The Fateful Heart

"Huh," Evaline said in response, letting the thought experiment sink in. "You're right. I mean, it's kind of bizarre that we can speak the same language. Languages are built upon history and culture, both of which are different on Nye and Earth."

She finally looked back at him, offering a sheepish smile. "Out of all the worlds I could have gone to, it's a good thing I ended up on Nye and not some other planet, huh?"

"I guess so," he said, mirroring her smile with one of his own. "I guess whatever brought you here knew what it was doing in that regard."

He paused, humming as he looked into the fire, thinking of one more question before it was his turn again.

Technically, the questions had to be related to her answers. That was what the rules implied. But he was tempted to ask about the note again, even though it had already been somewhat resolved. He decided against it.

"What about the future do you think about?"

Evaline had expected him to ask her this, but with a muddled mind, she hadn't got the chance to think of a proper reply. She was prepared to tell him the truth, possibly even tonight, but she wanted to do so slowly, one detail at a time. One truth at a time.

"A lot of things," she said quietly. "It could be an action plan for what I should do next, but it's mostly about other people. Their futures."

She blinked. "I mean!" she quickly backpedaled, hoping this didn't infer that she thought about his future a lot. "That was, until I came here, anyways. Can't think about the future if I don't know the future. Hah..."

James looked at her, intentionally keeping his expression neutral, even though her reply only brought up more questions.

Did she normally know the future? He still didn't fully understand all of her abilities. He didn't know if that was possible.

He pursed his lips to the side and sighed.

"Well, I guess I'm out of questions, so it's my turn again," he said. He took in a deep breath and scanned the area behind her. It was habit, at this point. Making sure nothing was around, and no one was watching. So far, he hadn't heard or seen anything unusual, but that was because he kept paying attention.

"I can do the splits. My favorite food is steak. I've never gone into the ocean."

Evaline was glad James moved on to his turn. She may have panicked and said a little too much last minute.

She thought about his answers knowing that this stumped her. All three were possible, and he never brought up anything before that could have swayed her otherwise. It revolted her that he'd consider steak to be his favorite food, but maybe that was his strategy. Being a traveling man and all, it was hard to believe that he had never gone to the ocean... But what stood out to her the most was the last statement.

"Splits," she said, feeling confident. "That's the lie."

"Actually-" James started, before shutting his mouth and frowning, squinting out into the forest in thought.

"You know, maybe that was a half-lie. Obviously, I can't really do the splits now. At least, not without blinding pain. But on a good day, I could. The lie is that my favorite food is steak. I don't mind steak, it's just not my favorite."

Evaline thought this over, rubbing her chin. It didn't surprise her that he could do the splits, but she picked this answer just because of a technicality.

"So by saying you can do the splits but you can't do it now, wouldn't that technically be a lie?" she mused, feeling a bit pedantic, but hey, the game called for full truths.

The smirk returned. "Good to know your favorite food isn't the meat of an animal, by the way," she teased. "I thought our friendship would be over."

James smirked. "My favorite food is actually a dish made mostly of cheese. It's called Lasagna. It usually has meat in it, but it doesn't have to."

Evaline narrowed her eyes at him. She sure wasn't going to use her questions on the details of lasagna, although now her brain has a file of James's food preferences in it. What to feed him: lasagna. What not to feed him: chocolate.

"So as I was saying," she began again, "I technically guessed the lie. Which means... it would still be your turn. After I ask my two questions, of course."

She smirked.

James rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, fine. I lose on a technicality. It was my own fault for not wording it differently."

He put his arms behind him and leaned back on them a little to relieve some of the pressure on his back. It was an exchange of different types of discomfort.

"Go on. Ask your questions, then."

Eve smiled victoriously, glad she could postpone her turn once again.

"So, the splits," she said, not letting go of this topic. "How and why did you get to be so flexible?" She held back a laugh. "I mean, I thought I was flexible, but I don't think I can do the splits without breaking something."

"When I was in the army I was very active. I've always been pretty flexible naturally, and I was just able to get... well, you know, more flexible with lots of stretching."

He shrugged. "If I heal fast enough maybe I can work my way back up to it just to show off."

Evalie listened intently, tilting her head curiously. "I didn't know you were in the army," she said, although there were a lot of things they didn't know about each other.

She thought about her next question carefully, trying not to make any wrong assumptions.

"Did you enlist?"

James's gaze drifted to the fire, and he looked around them again, scanning the trees.

"Yes. I did," he said.

He knew he never really explained how he managed to get close to the king, and he never mentioned the military, but he felt like, if Evaline thought about it, she would piece it together herself. It made sense.

Right?

"And I guess I have to go again since I disqualified myself by doing a half-truth." He looked back at her, trying to think of things to say that didn't reveal too much. More silly, pointless little facts that didn't amount to much.

It was getting surprisingly harder to think of things like that to say. How long did people usually play this game?

"Okay," he hummed. "Here's the next ones. I think ducks are cute. I once had a pet mouse. And sometimes I tell stories to myself to fall asleep."

Evaline stared at James to continue talking, but of course he didn't. She should've asked a question that would have gotten her more of a response, but for now, she shelfed the thought and made a mental note to come back to it.

As he thought of new answers to say, Evaline's mind wandered to what she did know of his history. She knew something happened in his childhood that tore him away from his family. She knew that he committed treason by preventing magic child soldiers. She knew he was a wanted man because of that. And now, she knew he enlisted in the army. There was still a lot she didn't know—although, to be fair, he didn't seem to know any major events that happened to her other than she left home to join a war. She finally had some kind of theory of how things progressed, but without knowing the how's and the when's and all the other information in between, she wouldn't be able to confidently say anything.

James then came up with three more answers, and they were so contradictory to her thoughts, she almost laughed.

Evaline quickly went through the possibilities. Again, they all seemed believable, but obviously, one was a lie.

It's not like she ever studied him when he slept, but she did notice that he was an insanely light sleeper. She still remembered the one time when she was pacing around during her sleep shift, trying to think about some things, and she remembered stepping on a stick and seeing him jolt awake then roll over. Maybe being a light sleeper meant he had at least a mild case of insomnia. In that case, telling stories to fall asleep wasn't an outlandish thing to do.

She could see him once having a pet mouse, maybe when he was a kid and he passed by the little critter. But, she didn't really have anything else to add besides that.

Finally, ducks being cute. She had no idea.

"Ducks being cute," she answered, although she didn't appear smug about it since she wasn't at all confident. "Although, I admit I partly say this because I think it's funny to hear you admit anything is cute."

The words seemed to hung in the air a little as Evaline realized that maaaybe she should've have said that after their tense conversation, but she stood her ground and didn't let it affect her, hoping James would smile and move on.