The World Walkers: Kankirin: Rhiannon: Working with Osbourne (part 2)

[k_a_webb]

Part 1

As Osbourne hadn’t moved back Rhiannon was still pinned to the wall and she stared at him, hoping that he would, eventually, let her go to her next lesson, even though she was really late. “I’ve read everything that was written about your creation,” he said, studying her in the same way she imagined he’d study an interesting insect. “He never said anything about the way you looked.”

“How I look depends on who owns me. My current owners wanted me to be a teenage girl, so that’s exactly what I am, but their insistence on that has meant that we’ve travelled around a lot.” She shrugged. “They aren’t comfortable with owning something like me and they’re terrified that I might go after them if they sell me. I know they don’t really understand what I am or why I was created, although they assume that I’m like all the others.”

“You’re not though, are you?”

Rhiannon shook her head. “No, I’m not. I’ve met a couple of the others and everyone is under the misconception that we were created by the same person. We were all created by someone different, who each had their own reason for doing so.”

“He wrote that he created you as a companion.”

“I’m not certain that you and I would agree on what that term means, but that is what I was. He was lonely a lot of the time. Even though he had children who cared very much about him they didn’t have much in common and with his wife gone… apparently he thought creating someone was the better option. Personally I don’t agree, as he had no idea what would happen to me after his death – there was a time when I hated him for everything. Now I’m come to accept the choice he made as best I can. A part of me does still care deeply for him.”

“Did you ever sleep together?”

“No, we didn’t. To begin with all he wanted was someone who’d accept him for who he was. When that became something more he seemed to realise, thankfully, that if he asked me to share his bed I’d have no choice. If he asked that sort of question it would be very hard for me to say no. Fortunately the longer I exist the easier it becomes to ignore anything that isn’t a direct order.”

“What orders have you been given by your current owners?”

“Osbourne, we’re both meant to be in class. Can’t we talk about this later?”

“If I let you leave now you’re going to avoid me as much as you can for the next two weeks, because you don’t like me.” He smiled. “Right now is the only chance I have to get the answers to my questions.”

“Until you have full ownership of me.”

“Two weeks is a very long time, Rhiannon, especially when it’s someone like you.”

“Someone like me?”

“Did your current owners tell you what to look like?”

At first Rhiannon just stared at him. She didn’t want to answer his question, but at the same time it had been a very long time since she’d talked to someone who knew what she was and didn’t treat her like there was something wrong with her. Going from owner to owner was the hardest thing in the world to deal with, because they didn’t understand what she was, so there were some who’d misused her, knowing that she couldn’t say no to their orders and others who had believed that her abilities made her dangerous. Finally she nodded. “They gave me a picture of their daughter. She died, at sixteen, in an accident, and the only reason they bought me is because they wanted me to replace her. Unfortunately they’ve always been scared of me, scared of what I can do, so I avoid them as much as I can. It hurts, even though I get the idea they don’t think I have feelings.”

“Have you ever wished you could choose your owners?”

“Yes, but it’s never happened.”

“Have you ever wanted to be free?”

“I don’t know what free is, Osbourne. From the time I was first created I have belonged to someone and freedom…” She sighed. “Even if it were to happen I have no idea what I’d do.”

“Your creator, my who-knows-how-many-greats grandfather, put a spell in the back of his journal that would set you free.”

“When he did it he told me about it. I told him there was no point. That was one of the few things we argued about, because he couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t want to be free in the future. He’d created me, but he didn’t understand that he’d created me to belong to someone, so there is no urge in me to be free.” Rhiannon bit her lip. “I do realise how strange that must sound to someone who has always been free.”

He bit his lip. “So you wouldn’t want me to free you when I do have ownership?”

“As hard as it must be for you to believe I don’t. No matter how much I’ve hated some of my owners I’ve never felt the need to be free. To find another owner, yes, someone who wasn’t going to order me into bed or to hurt people that they didn’t like, but freedom, to me, is terrifying.”

“Rhiannon, are either of the owners you mentioned still alive?”

“Fortunately, no, they both died a long time ago, and even if they hadn’t there is no chance of me telling you where you could find them. You are not going to get put in prison because of something that I’ve long since dealt with. I’m not going to say I don’t wish it had never happened, but it did, so it was something I did my best to accept as one of the difficulties of being what I am. People want to use me.” She shrugged. “There are always going to be bad owners. It’s how you cope with how they treated you that matters.”

The look Osbourne gave Rhiannon told her that he didn’t understand her point of view and she didn’t blame him for that at all. After all he’d been free his entire life, which was much shorter than hers, so all he had no point of reference. Being alive for as long as she had made things easier for her, although there were still times when she wished that she’d been permitted to live a very different life. Really all she wanted was the chance to choose her owners, rather than just being passed from one to the other, because then she’d do her best to make certain that whoever she picked wouldn’t hurt her in anyway.

Biting on her lip Rhiannon studied Osbourne. Now that she knew he was related to the man who had created her she could see the similarities. He had the same eyes, a sort of storm cloud grey, and it brought back memories of the girl she had been back then. Accepting what she was had been difficult, to say the least. The longer she spent with him the easier it was to understand the choices that he’d made. If she was in the same position as him she doubted very much that she would have done the same thing, but that’s because she knew what it was like to be her. He’d had no idea what her life would be like after he passed on and she’d been able to let go of her anger eventually. For a long time she had been furious with him.

Although, really, furious didn’t really describe it. Rhiannon knew the moment he died. She could feel it. It was the first time she had been without an owner, but not the last, and that feeling… she didn’t know what she was supposed to do, so she just stayed where she was hoping that it was all a big mistake. Tears trickled down her cheeks, making her wish he hadn’t given her tear ducts, as she waited for someone to tell her what she was supposed to do. He was gone and she had nothing. Until her creator’s son wandered down the stairs looking for her. She’d hated the look on his face, but she couldn’t help being glad that someone was taking control.

It was obvious that she was going to be sold. Rhiannon thought it was for the best as her creator’s children had never liked her. She’d never liked them, either, because they hadn’t cared about their father, even though they were all pretending to. They all got to go to the funeral and she didn’t, but that didn’t stop her from visiting his grave whenever she could. It was often the first thing she’d ask her new owners – could she have permission to visit her creator’s grave at least once a year? Most of them agreed, even though they didn’t understand why she’d want to. He was the one who’d made her into what she was.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Life.” Rhiannon smiled. “You’re so young, Osbourne, and you are going to die eventually. I’m going to live forever, however long forever is, because of what I am. Some days I wish I wasn’t, other days…” She shrugged. “All I want is to die.”

“Can you die?”

“I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “There were a couple of times when I tried, but I wasn’t really trying, because it’s impossible for me to let myself do something like that. Unless I was ordered to I don’t think I can and the likelihood of someone ordering me to do something like that… well, let’s say it’s probably impossible.” Knowing her owner’s expressions really did help Rhiannon with Osbourne’s. “No, I don’t want you to do that either.” She found herself smiling at him. “Maybe I’ll change my mind but right now I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am.” She reached out and gently touched his face, almost disbelieving that he could actually be real. “Osbourne…”

There was a long silence. Rhiannon wasn’t sure what to say to him, not when she was acting so strangely, but he was the blood of someone she’d cared very much about and it was hard not to impose one onto the other. She’d dreamt of her creator hundreds, or maybe thousands, of times throughout the years. It was different then, though, as there was nothing to stop them from being together, instead of the choice they’d both made more than once. Even though she was almost certain she was in love with him it had been hard, because there was a chance it might have been the connection between them making her feel that way.

“Unless you say something I’m not going to know what you’re thinking,” Osbourne said, smiling at her. “Talk to me, Rhiannon.”

“You’re so like him.” She shook her head. “I didn’t realise until now… or maybe I did and that’s why I was having so much trouble being around you. The spell is one you shouldn’t do at you age…”

“I know I’m young.”

“That’s not what I mean. Look, unless you decide to pass me on to someone else I’m going to belong to you for the rest of your life. Even though you might not realise it now that is a long time and I’m not certain you’re ready for that sort of responsibility.” Their eyes met. “I’m not saying you won’t be able to live your life, because you will – I can look after myself perfectly well. It’s just… do your parents know what you’re doing?”

Osbourne laughed. “No, they don’t, and they never will, because they died three years ago. It wasn’t long after that I found the journal that your creator left behind, which makes me think it was meant to happen. We are meant to be together, Rhiannon.”

“Where do you live?”

“Fortunately I was their only heir, so I live in the flat they left to me, using the money I inherited from them and my grandfather until I’m old enough to get a job myself.”

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.