The Fateful Heart

James nodded slowly, taking notes. Spend time with friends and family. Well, all she had was him, unfortunately. And he knew her favorite food was pesto pasta, but he didn't know how to make pasta - he didn't even have any of the tools to do that. How would he pull that off? He couldn't even lie to himself. He knew he couldn't.

It didn't sound like she wanted a song, since she said they were annoying, but maybe that was part of the charm? He didn't know. Gifts, maybe, he could figure out something. Going into town wouldn't be possible for a while though, and he didn't know how he'd even begin to pull off doing that himself to buy anything, without her knowing, and keep it a surprise.

He would have to think about this.

"That sounds similar to some things people do here," he said, though his mind was already racing, trying to put together something for her. "What's the song sound like?"

She looked back at him with a raised brow, smirking. "Why, do you want to sing it?" she continued to tease, hoping the humor would lighten the mood.

James tried to put his thoughts on hold so she wouldn't suspect anything, and he looked to her with a little smirk.

"Maybe. You'd have to teach it to me, though."

Evaline looked at him for a little longer then looked away in thought, pursing her lips. "Maybe I'll compose it for you," she said. "And change the words. That way it's a better song, just for Nye."

James smiled. "I would love that," he said.

Evaline shyly smiled back. She'd like that too.

"Okay," she said softly, drumming her fingers along her hand in thought. "Do you... Well. Do you know how to read sheet music?"

James's smile faded a little. "Unfortunately, I don't."

Ah. Well, that will be a little difficult.

"It's okay," she said, thinking this though. "Do you know key signatures by the name? Or can recognize it by listening to it?"

"I can recognize changes in music by listening to things, but I never learned music formally. It was only ever a hobby," James said.

Evaline paused for a bit. So he didn't know music theory.

"Maybe I can teach you," she said softly.

"I would be very eager to learn," James said, looking back to her with a small smile. "I don't know how difficult that might be to teach when I only have one harmonica in one key, but I'd like that."

Evaline let out a small laugh, crossing her arms as her mind started to work through the details.

"That only makes my job easier," she said with a smile. A piano has 88 notes, but a single-key harmonica has 12. Maybe 15, depending on your key."

She paused. What key was his harmonica in? Did he know? It seemed unlikely. As long as it wasn't in the minor key, she could put together a happy song.

"I don't have perfect pitch, but I can maybe recognize a C chord, and everything else is relative after that. Or if you play the full key signature scale, I can maybe recognize that. I don't know. I'd have to listen. And I don't know too much about harmonica sheet music, but I think they might be tabbed, like a guitar. So I can number the holes on the harmonica and then transpose a song according to the designated hole number. It might be easier than teaching you how to read traditional sheet music."

She stopped, then let out a nervous laugh realizing that she had just said her whole thought process out loud.

"Anyways. I'll stop talking now," she mumbled.

Much of what Evaline said went over James’s head, but he wanted to understand, and he liked hearing her talk about it.

“Maybe you can explain it more when we stop for the night,” James said. “Or something like that.”

"Something like that, sure," Evaline said quietly, smiling to herself. "I can do that."

A brief silence fell between the two of them that they both seemed to peacefully allow, like they were too busy in their own thoughts. At least, Evaline certainly was.

She was wondering how she could teach James how to read music, and how, maybe, potentially, compose harmonica songs. It seemed difficult since she didn't know much about harmonicas, but they did have plenty of free time ahead of them, and Evaline had plenty of long nights to keep herself busy when awake. This could keep her busy for a while.

Her mind also drifted to the natural flow of the conversation. It was amusing to think that her innocent question of verifying his age led to this.

But a small thought at the back of her mind kept resurfacing ever since she first talked to Brooks in Woodhearst: should she verify his name?

It didn't sound like he'd be lying; Tiberius was likely just an old alias that got him to his wanted status today. Why he chose a different identity before becoming wanted, she didn't know. She didn't doubt that James was his real name, but she couldn't help but wonder.

"How many people know your real name?" she finally asked.

James had only just begun to formulate a plan to celebrate Evaline's birthday, but now all of that came to a stumbling, messy halt.

It wasn't that he hadn't expected his name to come up again. Ever since she'd been in the town and seen the posters with a different name that clearly wasn't his, he knew it would come up eventually. They were continuing to get to know one another in degrees, and he knew exposing the truth at some point should have been inevitable, but he couldn't help but feel nervous.

His normal resting heartrate started speeding up, but he maintained his usual calm exterior.

Now? Right now? Did it have to be now? Or ever?

He had to reign himself in just to answer the question.

How many people knew his real name?

That answer was nuanced. But the number of people who knew who he was now? Who knew that he was Tiberius? That Tiberius was James?

"Four," he said.

"Including you."