I'll help you

She hadn't considered him not having a passport, identity or papers. Then again Rykar never really thought things through until they came crashing down on her. Her eyes turned to the pier, the officers checking the papers held up the line by asking too many questions. A curse abandoned her lips.

"What is it?" Daniel asked.

Rykar didn't answer, picking up her luggage and throwing it over the wooden gate that kept everyone in a nice line. It wasn't common for her to jump over barriers but there she was, attempting to get out of line and getting dirty looks for doing so. She would explain to him that his lack of papers was an issue but there were too many people around. Too many who carried with them everything at hand, prepared.

As she helped Daniel over the barrier her focus turned to her sister. A bit of anger boiled through her as she recalled Dextera suggesting Rykar help the Otherworlder. No. It wasn't her sister's fault, she knew that, but blaming Dextera for her current predicament was much easier than realising she could've always said no.

No.

No to taking on the price of the translator. No to helping the Otherworlder make it to Piria. No to being the one to explain the world he now found himself in. No to everything.

It would've been easier had the Otherworlder not been too keen on leaving her world. She could still remember the expression in his eyes as she showed him maps of her country, maps of the prince's country, and the world as a whole. There'd also been panic as he read the stories about other Otherworlders. All in all, he'd grown silent as she spoke. Then, he looked out the window of the library they were in and said, "It's night. But everyone is so lively."

Rykar looked out. The sky had shifted from its dark midnight to a lighter colour. The sun would arise soon. She didn't know what else to say so she checked up on her sibling instead.

-I'm going to bed- Was Dextera's reply, followed up with a crying face.

"You can get a residence here." Rykar said. "The paperwork is pretty straightforward." That wasn't necessarily a lie, but to anyone who hadn't been born in Altlan it might as well be. "You can look at your options after that."

"How long would that take?"

"I don't know." She explained. "A month or so if you have help. Longer if you navigate the system on your own. Then there's also whether you change the world or are just… normal."

"How do they… how can they measure that?"

Rykar shrugged.

"What if I'm not?"

Rykar shrugged.

"Not to be rude." He'd said. "But what can you tell me?"

"My sister's teacher was normal. That's all I know. We don't have classes on Otherworlders, no studies. Otherworlders are just… stories that appear, go or rot."

"Rot?"

"Yeah, their bodies just fall apart after they die. It's quite gruesome and weird." Rykar said, stopping herself when she saw his expression. "It probably won't happen to you. Don't worry. You'll get back home. If you can get the prince to stop talking about himself for a minute you might be able to get his help, it'll be easier than doing it here." She stopped for a moment. "He might be your best chance actually." She didn't want to say it. "He could just skip over the fact that you're an Otherworlder and grant you citizenship without checking whether or not you 'change the world'" It made her physically ill to suggest it.

The prince had agreed to help the Otherworlder out. It took ten hours for Daniel to get somewhere close. Once he realised that he couldn't get anywhere he turned to Rykar, waking her up from her slumber, and she in turn reached for her sister.

"Why not help the Otherworlder out?" Her sister said, holding the letter the prince had written in one hand and his seal in the other. "You needed something to do, didn't you?"

Rykar at first had thought that it was a perfectly fine idea. That way she didn't actually have to care much about what she did and simply focus on helping the Otherworlder. And Daniel, who was right there but not being talked to, tried to pretend he could move towards Piria on his own. The three of them blocked the pathway up and down the stairs, moving to the side whenever anyone had to pass. "It should be fine." Rykar said, not really thinking about how she would actually get him off a country obsessed with paperwork and bureaucracy.

"Accept help when offered." Dextera told Daniel as she handed him the letter. "I'm going to bed. Figure it out bebé because I'm leaving when I wake up." She ruffled her sister's hair and ignored Rykar's comments about being the eldest and not a bebé.

"You really don't have to." Daniel told her. "You've been off help."

Had he waited a bit longer she would have agreed with him and let him go off on his own. Instead she found herself slightly proud of how kind she was being. "No problem." She said, not really thinking about anything. "I was planning on going in that direction anyhow."

The following day she cursed herself underneath her breath, trying to make sure they didn't call much attention to themselves as they left the line. She let her luggage fall onto the sand of the beach and lied down, wondering if this was finally her long awaited debut into the criminal world. A sigh abandoned her lips as she closed her eyes, thinking about leaving and returning back to her home.

"What happened?" Daniel eventually asked.

She opened her eyes slightly, "We're going to have to take a different route." Rykar didn't really want to. It was so much easier to simply go up to the pier, buy a ticket on the ferry, hand her paperwork as she walked onto it, and enjoy the journey. She considered abandoning him on a boat and making a run for it.

With a sigh she called her sister Caldera's fiancé, "Do you happen to know any criminals? I need someone who can help me out of the law."

Caldera's fiancé had the name and address sent to her almost instantly, promising to keep her request a secret from anyone but her sister. She hoped Caldera would simply forget about it as she usually did, allowing the rest of her family member's to know not much of her trip.

Rykar wished to go to Dextera and ask whether or not it was a good choice, however she had left the city hours ago. Leaving Rykar to wake up alone in the room, a drawing of Snofflepafalefasus placed right next to her pillow, the little creature speaking a few words of encouragement. Of course she hadn't been planning on following her sister forever, but to Rykar it felt as though it was still too early to part ways.

With the name of the criminal in hand she walked up and down the streets of the coastal town. At times she pulled her luggage while the Otherworlder carried her backpack. At others they switched, in both instances they kept quiet, moving up the hills and fighting against the wind.

"Not a lot of people come through here." She told him as they moved, the silence feeling all too overwhelming. "It's more popular to fly or take a train. The ferry is more of a school trip sort of thing." She stopped for a moment, watching the horizon. "I feel like you do change the world." Daniel looked down, having been a few steps ahead of her due to him having no weight to handle. The luggage in between her hands. "It's odd. The world feels more… clean around you. It's kind of like a painting. The world was bright and textured, moving, and at times, when with you, it feels as though the lines are becoming simplistic. Static."

"Is that good or bad?"

"It's strange." Rykar said, starting to move once more. "And strange is neither." She took a deep breath, feeling as though life had suddenly rushed through her lungs. "Oh, the world has turned back into texture. I think I like it this way better. Don't you?"

"I…" Daniel said, frowning. "I don't really understand."

Rykar looked around, finding in the distance the small little cottage that her sister's fiancé had sent her to. "That's fine." She said, "I think I've found it." She showed him the picture on her phone before pointing at the house.

It was exactly the same. A white picket fence, mint coloured walls and a grey roof made out of rocks. Pumpkins of different colours, and like made out of stone or cardboard, decorated the way to the entrance. Pink coloured smoke escaped from the chimney on its side, declaring where it was to those that looked for it, as well as those who couldn't care less for it. She felt a lovely glee when looking at how adorable the house was. All too different from her own home which did not fit in its surroundings as well as the cottage.

"Do you know them?" Daniel asked. Four words that asked a thousand different questions. She could tell. He seemed to be the kind of person that wore his heart on his sleeve, or maybe it was simply that to her emotions were something that weren't hard to decipher. Sadness was sadness. Happiness was happiness. Even if someone smiled as they cried it wasn't all that difficult to tell what they were feeling. She could tell and become disappointed when facing the exceptions.

She shook her head. "No, but my sister's fiancé knows them so it should be fine." They made it to the door through the pathway. No one walked past them, as though the town had actually been abandoned a long time ago. Her knuckles scraped against the door. "He's trustworthy and she apparently has impressive filing."

The Otherworlder could feel himself wondering about whether it was a trait that was worth mentioning, if it had any value at all was not for him to know.

Rykar knocked the door once more, with slightly more strength than the last. The house came alive. The person inside it stumbled over themselves as they made their way to the door, opening it as though there had never been a delay or issue. Their bright green hair a few shades off from the walls of the cottage. A smile filled with sharp teeth.