Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
If Nyxis was honest about it, he had hoped that the boy never woke up. A selfish thought—probably pathetic too—but if he regained all his memories and it turned out that he was right about what he thought he was, he wasn't sure how he would be able to live with it for the rest of his life.
Over the past few days, he has grown to like helping around where he could—in the kitchens, in the garden, even in the fishing. Denara had protested about the last one though. He won the argument when he told her he found fulfillment in being able to use what he knew to help others and to make their lives easier.
So, what if in his past life, he had been the opposite? What if, instead of helping people, he ended up dooming them? What then?
He was silent throughout dinner, shoveling soup into his mouth in a distracted haze. He couldn't seem to focus on anything. His spoon tapped in dissonant rhythms against his bowl. He glanced left and right as if the boy would suddenly show up and start yammering about Nyxis's past.
"Would you stop it?" Denara slapped his thigh as she moved to refill her bowl. "It is driving me crazy."
Nyxis raised his eyebrow. The way she said "crazy" sparked recognition in his mind. He set his bowl aside. "The human who taught you Ylanenla," he said. "What was he like?"
"She," Denara held a finger to Nyxis's face. "She made it here after her boat gave up after years of being out in the sea. She is a trader across port cities, bringing goods from different kinds of territories. She taught me the geography of the island after the War. I could not believe how chaotic your systems of ruling are."
Nyxis scratched the side of his face. "It is true that the past High Queen has her faults, but the rest of the territories have enough good rulers among them."
"That right there is wrong," Denara shoved a spoonful of stew into her mouth. "Having a solitary higher figure with a ton of autonomous rulers underneath could pose a lot of problems. I am surprised that no coup had taken place on the island, more so when you said that the past High Queen is not performing as efficiently as she should have had."
"Are you suddenly an expert in politics?" Nyxis narrowed his eyes. If this was Denara's way of distracting him, it seemed to be working. Why was he complaining?
Denara hummed. "The human taught me that as well," she said. "That young woman had interesting worldviews and ideas. She taught me Ylanenla and Keijula. She appeared to also have been fluent in twelve other languages."
Nyxis ran a quick computation in his head. "She knew all that?"
"Seems like it," Denara chewed the meat with care before continuing. "But she had to go back soon so we did not get into the dialects."
Nyxis imagined Denara talking with a faceless girl inside this cave, learning about languages. He didn't need to imagine further. It would probably look just like this moment. "Where do you think she is now?"
