Chapter Text
You join the others outside without a word.
“Hey Sif! …… you okay bud?”
“... i’m fine…just thought i saw something is all.”
“What’d you see?”
…… “i don’t want to talk about it.”
“Alright, I won't push you if you don’t want to talk now but… promise we’ll talk later?”
“sure.”
You’ll lose them if you keep acting like this. Focus, Smile and keep walking away from That Place.
“So! Is everyone ready to go?”
“Uh, yeah we’re ready. We were waiting for you”
“Sorry, we can go now.”
You and everyone start heading back to town. Odile already got the supplies needed to make the journey to Dormont last time everyone was here so you didn’t need to stay there any longer. Before you know it you're at a camp sitting alone in dim fire light.
…You plunge your right foot into the fire. Recently it’s been showing signs of cracks again so you need to fix it before anything bad happens while you're traveling.
Odile walks out of her tent. “So that’s why you wanted to be on Fire duty. And here I thought you were just being courteous.”
“I thought you’d fallen asleep by now.”
“I was but a few thoughts kept me up.” She sits down on a wooden log across from you, her book already open and ready to be written in. “It concerns you actually so if you could answer some questions of mine I'd be grateful.”
“Ask away” you add some more wood to the fire. “i still have some time before the glue sets in”
“Great. So you’ve been around for a long time, moved from place to place never really setting down for too long.”
“Thats not a question but yes, you already know this.”
“Just making sure all of my facts are straight…… So here's question one: where are you originally from?”
Ah. you know how to answer this now after so long. “North”
“Thats it? No particular details, No Name of the Place?”
“It’s that I can’t say where I'm from… Do you remember wishes?”
“Yes you said something about how your “creator” as you put it, made a wish to bring you to life hoping it would resurrect her dead child whose corpse is inside of you, Right?”
“Yeah, wishes are a powerful thing. They can grant something as small as winning a coin toss or something as big as giving life to the lifeless.”
“So someone made a wish that forces you to not say where you're from? Why?”
“Thats not it. Someone made a wish to make everyone forget that The Island exists.Obscuring it in the minds of anyone who knew of it.”
“So… the Island North of Vaugarde is where you're from, and someone made a wish to basically erase it.That is concerning to find out but i think i’m starting to understand how powerful wishes are… Next question: if anyone can make a wish then why doesn’t everyone wish for the King's defeat.
“Because to make a wish you must know the proper rituals, Not many do and all that did were on the Island. Anyone who managed to escape probably doesn't remember the place. rituals included”
“But what about the Favor Trees? They’re a part of Vaugardian culture and are believed to grant wishes of a sort.”
““Superstition” Isabeau and Mirabelle say. No one really believes that it can but that’s because they don’t know the right ritual to do it.”
“You keep saying “the proper rituals” or “the right ones”. So enlighten me, what is the Ritual for the Favor Tree?”
“First grab a leaf to represent yourself, not just any leaf but one you instinctively feel drawn to, It’s to represent yourself. Then whisper your wish into the leaf a number of times you feel necessary, once you're done fold your wish into the leaf to create a tether linking you and the wish. Once you're done blow the leaf and walk away. You should only make a wish you feel strongly about or it can mess up and grant you something else entirely. Your phrasing should also be precise or that can mess it up too. That should be about it.”
“Quite the process, how come others from your homeland don’t remember these rituals?”
“Because the wish forced people to forget.”
“Then how come you do?”
“Because I'm not a person, I just look like one.”
She stops writing in her book and raises an eyebrow at you. “Intresting.”
“The wish still prevents me from saying much about the actual place itself but i retain the memories”
“... … Okay final question: what do you plan to do if we beat the king?”
“You mean after.”
“Sure.”
“Not sure… I…”I’ll stop traveling, settle down somewhere maybe, stay with anyone who’d have me until their end…... .But you can’t say that quiet part out loud can you Siffrin… you take a deep breath in… and out… “I’ll write a book about my travels.”
“Oh yeah? You are living history; it'd certainly make the book authentic. You'd let me read the first draft, right Siffrin?”
You let out a small laugh “Sure, you’ll be the first one I give it to.”
She continues to write in her book for a while letting the air be filled with nothing but the sound of the dying fire and her penmanship. once the fire gets low, she stops “Well, I think I've exhausted my curiosity for now. I’ll see you in the morning, Siffrin.”
“See you in the morning.” she gets up and walks back to her tent leaving you alone in the dark.
You inspect your foot for cracks… all sealed. Good, you can rest now without worrying. You enter your shared tent with Isa and lay down on your bed roll. You're not tired but you close your eyes anyway and wait for the sun to rise.