“I’m in Idkor,” he mumbled. Along with it came an unfamiliar curse and a string of words she didn’t recognize.

“If you’d like to act like that isn’t a surprise for you,” Oria said as gently as she could, “then I recommend calling it True Qizar. We do not stand under the name the humans have given us.”

Caenum paced around the room for a minute, then fell back onto one of the chairs, mumbling foreign curses all the way.

“I’d suggest taking a deep breath and try to calm down. I may not understand your words but I knew their intent well enough,” she warned thoughtfully.

He attempted it; taking in a deep breath, then letting it out slowly. He tried a second time, but neither seemed to bring real comfort to him. “Is this why you didn’t want me to leave?”

“Genuinely, I was most concerned about your condition,” she replied. “But yes. It… would be a lie to say I didn’t bring your origin into account. I can hardly avoid the fact, if I want to help you without drawing unwanted attention to either of us.”

“What gave it away? We’re both fairies. I know my, ah… Old Tongue is a little rusty. I didn’t use it a lot back home.”

“It’s more than just ‘rusty.’ You’ve got a thick and quite frankly terrible accent—even opening your mouth could give you away. I had a guess before then, though. Those native to these waters don’t often get themselves shipwrecked.”

He was quiet for a moment, then, “What are we going to do now?”

“I’m going to make a proper meal for the two of us, and you’re going to rest some more.”

“Wait, really? You’re still not going to let me check the beach?”

“I will, but not right now. We’ll do it tomorrow—there’s too many people there at the moment. You’ll get found out in a heartbeat.” She stepped a bit closer to the kitchen. “Besides, there’s things I need to make sure you know. A fairy of Fleyw Bresh like yourself isn’t going to last long in True Qizar unless you act like us.”

…

They discussed it more over breakfast the next morning; the stretch of what Oria could comfortably still call a truth. They needed some story, after all—a reason why no one’s met Caenum, why so much of him seemed unfamiliar and foreign even if he looked like one of them.

“You’ll be a minor lord,” she decided. “Someone who needed my aid. You hail from a smaller island with much more interaction with the children of Fleyw Bresh. You’ve grown up secluded enough that your knowledge of our greater culture was only used with rare visits from officials. That… might be able to cover most of it…”

“Is… all of this really necessary..?” Caenum asked cautiously. “The elaborate cover story, I mean. Are we really going to need to have all that information ready?”

“I don’t know. As you can imagine, this isn’t exactly a situation I’ve been put in before.” She stood up, though—she had to do the dishes before they could leave, and they’d both finished eating. “But it’s better to have it now and not need it, then to get stuck later. We can’t get caught.”

“Who’s to say we’re not going to get mixed up in it anyway? It doesn’t seem all that probable to me…”

“I think it’s enough. It explains away why you’re… you, while giving you status enough to be around me without further questioning.”

“Enough of a status to be around you?”

She pretended not to hear the question. “As long as you were being honest about your life before, those facts shouldn’t be too unfamiliar. It isn’t a lie when there’s a fragment of truth behind it.”

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“Hey, if that’s what makes you feel better…” He shook his head. “So, is there anything I can do to help move this along? I want to get out there as soon as possible.”

She considered it for a moment. “Up in the spare room—first door to the left of the stairs—there should be other clothes in the closet. My brother left it when he visited a few months ago. It should fit you and it’ll help you blend in more than what you’re wearing now.”

He seemed to mentally restate the directions before nodding and heading upstairs. While he did that, she took care of what little else was left to do in the kitchen. She packed lunches for them, too, in case they ended up staying out there long. She hadn’t paid too much attention to how much time had passed until she heard Caenum’s voice again.

“I’m not exactly sure how this is supposed to make me fit in.” He walked up to where she was to show her. “This thing looks way too fancy for a casual walk on the beach…”

Her answer came simply, perhaps even part of an instinct. “Well, that’s the difference between us and the Fleyw Bresh.”

“Huh?”

“It’s normal to flaunt your power—your wealth—here. It shows the distinction between those with influence and those without. One should be treated as their status dictates, nothing more and nothing less. Extravagance is our way to prove it.”

“So… I’m guessing you must be pretty up there, too, right? I assume it’s probably generational? From what I heard, it was hard to go anywhere if you weren’t born into it. But I’ve wandered around the house and it doesn’t really scream ‘I’m better than you in every way’ to me.”

Her response was mostly just to avoid giving details. “We’re not the most influential houses among Salini. I can’t foresee any of the specifics being necessary in this situation, though. All you need to know is that your ‘house’ is in the same position as mine. Bow when I do, don’t bow when I don’t, and overall don’t say anything stupid.”

He mumbled something, but never repeated it any louder. In a couple of minutes, they were ready to leave, and Oria led the way to the beach.

She decided the silence, while they were still alone, could be filled. “I… don’t know what, exactly, you might hope to find… but I’d be careful about how you try to find it.”

“I get it. I won’t try to draw more attention to myself.,” he mumbled. Quieter, and nearly too hard for her to understand, he added, “I don’t really plan on getting killed here.”

“What… are you hoping to find, by the way..?” she asked cautiously. “If you’re looking for any old possessions, I’m not sure that they’ll be there. If Daphni hasn’t claimed them, then some thieves probably have.”

He shook his head. “I’m not looking for anything. I just want to see the boat.”

She chose not to mention that it carried the same warning—a kind of preparation she felt he wasn’t ready for. But she didn’t say it, and he didn’t say anything else to her, so the rest of their walk was in silence.

She offered a silent prayer of praise when she realized that no one else was here. It always seemed to be too many people or no one at all, and she stopped trying to predict it long ago. Not like it had always been a pinnacle of well-maintained beauty like the beaches in other areas; both new and old things found themselves washed up on the shore frequently. If there had ever been a time at all, since it had been this way since she moved there.

Oria had to admire the amount of self-control Caenum was showing, to be able to walk up to the nearest fragment of ship to inspect it. She’d never really paid much mind to it before, other than that it was there. Now, she didn’t know a lot about boats, since people like her were never expected to risk their lives at sea…

But it looked more like a boat meant for use near the shore, and definitely not one that would withstand the trials presented between True Qizar and the mainland.

He looked around in silence for a little while, as he must’ve needed to work up the courage to ask something. “Have you heard anything else about this? If… anyone else was found?”

“I haven’t heard anything.” She was fully aware that that wasn’t the answer he wanted. Not like it being true would’ve brought much reassurances—they were likely just as foreign as he was.

“Are you sure?” he tried. “Not even a rumor? Or something from another town, if people travel around like that?”

She shook her head slowly. “Not a word. I’m certain if there were others like you, I would’ve heard something by now. A lot of the people around here are fond of gossip—even a hint of it would’ve spread across this side of Salini by now.”

Already, those were words he clearly didn’t want to hear. But there was something that caught his attention that made it worse—something he found while he sorted through the wreck. Whatever he saw, he paled the longer he stared at it.

Then he abruptly stood up. “You, uh… might’ve been right. About pushing myself. I—I don’t think I’m feeling well, can we go back?”

“Of course.” She didn’t dare question the deeper meaning behind it, though. She assumed a better time would come eventually.