I was just about to jump up and set off in search of the sea beast when Alastia grabbed by the scruff of the neck with a death grip. We tumbled to the floor, and she started choking again, pinning down from above.
"Ack... let go!" I wheezed, trying to wriggle out.
"You're not going anywhere alone!" she hissed right into my ear. "What if you forget everything again right out there? And instead of finishing off the monster, you decide to make friends with it? Huh?"
"Alright, alright! I surrender!" I went limp theatrically, feeling my face turn even redder.
Zorgh, standing nearby, only threw up his hands: "I beg of you, my lords... not in front of the guests!"
"It's nothing, Zorgh, everything is fine," the ambassador of Lant chuckled, watching our scuffle. "Well then, we depart."
The whole day passed in minor skirmishes. I stubbornly repeated, "I won't surrender!", and Alastia just as stubbornly continued to control . By evening, when Grimuar peeked into the cabin and called us to dinner, I jumped up on the spot: "FOOD!"
But Alastia was faster again—she intercepted mid-jump.
"Surrender," she whispered. The sll of food from the galley was too tempting.
"Alright, alright, I surrender!" I exhaled, and she finally let go.
We went down to the lower deck. Eating on a rocking ship is quite the experience. You have to tense all your muscles so the soup doesn't end up on your pants, and the fork—in your neighbor's eye.
Grimuar, watching Alastia and synchronously catch our plates, inquired: "May I be curious... what is your relationship to each other? Old friends, I presu?"
"Yeah, old ones," Alastia sent a spoonful of soup into her mouth. "t him back in the Academy."
"In the Academy?" Grimuar looked at in disbelief. "But Lady Alastia is in her seventies... Kid, you don't look a day over fifteen."
Even though Alastia was in her seventies, she looked eighteen at most—magic and her roots made themselves known.
"Don't look at appearances," I replied quietly, fighting with a piece of bread. "Looks can be deceiving."
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I quickly polished off my portion and already aid my spoon at Alastia's plate, but her fork intercepted my attack with a ring. Clink! tal scraped against tal with a squeak.
"Share the potatoes!" I demanded.
"I will not!"
With a deft movent, her fork hooked my spoon, she twisted her wrist—and my utensil flew up to the ceiling. While Alastia reached up to catch the spoon mid-flight, I lunged for her plate... But, without looking, she threw her fork right in front of my palm.
"Hey! You almost hit !" I barely managed to snatch my hand back.
"Missed," she replied unbothered, finishing the last potato.
"Night winter" set in. The sun in the north had hidden completely. We had already moved a fair distance from the shore, and it was terribly cold on the deck. I stood right at the bow of the ship, wrapping myself in a cloak and looking at the stars. Grimuar approached .
"What is your na, young man?" he began.
"Zenhald. And yours?"
"Grimuar."
"Wow, cool na. Your parents were quite the jokers," I tried to joke, but the ambassador didn't appreciate my irony.
He leaned against the railing and looked at the moon. "I ca to say... I see that Lady Alastia has feelings for you. Have you noticed?"
I swallowed hard, feeling the cold air burn my lungs.
"I see such a spark of love," Grimuar continued. "Why do you ignore it? Or do you simply not understand?"
"I know..." I answered quietly. "I know she has feelings. But I'm not the best choice, Grimuar."
"But she chose you."
"When we studied at the Academy, she confessed her love to . I turned her down then. And..." the word caught in my throat like a lump. "Maybe I do regret it. But I did the right thing. You can't build a normal future with ."
I sat down on the deck, leaning my back against the cold wall. "I don't want to make the mistakes of the past."
"You don't look like a long-liver," Grimuar sat down nearby.
"Man," I looked at him seriously. "I don't age. I'm stuck in this kid's body. And I behave like a kid. I'm irresponsible, I can't be relied on. I am... a terrible person."
Grimuar was silent for a mont, looking at the dark waves. "Zenhald, I can't watch a girl's heart tear into pieces simply because of your pride."
"What freaking pride, Grimuar?! Didn't you understand? I am cursed! Every fifteen years I forget everything. My identity, my past. And Alastia? She's cursed too, you know—she can't touch the living, otherwise they die. Did you know that?"
He nodded.
"Well there you go. I can't live a normal life! I am an eternal teenager. I can't accept the fact that I might have a child soday. I can only be an 'older brother' for a while, and nothing more. I wouldn't make a good father. I've already made such mistakes, and they were terrible. I am a bad person, Grimuar! I can't get attached, do you understand?!"
Grimuar looked at the sky, then at . "I respect Zorgh. He is a good king. And my king appreciated the laws of your country. But I understand that it wasn't Zorgh who did all this. Whatever the locals might say about a god who created this place... Soone who cares so much for the people cannot be a bad person. You are not bad, Zenhald. You are simply afraid."
"Grimuar, are you stupid or what?" I finally blurted out, trying to maintain a mask of wise indifference, even though everything was boiling inside. But I continued to look into the distance, at the shore invisible in the darkness.
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