Fateful Encounter: Dama Jinbia
In the midst of a mountain was a simple hardwood cabin. Inside, an unusual atmosphere hung in the air, as a boy, accompanied by two stuffed animal companions of similar sizes, anxiously awaited for a girl before them to awake from her feverish slumber.
As the seconds ticked by from a wall mounted clock, consistently breaking the quiet ambience, the girl's eyes finally fluttered open, the wooden interior of the roof above her head met her gaze and the sweeping warmth that cradled her in the bed soothed her. It was a stark contrast to the environment she was used to.
The rich brown of the surrounding wooden interior gave off a sense of security. In contrast, the walls, roof, floor, every surface in ‘that’ oppressively dark room was lined with frigid gray stones. The cold seemed to emanate from the stone surfaces themselves, giving off a sense of lingering loneliness, a constant companion in that foreboding room.
Closing her eyes again, the girl snuggled further into the enrapturing warmth of the blanket, momentarily giving into the unknown feeling of ecstasy. Suddenly though, snapping fully back into consciousness, the realization she wasn’t in 'that' room finally struck her, leading her to shoot upright on the bed. Taking a survey around the unknown cabin, she eventually met the gaze of a boy sitting right beside the bed, with two enormous creatures standing behind him.
The boy’s beige and freckled face beamed with an ecstatic smile, with raised dimples at the cheeks accompanying his brightly shining blue eyes. She could see he wore a green stitched sweater, almost the same shade of light green as his short and ruffled hair. However, the thing that intrigued her the most was that his right sleeve was tied into a knot right below the shoulder, his right arm seemingly absent.
To his left, a creature resembling a bear caught the girl's attention, but something seemed off. Standing upright, it sported a light shade of green with a playful blue spiral pattern covering its pudgy body. Stitches, similar to those on the boy's shirt, adorned the bear, especially around areas human joints would be. An 'x' stitch formed a mouth on its brown snout. All these physical characteristics created a goofy and cartoonish appearance.
On the boy's right side stood a fox-like creature, standing upright on its four hind legs. Similar to its bear brother, it boasted a light green color, a blue spiral pattern covering its body, and stitches scattered around, including ones forming a semi-circle around its head above the jaw, mimicking a mouth.
Though they both sported non threatening appearances, the creatures, with eyes as mere horizontal black slits, still gave the girl an eerie sensation, as if they were keenly observing her every move, despite their seemingly impossible gaze. Their towering stature in comparison to both her and the boy further creeped her out. Coupled with the fact she woke up in an unknown place and her hazy memories of what she was doing before, her fight or flight response inevitably kicked in.
"Mumu! Nina! Look! She's awake!" the boy ecstatically exclaimed, turning towards his two stuffing filled companions and pointing to the girl with his left, and only, arm, "Gosh, what a relief… The past few days… I honestly didn’t think she’d make it, especially with such a fever and her injuries I bandaged, I’m so glad sh-"
Voicing his concern for the girl's health over the passing days, the boy's train of thought would soon be interrupted by a sudden thud on the hardwood floor. Looking back to the bed, the girl had seemingly disappeared, but a quick search led to him seeing the girl in a fright filled defensive position on the floor.
The girl attempted to flee the unknown place, but her weakened legs betrayed her, ultimately leading to her only falling over the left side of the bed.
“M-miss! A-are you okay? What’s wrong?”
The girl, shaking uncontrollably with tears in her eyes, only muttered something inaudible.
"Uh… I couldn't exactly hear what you said, miss… Either way, we need to get you back onto the bed. Moving too much will undo all of the bandages I put on you."
As the boy approached and reached out his hand, the girl muttered again, slightly louder this time, her voice emerging shaky and hoarse.
"Please… no hurt…"
"No hurt…? Eh!? Wait a second, I won’t hurt you miss, I promise. Don't be scared."
"No… no hurt…?"
"[Hm, it seems she doesn’t know how to talk properly… It’s as if she was a toddler, but she looks to be my age… Where did she come from…] That’s right! Uh… N-no hurt." Taking a moment to point at himself, the boy introduced himself, "My name is Dama, Dama Jinbia, and I mean no harm. Here, take my hand."
The girl cautiously looked at his outstretched hand. Her overwhelming fear and confusion still had her fight-or-flight response in overdrive, but when she looked up and saw Dama’s smiling face, a faint sense of safety crept in…
A feeling she hadn't experienced in years.
Finally taking his hand, Dama gently lifted the girl as her astroped legs shaked and struggled to support her own weight. Taking her eyes from her feet to Dama's face, she could see it was first written with a mix of saddening concern, but soon was overwritten with a warm smile and eyes that provided nothing but silent support as he helped her regain stability.
"Can you walk, miss?"
Not fully comprehending Dama's words, the girl attempted to move towards the bed on her own, only to stumble and fall towards the floor.
Catching the girl with ease, Dama expressed his concerns, "Woah! You have to be more careful; you might have hurt yourself even further, or even reopened some of those wounds I patched… If only I had two arms, I could easily carry you… I'll just have to carry you around my shoulder."
Taking her left arm over his own left shoulder, Dama helped the girl back into his bed. As he tucked her in and ensured her bandages were still intact, he weighed his options on how to confront the peculiar situation he found himself in, [“Bruises all over her body… Signs of malnourishment… Has trouble speaking… She can barely even walk… Overall, her growth in every basic area has been stunted to an extreme… What kind of life was she living before this I wonder,”]
Sitting back on the stool he spent hours upon whilst looking over the girl, Dama continued to ponder, reflexively staring out the circular window beside the front door, [“No, I shouldn’t worry about that right now. Whatever happened in the past, I’m glad I at least found her before anything further could happen. I want to… I have to help her the best I can! But, where do I go from here? Should I take her to Granny Tsubasa? She'll definitely know what to do, but I can’t really carry her all the way down into Enohay Village, especially in her current condition. Maybe I can just bring Granny Tsu up here… Nah, I wouldn't want to bother her too much, the old bird is pretty ancient nowadays… Heh, she’d kill me with the power of a thousand young maidens if she heard me say that. What to do…”]
Unbeknownst to Dama, the girl had turned her attention towards him and blankly stared at him the entire time. Watching him audibly groan, twist, turn, and scratch his head seemed rather amusing to her, akin to observing a wild monkey. Gazing down at her hands and recalling his introduction, the girl faintly smiled.
“Da…ma… D-Dama…”
“Oh! You-, you said my name? Something wrong, miss?”
Looking back up from her hands, the sunrays shining on her face, revealing a smile that pleasantly shocked Dama, the girl simply said one word:
"Giona…"
