[Celtic]

B sipped her tea for a moment, wincing at how hot it was, "If you don't mind me asking, how do you know the khalmer? I haven't met any of his kind..." The old woman stared into her cup for a moment before adopting her smile once more. The smile lines on her face were deep, indicating this was her preferred facial expression.

"Ah, yes. His kind is a bit elusive. He's a dear friend though and we met years ago. When I was still spry and he was just figuring out this world that surrounded him. I haven't talked to him much about what his life was before then but I get the idea he would like not to talk about it."

[Celtic]

B's curiousity was peaked at that, "How did you two meet?" She still didn't quite understand the idea behind a squid-like creature that was made out of machinery. It seemed like opposites. You weren't supposed to get machines wet.

"Well, not unlike you I was out for a swim and I went a bit farther than I usual did. This wasn't here mind you, I was all the way over at Freighlei Ocean. Not a very hospitable place for a swim but I did all right back then. I got in a spot of trouble and my dear Cal showed up."

[Celtic]

"That's what I call him you know, he doesn't have a proper name so I helped him find one he was happy with. Not surprisingly he decided to choose something very close to what I had been calling him-- Khalmer. But anyways I met him and he was very concerned that I was swimming so far away from my clan. I got the impression he was still young at that point, rules were very rigid in his mind and he'd been told that clans stuck together no matter what. He needed to stay with his kind and we stayed with ours."

[Celtic]

"Of course I explained to him that was rubbish and I could do whatever I wanted. I was quite fiesty back then." She chuckled softly to herself before going on, "He was quite concerned with that response, thought my programming was broken. That, I think, was the first he learned of biological beings. He'd been told by his clan that everyone was mechanical-- and who knows maybe his clan still thinks that. I never found them even though I looked for a long time. I thought I'd understand Cal better if I knew where he came from, but since that day he's been with me and he's never gone back home."

[Celtic]

"That seems really odd. Why would he abandon his home and his family so readily?" B's face was screwed up thinking through the scene.

The old woman shrugged, "I have no idea. I questioned him about it many, many times. I don't know what drew him to me but he seemed to really just latch on and wasn't willing to give up a link to the rest of the world. He followed me back to my boat that day and well, we're here now."

"That's wild... I'm sorry for this next question, it's a bit forward, but what is his going to do when you die?"

[Celtic]

"My dear! You don't even know my name yet, and you're already talking to me about my death." A little glint in her eye and a sly smile let B know she hadn't really overstepped but that didn't stop B from turning a bright shade of red on her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry! That's so rude of me, I was just so caught up in your story. I'm so sorry. Ma'am, what is your name?"

The old woman just waved a hand at her, "Oh it's nothing. Just call me Granny. My name lost meaning years ago. Lord knows Cal never bothered to use it."

[Celtic]

Her name lost meaning? What kind of a place had she stepped into? B felt like she was in a whole nother world in this little cottage. She hadn't thought of her life or any life really since coming here. She took stock of her mind and realized she wasn't worried about if others were worried about her since she disappeared... And now that she thought of it she still wasn't worried. All she felt was calm. If she wasn't so serenely calm, she might be worried about this lack of feeling that was so out of character but those feelings had been banished somehow.

[Celtic]

"And as for when I die, I'm not sure what he'd do. Maybe that's why he's brought you here-- he needs a new lady to imprint upon." A sly little wink accompanied that semi-ominous phrase. B laughed, but it was dry and muted, that wasn't actually very funny.

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about that dearest, he brought you here because you fainted and clearly needed help. He doesn't quite understand us yet even after living with me for decades. We still confuse him at every turn."

B smiled a very small smile, "That's reassuring. Have you ever met another one of his kind?"

[Celtic]

"Nope I have not. I'm not positive there are others. After all the time I spent searching where we met, and now other bodies of water, not a single khalmer in any of them. I'm not positive there are others. My mind has come up with some wild tales about how his whole clan was murdered gruesomely, leaving just him and it was too traumatic for him to remember. That's why he latched onto me-- I was in the right place at the right time. He needed a caretaker and I was there. But, of course, that's just a story I made up. There's no proof. I never found any trace of a clan of Khalmers."

[Celtic]

"Oh, well I hope that's not true. He seems too kind of a soul for that to be his backstory."

"Ah, one of our best arguments. I think Cal has a soul too! But he's convinced it's just his programming and that if I could find a way to sync with his coding I could make him into any type of machine and any personality I wanted. I think it's rubbish, Cal seems far too alive for coding to be producing his mannerisms."

B hummed in response. She was inclined to agree with Granny but had very little to back that up.

[Crystal Synthesis Complete]