in the east, the gray-green lines

[priorcommitment]

When he sits at the edge of the dock and the tides have risen as much as they do now, the water manages to lap against Ishiah's ankles, the slope of his shoulders uncharacteristically hunched as he stares off into the distance. The bright chirping of birds has faded into the gentle buzz of insects in the distance, hopping from one blade of grass to the next, and Ishiah appreciates the scene just as he does everything else on the island, with an objective eye and an aching heart. It isn't enough to stop him, nor to throw off the tasks which he dutifully fulfills by the day. It isn't enough to drive him mad for the want of home.

But on the rare occasions that it crosses his mind to ask himself whether or not he's happy, the answer doesn't always seem to be so positive of one.

A pair of footsteps sound in the distance, and Ishiah, finding himself curious, glances over his shoulder to spot a young man headed in this direction, to the edge of the dock. He doesn't suspect that the young man is here for him, but instead likely just seeking the very same thing Ishiah is. A momentary period of solace.

He nods in greeting, a thin smile on his lips.

Comments

[princehonorable]

He doesn't know why, but none of this is frightening or strange to him. There's some tiny voice in the very back of his mind calmly accepting it as the truth and telling him that he ought to believe this. And, you know what? David's not ready to quiet that voice, just yet. "It's crazy, but...I guess that sounds like something I'd like to see," he admits. "That kind of camaraderie and peace, that sort of alliance."

[priorcommitment]

"It's precarious," Ishiah says, by way of being realistic. In the entirety of that wide world, there's only this small stretch of Manhattan, Ishiah knows, which sees any level of truce between the sides. And breaking out that space was one of the bloodiest efforts that he's ever seen to date, the result of a few who persevered and clung, and steeled themselves with the knowledge that they couldn't carve out that haven without losses. He lost more brothers in that effort than any other, and in the end, Manhattan is still as dangerous of a place as any.

But he can readily admit that it is unique.

"I wouldn't call it peace so much as a cease-fire," he adds. "Once they step outside of the boundary of the city, it's no holds barred."

[princehonorable]

"I don't -- I can't say," he begins, a wariness to his voice that goes along with the fact that nothing in his life is sure, since nothing in his life is really and truly known, "but I feel like where I come from, peace has been the furthest thing from people's minds since we were all born. I feel like, somehow, all I've ever really known is war." But that's not true. Is it? After all, he can remember a life of peace and happiness, a time where he feels utterly content without the threat of a battle.

"Maybe," he sighs, shaking his head. "I have no idea."

[priorcommitment]

"I wouldn't be surprised," Ishiah replies, brow furrowed in consideration. "Of almost all of the creatures that I have known over the years, humans have the greatest tendency to become involved in wars, whether consciously or as a result of the fact that they are so numerous that it's unavoidable that they get caught up in the fray." And what he doesn't say, but feels just as strongly, is that the greed of people often shines through everything else, involving humans in situations where they really have no means to act or affect change.

"Don't push yourself too much," he adds quietly. "The memories may come back in time, but the last thing that we would want is for imagination to take its place under pressure."

[princehonorable]

"It feels like I'm making it all up." He should feel strange confessing this to someone he doesn't know, but maybe there's a part of him that's so ready to be trusting that he's willing to do this with almost anyone. "I mean, the things in my head," he confides, leaning in because he doesn't want Ishiah to think he's insane. "You wouldn't believe them. I don't think anyone would."

[priorcommitment]

He raises a brow; if there's anything that Ishiah can pride himself on, he thinks, it's the fact that there's very little that surprises him in his age. Whatever part of the world he never experienced on his own, Robin ended up bringing him closer to, the pair of them two halves of a whole, sides to a coin, pulling one another into new places and situations that were practically one another's antitheses.

"Try me," he says, eyes narrowing, less in challenge and more in curiosity. "You might be surprised."

[princehonorable]

He takes a deep breath, trying to reconcile the thoughts that have been cycling through his mind. "I remember a windmill? I remember a dragon and a farm," he says, shaking his head as confusion overwhelms him. "I remember apples and swords and forests and it all makes sense, and then none of it does. And, like I said, there's a woman."

[priorcommitment]

"Absolutely none of which sounds implausible," Ishiah answers firmly, pressing his lips thin as the both of them walk. "Dragons are, admittedly, next to extinct in my own world, but that's not to say that they don't exist in others. I believe there's a dragon or two on this island, even. The rest all seems quite standard to me. What about it strikes you as being impossible to believe?"

[princehonorable]

"But, they don't seem to belong with the other memories," is what he admits, whispering that in case someone else happens to eavesdrop and come away with the conclusion that he's lost the little of his mind. "I remember this small town with a clock-tower and a clock with a minute hand that doesn't move," he says. "It's normal. It's calm. It's peaceful. But I know there's also dragons and men who turn to gold..."

[priorcommitment]

"Either it's an elaborately fashioned world of your own imagination, or perhaps one set of these memories isn't quite as real as the other," Ishiah suggests, though he doesn't lower the volume of his voice. Nothing about the juxtaposition sounds strange to him; memories are often tampered with, especially by those with magic, but even as a function of one's regular health at times. "Unfortunately, I'm not the type of person who knows how to coax out the truth so easily with humans, but we have plenty of qualified doctors on the island who may be able to help."

[princehonorable]

"I've been thinking of visiting the psychiatric office for aid," he admits, still hushing his words. After all, it's a shameful thing to admit aloud, isn't it? He's a grown man, he shouldn't need the help of a doctor to reclaim his memories -- and yet, he's having no success without them. "Do you ever wonder just who you're meant to be? It's all I spent my days doing, now."

[priorcommitment]

Ishiah shakes his head, the only certain answer that he can give out of all the queries that this man has made. "I have never wondered who it is that I'm meant to be. I was not born; I was made. And when one is made, every last detail planned as well as possible, the matter of who we're meant to be becomes infinitely clear. We are made for a purpose," Ishiah considers, brow furrowing.

"The greater question is who I want to be, something that I am still in the process of discovering, and I have little problem taking that road at my own pace. Perhaps that's what you should ask yourself, rather than assuming that you ought force yourself into whoever fate had intended you to be."

[princehonorable]

"I guess I just want to know where I can start," he admits. There's so much that he doesn't know and when he focuses on that lack of knowledge, it makes him feel powerless. Worse, it makes him feel like he's missing something obvious -- something right in front of his nose and bigger than he can even put words to. "I don't like thinking that whatever life I led was so empty that I can so easily walk away from it," he explains.

[priorcommitment]

"Perhaps start with the woman that you've mentioned more than once already. People tend to leave a very deep impact on our memories, and chances are that this woman may have some clue as to what your previous life was like. Or perhaps simply talking to her will unearth some feelings driven by who you used to be," Ishiah suggests with a brief look, before then clarifying, "Mind, this is only what I have to suggest after hearing what you've told me. I have no way of knowing whether or not anything will come of it, but it does certainly sound like the greatest lead that you have thus far."

[princehonorable]

"Her name is Mary Margaret," he explains, his tone sliding into a genuine fondness that can't be mistaken the moment he starts to speak about her. "And she's the only thing that feels real here, like the only person I can remember, even if there are no concrete facts behind those memories. I recognize her, but things about her as well -- her ring, her smile, her hands."

[priorcommitment]

He knows Mary Margaret. The two have only briefly spoken, of course, but in that amount of time, Ishiah already knew that she was the type so wholly sweet that he couldn't do anything short of looking after her welfare. Brows furrowing severely at the thought of her being involved in a matter as confusing as this, Ishiah hopes that the pull that this man feels isn't the result of some early imprinting on a man without memories. He hopes that he's drawn to her for reasons more than the physical alone, that perhaps the smile and ring are only noticeable for having been in all of the memories that they shared earlier in life.

"And what does she know about you?" he asks, trying to see if such is the case. "She does recognize you, yes?"

[princehonorable]

"She's the one who told me what my name is," he replies. There are other details, too, that he doesn't believe so readily -- and herein lies the problem. Should he believe her because she feels so real or should he believe in what he feels is right? "She knows me and she said that she --"

This is awkward, being that it's personal information and he doesn't know this man. "I'm not sure I should divulge. What she told me was between the two of us."

[priorcommitment]

"That's a decision that only you can make," Ishiah replies with a slight shake of his head, not at all eager to try and push this man one way or the other. For all that he's proven himself a great confidante to any number of people, the last thing that he wants to do is to cause some man to throw the trust of another aside. "I'm capable of keeping secrets, but the choice of whether or not to trust me with that is only yours."

He turns to face forward again, keeping their pace relatively slow and measured.

"I won't press, either way."

[princehonorable]

He doesn't feel like it would be right if he talked about what Mary Margaret confided to him privately. It's something that he wants to do for her, even though she never asked. "I guess what it boils down to is that I only feel like one thing in this strange world is right and the memories that have been coming back make no sense at all."

[priorcommitment]

"Write them down when you can. Whatever you remember, take notes as you're doing now, and then you'll be able to step back and look over everything with more care, find someone to help weed truth from confusion," Ishiah suggests, running his fingers briefly through his hair, which has grown out a bit too much for his liking over recent months. They reach a clearing in the path; Ishiah wonders if it wouldn't be a good idea for them to take a break. "There was another person with a situation not entirely unlike yours. She was able to find out more about her strange and conflicting memories, but it took a fair amount of time and therapy alike."

[princehonorable]

"Do you remember her name?" There's a great deal of inherent hope in his tone. If this has happened before, then he can find out who he truly is. He can find out who he's really meant to be instead of this David Nolan that he hears about, but doesn't really trust. "Do you think I could speak to her?"

[priorcommitment]

"She's no longer on the island," Ishiah explains with a slight shake of his head. "But I believe the psychiatrist that she was turning to still is, although I don't know enough to tell you who that might be." He tries to call back further into his memory, but the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of people on the island, and Ishiah never wants to pry too far into their private affairs.

Not without their consent, complicit or otherwise.

"I'm mainly telling you to remind you of the fact that working past this isn't an impossibility. Others have managed before."

[princehonorable]

He can't help the utter crushing defeat of that information, pressing his lips together as he bows his head. He knows that it was a long shot, but he had still hoped that he could have found some kind of solace by speaking to her. "I just want to remember whether what Mary Margaret tells me is true. Because some of the information feels like it's...made up, like a story, but other things feel so real. Like her and the ring she wears."

[priorcommitment]

"I'm not sure that anyone will be able to verify that for you. As I said before, your best bet is to find someone who is an expert in this area, someone who is perhaps familiar with calling out repressed memories. There must at least be one person familiar with the procedure, so you're not without hope," Ishiah repeats, knowing that there's very little else that he has to offer. Even with Caliban's situation, all that he was able to do was to remain in the young man's general vicinity, but Ishiah's sure it was more his presence than anything in specific that he did which helped Caliban remember.

And with this young man, Ishiah doesn't have that advantage.

[princehonorable]

"I have to admit, I'm willing to do anything right now." With the map tucked into his pocket, David finds that he's resorting to whatever desperate hope he can in order to find answers that make sense instead of this muddled disaster running through his mind at any given waking moment. "I just want to understand whether there really is a wife waiting back home for me when I don't feel like that could possibly be true."