“You know about Tehynji?” Kre asked, unable to mask his surprise.
Shadow Noj shook its head, “Ji. Just… Ji. There is no inane cultural prefix to it.”
A tentative hand ran along the leathered edge of the game board. “I remember…” the figure said slowly, “my father playing this game late into the night with my mother. I remember seeing it played in the parks by young and old alike, connecting our community in ways that nothing else could.”
Kre shifted over to stand on the other side of the table. “Do you, uh… want to play? I’m not very good, and there might be some differences in the game you knew from the game I know, but I think we could still make it work.”
Shadow Noj withdrew his hand quicky and shook his head violently with an emphatic, “No.” The response was so vehement that Kre took an involuntary step back from the table.
“I… apologize,” Shadow Noj said, much softer this time. “I do not know what came over me just then. Perhaps, the memory of my parents was too much.” It turned its head away and waved a hand at the table, “Please, take that away.”
Kre nodded and reached his hands out to do just that but stopped short when he realized he wasn’t sure how to remove an imaginary object from his mindscape. Thinking it best not to ask for advice at this point in time, he simply grabbed the game board and quickly packed up the pieces as he recalled doing so many times before.
Rolling the game board up tightly was more muscle memory than it was an actual conscious effort. What did require thought, however, was what to do with the packed-up game. He had a brief thought of just tossing it backwards into the dark recesses of his mind, but even though he knew it was imaginary, he simply couldn’t bring himself to do such a thing to a game set that had so much sentimental meaning to him.
Instead, Kre reached down and tucked the game set underneath the armchair. “There,” he told his mental visitor, “it’s gone.”
Shadow Noj nodded and opened its eyes again, “Thank you, Kre.” It tapped its fingers on the table and even seemed to smile, “Perhaps one day, you can teach me this version of the game, and I can explain what I recall about Ji.”
Kre nodded quickly, “I would like that.” He gestured to the seats, “Should we sit and maybe we can talk about… well, all of this?” He motioned to the two of them and the entire area around them.
“Yes, of course,” the figure replied, taking a seat. It gestured at the poorly made mug. “You may have… that. I need no refreshments.”
Kre chuckled, partially to mask his embarrassment at how poor of a potter he was. “Honestly, I wouldn’t want to try what may be in that pitcher, if I even imagined it to be full of something drinkable that is.” He sat opposite his guest without touching the mug and instead motioned for his guest to take the lead.
“Well then,” Shadow Noj said, “I suppose we should start with determining what you know about my people, so I can fill in the gaps. I’ll be honest, some of it I have already pulled from your mind, though there are significant gaps in your mind concerning would call the history of these lands.”