InsaneJournal

Who: Kibeth and Temperance Brennan
What: Arrival!
When: Day 14, morning
Where: The beach, near the dolphin cove
Rating: PG I hope...
Status: Complete


Kibeth had been wandering along the border of Life and Death for quite some time. How long, she wasn't quite sure. Time worked funny in Death, even this close to life. It had been a while at least, and she was bored. She'd kept walking, even when she sensed she'd left the Old Kingdom. After all, there had to be _something_ past that world, since Death kept going. To alleviate the boredom, she'd experimented with different shapes. She'd kind of liked being a horse, though her hooves kept slipping in the water. Being a fish had almost been a disaster, as the currents had caught her and carried her almost to the first gate before she'd been able to turn back. Human form though was rather interesting. The opposable thumbs were indeed quite interesting, though there was little use for them here. She'd fallen down a couple of times as she tried to get the hang of two legged walking, but she thought she was doing okay now. She could even run a bit, though the ankle deep water made that a bit difficult.

Still, she was bored. Which is why, the moment she sensed the strangeness, she immediately went to check it out. Crouching down in the cold waters, she examined the border between Life and Death. It was nothing like she'd seen in the Old Kingdom. Here, the border had been worn thin, very thin, a long long time ago, as if some terrible catastrophe had killed millions. But then it seemed there hadn't been _any_ death in almost as long. It was like a thick scab had formed over the weakness in the barrier, preventing anything from crossing over. Curious, Kibeth reached out and touched the very edge of the thickening, trying to understand what was going on. As her fingers brushed the barrier, there was a flash of not-light that made her shut her eyes quickly, almost positive that _this time_ she'd finally pushed too far.

But when she opened her eyes again, she was pretty sure she wasn't dead, and was in fact, somewhere completely new. Now she was crouched on some rocks, overlooking a cove of beautiful smelling salt water, staring at a friendly looking dolphin who chose just that moment to splash water all over her.

"Well that wasn't very nice" she said, completely oblivious to the oddity of a grown woman talking to a dolphin as an almost equal. The dolphin chattered a burst, and Kibeth smiled. "No, I'm not getting in there with you. I can't swim in this form." The dolphin rolled, as if to say 'that's not what I asked' before swimming away.

"Ah well" she said with a sigh, and began to pick her way towards the building she could see in the distance. "Maybe the people here are friendlier"