Day 29: Courtyard
Though he hadn't been able to stomach much of the cafeteria food, as the day went on, he did feel marginally better. The fever seemed to have broken and he'd held down what little he'd eaten. It made him a little anxious, to sit around so much, and even if it was difficult, a walk outside sounded like a nice break from the usual. He had no
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And ancestors knew he needed to relax. His nerves were up again, as they tended to be when he was faced once more with how completely hopeless their situation was.
And he couldn't make Shadow understand. It frustrated him that his cousin couldn't seem to grasp that it was impossible to compare this place and these adversaries to anything they knew. Oh, Valyn knew he'd done the same in the beginning, and that Shadow would realize, but...
He shouldn't have to learn the way I did.
At least it took his mind off of Shana. That was something he had no desire to deal with any time soon. Sighing, the young elven lord stretched out on a bench and folded his hands behind his head.
At least he could rest some.
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The nurses arrived after the intercom announcement to escort some of the patients away for their visitors. It didn't surprise Kikyo that none came for him. Everyone he ever loved was dead - or wished him so. Though with a cold smile he realized that he too, should be counted amongst the dead. Aimless were his days since arriving here, haunted eyes seeking out that which he could not have, and never will.
He lingered still, and for no other reason than to be at the mercy of an unseen voice. Prisoners, all of them, sport for the idle minds that kept them here.
But even then, they had brief moments of 'freedom,' if it could be called such. Like taunting bits of false hope, dealt sparingly from their keeper's wicked hands.
Kikyo's feet took him to the courtyard, and he walked among the golden red trees that smelled like autumn. He paused at the base of a maple to gaze at the foliage, fingering the back of a bench beside it without realizing that it was occupied.
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The elven lord felt as though perhaps he should say something. Lacking the particular social grace of striking up a conversation, he simple cleared his throat - in case his sudden movement hadn't been enough to announce his presence.
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It was rather uncharacteristic of Kikyo to be so unaware of his surroundings that another's presence should surprise him. Perhaps he was getting careless in his afterlife.
Had he known that he was being confused for a female for the third time since his arrival here, he may have found it mildly amusing. But as it was, he could only observe the outer impressions of the bench's occupant. He was a pale and handsome thing, despite an injury that marred his skin.
Kikyo spoke, his voice decidedly male, low and melodic.
"Forgive me, I did not mean to intrude upon your privacy."
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"I was just enjoying the outdoors - though I'd prefer to enjoy it without the rather imposing wall. You aren't intruding on anything."
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"Imposing wall indeed," he continued, an odd sort of smile on his lips. He turned back to look at the young man on the bench, resting his eyes upon that charming expression. Odd that even in a place like this, it was possible to see such features. "But even if there was no wall, the autumn colors are pretty, still. Would you stay and admire them from this bench then, or have you places to return?"
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"Forgive me, where are my manners?" He hadn't even introduced himself. "V'kass Valyn Lord Hernalth - Valyn, without the needless titles."
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"Valyn," he purred, tilting his head a little. "My name is Kikyo." There was no other name to give him, for he had forsaken any other a long time ago. His name and bloodline perished with him, the last remnant of a dying aristocracy.
He paused for a moment before he took a seat beside him. He turned his face in Valyn's direction, tucking a long strand of raven hair behind his ear. "Do you prefer a well kept garden, or perhaps you let it grow out of its own will?" he asked with an enigmatic smile.
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"Both have their appeal," he answered, feeling rather like he was making conversation at a fete. "But I have to confess, my own gardens are well tended. An illusion of wilderness, without the things that make it wild. My people have a habit of flirting with the wild, rather than exposing themselves to it fully."
He was considered eccentric merely for the fact he preferred to use tents and hunt for game while camping.
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Kikyo liked the words this young man used - 'flirting with the wild.'
There was something uncontrollable about nature, fickle and untamed. It was a temptation that Kikyo could understand, for he was one who had lived by baser instincts.
"Or maybe it is that they prefer an illusion to the actual thing. Illusions - like hope - have their own uses."
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"And where I come from, exposing oneself completely to the wilderness may well end in death. But that's part of the attraction, I think."
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"Indeed, there is nothing more real than death, and hence its morbid attraction. Illusions prolong the inevitable, but we are what we are." Kikyo glanced down at his hand, his pale open palm that delivered countless people to their certain ends.
"At least, that is what I used to think. But this is a strange place, where even death loses meaning. What is real to you...Valyn?"
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"I'm not sure what's real anymore," he replied, honestly. "Other than myself. And sometimes I even wonder about that."
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"So let them live out their natural lives, if it brings them solace. But there are others who would wish for another kind of life, restless, moving from place to place in search for that single thing that is real to them."
Kikyo knew there was only one reality for such a people, and it was death. He smiled darkly and continued- "Grow out your gardens, should you find yourself there once more. Maybe you'll discover something new."
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"I'd rather have dead gardens than gardens watered with innocent blood."
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"Fear not-" he murmured softly. "Their time shall come."
Someone would be their reaper, as Ran was to Kikyo. Though a twist of fate landed him here, instead of the hell where he belonged.
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