Pieces, Part 21 - Luck

We held onto each other for a long time. My head felt like it was spinning, but at the same time I felt more sure-footed than ever in the time I could remember. It was overwhelming. Eventually he loosened his arms and looked at me. I noted he didn't have a tattoo on his face like me.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," my brother said. He turned to look at Meera behind my shoulder. He began towards her as I turned around to face the girls too. Avani opened his arms to embrace her too. The look on her face was uncertain. He noticed it too and stopped in front of her, clearly confused.

"Meera?" he asked.

"That's really my name?" Meera asked quietly, more herself than anyone else.

"What...." Avani began.

"She doesn't remember," I said behind him. He turned to look at me, still confused, his expression pained. "Neither do I. Except you. I remember you. I didn't until now. And I don't remember anything about you, but I remember you now. I think. It's... all very confusing, and overwhelming. And I don't know what to say."

I fell silent. I was too filled with feeling to know what to say, or what to do. Se all stood there for a moment. Apparently my brother - it was the weirdest thing to think that - didn't know what to do either. Rosa cleared her throat.

"Hi, I'm Rosa. I'm a friend of these two, and I think you have some catching up to do, who ever you are, so how about we move out of the cold and somewhere we can have a good long conversation," she said. She seemed to always know what to do. Her voice seemed to break the confusion and tension, at least for now. Avani nodded.

"We can go to my place. It's not too far," he said. He still didn't seem exactly comfortable, but he looked relieved. And happy. And had an odd air of determination around him. "Especially with the horses. I don't have one, though."

"These two can take all of us. I hope," I said, "If it really isn't far, and they get a good rest after. We've been pushing them way too hard in the last few days."

My twin brother looked like he was about to ask something, but I supposed he was thinking what I was thinking. That the time for proper explanations would be later. So he lead the way out of the center of town, and we got on the horses.

It wasn't a long way, like he had said. It was out of the way, a small place out in the woods. Not completely in the middle of the woods, like Custos' place, but more like Ulula and Rosa's place, by a road that was small but seemingly had some use nevertheless. He lead the horses to a stable. We took off their reins and saddles and brushed them in silence. I was about to leave and let Avani give the horses some food, and go inside with the girls when his voice stopped me.

"Akash..." I turned, almost not remembering to react to my name. It felt more familiar, more me, than Nemo, though. His eyes were teary again. "I've missed you. Both of you." His voice broke. I nodded.

"I'll see you in a moment," I said. It felt like a stupid thing to say, but I couldn't figure out what else to say. So instead I settled for feeling stupid. He nodded and I left.

His cottage was small. Smaller than Ulula and Rosa's. Maybe the same size as Custos'. It was cozy, but it was plain. It seemed like the place of someone who didn't either pay too much attention to his surroundings or to whom it didn't make a difference what kind of a place they lived in, as long as it had everything essential for living. The girls turned to look at me as I walked in. Meera sighed when she saw me.

"He's giving some food to the horses," I said and sat down at the small table.

"Nemo," Rosa said, "Who is he? You clearly know him. You clearly remembered him when you saw him."

I was quiet for a moment.

"He's my twin brother," I said quietly after a moment. The words felt weird in my mouth. The girls' attention snapped onto me.

"He's your brother!?" Rosa almost yelled. That was the moment he opened the door. For a moment he froze at the door, but stepped in and closed it then behind him.

"He's my brother," I repeated, still talking quietly.

"I knew your brother?" Meera asked, even quieter than I was talking. I could see in her eyes all the emotions that were raging inside me too. And fear. I didn't feel afraid anymore. Now that I had found my twin I felt like it was all okay. Like it was safe. She clearly didn't. But she didn't remember him, I could tell that too. To her he was still the man who was in her vague memory from her past. She didn't remember her. She only remembered she had known him somehow.

"I guess so," I agreed.

"That means I probably knew you too," Meera said.

"Probably," I admitted. "I don't remember."

"What happened to you two?" Avani broke our conversation, "You've been gone for so long, I thought I would never see you again."

"How long have we been gone?" I asked. My twin looked at me like it was a ridiculous question. Which it probably was, to someone who didn't know what was going on. Which was no one.

"You really don't remember?" he asked after a moment, hesitating.

"I remember nothing but the last three days," I answered. "Meera remembers nothing but the last... couple of months, I think."

She nodded.

"But you remember your names?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I've been called Nemo for the last three days," I said.

"I didn't know I remembered my name," Meera said quietly. Avani turned to look at her. "After I woke up I knew I needed a name, and I spent days trying to decide one that seemed to fit what very little I knew about me."

There was a silence as Avani took the information in. His expression was still confused.

"Can you please tell me what is happening?" he asked finally. So we told him. We told about waking up in the forest, and the confusion. We told about Meera finding a job and her talents and us trying to find her, about the guys that were after us and how we finally found him. We told him everything we knew. It wasn't much. It was plain on his face it wasn't much. he was quiet for a long while after me and Meera finished with our story. I was aching to know everything I had wanted to know about me and my past, and Meera's, but I knew I had to give him a moment.

"You have been gone for three years," Avani finally said. My heart skipped a beat. We all just stared.

"What happened to us?" I asked after I regained my voice.

"I'm so sorry," he simply answered, looking down at his hands. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have."

He was silent for a moment again, and sighed. When he lifted his face he looked tired.

"We moved to around these parts about a year before you disappeared," he began, "Me and Akash, and you Meera came with us, because your parents had just died. You were an only child. You felt you needed a change of scenery. But going out into the world completely alone is really tough for anyone. So you came with us. We heard the locals often talking about the other side of the river, and we took it as superstition. It was ridiculous, and nonsense. Like there was some mystical place simply across the river. We lived quite near the river back then, and one day for some reason, I don't remember why. I've been trying to figure out why I did it, but I can't figure it out anymore," he paused and looked Meera in the face, his face filled with regret and apology.

"You said as a joke I should go over the river," Meera said, staring at him, her eyes wide, the memory coming back to her. "We both thought it was stupid.That's the dare I remember. You made it into a dare. That I go across the river to the other side."

"You went, and I waited for you by the river," he said, "I waited for a long time. At first I thought you were gone so long to mess with me. But then I got worried. We both got worried. Eventually Akash went after you," he turned to me, "You told me not to worry. You told me you'd get her back. That you were feeling lucky. And I believed you. You never came back. Neither of you did. I gave up wishing you back ages ago. All this time, I blamed myself."

"We went to the other side of the river," Meera said, thinking to herself.

"What happened to us there?" I asked, as much form myself as Meera was talking to herself.

"You got the tattoos," Avani said, "And you learned to fight. And to play the flute. You didn't know how to do any of those things back when I last saw you. neither of you. And Meera, you didn't have any telekinetic powers. At least not that you knew."

"And it seems that the playing thing is somehow relevant," I said, trying to piece everything together, but I was still missing too many of the pieces. "Or... it somehow makes the people across the river somehow different than people on this side. Because the men after us used that to define me. And I guess define Meera too."

"And you have no idea who those men are or what they really want?" Avani asked. We shook our heads.

"Maybe they want something with us we don't even know ourselves," Meera said, "Or maybe they want us for the fighting skills. Telekinesis can be quite handy when you have to defend yourself. Or it might..." she paused, thoughtful, "Could it have something to do with the playing? Maybe there's something more to it?"

"Either way," Rosa interjected. We turned to look at her. She had been silent all through our conversation, giving us the space to try to understand. "Those men have Meera's notes about you. They know where you are. They can find their way to Cresentvalley. They might be coming for us as wee speak."

"She's right," Avani said, nodding, "We need a lot more catching up. I will help you find yourselves again, help you figure out who you were. But first we do need to make sure no one's coming after you. That we are all safe."

But I was already safe. Everything was a mess, and I didn't know who I was, and I wanted to know so much more about who I had been, but I knew everything was going to be alright. It had to be. It would be. I was with my brother again. With my brother, everything turned out good, eventually.
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There is too much we don't know yet, and only three parts left.

I don't even know what to say.

Your topic for tomorrow is Hope. I don't think we've used it yet.

~matu