she parted the beaded fabric drape that acted as both a privacy shade and an alert that someone entered as the beads clicked. "come through my dear," her brother called out. she stopped to step from her footwear so it would not track the wet bits of fallen and damp inside quuotienne's home, knowing it was a thing he insisted upon.
"quo," she called out in greeting, did you rest well?" eyes adjusted finally after the brightness outside, she stepped into the dimmer room and stepped up to the table in front of her to sit across from her brother.
"i did at last," he responded. "it took some time before i slept. was your period of remembrance enflamed too?" his way of minimizing the stature of violence.
"no, not in that way." she responded. "i got the beginning of the penetration. still, it was intense and i had work to finish before i could absorb anything. i could use more rest."
"quotillda, hello! quotations bedshare dal called from the food prep area, can i get a drink for you?" his head came around the doorway, eyes sparkling, smile wide. "yes, dal, please." he winked and disappeared, the sounds of his industry audible. clinks and clicks, water flowing.
as she waited she and quo compared notes about the instructions from their respective visions and prepared a plan to address the recurrence of bizarre phenomena bleeding through the dimensional barrier from the other side of it.
dal soon entered the room with a tray holding cups, and a heated container of steeped neet beverage, a tea. he set it on the table where the three could all reach and in the flickery amber light from the oil lamps suspended from the ceiling they took a moment to chat and drain a small cup of the neet. then dal, knowing they'd work to do, got up and left them to it.
quotienne settled in the posture his sister recognized as his readiness to get to work and mirrored the movement. they locked eyes across the table top and in quiet tones whose resonance nonetheless caused the objects within six feet of them to rattle. a trance induced by the incantation's rapid recitation allowed the two to merge their visions that had been imparted to them in their session with the great book.
quotillda knew from the recuperative cast to the vision she's been given, she'd seen aftermath. filled with very obviously traumatized people who had come through, as the passage through the barrier between their two worlds, the one of their origin and this.
stunned people, slower to respond, even when it was apparent they were aware of being addressed. some with eyes of colors unknown to her own people's tones of the ground and the trunks of trees, not to mention their skin and hair! blue eyes, gray and green. white skin, like the capsules of unborn flyers and hair the color of the first new blooms of the annual cycle, the ones that shone like the brightest spot in the night sky. like a tiny fleck of fire beckoning for attention. others hair was the color of dying fire. some few had hair more like that of her people, even more the color of a moonless night sky, a rarity amongst hers however.
this was a far more restful set of scenes for than for quotienne, for his vision hit quotillda in ways that felt physical. nearby the area of the thinnest part of the barrier between worlds where people and objects came through a wavering in the atmosphere could be felt. this became more uncomfortable as one continued to approach inducing nausea and deep aches that stabbed like sharpened sticks being inserted from head to toe. no visible effects could be discerned as one neared the spot where the fused in blackened pipe things and then people began to randomly plop onto the soil in varied states of being began to arrive. burned and broken limbed they popped through, as in they appeared with a percussive pop, likely the results of the aperture's ripping open to expel these people and objects.
some people arrived shrieking in pain, hysterical because they'd been caught in an explosion or other event that had proportion enough to rend asunder the form and cauterize those torn places upon arrival on this new safer side of the dimension.
after a time of soothing these new citizens of this world, attendance to the infirm spent hours talking with the patients. with only slight differences these spoke enough common words and phrases of earth's languages like to those of quotillda's own that communication was fairly easy. what story the words conveyed was the opposite of easy.
the world oh sorry nope the world the new citizen survivors have left was one of inconceived cruelty and horror. the gaps left by an inability to convey with speech were unmistakable as waves of meaning filled emotion was more than effective.
quotienne watched in silent protective mode concerned for his sister's health, body and soul but also in full understanding that not only was this his twin tinier and frailer than he, she was as strong as strong as anyone in their encampment. this he knew as he watched the energetic transfer between them through their clasped hands. he marveled at her slimmer boned hands rested in his larger grip, engulfed as if it were a much larger bird's claw. absorbing the forces of several dimensions' worth of concurrment traumatization. knowing that if he interfered by assisting in any way that she'd not soon forget it. so he didn't. she wasn't vengeful but if she felt her ability to act autonomously was infringed upon she lost her composure and would, well, get angry.
no one in their encampment wanted anger to be induced in anyone else as the powerful ripples it generated whenever it was, created an effect felt by everyone and everything for an orbital throbbing distance felt. far and away from the epicenter of its creation.
the effect left in its wake was an overall disease and when not curbed and reckoned with quickly, all of it and all it touched were left with minor low-grade maladies that lingered and were recovery resistant. they constituted and atmosphere of general bummer. when severe, it had to be taken on the way a natural disaster would. it would take a gathering of all of the non-affected to assemble and generate a stronger remote counterforce of healing.
incidents of the sort were rare and to be avoided due to the taxing nature of the treatment and recovery. once the illness had been moved on the whole world's routines and schedules went in a sharp downshift. with every contributor gone into half hibernation less production would go on. this wasn't negative as much so as slow moving. it was as if the whole world felt itself moving in reverse. an illusion born of the nature of the world's inhabitants, a productive service-oriented species. not so unlike the world the refugees kept arriving from, except there, the race to productivity was centered around acquisition of recognition and material items at a greater pace than their fellows. service to the self at any cost.
the reverse image of the world they've been tossed from their own world into.
occupied by these thoughts quotienne began to feel the flow to his sister stutter and become inconsistent. knowing knowing he'd be thirsty hungry and exhausted following the transfer and since he knew he couldn't free his hands until quotillda broke free of her trance. he kicked the table, causing the chime on it to sound. this would signal dal to bring provisions for them both.
quotillda's eyes fluttered open and her hands pulled three of her brothers. dal set goblets of warm and sweet smelling drink before the three of them and plates to rest some of the selection of bite-size morsels of food onto. the twins needed to replenish the energy it had taken to perform the session.
the men chatted quietly as they waited for quotillda to come back to herself. gradually her breathing changed from rhe irregular pants to full cleansing inhales and exhales. a calm began to settle over all of them and she sat up straighter, reached for her drink, and after a deep drop said, "growth! quotienne, those poor people!"
ahe proceeded to share her understanding of the situation from both sides of the barrier as it pertained to her people and the absorption of the tangled fragmented souls, literally and figuratively, into their society.
it was fine, they'd done it morw than once, as the influx kept ramping up over time.
while returning to home for the refugees was always on the table virtually none cared to. as they saw it, once therapeutic healing was completed, the newly whole souls rarely elected to. the conclusion over and again was that on the other side they'd be declared dead or missing never to be found. here, they were healed from living in their home world and things there would take their course. why would i want to return to that chaos, they'd ask, when it's calm and beautiful and everyone's happy and healthy here? so they've stayed, and they're welcome, everyone finds a niche.
the three continued speaking long hours. although the conversation ranged widely over the many ways all areas of the world would be affected by the influence influx of arrivals quotillda and quotienne both foresaw in their trance state visions.
the glamor of the situation began to wane for dal and yawning, he cleared away the remnants of their food and drink unnoticed, as once more the siblings discussed arcane and nigh forgotten administrative affairs to deal with the influx.
it was only as the dawn began to lighten the room and dal reappeared bearing steaming cups of the break fast brew enjoyed by most of the world to the twins. a nutritious stimulating beverage whose scent roused the pair from their intense focus.
reaching for their cups and blinking owlishly they sipped, inhaling the richness in silent appreciation. quotienne glanced up at dal as he moved to leave the room having assured himself his charges were drinking the sustenance, and asked him, "did you sleep?" smiling over his shoulder as he left the room he answered, "yes, my love. i needed to get rest enough to meet my other responsibilities."
quotillda finished her drink, set the cup down and stood to leave. "you don't want to rest a little before you're on your way?" asked quotienne.
indicating she didn't with a shake of her head she collected her wrap and slung the strap of her sack across her shoulder made her way to the door and made her way to the door. dal had exited through. "i want to walk while it's still early to organize my thoughts. by the time i get home i will have the changes to the scheduling of my duties and rearranged the central structure i normally attend to for a more extended absence. then i can go to the healing settlement where the newly arrived seriously wounded, shocked and stricken were being treated. after that's done, i'll rest. oto and i need to spend time together too. i don't yet know if he'll journey with me or sever our bed share exclusivity.