A source of much musing...

[Kaliri]

Kaliri wandered from the shadows of one house to the foundations of the next, scanning the streets in front of her. She had a sense she'd been gone for a while, and this disturbed her. The people walking in and out of the houses now were a little different than most she remembered seeing just yesterday, and the buildings themselves had changed in small but noticeable ways.

Last time I was here, she thought, Otomeken was getting ready to leave. Kumori and Rachi and Lenore were going to help me with the caverns. I was growing....

Something made it impossible for her to remember anything more than vague events, as though a cloud had settled over her mind. Unsure of herself, she paused at a street corner, and peered around, trying to determine where she should begin, now that she'd returned.

[Otomeken]

Otomeken was merely out for a walk to enjoy the bright sun. She stroled with her eyes closed, enjoying the feel of the warm rays on her face. She certainly gave no notice to anyone on the streets other than to not walk into them.

For Kaliri though, Otomeken would be almost impossible to recognize. Instead of her long red hair, it was stark white. Instead of the green dress, she wore a white tank top and grey and black combat pants. What was even more distinguishing than that, was that she also now wore the vest of a chuunin, but it lacked the red spiral on the back of it, and instead was adorned with a shamrock in a slightly lighter shade of green. Around her neck, where she used to wear nothing at all, was a necklace made of small polished stones, and a ring hung from the front. It was very fancy and adorned with jade - and it looked like an engagement ring.

In fact, the only things that were the same about this woman, were the blade she wore bandaged on her forearm, and the fact that she manuvred elogantly, though blindly through the crowd with her eye-lids closed...

[Kaliri]

Kaliri squinted into the distance, trying to line up the landmarks in her mind. She walked backwards a few paces to get the angle she was looking for. Somewhere around here... the entrance to the tunnels... somewhere....

As she continued to walk, she failed to look at where her feet were going. A small rock caught her heel, and she stumbled, falling onto her backside with a grunt. Almost immediately, she started grumbling about "new un-coordinated body" and "figuring out what I was doing before."

Her voice was a little deeper. She a little taller. But still unmistakably Kaliri, just as the bird that was now screeching as it dove and wheeled overhead was certainly little Kirei, chastising Kaliri.

[Otomeken]

An unbladed hand extended downward. There was a little conffusion on Otomeken's face from the bit of mummbling she heard. "Try walking forwards if reverse gives you problems..." she intonned offering to help the person up...

[Kaliri]

Kaliri blinked, looking up. She peered into the other girl's face for a while, hardly daring to believe it. She smiled wide, taking the proffered hand and scrambling up.

"Sorry, Otome-kun. Just trying to get my bearings again." She flicked out a hand, and Kirei stopped screaming at her, preferring instead to perch on the girl's shoulder, albeit a little clumsily. "It's good to see a familiar face around here... especially when so few are."

[Otomeken]

Otomeken's head tilted side on a little bit... "Do... Do I know you?" She asked, unable to see anything at all, even so much as a shape or an outline even if she were to open her eyes. Her last mission had left her completely blind, in addition to the pure-white hair...

She pulled Kaliri to her feet, but was now quite perplexed...

[Kaliri]

Kaliri blinked, then took in the rest of her old friend's clothing. Things certainly had changed in her absence.

"We.. we used to be friends, though I'm told it's been a long while since we spoke last. Still, to me, it literally feels like a bare few months."

Kaliri shuffled her foot on the ground, then shrugged. She looked up, hoping that Otomeken would put two and two together herself.

[Otomeken]

Otomeken shook her head. "Then I'm very sorry, but your voice isn't familiar to me... You'll have to forgive me... Things have been... Well... Things are different now than they have been in the past..."

[Kaliri]

"It's fine... there's things are... different for me, too. Lenore had quite a time explaining things to me, and I still don't get it all. It's Kaliri, Otome-chan. Okanei Kaliri." Kaliri almost winced in anticipation of Otomeken's reaction, but managed to keep strict control until she knew what would really be coming her way.

[Otomeken]

The recognition did not come quickly for Otomeken. She had to stop and ponder. Was this one of her students? No, she would have recognized them, she was sure of it... "Kaliri," she mussed... "Kaliri... Kaliri!" Bingo! There it was...

[Kaliri]

Kaliri's face wrinkled a bit as she gave a little grin. "Well, seems I've been away for longer than it feels. Seems to me it was just a few months ago we sat at the table of Chouji-kun's shop and drank and talked..." She stuck her hands in her pockets, shrugging slightly and shuffling her foot again, Kirei flapping on her shoulder.

[Otomeken]

Otomeken shook her head. "I don't even know how long ago that would have been kaliri... A lot has happened since. I was gone for the better part of a year back to my homeland. I fought in a war and..." She trailed off on the last part but her hand went around the ring on her necklace...

[Kaliri]

Kaliri let her eye travel upwards with Otomeken's hand. She didn't know if the girl before her was happy about the ring, or upset about it, and so she said nothing.

"I wish I could fill you in on all that's happened, but... sadly, I don't remember a blessed thing from when I was gone. Lenore said that from the condition she found me in, that's probably a good thing. She said she spent the better part of a year and a half just trying to track me down and break me out. Then another few months to get me healthy enough to travel, and another month or so to get me back. I wish I had better stories to tell. I don't even know why I was taken."

[Otomeken]

Otomeken shook her head. "Well... I remember all that's happened... But none of it contains wildly pleasent stories... My people are free now, and I remember my own past, but the time in my homeland was not... Well, it wasn't nearly so pleasent as I could have hoped for. It was a civil war, and I was on one side of it, and there were sacrifices that I wish I had not made... However... That is the past, and for the greater good of my people so..." That was the end of that...

[Kaliri]

Kaliri nodded, shrugging. "I suppose so. Does it... feel strange for you, to be back?" Kaliri asked, rubbing one hand up and down her arm from shoulder to wrist in a nervous habit that was disturbing, not the least level was that she could not remember it from before leaving. The few, tiny, nearly imperceptible scars had given her some clue as to the reason for it, but the majority of the habits she had now were a mystery to her. "I can't... I know I recognize this place, but... I don't know, some things look like they've been turned around..."