Looking for her Lady (Griselda)

"No! You'll steal it! GO. AWAY!" She was backing up on her hands and knees, away from the sand she pounded. She appeared to be on a hair trigger and not all mentally there. Her face screamed of paranoia.

Slowly, she brought her hands up, but otherwise stood right where she was.

"No, Beryl. I'm not going to steal anything from you. I just want to help you."

She sat still in the sand, eying the women cautiously. But she'd stopped moving, stopped yelling.

She didn't come any closer. She crouched a little, though, like she might sit down. Her hands still up where the woman could see them.

"Will you let me help you, Beryl?"

"Will you help? Or only send me back...?" She was half-growling, half-whimpering. The shadow Griselda had seen before reappeared, skipping around Beryl as if filled with glee.

She shook her head.

"I can't send you back, Beryl. I'll help you. If you'll let me."

For a moment, Beryl stared, as if sizing up an opponent. But in the end, she nodded and stood like a normal person.

"Help... yes."

She came a little bit closer.

"How can I help you, Beryl?"

"I lost something. Something I was told was here," she took a step back. She was willing to allow help, but she was still a bit paranoid.

"A music box with a carousel horse. I was told it was in one of the caverns along the beach. I didn't find any caverns."

"Who told you that?" Rachel asked softly not trying to spook her any more.

She nodded.

"We could help you more if we knew who told you."

The shadow that Griselda could hear and see snickered. Beryl's icy gaze gave a sort of eye roll, as if indicating the who to Rai.

To Rachel, she simply said, "My shadow half."

She smiled at that.

"And did your shadow half tell you why you needed to have this?"

"To stay," she said simply.

She nodded slowly.

"Is it your fetter?"

She gave a slow nod. "Are you like me?"

She shook her head.

"I'm not, but I have talked with many of your kind before. Where did you last see it?"

"When?" She blinked, looking around a little. "When it struck the side of my face."

She nodded.

"Where were you? When it struck your face?"

"Right here," she pointed at her feet. And then she turned to look out at the sea. "At least, I think so. It looks the same... but different."

She nodded.

"Okay. What's different about it?"

"The water is closer... The buildings are... odd. What happened to the skyline?" She pointed back toward the city.

She thought about that for a moment.

"Beryl, what year was it when you brought the box here?"

"18... 18..." Oh, she had to think. But she was slightly distracted, too. "1881," she said finally. "In my 26th year."

She nodded slowly.

"All right. Can you show me what it looked like? Exactly as you remember it?"