come_sailaway | (open.) in spite of ourselves

~...No. Not without certain vows first, but also...that arena favored me greatly. There would have been no time for a proper hunt, and nearly nothing at stake. Who would you protect? What objectives could you achieve or be denied? If you are to ask me for what the Manor offered, in sacrifice to our new home, there must be something on the line. Our dread penalties were once enough, but they are gone, and never more.~

"Then you see why I would have had to refuse you. You could not give me what I needed. I had to die in misery, Grace, and I did."

She exhales slowly, gently putting her head on the fish woman's shoulder.

~It would be a miserable thing for me, to kill you again here in this place where my liberation is promised. But if you ask...if you ask, I will answer. On the condition that it is you who tells others of the request. I can only hope you understand this.~

Grace's gaze drifts down. ~Jack is a good frog. He does not complain of being hugged tight and greets the world with much joy.~

"Like my rabbits," she murmurs, feeling where the plush is squished between them from the hug. They didn't ask for more from her than to be held, and their softness brings her happiness.

"...I promise you, I will only ask you to kill me if I have no other way to bring the grief I need to. And I will tell those who asked that it was my choice, my responsibility. They can't fault you if it is my decision."

~Not wholly your decision. The length of our new chains stretches to the right of refusal, but perhaps it will be easier for them to bear if it is known that we are of one mind. I will not go back to that wretched Manor, Helena. I would go finally and completely mad to feel its shackles again.~

"We will not go back."

She says it with the utter certainty she feels, the one that tells her that the other Helena has not been broken yet.

"I know, I fear it too. But then I remind myself, we cannot. It is impossible. And it is a comfort to remember it every time."

Grace's weight shifts slightly; she's turning to look at Helena. ~Impossible...I do not doubt the truth of your words, but how?~

"You were not told? Our condition here is a rather unique one."

She pauses, and decides to go for the simplest explanation.

"You know we've been summoned here by a great power, yes?"

Silence.

And then, in an extremely sheepish tone: ~I can only blame my exhaustion for the fact that I just nodded as if you can see me.~

"It's okay. My point is that this power has not transplanted us from where we were, but rather offered a second path to our souls at a point in time. There is a you that is in the Manor, the same as I, the same as we were. And then there is the you that is here, on the Serena Eterna."

She pulls back so she can raise up her hand and illustrate as she speaks. Her first two fingers held tight together, and then separating as a V when she speaks of the second self. Like a tree that splits into two trunks.

"You are both real. You are both Grace. But you can't be in the same place at the same time. The Grace you are, here, cannot return there."

~...I see. Arrangements will need to be made, I suspect. If this ship does have a destination, if freedom from its long chains is truly possible, I will not rest until the minds behind that Manor are wrenched from their skulls and crushed. If we cannot attend to our own vengeance then others will be needed to intercede.~

"And what if the Manor doesn't exist, when we get to that destination? It may only exist in a realm we can no longer touch, a realm I wouldn't send my worst enemy into." She shakes her head. "The point is, Grace, DeRoss will never touch us again."

~Unacceptable. The you there is my friend, my very first, and the me there...I must be my own friend as well. The Baron dies screaming, crucified in his own putrid halls while the Manor burns. I will abide nothing less.~

"Don't cut the corn in spring. We don't even know if someone could get there again. That's a puzzle to solve when we reach our destination."

She shifts her hold on Grace, to rest a little better.

"The you and me that are still there, we are still friends. However long they have to keep striving. And he will never have his chains on us again, because we have others who will make sure of it."

~And what of our chains here, Helena? Long they might be, their clink ever-so-soft, I can still feel them. The door stands barred and guarded.~

"...They will not hold us forever. I believe that, with all of my heart. There will be a way out."

Exhaling softly, she murmurs something half to herself, and this close Grace can catch a few words - have to be with... - before the sentence trails off.

Grace's head, resting on Helena's. ~Do not worry, Helena. I know I am a dead thing. If there are only so many to walk through the gates, my place is yours, and you may be free. I am...aware, that I am difficult. For you.~

"What? Grace - where on earth did this come from? This idea of only so many? That's not the goal of those who wish to leave."

She sounds as shocked as she feels by that.

~You...you spoke, Helena, you said...I...I assumed you were speaking of me. My apologies.~

"What did I say?"

Silence. Long, shameful silence.

In her smallest voice: ~It sounded as if you were asking the powers of this place why it has to be me here.~

"Grace...that wasn't what I was saying at all. I was saying that when it comes down to it....I have to be with them. With the other people here, not just on my own. Escape means nothing if I can't witness us all free, the Captain included."

~I...I see. I have mishandled the power of words and managed to cut myself upon them. My apologies, Helena, I - should have known better than to doubt your heart.~

Instead of verbally responding at first, Helena draws the other woman in for a second hug, holding her firmly. It's okay. It will be okay. It must be okay.

"We all do that, with words. Even the most skilled there ever will be, they're still going to get tripped up and confused and assume things. You're among the ranks of the great poets, in that."

Grace shakes, overcome by relief, and squeezes her friend in the hug. ~If you've ever need of me, for anything...~

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decrypter - 2023-08-22 02:36 (UTC) - Expand