A/N: Isla and Nicholis theme song? (Above)

(P.S. Totally love Beth Crowley, please check out the rest of her songs)

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Loralai stared at me for the longest time, too in shock to speak.

"I... I... I thought... I thought that after I read the newspaper article about you... That I knew everything there was to know about Isla Kunay," Loralai finally said, after us simply sitting in silence for so long, "...But I was wrong. Very wrong. A newspaper can't possibly tell you everything there is to know about a person. Only the person themselves can do that, and even they really can't..."

I opened my mouth to speak, but Loralai didn't stop there.

"...I've always sort of felt like that. All my life, I never really seemed to realize that there's more to people that what you can see. Not as if physical appearance mattered, but more like... no matter how much a person tells you about themselves, you can never really, truly know everything about someone."

Next thing I knew Loralai was pouring out her life story to me. It didn't make any sense to me why it HAD to be right now, of all times.

But I didn't do anything to stop her.

"My father was a coward. He loved my mother very much, but when he found out that she was pregnant with me, he ran away. He didn't want a child, and so he left us homeless, in a large city that's not too far away from here. I was born, and my mother and I lived on the streets for a while. She... she was very angry. She would scream at me that it was all my fault that we were homeless. She screamed at me that she wished I had never been born. She screamed that if I wasn't born, then she would be happier, and that she would have a home."

I blinked at her as she paused. I barely heard her swallow hard, and I almost urged her to stop, but she continued anyways.

"So... I thought that I was worthless. My mother was desperate to get off the streets, and so she 'fell in love' with a man. That man just-so-happened to be the richest man in our town. We moved in with him much too quickly. My mother then got pregnant again. This man didn't run away, or kick us out. In fact, he loved that baby more than he loved my mother. And much more than he loved me. My mother stopped hating me, but that was when my step-father did. He never yelled at me or hit me or anything. But it was obvious. I would walk in the door, walk into the living room where he was, and he wouldn't even look at me. Nothing. I would say hi and he still said nothing. Did nothing. Didn't even acknowledge that I existed. My mother was much too happy in her riches to even notice."

I reached out to touch Loralai, but she pushed my hand away. I heard a sniffle and knew she was about to cry.

"So this continued for years and years. I thought it was normal, but deep down I felt so broken. Hollow. Unloved. One day, I don't know why it happened, but he snapped. He just... broke. I guess... he was tired of having to ignore me when he hated me so much. He screamed at me that I wasn't his daughter and that... he would never love me. I never blamed my little brother for how that man loved him more, but..."

Loralai let out a shaky breath, but she seemed determined to tell the whole story.

"The man--I can't even call him my step-father-- then tried to hurt me. He had grabbed a knife, or something else that was sharp. He tried to cut me with it, swinging it at me wildly. I was only around 13, 7 years ago... He cut just underneath my collarbone, so close to my throat."

I heard Loralai's hand move, and made a wild guess that it had moved to the place that she had been cut. I wondered if she still had a scar.

"And then I ran. The man stopped, and didn't come after me, but my mother never came looking for me either. She was happy. A son of about 7 at the time, and a husband that she didn't know had tried to murder her daughter. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if he had killed me that day."

"I haven't seen little Oliker since... I wanted to find him at first, get him out of that crazy man and woman's house, but... I can't go back. No, I can't. I can't stand to face them ever again."

Loralai sniffed again, but she managed to not cry.

"Well... you want to save Oliker right? Then... I think we should go find him," I said. 

I thought that it might give her... some sort of closure to see him, or to help him.

"I don't think.... I don't think I can."

"But you're one of the strongest people that I know," I said.

Loralai's laughter filled my ears. "And just how many people do you know?"

"Enough."

"I still don't think I can."

"I think you can."

Loralai didn't say anything for a long time.

"Okay then. Let's go."

"Let's go find Oliker."