Hello, creature.

I almost fell over out of surprise, and then went straight to embarrassment. I'd gone on a whole little rant and she'd heard the whole thing. Thankfully, she didn't seem too annoyed. Apparently, not everyone looked the same here. In retrospect, it should have been obvious - nothing here is identical to anything else. I didn't know you could talk, sorry. Didn't mean to dump all of that on you.

She winced. Can you... talk normally?

I felt my forehead contract from confusion and promptly lost track of my thoughts as I appreciated the effort that went into character design. So many important details that most people would miss! Right, there's a strange person talking to me. What do you mean?

She opened and closed her face-hole repeatedly, deliberately changing the shape throughout the process. It reminded me of a muscle reflex test using one's face. What are you doing?

She looked more worried now. You can't hear me, can you. Is it because you don't have any ears?

What are those? They sound like grappling hooks. And what's with the hole in your face? I saw an animal a while back with a face-hole kind of like that, but I don't think it liked me very much. Oh, and why do you look like that? I know whoever made this place wants us to be bipedal, but why'd you make your skin two-toned? Not that I have a problem with white and brown on the same person. It's just really interesting. And the hair is really cool! All red and fuzzy like that - it'd be cool to have that instead of tentacles, even if it doesn't move constantly.

During my impromptu speech, she started shrinking further and further the longer I talked. Once I finished, she partially collapsed, sitting down with one hand outstretched. Stop! Please, stop that!

I backed off, mentally cursing myself. After everything that had happened back home, I still hadn't learned my- nope, not thinking about that right now. Shaking my head, I lowered the volume and asked much quieter, I'm just going to start over, if that's okay with you. My name is Shold'ler. Who are you?

She glared at me. It's an expression I'm familiar with, although it wasn't usually delivered with such intensity. Why do you want to know?

Because... it's polite? I wasn't really sure how to respond to that.

As she stood up, she glanced down at the mangled object she'd hit my hand with, and her fingers twitched. I wasn't sure why she wanted it. It wasn't even close to its original shape.

I brightened as I thought of something. It made for the perfect apology item!

Reaching down, I picked it up and looked it over, ignoring her startled reaction. It was relatively simple in construction. The end was made of metal, although it was technically a bunch of metals mashed into one, and the handle bit didn't seem damaged either way. A bit of easy mental reconstruction on my part, and it returned to more or less its original shape. Granted, I didn't get a very good look at it to start with, but its function (whatever that might be) is probably fine.

Holding it out in front of me, I told her, Here you go! You dropped this.

The suspicion in the air was almost tangible, and I still couldn't figure out why. I've got to ask - why do you not like me so much? I mean, I'm sorry I talked so much earlier, but you whacked me way before I started talking. So what's up with that?

She looked surprised by the question, but paused to give it some thought. You... are you a rare beastkin of some kind? I can't figure it out. You're definitely not human, but you don't have a mouth. Making a decision, she reached forward and accepted the tool, placing most of her weight on one foot for some reason. What are you?

There'd been a lot of confusion floating around since the beginning of the conversation. I'm only getting more confused as it goes on. What's a beastkin? Or a human? Or a mouth? At the moment, I get the feeling I'm the more comfortable out of the two of us, so I decided to just answer the question. I'm really just me. I don't think there's really a word for it. I mean, there was a tree a while back that called me an Old One, but I'm really young, so... maybe he was thinking of someone else?

She shivered uncomfortably, and her face-hole did that weird opening and closing thing again. Ignoring that, I told her, I answered your questions; your turn to answer mine. What are you doing and why are you doing it?

Looking back up at me, she hesitantly asked, What are you talking about?

I indicated her face-hole. That thing you do with the crevasse in your head. What are you doing?

Her shoulders jumped for some reason, and she shook her head. That's my mouth. I use it to talk and eat.

Sign language? An interesting way to go about it, sure, but I'm not one to judge. Why would you use it when you can talk just fine?

The thing you're doing to talk in my head isn't talking. It's magic and it's uncomfortable.

Her arms crossed over her chest as she said it and her eyes were totally serious, but I couldn't help it. I laughed. What are you talking about? How else would someone talk?

With their - why are we talking about this!? What are you doing here? What do you want? Her grip on the newly mended tool tightened, and her eyes hardened. What are you planning?

I'm going to be completely honest with you. I have absolutely no plan. I'm only even in this reality because... I trailed off, trying to find an excuse. ...I wanted to check it out. My grandfather said that nowhere would ever be as genuine as this place, so I wanted to check it out. And because it's got a travel ban on it, but that's a topic for later.

I could tell she didn't believe me well before she spoke again.

I don't believe you.

Yup, there it was.

She walked up to me for the first time, shoving the sharper end of the tool in my face despite the fact that it didn't do anything earlier. I don't know why you're here. I don't know what you're doing. But don't do it anywhere near me, and don't do it anywhere near Tarrey. Got it?

I pushed the tool away with a finger. Who's Terry?

Her eyes widened, and she stepped away from me suddenly. I- go away. Turn around and walk in a straight line until you fall off a cliff or something.

I was startled as she turned around and began awkwardly stumbling away from me, using her tool to support her weight. I started moving forward, following her. Are you okay? Why are you walking away? Where are you going?

She stopped and stared at the sky. Do you ever stop talking?

She sounded a lot like most of the others back home. I think questions are the foundation of the universe. If everyone refuses to share knowledge, then it vanishes into fragile memory and forgotten until it's discovered by someone else. The only way to make progress is to cooperate!

Turning, she gave me a weird look, then shook her head. Go home.

I don't know how.

It's not a lie, either. Home isn't where I came from. Not anymore.

She paused midstep. There was a long moment where neither of us said anything. Finally, she responded, Not my problem.

I watched her walk away, her footing unsteady as she kept her weight on one foot. I still couldn't figure out why she was doing that. My thoughts raced as I considered my options, trying to figure out what to do, what to say that would convince her otherwise.

There was something else I didn't understand. She was able to talk just fine, mentally speaking, but her mind definitely didn't feel like one of my kind. So what was she? Her skin wasn't purple and green, it was brown with white splotches. Her hair wasn't made of tentacles, it was just hair. And she had a lot more facial orifices than I did. From a logical standpoint, she wasn't even the same species.

But she had to be the same species. It wouldn't make sense if she wasn't. The only ones who could talk and converse and think and feel were those from my plane. Unless... the person who created this reality managed to build entities that could do the same. Someone who could create sapience.

The mere thought of it terrified me. What sort of insanity would drive someone to do that? If the designed species ever found out it had been created, it would rise up and try to overthrow its creator. That was just common sense. Everyone had told me that ever since I had been conceived in psiospace, and it was ridiculous to think otherwise.

On another level, I was stunned at the genius of the creator here. He'd managed to do something not Mother, not Skal'dryn, not even Grandpa could accomplish. True sapience was supposedly impossible, but the girl I'd just been talking to had felt as real and genuine as anyone I'd ever known.

Either way, someone needed to keep an eye on her. Nobody else was here, except for the 'Old One' the tree had mentioned. I couldn't believe I hadn't realized it was sapient too, but I hadn't really held much of a conversation with it. And to go with it, there was also this Terry person she'd mentioned. Three thinking and feeling creatures in a single world... how was this reality even capable of supporting all of the detailed trees and grass and bushes along with a trio of sapients.

Shaking my head, I set my sights on the girl slowly walking home. It wasn't hard to catch up, and I once again set a mental link up. As I did, I felt that slight resistance from before. It reminded me of some of my acquaintances back home, how they'd block the link so they wouldn't have to talk to me and then shift themselves fifteen dimensions away. Surely she didn't already hate me, right?

Can I follow you?

She spun around and glared at me. Nope, she absolutely hates me.

GO. AWAY.

I winced from the force of her words and raised my hands defensively. Okay, fine. I told you my name, though. You've got to tell me yours.

She rolled her eyes so expertly it would have gotten her physical form privileges revoked for eons if she'd done it in front of Mother. My name is... She hesitated. Della Karvendale.

I bowed, and the fancy hood on my robes drooped around my neck. Nice to meet you, Della. I already introduced myself, but I'm Shold'ler. Is there any chance we'll meet again?

With a snort, she started heading off. Hopefully not.

I stood there for a while, watching her slowly go away. I watched until the trees blocked my vision and the light suffusing the air darkened to orange.

Now what?