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SILVER: Tales from the Fringes of Reality. Episode 11 – All Who Wander…

(sounds of chaos fading into nothing)

SILVER: I’ll be right back, Min! I just need to go and talk to Mari about– Stars above. Min, call my dad. Now, Min! Please! Just… Tell him it’s an emergency. Because it is an emergency Minerva!

SILVER: Woah, hey, don’t try to stand up! You just passed out, please just stay still while I get my dad over here– (wiggling) Look, wanderer, I know you’re scared but it’s all going to be okay. Help is coming, we’ll find out how you got here and how to get you home.

GUILLERMO: Silver? What seems to be– Stars above. Silver, help me pick them up, we need to get them to Opal now. Did you see where they came from?

SILVER: No. I was just leaving to go and talk to Marigold and then… There they were. Do you know them?

GUILLERMO: Opal! Opal, we need your help, stat. And Al’s if they can spare the time.

SILVER: Dad–

OPAL: Memo? What’s– Oh dear. Is that–

GUILLERMO: We need to get them medical care now. Magical care as well. They’re so cold, Ope. I’ve never…

OPAL: Go find Alasdair. Silver and I will start on medical treatment.

SILVER: So will you tell me if we know this person?

OPAL: It’s… more complicated than just knowing, Silver. This person is… Important, to someone very dear to your father. And before you ask, no I will not say further on the matter, this is information that your dad should be sharing with you. 

SILVER: But do you actually think he will?

OPAL: … Help me get them hooked up to the heart scanner.

(footsteps)

ALASDAIR: Stars above. It really is them. Opal, did you get the magic reader set up?

OPAL: I pulled it out but needed to focus on making sure their heart’s still beating. You and Memo get that set up, Silver and I will finish the last of the medical instruments that need to be prepared.

ALASDAIR: And there’s no word from…

GUILLERMO: No. Hasn’t been for a few days now, I didn’t think anything of it at first but now…

ALASDAIR: Magic levels are stable but it looks like they lost a fair amount of blood during whatever sent them here. It’s good you found them when you did, Silver. I’m not sure they would’ve made it much longer if you hadn’t.

SILVER: Can I at least know their name? You can be cagey about the rest of it, but at least give me that much information.

GUILLERMO: …Their name is Whim.

(sharp sound)

SILVER: Easy, wanderer, easy. You’re alright, you’re alright. (pause) Oh! Here, you can use this to communicate with me. (tapping) ‘Where am I?’ You’re in the infirmary on the Fringes. (tapping) ‘Fringes?’ Yeah! It’s… Well it’s a little hard to explain… Wherever you’re from is one of millions of realities. Where we are now is on the fringes of those realities– here, look! See down there, all those swirling circles? Those are the different realities; we kind of… hover just off of them. (tapping) ‘Do you know how I got here?’ …Unfortunately not. But my dad did tell me your name is Whim if that helps? (tapping) ‘How did he know my name?’ …He wouldn’t tell me, but he seemed rattled. He’s looking for how to get you home right now, though! And he’s really good at that, I promise. In the meantime, you can hang out with me! 

(tapping) ‘Do you have a name?’ Oh, where are my manners? I’m Silver. It’s really nice to meet you, Whim.

ALEXANDRIA: Silver, darling– Oh! They’re awake. How are you feeling, Whim? (tapping) ‘Do we… know each other?’ That is a complicated question at this point. From what I can gather, we know you, but you don’t seem to remember us. We’re currently working to figure out how this has happened to you. My name is Alexandria, I’m one of the many people who will be hovering over you during your time here and making sure you’re back to your regular health levels. You’ve already met my children Alasdiar, Guillermo, and Opal. They were the ones who found you originally. And, of course, you know Silver here. It’s good to see you awake, Whim. 

ALEXANDRIA (CONT.): (tapping) ‘I’m sorry I don’t remember you.’ Don’t be. That’s outside of your control and we’re going to figure out what could have happened to make this an issue you’re facing.

SILVER: You’re in really good hands with us, Whim. I know you don’t know us, but I can promise you we’ll take good care of you.

(sharp sound)

SILVER: Stars above, Minerva, they’re just… They’re so cool! No one ever gets lost on the Fringes! Well… No one except for my mom. But this person has a high enough magic level that they can stay. Or at least that’s what Opal said, they have a few theories about where this person wandered in from apparently. I’ve never been around anyone who isn’t family–

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: You are family, Minerva. You know this. From the moment we met, you were family, were my best friend. And I’m not trying to replace you! It’s just… nice to meet Whim is all. I wish it was under better circumstances, of course I do, but still. Getting to talk to them, to hear about the bits of their life they remember right now… They went to school, Min! Just like I did! Gods, I haven’t had anyone who understood what school was in so long…

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: I know you know what a school is, Min, but actually going to school, being around other kids, what it feels like to be away from your family it’s… That’s something you have to live to fully understand. Opal knows how schools work but she’s never been to one. She can’t talk to me about her childhood friends and what it was like to move away from them. But Whim can and I haven’t–

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: …That was mean, Min. You don’t even know them, you refuse to leave this room to meet them– Will you at least let me bring them here so you can see that they’re not some kind of threat to us all?

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: Fine, Min. Be that way. I’m going to go and check in on them.

(sharp sound)

MARIGOLD: Hey, Sil. I need to talk to you about something.

SILVER: Yes?

MARIGOLD: I would’ve told you sooner, but they were still in recovery and there’s still all of the issues with their memory–

SILVER: Is everything alright with Whim?

MARIGOLD: They’re fine, Silver. They’re also connected to you.

SILVER: What do you mean?

MARIGOLD: I don’t make the heartlines. Well, I do but I don’t. They’re kind of… they’re my fault but I’m not building each and every individual one so much as I’m casting magic over a reality and letting the lines build themselves up. All of this is to say that while I knew you had a heartline, I didn’t know who it was connected to since I didn’t make it. But the more and more time Whim spends here, the clearer it becomes that the two of you are linked. Literally and magically linked. When I first saw it, I thought it was just a trick of the light, I mean, their magic was so weak that for all I knew it could’ve been some new form of IV that Opal created but it wasn’t. It shot straight from their chest to yours.

SILVER: So we share a heartline? Like the ‘fated to meet and fall in love’ kind or–

MARIGOLD: The heartlines just mean that you’ll have a connection to the person. You get to decide what kind of connection that is. I’m not going to sit here and say that the two of you are going to fall in love or that you have to do anything at all with this knowledge, I’m just letting you know that you’re linked somehow. And you get to determine how you want that link to grow.

(sharp sound)

SILVER: …I missed you at the party, Min. Perhaps I shouldn’t have, but I did. Stars, I shouldn’t care at all about how you feel tonight, not after everything you said to me but I just… You’re my friend, Minerva. And I hate fighting with you, hate that I somehow always end up crawling back to you and begging for forgiveness that isn’t even yours to give. You hurt me tonight, you know that? And if you do, do you even care?

(faint hissing sound)

Whim is my friend, Min. That’s not going to change just because it makes you upset. But gods above, I still want you to be my friend too. I just want us to be okay again and I… Why is the room getting so blurry? Minerva? Minerva what did you– (door knob jiggling) Minerva, let me out of here. Minerva, please, I– 

(body hits the floor)

(chimes)

SILVER: Gods, my head is killing me. What happened last night? And… where am I?

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: …Minerva? Is that you? Stars, it feels like my head is swimming through paint. We… know each other, right? It’s Minerva?

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: Yeah, yeah of course. My best friend and I forgot your voice for a minute there. Sorry, I think… I think I must’ve hit my head last night or something. Everything’s a bit foggy, I… Stars, I have work to do don’t I? People to– to put into their proper place? That’s… That’s what we do right? You and me?

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: Thanks Minnie. I appreciate it. I might try to find something for my head, hopefully it’s not a concussion or anything like that. Then we can get to work, alright?

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: The Council? They assign the jobs right? I haven’t forgotten that much, Min, it just took me a moment to recognize your voice is all. I remember who my bosses are.

(sharp sound)

SILVER: I think I know them, Minerva.

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: I know I can’t actually know them, Min, I just… They felt so familiar. Do you not feel the same way? Like… Like we’ve read their stories before and moved them back to reality or something. They feel so familiar, in that same way that the Council feels so familiar and–

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: I know these are different and that the Council are my bosses, so of course they feel familiar I just… I don’t know, Minnie. It feels like there’s something going on here, like they were somehow meant to find their way here.

Like maybe I wasn’t meant to be alone here.

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

SILVER: No, yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry, Min, I know I’m not alone here. You’re here, so I’m not alone and I shouldn’t have just discounted you like that. You know you mean the world to me, Minerva. You’re the only family I have.

(sharp sound)

SILVER: (sniffling) Oh, hey wanderer. No, no, I’m fine, I swear. This fight with Minerva is just getting to me is all. We’ve never really fought before, or… Well, it feels like we have but I know that can’t be the case. There’s something about you being here that’s making her… moody, I guess. Not that this is your fault! I snapped at her and I shouldn’t have, I just…

You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I swear I know you from somewhere. It’s literally impossible, this is the only place I’ve ever been and Minerva is the only person I regularly have contact with but it just… It feels like I know you. Like I’ve always known you. Like we’re… Linked, somehow.

Like I said, you probably think I’m crazy. Just a person arguing with their AI and talking to a stranger who can’t talk back because she’s too lonely without the AI around and– I’m sorry. I’m unloading on you, and I shouldn’t be doing that. I should be focused on getting you home; I am focused on getting you home, I swear, I just needed a minute. A minute to mourn the loss of my friend who is still here but who is so different than I ever remember her being. 

I know I can’t actually know you, but you’re just as kind as I remember you being, wanderer.

(sharp sound)

SILVER: I wish you could’ve told me about your home, wanderer. I bet wherever it is, it’s lovely. I’ve never had a home before, not outside of here. I think about it sometimes, what it might be like to have a home and a family and– And then I stop thinking about it because I start to break my own heart a little bit. 

I guess in some ways, Minerva is my family. That’s what we’ve always called each other, or at least we did before we started fighting. She’s still fully offline and I’m just… here. Here alone because you got sent home by Minerva who would rather hide how she found your home than talk to me. Here with the silence and I need to fill the space somehow so I talk and I think and I break my own heart a lot pining over a world I can never and will never experience.

You probably have a family who is looking everywhere for you. Parents who are wondering where you were and are organizing searches with their friends so that they can find you again and hold you in their arms and tell you how much they love you. How much they need you and missed you and care about you and–

You probably have that. You definitely deserve to. 

I’ve never had that. I doubt I ever will, I’ve always been here and it’s just me and Minerva. She would notice if I went missing, of course she would, but I don’t know that she’d particularly care. I don’t know if she would try to get me back. But maybe she would. Maybe if I leapt out the window and into the void right now she would turn back on and try to find a way to catch me before I fell, would tell me she’s sorry for the argument and that she cares about me and loves me and that we’re family…

But maybe I don’t deserve that. Maybe I just deserve here, with the quiet, empty space and a friend who won’t even speak to me anymore.

If you’re listening, Minerva… I don’t even know if I’m sorry. But I’d say it if it meant you’d talk to me again. 

(sharp sound)

(sounds of chaos growing louder again)

SILVER: Whim let me go, I need to help them! (tapping) ‘Your dad told us to hide’ I don’t care! I– (crashing sound) Listen to this, Whim? How can I stay here and hide knowing that I can help stop all of this? (tapping) ‘What could you possibly do, Silver?’ Something, anything has to be better than hiding here and just hoping they’re going to be okay. (tapping) ‘It’s too risky’ You don’t know that. What if it isn’t even her?

MINERVA: (violin bowing)

SILVER: …I can help, Whim. I can. No one knows Minerva better than me at this point, if anyone can stop her– Please just… Just let me help.

(tapping) ‘Okay. Okay, go.’ Thank you. (tapping) ‘But I’m coming with.’ Whim… Fine, please, just… We need to hurry.

(running)

GUILLERMO: Silver, what are you two doing–

SILVER: It’s okay, dad. It’s all going to be okay.

(powerful wind, followed by various groans from the Council members)

ALASDAIR: Whim, are you alright? Where’s Silver, did they get knocked back too?

GUILLERMO: Silver! Silver, please–

SILVER: (desperately) It’s the only way to fix this.

Leave them alone, Minnie. Them and all of the realities. And I’ll come with you.

MINERVA: (violin bowing)

SILVER: I promise, Min. No tricks, just me.

ALEXANDRIA: Silver, don’t do this!

MINERVA: (violin bowing)

SILVER: I know, Min. I know. As long as they’re safe.

I love you all so much.

(crash of magic as Silver and Minerva disappear)