"It"s a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Blackfire," Tatiana said in a melodious tone. "It"s good to see you too, please, call me Vyrena," Vy returned the greeting.
"That"s perfect, you can call me Tatiana, or Tati, whichever is easier. Have a seat."
They both sat back down at the table and Rosie left to return to the front desk while a waitress came to take Vyrena"s order. She ordered a pot of Earl Grey tea. After the waitress left, the two began to chat. Tatiana had long light ash grey hair and dark brown eyes. She wore a sleeveless tunic and a leather corset, and a pair of jet black pants.
"So, I heard from Clare that you are an otherworlder too?" Tatiana asked gleefully.
Vy nodded, "That"s right. Did you retain any memories of before you came here?"
"No. Not at first. But over time, I was able to regain some of the memories. Did you receive a helper?"
"Helper?"
"Yes, it"s difficult to explain. But it began as a voice in your head. It helps you along the way. It"s alright if you don"t have it. Maybe it"s just different for everyone…"
"Oh, you mean Dotty! Oh I mean, it was called system or something at first."
"Yes! That"s it. You named yours Dotty? How cool! Mine was named Elijah!"
"Was?"
The expression on Tatiana"s face changed a little. For just a moment, Vy thought she saw Tatiana frown.
"I"m not sure how to put it, but after certain things happened, Elijah left."
Vy turned to look at Dotty, who was seated cross-legged across from her. Her ears were folded downwards, and there was a frown upon her face. At the same time, the waitress returned to serve Vy her pot of tea.
After the waitress left, Vy asked, "It"s alright if you don"t want to talk about it."
"No, it didn"t end on a bad note or anything like that. There are certain things that happened, and once that happens to you as well, Dotty your helper, would leave too," Tatiana said solemnly as she took a sip of her coffee.
Tatiana reached into the sling bag that sat next to her in the chair and brought out a well made wooden doll. The doll was articulated with movable joints and it was dressed in a galaxy print dress. She brought the doll close and closed her eyes as she whispered to the doll.
Within seconds, a soft purple glow enveloped the doll and once it was gone, the doll came to life. It"s once closed eyes flickered open and it started to move its hands and feet. It let out a yawn and stretched its limbs. The doll jumped onto its feet and bowed to Vy.
"It"s nice to finally meet you, Miss Vyrena, how do you do? Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Mulberry!" the doll spoke in a sweet voice.
Vy was surprised by the doll, "It"s nice to meet you, Mulberry."
Mulberry smiled and climbed up Tatiana"s arm and sat down on her shoulder. Her purple wavy curls cascaded down her shoulder, glistening under the light as she turned to look around.
"My abilities allow me to imbue objects with sentience and unique abilities. Mulberry has the ability to summon miasmas and poisons, which is useful when you are fighting enemies. She can also identify a variety of different poisons," Tatiana explained.
"That"s amazing!" Vy was impressed by her abilities and Mulberry. It"s not every day that someone gets to see something so unique. Vy wondered if she had any such abilities in her other life.
Both of them continued to chat for a while more until Tatiana had to leave. They promised to meet up again the next day, at Vy"s house to continue their chat. After they parted ways at the entrance of the hotel, Vy took a stroll back to the house.
Dotty sat quietly on Vy"s shoulder, looking at the scenery around them. Both of them did not know what to say to the other. But Vy had too many questions and she could not stop herself from asking.
-Dotty, was what Tatiana said true?-
u003cHmm?u003e
-That one day you will leave, like how Elijah leave?-
Dotty leapt off Vy"s shoulder and flew up to meet Vy at eye level.
u003cI don"t know how Elijah left. All I know is that one day, you won"t need me anymore.u003e
-That"s not true! I will always need you! And even if I don"t, I would still want you to…--
u003cVy, you don"t understand.u003e
Dotty looked down and avoided eye contact with Vy. She looked down at the pavement beneath Vy"s feet, her ears drooped as she gripped her right upper arm tightly.
u003cThere will come a time when you will no longer need me. When that time comes, I will leave.u003e
-Where will you go? Will you die? I don"t understand.-
u003cNo, I won"t die. I don"t think I can ever die. But, I will leave to go somewhere else. To help another. And I will start again from scratch.u003e
They had returned home, and both of them went straight to Vy"s room. Vy laid down on her bed and covered her eyes with her right hand. Dotty laid down too on the bed.
"How many times have you done this?" Vy asked.
Dotty thought for a while and replied.
u003c622 times. This is the 623rd.u003e
-In different worlds?-
u003cYes. But I do not retain any memories from any of those 622 times though.u003e
Vy smiled.
u003cWhy are you smiling?u003e
-It"s nice to know you"ve helped so many people. I"m sure that if all of them went through similar situations, there must be at least one person out there that regained their memories.-
u003cThat is possible.u003e
"Thank you, Dotty."
u003cHuh?u003e
"Thank you for helping all of us."