit. "I would have told you that she was a bunny dragon, but I really didn't think you would believe me."
"You're right. I wouldn't have."
"Aaah, come on Shiva. That's not how daddy told you to meet new people, is it?" A young man with dusty brown hair and eyes followed the dragon out of the brush, walking past Kiah and Rais obliviously. "Come back over here and try again, now. C'mon, c'mon." He eyed the blue creature until, sheepishly, it loped back over and sat next to him.
"Good girl. Now, like this." He crossed his arms and, acknowledging them for the first time, glared sternly at his visitors. Kiah fought hard, very hard, not to glare back and settled instead on returning his look with the good old standby 'what are you on?' expression.
And the dragon did glare at them, for a second. But then she looked up at the man. And back at the visitors. And back and forth. And, finally, stretched up on her hind legs to "boop!" the man on the nose as well before skittering off to hide behind a tree, where she could be clearly heard giggling. The man sighed patiently and shrugged, sternness quickly dropped.
"She's just a baby now, Zeke. I'm sure she'll be more open to working with you once she's grown a bit more."
"You're probably right. How've you been, Rais?"
"The usual. This is my new friend Kiah, she just got here the other day. I brought her by to meet everyone."
Kiah piped up in hopes of bringing some sanity to the table. "Er... yeah, hello, Zeke. That's a really, um, cute dragon you've got there." She hesitantly extended her hand for a shake and flinched when he took it and shook over-enthusiastically as if relieved.
"Ah, so you do talk! I was starting to worry you were a non player cha-"
"Zeke, please," Rais interrupted nervously. "She's just got here, I think you might upset her."
Zeke kept shaking Kiah's hand, bubble unpopped. "Nonsense, Rais, nonsense. Look at her, she's got purple eyes! She might know what I'm talking about!" He smiled conspiratorially at Kiah. "The forest of Timber sure has changed, huh?"
"Uhh..." Kiah gulped, suddenly uncertain of her first impression that Zeke seemed a nice guy. She'd heard that sometimes insane people went violent if you didn't play along with their issues just right.
But apparently her silence was answer enough, and Zeke only sighed and smiled sadly, finally releasing Kiah's dizzy hand. "That's all right. Don't worry about it. It's nice to meet you, all the same. So I take it you're here to meet Nicol?" She nodded uncertainly, and be beamed with pride and relief as if she were volunteering for something terribly heroic. "No reason to waste time, then. I'll take you there. Rais, you're not going to believe the new place!"
--
Nicol, as it turned out, actually had a house inside the edge of the tree line. Kiah noticed with an analytical gaze that the paint was peeling off, the roof was missing at least a third of it's shingles, and there were tall, deep cracks up the sides of the walls. She could smell the mold before she even got close. But Rais gaped at it like a miracle from above. Which, actually, it was.
"How, Zeke?"
"Pure good fortune that we found it. The whole structure made it through and stayed pretty well intact through the fall."
"He's lucky the thing even landed right side up!"
"Definitely. A very high luck stat, that Nicol. But you haven't seen anything yet." Zeke stood next to the door and held it courteously open for everyone- even Shiva- before following and letting the door fall shut with a wince-causing squeal of complaint behind him. Rais gasped again, looking around wide eyed, but Kiah only frowned.
"What's the big deal, guys? So it's a house. It's moldy, anything on hinges is falling off of them, the walls are cracked, I bet it's puddles everywhere when it rains, and you can hardly see anything in here because the windows are too dingy to let in much... uh.... what?" She trailed off self-conciously she was boggled at by the others. Even Shiva managed to copycat a disapproving look.
"You really did just get here, didn't you?" Zeke patted her on the shoulder pityingly. "Kiah, what did you notice on your way here?"
"Just lots of junk."
"Right. Okay, so this place may look bad to you, but at least it's intact, do you see? A good night's rest cures all ills. Try sleeping under trees, blankets, and tin roofs in the rain and snow for a few years, then we'll see what you think of a place like this."
Kiah 'heh'ed nervously. Something in the mood wasn't right. She was starting to feel like she was missing an important point, a catch in the fine print. "I guess I'll take your word for it, since I don't plan to stick around that long."
"Rais! Zeke!" All heads snapped up in surprise at the stern male voice belonging to a silhouette looking at them from a door down a hallway. It was dark down that way with no windows to let in light, but he held some kind of foot long contraption of wires and jagged bits of metals that shot a weak beam of illumination where it was pointed at the floor.
Zeke all but stood at attention. "Nicol! Visitors!"
"Good to see you again, Nicol!"
"A mage lantern!?"
Zeke and Rais who had spoken first looked back at Kiah with raised eyebrows, but she was busy boggling at the light. She could hardly restrain the urge to run forward, snatch it, and cuddle it like a stuffed animal. Finally something familiar! "You didn't tell me you had magework here!"
"We have everything here, didn't you notice?"
"Actually-" Nicol interrupted again, coming closer into the better lit room. Now Kiah could make out green eyes, short black hair with a smattering of gray lines, and tired facial wrinkles. More tattered raggy clothing. "It's called a flashlight. Or it was before I made modifications to make up for our lack of double-A batteries." He sighed at the her confused expression that was all too close a relation to disappointment. "It isn't magework, I'm sorry to say. Would you like to have a look at it for a moment? I need to talk to these two."
Shiva squeaked and scurried outside abruptly, an ominous sign, as Rais and Zeke shared a glance of nervous guilt. Kiah only nodded stupidly and took the thing as it was shoved at her, momentarily numb with disappointment. She poked at the wires and found a button to turn it on and off. Definately. not magework. But she recovered quickly at the realization that she was so close to help with getting home, and she wasn't nearly so out of it as to miss the chance to eavesdrop. She pretended to still be interested in the thing as she listened in on the half-whispers.
"Allright you two, what've you told her?"
"Nothing! I just brought her here because Rais said she was a good sort and she should see you!"
"Rais?"
The floor squeaked uncomfortably with his fidget. "Well look, I know she only just got here, but I'm telling you, you should have seen how she handled the transition! She's a tough one, Nicol. She'll make it."
I'll 'make it'? That didn't sound good at all. Kiah played at shining the light this way and that to look at the room, thus getting herself into a better angle for watching the conversation.
"Yes yes yes, I'm sure she's fine and trustworthy, that is not what I asked. What did you tell her about me?"
"Nothing! Nothin'thatisn'true...."
"RAI-Rais!" He checked his upset back into a whisper, but just barely. "I can't have you misguiding every poor soul that gets wrapped up in this mess!"
"But I'm sure she can handle it!"
Nicol's hand jerked towards his head and Kiah thought he was going to facepalm in exasperation, but he canceled the motion and instead folded his hands calmly in front of himself. "Okay." Ah, no more whispering. The little meeting must be over. "Zeke, would you please show Rais around the new place? And you might want to call Shiva back in to keep an eye on her. I hate to deprive the young dear of a snack, but I'd really like to get those experimental plants outside thriving.
"Yessir!" Zeke snapped to attention again and then rushed enthusiastically out the door, Rais trailing reluctantly behind with a funny look at Kiah.
"Nicol, can't I stay inside and help...?"
"I'm sure Zeke is going to need your help more. Shiva's recently taken to 'hide and seek'. I just hope she doesn't try burrowing under the house again...." Kiah followed his pained glance to the floor in one corner where the floorboards were broken and dirty as if they'd been forced through from underneath, which she suspected they actually had been. Rais sighed, nodded, and left obediently.
No question who calls the shots here, Kiah noted, and was poked by that pesky rational side with the addendum Behave!
Nicol finally looked at her and, to her surprise, seemed nervous. He ran a hand through his hair, stalling, and she was suddenly reminded of her accidental welcome wagon and their reluctance to give her the bad news. Couldn't anyone cut to the chase in this place? She offered the butchered flashlight back handle first and sighed. "Is there a problem, sir? Did I come at a bad time or something?"
"No, no. Come with me. We need to talk." He led her down the hallway he had come out of in the first place, through another creaking door (which was missing it's knob and had to be pulled open by the empty hole), and into what was once probably a family living room. Now it was doing it's best to be an office, laboratory, and workshop all at once. Tables and bookshelves had been dragged in from who knew where and put all over the place, only to be completely covered in stuff. Bits of metal and wiring on one table, neat notebooks and papers on another, and everything in between. The junk ate the tables alive and looked ready to walk out of the room on the remaining legs.
"Sit down please if you would Mi- I never even got your name did I? I'm sorry."
"Kiah Warren. Don't worry about it." She stepped over another box of random to sit in a wooden chair at a rectangular dining room table/desk while Nicol did likewise on the other side. Once settled she reached over to shake his hand, and he smiled.
"So you're from a world that has the handshake custom, then? Or did they teach you that here?" He pulled a tattered notebook and an eager pen from somewhere and labeled a new page 'KIAH WARREN'. It made her want to laugh, seeing herself made note of as if she were important, but it also made her hike her backpack protectively on her shoulders; who knew if he would want to study the history book inside, if he knew she had it? That wouldn't do at all.
"They do that where I came from, yes."
"And the language we're speaking? Also used commonly?"
"Yessir."
"And your eyes!" He paused to stare while she tried not to mind. "Such an interesting color!"
"Everyone has purple eyes back home, actually. Er, they're normal, anyway. The sky is the same color."
"I see. Magecraft?"
"Uh, yessir."
"So this place must seem very unusual to..." Nicol blushed and set down his pen, suddenly sheepish. "I must apologize again. You've fallen in here and been dragged to my door after, I imagine, being threatened by 'townspeople', and now some old man is interrogating you. Maybe you have some things to ask me?"
"Gods do I ever."
"Ah, you want to be careful with saying things like that. There have been... unfortunate misunderstandings."
"So I hear. Look, Sir, I really just want to go home. There's a matter of national safety going on and I really, really need to be there for it." She paused to sigh and massage the bridge of her nose. "And you know what, this blue sky thing is driving me blazing mad. I don't know how you haven't all gone blind."
"And Rais told you that I could get you home?"
"Ye- well, he-" Kiah blinked. He had never really said that, had he? "Well he just said that you were the person to come to, and... and that if anyone could get out it would be...."
Nicol put his elbows on the table and rested his chin solemnly on folded hands. "Have you wondered, Miss Warren, why the average person here is so angry and would rather drink themselves into a pointless stupor of denial than do anything productive?"
She nodded. The direction things had suddenly swung in was too frightening to think about, so her brain stood paused. She'd already run headlong off the edge of the cliff into midair like a cartoon; now the thing to do was not look down. She refused to notice how Nicol looked about to be ill, lest she do the same.
"You certainly do seem like a bright young woman. Play this scenario out with me. You'd very much like to get home, I know. Maybe you have family there, or friends. Things to do. A job, a life."
She nodded again. Not looking down.
"Suppose with me, hypothetically, that someone started a rally behind the cry of 'Lets all get home or die trying!'"
"People would flock to it." Really, who was to say there was anything but solid ground down there? Nothing to worry about.
"Correct. The next step in this... 'movement' would be to-"
"Choose a leader, a group of people to learn about the effect, dispatch scouts to search for people or places with information on what's going on... set up a central base for the collection of information and exchange of ideas..." Her mind took a deathgrip on the familiar kind of thinking. Nicol looked genuinely impressed.
"Right. All in the right direction. But the watchword for this world is unstable. Suppose you've got all that worked out. But things Fall all the time. The scouts sent out for information either disappear for unknown reasons or can't find their way back because landmarks have changed. A violent person or animal lands near or in the organized area, maybe even inside the central building itself, and wreaks havoc. Countless lives important to the mission would be lost. Perhaps something as insignificant as a single burning twig from a forest fire on some other world Falls inside the work area or library, and from that...."
She swallowed and looked ahead blankly. "With uncontrollable disasters like that people would loose faith quickly, because being able to feel in control even a tiny bit is one of the most basic props of sanity. The sense of defeat and hopelessness would be crushing." Literally. She remembered the angry man's mention of suicides.
"And after just a few decades people get so sick of being disappointed that they'd rather just beat the spark of hope into oblivion and rot as they are, because when you're at the bottom at least you can't fall any farther." Nicol looked down at his notebook, sneering with sudden disgust either at it or himself.
Kiah wobbled, almost slid out of the chair. The room was a dead gray blur, and none of her brain had the heart to argue common sense or optimism this time. "And you? What do you do?"
"I do research. I look for answers. Zeke is my assistant, Rais helps often. They try to find people that don't surrender to the defeat, try to keep hopefuls from having all the spark beaten out of them. I tell them not to get people's hopes up so much, I swear to you I do, but Rais is just..." He sighed bitterly.
"How long have you been stuck here, Nicol?"
"Almost twenty five years now. I've worked toward a solution from day one. I had more research than this one room, of course, but accidents with things Falling... and the people don't like my efforts, of course. I've lost more than a few workshops to arson. We've learned to keep moving."
"So this is it."
"This is it."
Kiah finally looked down from the cliff. What do you know. There really wasn't anything to stand on.