Let's Do The Space Warp Again

[iamnotpolaris]

'Guided random' selected, parameters recalibrated, universe selection initiated.
What's on the other side now?

Comments

[whatamithinking]

Predictably enough, inland.
As they walk through what appears to be a very exotic forest, they presumably see a lot of statues of a unicorn with a broken-off horn.

[pythbox]

They do. There are lots of those.

[not_only]

They also see a huge striped green-and-orange lizard, which Sivath eyes warily.

[whatamithinking]

Presumably these were made by the person with the lovely mind.
So this world maybe has unicorns in it, interesting.
Eventually they will get pretty close to the nearer manifestation of the island person.

[endragoned]

The nearer manifestation of the island person is:

A humanoid, almost exactly Sivath's height, with horns and a tail and batlike wings and no clothes on. He catches sight of the three travelers and flinches back, startled and alarmed.

[whatamithinking]

No reason to assume they share a language...
Mild telepathic poke, nonverbal but containing concepts like 'hello' and 'friendly' and 'we come in peace.'

[endragoned]

He says something in a language that they indeed do not share. But the tone is one of mild incredulity.

[whatamithinking]

'I don't speak your language. You can respond to me like (this).'

[endragoned]

'Who are you? How did you come here?'

[whatamithinking]

'My name is Edie, and this is my sister Emily, and our more recent companion Sivath,' she sends, mirroring to Emily and Sivath. 'We're travelers-between-worlds.'

[endragoned]

'And why did you come here?'

[whatamithinking]

'My sister and I are trying to find our way home, and this involves traveling to a wide variety of different worlds learning about what makes them different according to the method of travel we have. We landed on your island quite by random, and thought it would be polite to introduce ourselves.'

[endragoned]

He regards them warily for a few moments longer, then shrugs.

'Welcome to my island, then. Be careful what you eat; many things here are poisonous.'

[whatamithinking]

'Thank you. We brought our own food with us, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Did you make the unicorn statues? They're gorgeous.'

[endragoned]

'Yes.'

[whatamithinking]

'...Are you okay?'

[endragoned]

He shrugs.

'The statues are of my friend Tialle. She died many thousands of years ago.'

[whatamithinking]

'I'm sorry to hear that.'
Unicorns definitely exist in this universe, then.
'So if it isn't rude to ask...and feel free to tell me to shove off if it is...you...feel like you have two bodies.'

[endragoned]

It may not be rude exactly but it does appear to be very alarming.

[whatamithinking]

'I'm sorry!'

[endragoned]

'How is that a thing you can feel?'

[whatamithinking]

'My telepathy has a spatial aspect. I can usually tell where a mind is--and yours appears to be in two different places.'

[endragoned]

He considers these statements.

Then he says: 'That is my Bondmate.'

There is a lot of implicit information in that one. Like the fact that his Bondmate is a dragon, and that if either of them dies so too will the other, and the fact that this makes his Bondmate his greatest weakness. Which is why having someone know about the Bond unexpectedly was so alarming.

[whatamithinking]

'Ah.'
She considers this.
'None of us intend to harm--either of you? You singular? Is it appropriate to refer to you as one person or two? In my experience, dragons are usually harder to harm than humanoids anyway.'
This also contains the implicit information that "dragon," to her, is a category rather than a species--various usually-winged reptiles in various universes, almost all of them more formidable than other sapient species from the relevant worlds.

[endragoned]

There are two of them, but they are the same person. It is not a usual situation, even among Bonded dragons. (He clarifies the concept so that she does not have to rely on an imprecise categorical description formed in worlds other than this one: this is what local dragons look like, this is what it feels like to be one, and here is the feeling of recognizing a Dragonbond, and the function the Bond has in allowing the dragon to reproduce and allowing their Bonded to do arbitrary amounts of magic without cost—)

But while Bonded dragons are usually less vulnerable than their Bondmates, this dragon's Bondmate is (uniquely among all people who have ever Bonded to dragons, as far as he knows) an Endarkened (distant impression of a very long time spent in very unpleasant conditions), and therefore near-literally impossible to kill, unless you happen to have a unicorn handy (the burn of a unicorn's horn, an incandescent blaze of pain across the palm of his hand).