"Tristessa?"
Hearing her name spoken loudly and clearly by someone alive, the girl let out a scream and instinctively flinched, hitting her waist against one of the broken tables. Even with the sharp pain running through her back, the girl raised her hunting knife, gripping it tightly with both hands, pointing it at the man standing above the inn's fallen door.
"Calm down! By Xiliarra, it's me, Jin Mercer!" the man exclaimed, taking two steps forward so Tristessa could see him better amidst the interplay of light streaming in through the broken door and windows, and the natural shadows of the abandoned building. "Do you recognize me?"
Indeed, it was impossible not to recognize the hunter wearing that caped traveling jacket, his beard sticking out, and both hands raised so she could see he was unarmed.
"Oh, damn it, Jin…" Tristessa exhaled all the air she'd been holding in her lungs and lowered the knife. Now she felt the pain in her waist as she stood up straight, careful not to step on the glass. But she couldn't help but smile, more than happy to see the man alive in this new timeline. "I'm glad to see you, though not about you scaring me to death. First that shadow, and now you…"
"Shadow?"
"Huh… well… I think I saw a ghost," she was forced to lie halfway, sounding convincing enough to make the hunter look around cautiously. "Is that a normal thing, Jin?"
"Not necessarily: skilled thaumaturges in the non-elemental branch can summon apparitions, but I've never seen one. Severus once told me he tried to summon an apparition and it almost… Wait, I don't want to beat around the bush. You and I need to talk."
Jin pulled down his hood, his long blond hair untied, and extended a hand to Tristessa to help her down from the pile of rubble. She accepted without hesitation, but she didn't like the unease in his green eyes at all.
"Jin, I appreciate everything you did for me, and I'm sorry for stealing some of your things for my trip. I swear I'll return..."
"Don't apologize. I'm not offended or anything. If you had waited for me to get back from hunting, I would have given you everything you needed for your trip myself," he interrupted, looking her up and down, and Tristessa could detect a hint of pain in his gaze, which he quickly hid. Of course, that trench-coat brought him back memories more than painful. "Those clothes aren't suitable... Why did you rush to leave? Did you...remember something about who you are?"
"Something like that. I need to get to Entrana as soon as possible; there are people I care about who are in danger," she explained, without giving any further details, but with the necessary severity for Jin to understand that she wasn't joking or exaggerating. "Anyway, how did you find me?"
"Well, it was pretty easy to track you. You left footprints in almost a straight line and on a road almost reclaimed by weeds. Plants crushed by small feet, fresh steps, it wasn't too difficult to guess," he explained. "In time, you'll learn to hide your tracks."
"Your wife didn't seem to have much faith in me…" Tristessa could barely suppress the apathy that permeated her own voice when she spoke about Tiara.
"Yes… I don't know what you said to her, but it's been a long time since I've seen Tiara cry like that."
The coldness in the voice of a man who loved his wife dearly made the girl shift uncomfortably, but there was no sign of hostility. Sighing, Jin seemed to be dealing with an adopted daughter rather than a total stranger who had made Tiara cry with hurtful words.
"Let me ask you something: what did you do before entering this place?" Arms crossed, Jin paced a bit through the areas free of broken glass and puddles of water dripping through the floorboards of a flooded section of the second floor. Tristessa stared at him, confused.
"I-I don't understand."
That answer made the hunter stop and give her an angry grimace.
"You barged into this place without even checking for movement or signs of anyone living there? The Meridion Highway is abandoned, but not uninhabited! There are bandits and hostile creatures everywhere, especially after dark! What the hell were you thinking?"
"I-I…" Tristessa lowered her head, nodding. "You're absolutely right."
"And what's this? Are you serious?" Jin asked, having approached the table and looking at the map she'd drawn.
"I couldn't take that canvas from the atrium with me, could I? I wasn't going to break the display case and risk your wife breaking my fingers."
That justification came out completely naturally, and reveling in the irony, the joints of her fingers burned at the horrible memory in unavoidably resurfaced from the dark seas of her mind.
"Oh, Tristessa…" he sighed, shaking his head, his eyes closing. "I'm not your father, I won't tell you what you can do or not, but you're a young girl with memory problems. And you're walking around with this piece of trash to guide you?"
"Wait, no…!" Unable to do anything to stop it, Tristessa was forced to watch as the hunter crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it across the ruined hall. "Jin!"
"Don't scream, or the roof will fall on our heads. Take this," Jin told her, after taking a folded piece of paper from one of his inner jacket pockets to hand it to her. Tristessa, angrily, accepted it reluctantly and unfolded the paper to reveal something that made her eyes widen. "It's a map of End-World. A few years old, but it's much better than that piece of paper with a poorly drawn map that's five hundred years too obsolete."
Even though it was an old topographical map with details written in glyph nomenclature, it perfectly indicated the elevation of the hills and plains, the areas abundant in vegetation with the Sea of Trees taking up almost the entire southern part of the Domain, and the rivers that flowed from the southern and western mountains, running through the entire region.
"Thank you, Jin!" the girl said, smiling warmly at the hunter. She spread the map on the table and tried to locate the area they were in. "Are we here?"
"Just a little further south, here. Where it says Old Feydra Estate, we're practically right next to it." Jin pointed to the indicated spot, forgetting that Tristessa couldn't read. "And if you continue in the same direction, you'll reach the Derelict Outpost, where the road splits into the four cardinal directions. And if you continue north…"
"Entrana," the girl whispered, pointing at the drawing of the city.
"Exactly. You still have more than a day's travel time… If I ask you to turn back and wait for Severus to visit us so you can go with him, would you consider it?"
This time Tristessa couldn't help herself: she lunged at the man and wrapped him in a hug. Jin stood deathly still, not knowing what to do, his arms raised in direction of the ceiling, while the black-haired girl tried to convey to him how grateful she was, even though it was impossible for him to remember the other timelines.
"I'm sorry, Jin. I can't wait... I'd like to stay at your house longer, but time isn't on my side," she told him, trying to hold back her tears. She didn't have the courage to tell him that his daughter was going to kill them all in a matter of days; she didn't have the courage to watch him break down and resign himself to waiting for the worst with his family, with nowhere to escape. "But I'll come back to visit you soon, I swear."
In every single way, that man had been a good person who didn't deserve the dark fate that awaited him.
"A-alright…?"
Parting from him, the hunter was more confused than moved, given the sudden display of affection from someone he'd practically just met, but the smile that formed inside his bushy beard was more than enough.
Silently, he helped Tristessa pack the supplies and escorted her outside, where they were greeted by a strong wind that was pushing them north. Toward the path she prayed would save them all.
"Any last words of advice?" she asked, causing the hunter to chuckle softly.
"I have plenty, but that will only take your valuable time. Be very careful…Tessa," Jin told her, daring to call her by a nickname to reciprocate, in some small way, the girl's sudden affection for him. "Once you reach the Outpost, make sure it's uninhabited and spend the night there. In case there are people… By the Goddess, you know I won't be able to sleep peacefully, right?"
"Believe in me. I'll arrive safely in Entrana, I assure you," she replied, winking at him and giving him a thumbs-up. Two gestures that meant nothing in Nekrom, so Jin scratched his beard in utter confusion. "I'm leaving! Seriously, I'll be fine!"
"You're crazy if you think I'm going to stay calm! Don't underestimate the road ahead!"
"I won't!"
Trotting and with renewed energy, Tristessa resumed her journey along the abandoned highway. She'd have time to reflect on the new Divinity she'd just discovered: now she had to take advantage of the momentum Jin had given her with his unexpected visit.
The hunter looked at the girl he had welcomed into his home with a nervous smile, unaware that thanks to him, Tristessa's determination had solidified even further in her spirit, and practically screamed inside her head, where no one but her could hear her wish:
"I'm going to save you, Jin!"