[center][color=#BFFF00]"Beatrix, are you listening?"[/color]

 No, she was not. Indeed, to see her sitting there, it was apparent. Beatrix Ashworth had drifted away, again, thinking of things that her lecturer could only partially understand. Even with the somewhat sharp statement and the deepening reverberation behind it, she was not shaken; continuing to stare with a nigh-bovine vacuousness at a spot on the modest hut's wall. 

 With a quick tap of its knuckles on the table, Caretaker Nirvu managed to startle the girl. She straightened her back and focused her eyes on it, her cheeks flushing slightly as the realization of her inattentiveness set in. 

[color=FFB6C1]"I'm so sorry!"[/color] Her eyes implored the opalescent faceplate, and whatever was behind it, for forgiveness. She didn't maintain that look, long, and never did; forcing her eyes to the floor almost immediately after. [color=FFB6C1]"I just..."[/color] She swallowed, hard enough for it to be audible. [color=FFB6C1]"I just miss..."[/color]

The Caretaker lifted a hand and waved away her apology. Sensing its distant smile, she relaxed. [color=#BFFF00]"It is no trouble. You are far from your home and thrust into a strange situation."[/color]

[color=FFB6C1][i]No,[/i][/color] she wanted to say, despite the statement being an invariable truth, [color=FFB6C1][i]I was just thinking about the foods I've been missing...[/i][/color] That had occupied her mind for a full four minutes before the robed being rattled her. She knew, distantly, that she had more important things to worry about. [color=FFB6C1][i]Dad, mom, sis. My fish. My grades.[/i][/color] All those things she had cried over, at once, more than once. Now, she just wanted to find a way to go back. [color=FFB6C1][i]But Nir...[b]Caretaker[/b] Nirvu says that's not possible, right now.[/i][/color]

 So, instead she had started trusting in the strength of her family; the reality of her former life. [color=FFB6C1][i]This is a pretty big change, though...[/i][/color] Her eyes, again, drifted around the hut. There were books scrawled in a language she couldn't hope to decipher. A black and white candle burned at the far edge of the table that she and her new tutor were seated at. The chair scratched and groaned at her, as she shifted; putting focus back on the Prime Caretaker. 

 [color=FFB6C1]"I...you're right. I'm sorry, though, again."[/color] Beatrix let out a slow sigh and put a hand to her forehead. [color=FFB6C1]"It's not that I'm...not interested. I just don't understand! This is all really hard for me!"[/color] She rubbed at her temples, trying to find the words. Caretaker Nirvu continued to show its usual patience with her, and she could feel its stare on her as she struggled. That only made things worse.

 [color=FFB6C1]"Irriss is...different. I've been here a week, and I feel like I'm not catching on!  I hardly know anything about my own world! I should have a million questions, but I just...-"[/color]

[color=#BFFF00]"Cannot find the words, or the correct place for them,"[/color] it finished for her, beckoning her to silence by way of the strange rules attached to its station, [color=#BFFF00]"This is also understandable. However, there are many things to be revealed to you, Beatrix. I ask that you devote your attention to my words."[/color] It shifted, leaning slightly forward. Beatrix felt a strange kind of pressure in her chest, her heart taking on a new rapidity. She felt light headed, as the Caretaker continued. [color=#BFFF00]"We may come to depend on your assistance, in some capacity. Mortals, Caretakers, Enlightened, and Unfettered. You are a Mortal brought to our world by strange means, and if recent discussions with the representatives of the Veiled Council and Unfettered Lords mean anything...you will not be the last."[/color]

Dread washed over her in a petrifying wave, stalling all but her mind. [color=FFB6C1][i]Other people from...my...world? That can't be good! No, wait, it could be! But...but...Caretaker Nirvu is saying it like it's something [b]really bad[/b].[/i][/color] Her mouth worked slowly to form words she didn't quite think she was ready to say. [color=FFB6C1][i]I...uh, well...[/i][/color]

[color=FFB6C1]"I'll help any way I can,"[/color] it was the right thing to do, regardless of how she looked at the situation. Even if she would bemoan her position, there was only one road she could see back home. [color=FFB6C1]"Why do you think there will be others, though? And why does it sound so...so [i]bad[/i]. I mean, I miss a lot of things! A lot of them! But...couldn't they stay here? Or something? Until there's a way back?"[/color]

[color=FFB6C1][i]If there's a way back...[/i][/color]

Caretaker Nirvu affixed her with a more firm stare. Weighing her, as it sometimes did. She wriggled, a little, wishing it would stop; and that she didn't so pointedly understand the expression of the faceless companion she now had. It was unnerving; both the Caretaker and her understanding of it. Slowly, the intensity of it drifted away.

[color=#BFFF00]"There have been few Mortals to [i]stay[/i] within the Crystalline Gardens, Beatrix. Your presence here is a rare thing. Many of the other Caretakers wish to see you removed. Aberrant Mortals are considered dangerous by many of my kin."[/color] Sadness seemed to caress the Caretaker. [color=#BFFF00]"Recent years have proven that strange beings often bring strange and dangerous tidings. I have told you, shown you, the damage wrought upon the Garden by an outsider's hands. There are more, still, in the way of atrocities that you have yet to see."[/color]

[color=FFB6C1]"O-oh,"[/color] she managed. Beatrix let her hands rest against her knees, wondering. [color=FFB6C1][i]So...dangerous people are coming here?[/i][/color] It was an unspoken, unnecessary question. Caretaker Nirvu [i]had[/i], indeed, shown her the former homes of the missing Semblances. As well as many of those that still remained. She had heard names and deeds more fantastic than she could imagine. Still, one utterance had stood out above all others. It had nothing to do with the Masks, so far as she could tell, or the weird creatures that were turned into them. At least not beyond their theft. A name spoken with bitterness, and often used alongside the word 'calamity'.

It had everything to do with a Nomad Serpent.[/center]