Daryl turned on the light. He did not recognize the voice or the woman but knew who it was, who it had to be. Without reflecting on the rashness of it, he launched himself at Rin, cursing her with every fiber of his being as he closed the seemingly interminable space between them. Afterward he could not recall precisely which expletives had been hurled, only that they were many and colorful. He suspected he had slipped into his native tongue which, though limited in other ways, lent itself to far greater expressive flair than English when it came to such things.
Before he knew what had happened, Daryl felt a sharp pain wrack the right side of his body. He put out his hands to block what was hurtling toward his face, when a sudden jolt knocked the wind out of him and he found himself struggling for air. Something was keeping him from face-planting on the wooden floor. Thinking better of this kindness, Rin half-pulled him to his feet and sent him flying toward the bed with a hard kick in the rear. A loud cracking sound announced that his head had made contact with the wall. Whether this was a miscalculation or not was unclear. Fortunately, Daryl’s head hit plasterboard rather than concrete or wood, and the wall took most of the damage.
Rin gave him a fierce look and pointed angrily. “Stay there.”
She gently leaned against Sree’s ear and whispered something, before turning to deal with Daryl.
“That was stupid, even for you. You never know what will happen if you strike me. You could have been split in two. You’re lucky the universe had an easier way to deal with your idiocy.”
She leaned in as if to grab him by the hair but stopped short. With an air of disdain she took a seat at the little table, facing away from him. For a few minutes she appeared lost in thought, and Daryl was too distracted by his own injuries to notice the slight heaving in her frame. After a long silence, she stood and walked to the bathroom. When she emerged, she returned to the table, this time facing him.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that this was Rin and his own foreknowledge that she would be unrecognizable, Daryl remained uncertain. The woman looked and sounded nothing like Rin, and she conjured no special feelings other than anger at what had happened to Sree — and that could be directed at anyone. In fact, he found himself increasingly certain that it was not her. Perhaps there was another woman who could encumber Proteges and somehow knew him and was pretending to be Rin. It made sense.
Seeing his bemused expression, the woman waved her hand in annoyance. “Blah blah, it’s me, Rin.”
Suddenly, the Rin whom Daryl knew was sitting across from him. But now he couldn’t imagine how he had failed to recognize her. It was Rin without question, and he required a moment to recover from the shock.
Last time had been different. Very different. His first encounter with Rin had been brief, the circumstances were less than ideal, and he had been a child. After the subsequent decade of searching, Daryl had little recollection of what Rin actually looked like. He also had believed her to be a witch and, as everyone knew, witches could change their appearances. The woman who answered the door that day did not look familiar, but he had not expected her to. At some point during their conversation she became recognizable to him, but he had not noticed a precise moment of change. According to Rin, “there was no perceptual presupposition, so his newfound recognition went unremarked.” Whatever that meant.
This time was much different and far more disorienting. He had a clear memory of Rin, and the unrecognizability had tangible consequences. Once she declared herself, his sense of her was altered. However much he tried to reason through it, he could find no discernible way in which she had changed. His only conclusion was that he had been inattentive or forgetful. But had he? He still wasn’t sure. For the first time, Daryl felt what it was like to doubt his own mind.
As he reasoned through this, Rin lit a cigarette and contemplated it. “You know, I’m always amazed that these things actually relax me.”
She looked at Daryl. “The nicotine has no effect, of course, so it must be purely psychosomatic. Even though I know that, it somehow works anyway.”
Rin took a long drag and exhaled slowly. “I wasn’t raised with cigarettes. We didn’t even have tobacco back then, so it must be for some other reason. Most of the Proteges smoke too. Even those with protections which prevent psychological or sensory deception.”
Daryl was unsure what to say or what her intentions were. Rin didn’t seem angry, but he know how quickly that could change.
“At times like this,” she continued, “it’s driven home how little I really understand the protections. They seem to conform to will, but not always. Take Sree for instance. She did not smoke, but that’s neither here nor there. She could have sex or get hugged without interference. She even could spar. But if someone attempted to harm her using those very same physical actions, they couldn’t. Even if she wanted them to.”
“It wasn’t merely a matter of extent. If she was sparring and a partner knocked her down she wouldn’t be harmed, but she’d fall. Yet, in a real fight Sree’s protections wouldn’t even allow her to be knocked over.”
Daryl had no idea what she was talking about, and his body was still wracked with pain. He wished that Rin would give him a chance to collect himself instead of pontificating. Was this her way of giving him time to do so? She seemed maudlin in a way he did not remember seeing before. When she mentioned Sree, his face drew taut in fury and he glared at her.
Rin didn’t seem to notice or care and seemed lost in thought for a moment. “I think it was ‘I cannot be displaced,’ though that’s a bad translation.”
She took another drag on the cigarette, once again diffusing her gaze over the room. “The protections let her be as human as they could without permitting harm. It makes no sense. How can the laws of the universe reflect the configuration of a person’s brain? From a physical standpoint, that brain is no different from any other set of atoms. It just has slightly lower entropy.”
He still had no idea whether this exposition was rhetorical or intended for him. Something in Rin’s voice was off, though he wasn’t quite sure how.
“She and everyone else are part of the same state of the universe, so maybe the evolution of that state is rerouted when it encounters a protection-related obstacle. Perhaps it filters the paths which would lead to a violation, leaving only harmless ones.”
“It just seems impossible whenever I think about it. But isn’t that what all of this is? That’s why it is magic and not science, I suppose. If I could reason about it then it would be science. And if it is science, then the laws of this universe are far more complex than anyone imagines.”
She paused in thought for a few moments. “And others would eventually be able to tap into them. Probably. Maybe even your insipid species will catch up one day. Now that would be interesting, wouldn’t it? It would be possible, if it was science.”
Another slow draw and exhalation. “But I’m pretty sure it is magic. The logic to which we are bound simply is inadequate for the task of comprehending it.”
“But there are tasks it is adequate for,” she mused quietly before giving Daryl a sharp look.
Rin ashed out her cigarette. “You know, when I learned you were staying here I wasn’t surprised. It’s the only place in the area that isn’t a complete shithole.”
Daryl struggled into a sitting position, his back against the dented wall. Wouldn’t somebody have heard the impact and called the police? Probably not in this place. He suspected this wasn’t the only dented wall in the building. However, it probably was the only one created by a 110-pound woman beating up a 200-pound man.
Rin smiled at him. “It’s good to see you.”
She thought for a moment. “Oh, what I was going to say is that I’m not surprised you were here. What did surprise me was the room. I knew it was you the moment I saw it. I guess I rubbed off on you.”
“Sree picked it,” Daryl replied icily.
Rin stared at the table. “You’ve probably figured out by now that I don’t care what you think of me. But you did bring her to me, and for that I owe you.” There was something unsettling about the way she said this.
A moment later her voice was deliberative again. “No, I suppose it isn’t your fault. She chose her own path.”
“No,” Daryl sneered. “You killed her.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Rin snapped back. “She’s an Eight. She can’t be killed.”
“You know what I mean!”
Rin thought for a moment. “Well, you were her companion for a while and I do thank you for that.”
“You didn’t even give me a chance,” Daryl complained.
“Chance to do what?” A predatory gleam filled Rin’s eyes. “Did you think you could save her? Defeat me? Would you like a chance to try?”
“I didn’t have a chance,” he muttered.
“That’s right, you don’t have a chance. And it’s high time you accept that,” Rin shot back. Then she realized what he meant. “You thought you could convince me, is that it?”
Daryl nodded.
“You would have been disappointed.”
“Because you’re a hard-headed bitch.”
There was a cruel curl to Rin’s smile. “You know, I missed your insolence.”
Thus Daryl's hopes of make-up sex were dashed against the wall, along with his head...