Harry

It was only when Harry was finally standing in front of the rock pool with Sally at his side that he remembered Saphyr was a snake. A talking snake. It occurred to him that most instances of humans conversing with serpents in fantasy or religious contexts led to the eventual misfortune of either the human who spoke with the animal, others around that human, or simply everyone involved. It also crossed his mind that most people, girls in particular, were believed to be quite frightened of snakes. This situation was practically a breeding ground for fear and panic.

With a sense of pride Harry noticed Sally didn't even flinch when she noticed Saphyr rise out of the rock pool in a smooth S curve. He wondered if her bravery was forged from surviving her past or a result of her flexible personality. Nothing ever seemed to take her by surprise.

"Is this where you been goin' in the mornin'?" Sally asked as she examined Saphyr with her eyes, staying out of reach. The snake stared at her just as keenly, staying silent for now.

Harry looked between his two friends with a new feeling filling his chest. He catalogued his symptoms: his heartbeat sped up, his hands trembled, and he had the urge to fidget. He was… nervous, he realized. He wanted these two to like each other and the thought of that not happening scared Harry. Somewhere in the back of Harry's mind he found the idea fascinating. Most of his thoughts, however, were busy frantically drafting, evaluating, and tossing out various ways to introduce his friends to each other.

In the end, the simple, "Sally, this is Saphyr. Saphyr, this is Sally," was all that came out of Harry's mouth. Wonderful.

The serpent lowered back into a coil, its head only a few inches above the surface of the rock pool. "Ah, so this is your Sally," it hissed.

Sally smirked at him. "You named it? Seems a bit wild for a pet, Harry."

There were no words Harry thought Sally would understand to convey the sheer disbelief running through him at how rude that statement was. Did she not hear Saphyr speak just now? He saw Sally's amusement fade into confusion and was about to defend Saphyr's status as a friend before the snake interrupted.

"She cannot understand me, Young Speaker," Saphyr hissed. "When you Speak the Serpent Tongue, all humans hear is soft hissing if they notice at all."

The knowledge settled in Harry's mind as if returning from a temporary leave of absence. With a bit of internal sarcasm he concluded that of course this was normal for the Memories inside of him. It would have been easier if the Memories let him realize he was hissing and not speaking English every time he spoke to Saphyr, but that was the considerate and convenient thing to do, two concepts foreign to the Memories.

Sally nudged Harry with her shoulder. "Don't get your knickers in a twist, Harry. I get it, it's not a pet." She turned to Saphyr and nodded to the snake. "Sorry, Saphyr, didn't mean nothin' by it."

Saphyr didn't move except to hiss, "Amusing, this friend of yours. I wonder if she is insightful or simply accepts the world as she experiences it."

Harry laughed at Sally's obvious attempt to cut through the tension in the air. "You really should stop repeating the vulgar language Jason says so frequently, Sally." At least by Saphyr's reaction it appeared the snake could understand English. That freed Harry from having to translate in both directions. What was he to do now, though?

Where before Harry was concerned about Sally inevitably discovering a talking snake, he now had the option to pretend Saphyr was only a snake, a random animal he found in the wild. He didn't know what was more worrisome: the thought of trying to explain to Sally how he was able to speak to snakes (the origins of said ability still a mystery to him as well), or the thought of deceiving his first true friend. Harry ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"So why did you want to come out here?" Sally asked, filling in the silence. She leaned against the cliff next to the rock pool. Her face was turned toward Saphyr, her hand slowly approaching the snake. "It doesn't bite, right?"

Saphyr moved forward, letting the blonde girl run her fingers along its scales. "She worries for you, Young Speaker. What circumstance brought you here so late in the day?"

With those words Harry remembered the events in the bathroom. The conversation with the voice named Aster and the golden eye staring out of his face. Instantly he was filled with a medley of emotions and he instinctively reached out to pet Saphyr alongside Sally. Talking with the serpent always made him feel better, and this time was no different. Following the feel of cool, smooth scales under his fingers, Harry felt calm seep into his mind.

"There was a voice," he began, and he was surprised by how steady his voice sounded. Thinking further, however, what need was there to worry with both Saphyr and Sally there? Harry felt his confidence grow and he summarized the conversation with Aster for Sally in English, trusting Saphyr to let him know if he needed to translate.

Afterwards, Saphyr drew back away from Sally and Harry's hands and Harry instantly felt the loss. Did something he say upset his reptile friend? "My sincere apologies," the serpent hissed, "you should consider this situation with a clear mind, Young Speaker." He noted Saphyr's choice of words to examine later as Sally spoke up.

"If that's really your brother, then I'm happy for you, Harry," she said, her hand playing with one end of the blue ribbon wrapped around her face. Sally turned to face the ocean waves, her eyes staring where only her mind's eye could see. "He didn't give up on you."

Harry frowned, torn between pursuing whatever demons lurked in Sally's mind and letting them go to face his own. "Sally—"

"This bro o' yours picked a funny way of introducin' himself." Her playful quip accompanied eyes bright with moisture and a tight smile. He hated seeing her pain and not knowing where it came from. At the same time he knew she wouldn't thank him for pressing the issue when she was obviously attempting to keep the conversation focused on him.s

Harry let it go. For now. "Why did he have to introduce himself at all?" he grumbled, feeling his actual nine years of age at how petulant he sounded.

"So you believe him then? That he's your brother?"

"You are certain the voice was your sibling?"

"Yes," Harry said shortly, and his entire being told him the answer was true. Aster was his brother and his twin; the other half of a pair Harry never knew existed before today but felt so real he was incapable of denying it. "I know he's my brother—I can feel it. That's exactly the problem."

Sally stared at Harry, her one eyebrow scrunching up against her blue ribbon. "You got family lookin' for ya. Where's the problem?" She was petting Saphyr again, the serpent seemingly content to let Sally take charge of feeling out Harry's thoughts. The serpent lowered its blue and pearl coils down into the water but kept its head within reach of the blonde girl's hand.

"Why hasn't he been here this entire time?" Why was Harry left alone on this island if Aster was somewhere out there? It was so wonderful when he finally became friends with Sally and Saphyr, but part of what made those friendships wonderful were the years he spent misunderstood, teased, and alone among a whole group of orphan misfits. Years he should have had a brother by his side.

His friend scoffed. "You gonna blame that on him? What's his name? Aster? If he's your twin like he says, he woulda been the same age as you when you was tossed off here, yeah? So, he was a baby, same as you back then."

The logic in Sally's words pierced through the roiling emotions in Harry and touched someplace deep in his heart. His anger was not directed at Aster, not truly. Inside of him was an emptiness that seemed as if it had been there his whole life. Only, he never knew to look for it until now. Next to the emptiness was the thought that if Aster remembered Harry all along, did Aster always feel this emptiness? Harry's heart raged at the unfairness of the whole situation.

Who chose to separate them? Why?

Somewhere else in his mind, he berated his feelings. Every orphan at St. Martin's Orphanage was proof of just how unfair life was for many children, no matter if they deserved it or not.

Harry was in the midst of these thoughts when Saphyr slithered over to him and said, "Your choices shape your destiny in the days ahead, not the days passed. The past stays where it is, Young Speaker, and only grows as it consumes the present." The snake wrapped a single coil loosely around Harry's wrist. "Choose to grow as well or be consumed yourself."

As ominous as the words were, Harry was thankful for them. The sharp and painful emotions dulled inside him, and he knew Saphyr was right. Dwelling on what already occurred would amount to choosing to remain upset and there were far better uses of his time. He needed to figure out what to do next with this new information.

Harry's thoughts froze in their tracks as Sally suddenly hugged him. "You couldn't control what happened, either," she said. "You were a baby too." She paused for a long while after that, the sound of gentle waves the only indication time kept flowing as they stood there. The tight hold of Sally's arms told Harry she had more to say and eventually she whispered in his ear, "I'm happy you're getting out of here."

Harry leaned out of the embrace, placing his hands on Sally's shoulders, Saphyr letting him go in the process. "What are you talking about, Sally? We don't even know if Aster knows where I am, much less know if he'll make it here with any amount of certainty."

Sally grinned at him. "He's your twin, o' course he'll be smart enough to figure it out." Her grin faltered for a moment, but she held her smile as she added, "Imma miss you though."

"I'm not leaving without you!" The words tore themselves from his throat before he finished thinking them. He glanced at Saphyr and hissed, "Not without both of you." For the first time in his life, Harry's emotions fully aligned with the Memories lurking inside him. Nothing would separate him from his friends. He needed them and they were his. Too many wished to separate him from what was rightfully owed to him and he would not stand for it!

"Bloody hell, Harry!"

A prick of pain swept the rage from his mind and Harry physically shuddered at the abrupt absence of the feeling. He quickly realized multiple things at once: his grip on Sally's shoulders was tight enough it hurt his own hands, one of Saphyr's fangs pierced the side of his wrist, and Sally's hands hovered in the air between them as she stared wide-eyed at the snake.

Immediately he relaxed his hands. "I'm so sorry Sally, are you all right?"

"Me?" Sally's voice was abnormally high-pitched as her eye flicked between Harry and the serpent still partially embedded in his skin. "Saphyr bit you!"

At that the snake let Harry go, lifting its head from the angled bite. Saphyr rubbed its scales along the small puncture wound as it coiled around Harry's wrist. "Are you yourself again, Young Speaker?"

"As if I have any idea who I am, Saphyr," he hissed back. To Sally he said, "I'm fine. It helped, actually." He crossed his arms, lifting Saphyr out of the rock pool. The small prick already felt better under the cool scales of his snake friend.

Seeing Harry cradle Saphyr in his arms, Sally visibly relaxed but glanced at the serpent periodically.

"I'm not leaving without you," Harry repeated, this time with a level voice.

Sally raised her eyebrow at him with a frown. "Whatever you say, Harry," she said then walked away toward the shore. Harry watched her kick at a few rocks before picking up a shell, turning it in her hands.

From its perch wrapped around Harry's forearm, Saphyr hissed, "You cannot choose if she goes with you, despite your wishes otherwise. You are a Speaker, a special human. Simple members of your species cannot easily exist alongside the special ones." Harry tensed and the serpent quickly added, "It is predestined who is special and who is simple, Young Speaker, and I speak not of intelligence."

"I don't understand."

Saphyr shifted in its place around Harry's arm. "I must confess I assumed you knew of these things already. The special humans I met all knew they were special and shunned the world of the simple humans. The simple humans were always oblivious to the world of the special humans." Somehow this information seemed familiar and yet there were missing details Harry felt himself expecting to hear. Curious, he let Saphyr continue, "I never learned when the special ones discovered they were special; all of my previous companions were far older than you. None of my previous companions could Speak, either, not even the special ones. I possessed no means to discuss the subject."

Inside his mind it was as if there was a distant itch he couldn't reach. Were the Memories connected to this 'special world'? "What makes the special humans special?"

"Special humans experience existence differently," Saphyr replied simply. "They sense and access the true depths of the world while the simple humans must struggle to discover or replace that which they do not know they are missing." After a short pause, the serpent ended with, "I must concede the simple humans fascinate me far more for their ingenious creations in light of their ignorance."

"How are you so certain I am special?"

"You hear my true voice and speak the Serpent Tongue. That makes you more special than all other special humans."

While Harry acknowledged that talking to a snake was quite abnormal for the average human, Harry was suspicious of Saphyr's last comment. It may not come up often, but he knew Saphyr thought snakes above other animals. For all he knew there might be humans with the ability to speak to birds or dogs out in the world of special humans. He looked over at his blonde friend searching for seashells and resisted the thought that Saphyr was right and Sally belonged to a different world than him. "What about Sally? You said there were other special humans who couldn't speak to you, why can't she be one of them?"

The snake turned its head towards Sally and stared for a moment. "Perhaps you can test her senses," it suggested.

"How?"

"Simply ask her to describe my scales, Young Speaker. If she can see me as you do, she is special." The serpent flicked its tail in the air, bands of pearly scales offset by bands of deep sapphire scales. "Simple humans never perceive the full splendor of my magnificent appearance. Such a shame."

Harry ignored the snake's display of vanity and approached Sally. The girl was now attempting to skip rocks over the gentle waves, not finding much luck. "Hey Sally," he called.

With a laugh, Sally splashed water at Harry. "You joinin' me?"

In the light of the setting sun his friend glowed. Her blonde hair was framed by a red-orange sky; her face bright with one of her rare wide smiles. He bit back the question on the tip of his tongue and smiled back. "You can't swim and it's getting late. Let's go back before you get sick." It didn't matter if Sally was a special human or not. She was special to Harry and that's all that mattered. The world already rejected them once before; he was perfectly willing to reject the world in return before he would leave Sally behind.

It was when they started the trek back to the orphanage that Sally noticed Saphyr was still coiled around Harry's arm. "You bringin' Saphyr back with us?"

"I need both of you with me," was Harry's short reply. Thankfully Saphyr did not argue and slithered up Harry's arm to hide under his shirt. The serpent was long enough to wrap around Harry's chest once and have its head peek out along the collar of Harry's shirt.

When the orphanage came into view Saphyr finally spoke up. "Are you sure about this, Young Speaker?"

Harry reached up and pet Saphyr's head. "No one will take you from me, Saphyr, I promise. Whatever happened to you that inspires this fear, I won't let it happen again." Having both Saphyr and Sally by his side inspired a strength within him. He felt fearless and protective. Saphyr ducked down under Harry's shirt without another word.

They made it back in time for chores. Harry made sure to be part of the group that mopped the bedroom floors so he could sneak one of the extra buckets from the supply closet to keep under his bed for Saphyr. When the chores were done and the rest of his chore group headed to the main room for dinner, Harry brought his borrowed bucket to the bathroom to fill it with fresh, clean water.

"Is tap water sufficient?" he asked.

Saphyr's muffled hiss replied, "Yes it's fine."

Harry was struggling to carry the now-full bucket back to his bed without anyone noticing when Brian suddenly stepped up and gave Harry a hand.

Something must have shown on Harry's face as Brian quickly said, "Don't worry." He gave Harry a wink. "This for a prank or something? It's about time you broke a rule around here."

Sally was waiting for them in the bedroom, sitting on her bunk above Harry's. There were two rooms with bunk beds at the orphanage but more boys than girls, forcing some of the boys to room with the girls. Harry was moved to the mixed room after the fifth morning the houseparents found Sally asleep next to Harry, her face covered in dried tear tracks.

The blonde jumped off the bunk. "You invite yourself over?" she said to Brian.

"Aw, was this your idea?" Brian shot back, helping Harry put the bucket on the ground without spilling the water. "I was hoping Harry here finally found his naughty side!"

"I don't think that means what you think it means," Sally replied, her mouth scrunching up into a lopsided frown.

Harry ignored the rest of the bantering between the two, moving the bucket so it was partially hidden between his bed and the wall. It was good that his and Sally's bunk was in the corner of the room. Saphyr slithered down Harry's arm and slid into the water, the bucket deep enough that the serpent was able to fully submerge itself. If Saphyr grew any longer, however, Harry suspected he'd need to find an actual tank for the snake.

"Hey, I've seen one of those before!" Harry flinched at Brian's loud comment right next to his ear.

Sally flopped onto Harry's bed, peering over the side to look into the bucket. "You've seen a snake like this before? Really?"

The brown-haired boy nodded. "It's in that book about the ocean I've been reading for class. A banded sea krait: it's called 'banded' because of the black stripes it's got."

A jolt of energy shot through Harry at Brian's words and his heart started pounding in his ears. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sally react and time seemed to slow around him as Sally opened her mouth to speak. This was it. This was the moment that would prove whether his dear friend was a special human or a simple one, whether Sally was like him or not. Should he interrupt her?

Over Harry's head, Sally punched Brian in the shoulder. "I can see that snake as well as you even with just one eye, you berk," she began, and Harry couldn't breathe, his hands started to shake; he wouldn't leave Sally behind even if she wasn't special but he wanted so badly for—

"—but those stripes ain't black."

"I mean, it's got blue in there too," Brian offered in a bewildered tone.

The two argued further but all Harry could hear was Sally's voice repeating, "Those stripes ain't black," over and over in his mind. She was special. Part of him couldn't believe his luck while a deeper part, somewhere he suspected the Memories lurked, felt proud and smug. Of course his closest friends were special. It was only right for Sally and Saphyr to be special, same as him.

Brian let out a frustrated sound and Harry quickly jumped into the conversation. "It's probably just dark in here," he said, turning toward the other boy. Behind his back he grabbed Sally's wrist and squeezed, hoping she would understand as he added, "Its scales shine in the sun and makes it look like its got rainbows on it."

Sally stayed silent while Brian frowned, thinking over the new information.

Harry stood, gently tugging Sally out of the bed to stand with him. "Come on, it's time for dinner." He hissed a quiet goodbye to Saphyr, confident in the snake's safety. None of the other orphans snooped around his belongings, fully aware of the risk of an outburst from Harry. Only Brian was that stubbornly foolish and the brown-haired boy liked the idea of Harry willingly breaking a rule too much to tattle to the houseparents about the serpent's presence.

Dinner would have been just like any other dinner if not for Sally's mood. His friend kept tugging on one of her pigtails throughout the meal and was uncharacteristically quiet the entire time. Harry was uncomfortably grateful for the girl's distrust of the houseparents for the adults generally let Harry take care of Sally instead of interfering.

Brian tried to apologize halfway through dinner, thinking it was his fault, but Sally shook her head at him.

"Don't worry, I'll talk to her after dinner," Harry whispered to Brian, knowing Sally was more nervous than upset about something. Nervous about what, he had no idea, and that thought worried him more than if Sally was upset.

Later that evening, Sally sat with Harry on his bed, a nearby window shining soft moonlight into the room. Harry held off on asking if she was okay, knowing it was better to let Sally speak first when she was nervous. Saphyr was on the bed in between them, lightly sparkling in the moonlight. The snake moved its head toward Sally yet kept back and let her close the distance to pet its head.

Sally pet the serpent in silence for a short while, her body slowly releasing its pent up nerves and eventually her mouth formed a small smile. "Saphyr is beautiful," she whispered.

"Yes, it is," Harry agreed.

"Is Saphyr a girl or boy snake?"

Harry thought for a moment, realizing he never asked the snake its gender.

"I exist as I am," the snake in question hissed as it tucked its head back into its coiled body, likely at the end of its tolerance for petting. It never let Harry handle it for too long, even after months of morning conversation. "My species does not reproduce; gender is thus unnecessary." That brought up the question of how Saphyr even came into existence in the first place, but now was not the time for such questions.

"Saphyr is Saphyr," Harry said to Sally, hoping that was enough.

She nodded, still looking at Saphyr and not at Harry. "Those stripes aren't black, are they?"

"No, they're not."

Sally nodded again at Harry's words, her hands fidgeting with the blanket underneath her. She was silent for a long time, and Harry was impressed yet again by how his friend seemed to accept the world around her so easily. There was no panic on her face, no anger or confusion, either. Her hands shook, though, and she gripped the blanket tightly when she caught Harry looking at her hands.

He watched as Sally clenched her eyes shut and she took a long, deep breath. He wished he could peer into her mind and see what was going on in there, but knew waiting was the only way to get even a glimpse into her thoughts. After another deep breath Sally reached up and untied her ribbon, the fabric slipping off her face in a bundle of soft blue fabric.

Harry's breath caught in his throat. Sally never took off her ribbon in front of others, not even him, not even after two years of friendship.

Sally stared at the ribbon in her hands then lifted her face to look Harry straight on, a crater of burn scars where her right eye should be. The scars spread outside the area showing how the flames that burned out her eye flew up toward her hairline and slightly down toward her cheek. In the pale moonlight shadows hugged the ridges of the scars and filled part of the hollow in her face with darkness.

Sally's mismatched gazed pierced Harry's own asymmetric eyes and she whispered, "We're different, aren't we Harry?"

"Yes, we are."

They both knew he meant more than their looks, more than the ability to see Saphyr's true blue-and-pearl appearance, even if they didn't know the full extent of how 'different' they truly were from others around them.

With her eye as deep a blue as Saphyr's scales, Sally searched Harry's face then smiled. "Thanks for tellin' me the truth."

Harry smiled back, knowing by her slang that everything was good between them. He couldn't help checking, however, as they finally got ready to go to sleep. "You sure you're ok?"

Sally paused on the bunk bed's ladder, almost hugging the planks of wood. "D'you think it's bad… to be different?"

"You're the nicest person I've ever met, Sally," he replied, placing his left hand on Sally's right cheek. His thumb caressed the burn scars that ended at the crest of her cheek bone and he maintained eye contact with her unwaveringly. "You're a good person. We didn't choose to be different."

Tears gathered in Sally's left eye; her right side frozen wide open in its unblinking emptiness. Her hand held Harry's in place on her cheek as she said, "We gotta choose to be good, then." A flurry of emotions passed through him at these words, unsure how to react. Some of his internal conflict must have shown on his face as Sally continued, "People don't like it when you're different and they'll say you're bad, even if you think you're not. You been livin' on this island your whole life, Harry, so you prob'ly don't know." She glanced at the room behind her, then said, "Maybe you do. It's how most of these kids got here."

Harry watched Sally climb up the rest of the way to her bunk, thinking over her words. Saphyr, still coiled in the middle of the bed, poked its head into the air and hissed, "Sally speaks wisely, Young Speaker. Both simple and special humans fail to appreciate what they do not understand."

He helped his serpent friend into the bucket of water then slid under his covers, mind focused on both of his friends' words. He thought of the orphans who used to tease him when they saw a kid their age using words they did not understand, or preferring hobbies different from any other kid their age. As he drifted to sleep, other thoughts and memories drifted to the surface of his mind.

A large green snake shot forward toward a girl only to hit the body of a boy instead, the angle of the boy's body showing the boy jumped out in front of the girl.

He didn't understand.

Why were they so obsessed with each other that they would lose everything for each other? Even one's life?

What worth was there in such sacrifice?

Why didn't he feel it?

No, he didn't need to understand; didn't need such feelings.

Weakness. It must be. They were weak and he was strong.

All that mattered was his survival.

Everyone else was worthless.

The snake slithered toward the crying girl now backed into a corner.

No… wait! He did understand.

People protected each other because they cared about each other, cared about their friends.

The girl looked over toward him and cried out. Her face suddenly looked so much like Sally's: blonde hair spilling down around her face, wayward strands sticking to her tear-stained cheeks.

No! He needed her! More than that, she didn't deserve this!

The snake reared up, and its sharp fangs glistened with venom.

Why was this happening? He didn't want this!

"HARRY! Wake up, child!"

With a gasping breath Harry jolted awake, Saphyr's full body coiled on his chest. The snake's head was at the side of Harry's face and with a wince, he realized the snake bit his ear lobe. Off to the side, Sally was kneeling at the side of his bed, one of her hands clutched in a death grip by Harry. The sight of her loose blonde hair framing her face full of tears overlapped with the image from his dream. In an instant he brought her up into the bed in a hug, Saphyr luckily slipping out of the way in time.

Harry hugged Sally a little bit tighter, feeling the beat of both of their hearts pounding in their chests. She was here, she was alive, and inside he swore to never forget this fear. He would never forget the utter panic that gripped his heart at the thought of losing Sally. That fear meant he knew how important she was to him and how much he cared about her.

"I'm supposed ta be the one wit da nightmares," Sally joked, and both children shook with tears and silent laughter as the tension eased around them.

"I get to have a turn sometimes," he replied then cringed, wondering how Sally made it seem so easy to make jokes. They wiped the tears off their faces with Harry's blanket and Sally was about to speak when Saphyr reared up between them.

"Young Speaker, something approaches."

Just then, bright lights beamed into the bedroom window before panning off to the side. A low rumbling noise hummed through the air as Harry and Sally moved over to peer through the window.

Harry's red and green eyes widened at the silhouette that moved from the sky to land in the yard outside. "Is that a… flying motorbike?"