The Fateful Heart

James looked at Evaline, squinting his eyes with a small smile. "Well I do think they're cute. Especially ducklings. So go on and laugh."

Because he won this round, finally.

"As for the lie, well, I never had a pet mouse."

"Yeah, okay," Evaline said, letting out a small laugh and half-rolling her eyes. "It was between the two options. For the record, you're the lightest sleeper in the world, so that was definitely believable."

She paused as she thought of a question to ask him.

"Have you always had a hard time falling asleep?"

James looked to the ground.

"Not exactly. I've always been a light sleeper, but it's just gotten worse, being on the run all the time," he said. He picked at a rock stuck to the sole of his shoe, keeping himself from saying more that was unnecessary. That was enough. He didn't have to explain why. Evaline was smart enough to fill in the blanks.

Evaline nodded, looking down at the fire as it cackled in front of them. Being on the run sounded exhausting. She couldn't imagine how many paranoid nights he must have had alone, out in the open. At least with her by his side, he could get more sleep.

"What stories do you tell yourself to fall sleep?" she asked.

James succeeded in getting the rock out of the sole of his shoe, and he flicked it into the dirt beside them. He looked out beyond them, at the rushing waterfall, then over to Elliot.

"Sometimes they're about people I meet or pass in my travels. Sometimes they're about people I know or used to know. Sometimes they're about people I make up and are entirely fictional. It kind of just depends on where my mind drifts. But I like to tell myself stories with happy endings," he said. There was a small pause. "Most of the time."

"Now your turn."

It was nice listening to James talk about the stories he tells himself to fall asleep. They were all about people. Adventures, maybe. Memories.

But still, she couldn't shake the thought that, one day, she'll be the person he thinks about to fall asleep. She'll be the "person he once knew" because she was no longer in Nye, so they couldn't communicate with one another, even if they wanted to. She knew this would happen eventually, but she felt a twinge of sadness knowing that once she figured out how to return to Earth, she'll never see James again.

Evaline swatted the thought away as she tried to think of answers for her turn. She thought about continuing on to hint of what she really wanted to reveal to him, but maybe, she'll have a little fun instead. Something tricky.

She bounced back and forth between her options before nodding and deciding to just go for it.

"I have a friend named Alina. I have a fiancé named Oliver. I had a cat named Smiles."

Evaline didn't show any hints in the way she said them, and James found himself unsure. This one felt more tricky than the previous ones.

Evaline hadn't really mentioned many names. He remembered Evaline mentioning Alina, but that was before they'd been more honest with each other - at least, compared to their first meeting. He was pretty sure Evaline admitted that Alina wasn't her sister, but her friend. So James knew that one was true.

As for the fiancé and the cat, well, he had no idea. He was hoping the fiancé was a lie, and at the same time hoping it was true. Either way, he didn't really want to guess it, but somehow it seemed more believable than the cat.

He tried imagining Evaline with a cat. It wasn't impossible, but he didn't know what her world was like. Horses didn't exist anymore. Did cats exist?

He hummed.

"Is the cat a lie?"

Evaline found herself feeling nervous and leaning forward, studying James to gauge his reaction. Then he guessed the lie was the cat and the tension in her body eased a little bit.

"The cat is not the lie," she said with a small smile. "But I should note that he wasn't very domesticated. Smiles was a woodsy cat that my friends and I visited a lot."

She took a small deep breath. "Alina is my mom's name. That's the lie."

She didn't have a reason to, but suddenly she felt a little bad tricking him by the details of names. She blurted out the next words before she had a chance to stop herself.

"I said I have a fiancé named Oliver. That's true. But!" She paused, her attention drawn back to James, not really knowing why she was being a bit defensive right now. "It was also kind of a trick answer, because he recognizes me as that, but I don't recognize him as... yeah."

She bit her lip, stopping herself so he could use up his questions if he wanted to know about anything.

Her mom. He could've sworn -- oh, well. He was bound to misremember something. Now he knew.

The fiancé situation, though? He wasn't sure what she meant by that. He thought engagement was something that was supposed to be mutual unless it was arranged.

"What do you mean by... you don't recognize him as your fiancé?" he asked. "I'm not sure I understand what that means."

Evaline sighed and peered over at the ground, running her fingertips over the dirt. This was kind of uncomfortable to talk about, but she did bring this upon herself.

"It was supposed to be an arranged marriage," she said softly. "Just because we both have the same power."

She let out a small shrug. "Doesn't matter. I haven't seen him since I left home. Plus, I've only met the guy maybe five times. He was a lousy conversationalist. And an even lousier dancer..."

She found herself rambling, giving away this free information, but she didn't mind. Oliver truly was someone she couldn't see a future with, even if they were just friends.

James didn't like that he felt his face flush a little at the last comment. This wasn't about him. She didn't even mention him. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and thought through his next question carefully. He'd gotten it wrong, so it would be back to him in a moment.

He could ask more about Oliver, or their relationship, or what her culture was like and if arranged marriages like this were common. He wondered if it was similar to the days before the calamity, where he heard sometimes, mages with similar types of magic would get married, mainly to have children with amplified abilities of their own. There was a lot of history lost, but he imagined some of those marriages could've been arranged. That would make sense... in a very sad sort of way.

But if Evaline and Oliver shared the same power --

"What power did you two share?"

Evaline blinked, not expecting this question at all. It wasn't like she ever said she just had "memory magic" or whatever, but the fact that James even asked this implied that he was on to her.

"I—" she began, but immediately faltered, because she wasn't exactly sure how to word this. She was ready to tell him, but not like this. This felt forced.

She exhaled and tried again.

"We can both remember things other people don't remember."

It was dodgy at best, but it told the truth. Kind of.

She quickly sat up straight and fidgeted in her position before he could pry further, even if he was out of questions.

"Okay, that's two questions. Your turn now."

James grinned a little, happy with his small victory, but he knew Evaline wasn't saying the full truth. He couldn't blame her - he'd been omitting information this whole time too, and she didn't owe it to him to explain. Of course, there was still the note, rhyming in the back of his mind, but neither of them needed to remind each other of it. He was sure it was occupying just as much space in her subconscious as it was his.

"Okay. Give me a second to think."

He wasn't used to thinking about himself like this so much. It wasn't normal for him to fish out so many facts about himself. It would be easier if he only had to come up with one truth, and two lies. Then he could just come up with things that sounded convincing without having to make sure they were true. The fact that honesty was required was suddenly making the game a lot more difficult.

Of course... Evaline would never truly know if he was lying. Not that he was, though. And not that he wanted to. That would probably come back to bite him again if he did. That was his luck.

He looked down at the ground, trying to dig up something from his mind. Something that wouldn't open doors to things he didn't want to talk about.

The problem was, he felt like at the moment, Evaline knew more about him than he did about her, and according to the cryptic note, it was supposed to be the other way around, right? And he didn't like it. Feeling more exposed. It felt like he was handing over information she could use against him, somehow.

He didn't want to assume she would, and he knew it wasn't fair to her to even think that, but still.

Would she hang any of this over his head later?

He wondered how long this game would last.

"I... hm."

Maybe facts that were more serious would bring the game to a close. If she followed suit, maybe it would help her to open up, at least. They could list their favorite animals and colors all night, but learn nothing about each other. He just had to be careful with what he said...

"I like being alone most of the time. I know how to swordfight. If life turned out differently, I'd want to be a farmer."

Evaline patiently waited for his responses, noticing that he took a bit more time than normal to think. She wondered if maybe, just maybe, he noted that she had shared something a teensy bit more personal than "ducks are cute" and would take that as a sign of escalation. She did want to reveal some things to him—she figured she kind of had to anyways, with opening her heart and all—but it certainly felt wrong to share these things if he offered trivial facts about himself.

Finally, he responded, and it made Evaline smile a little because she had an inkling she knew the answer without even thinking about it.

Still, she decided to think this through before saying it out loud.

Nye seemed archaic enough that swords were common weapons. He did go to military school, so maybe he learned how to swordfight there. Although, she did also learn that guns were also around, so maybe not. Hmmm.

She didn't even doubt the fact that he'd want to be a farmer if things turned out differently. She knew what he meant: "If I wasn't a wanted man on the run, I'd want to be a farmer."

Which leads her to the last potential lie: he preferred to be alone most of the time. Considering that she was directly sitting next to him, she was inclined to believe that this was a lie. James was kind and incredibly selfless to the point that it almost annoyed Evaline, but if he truly liked being alone, he wouldn't have let her travel with him... potentially forever, if it came to that.

Right?

"Being alone," she answered, but still only half-confident. "That's the lie."

She quickly added more before he could confirm or deny.

"Given your circumstances, I don't question that you purposefully choose to be alone. But that doesn't mean you like it." She turned towards him and offered a shy sincere smile. "I think you rather enjoy having a friend around."

James had a feeling that Evaline would guess correctly. There were probably some people in life who really did want to be wholly and completely alone, but not in the way James was. People who intentionally isolated themselves to be hermits still had the option for connections somewhere.

He used to think that he enjoyed being alone most of the time. But the last year taught him "most of the time" was really only "some of the time," and that not all company was good company. It should've been obvious, in retrospect, but so many things in life were clearer in hindsight.

James tried to smile, but this attempt was more tired, and it faded as he looked at the ground.

Eventually, Evaline would leave too.

He knew it was inevitable. It was going to happen. It wasn't a matter of if. It was when.

He couldn't get too attatched.

"Yeah," he said softly. "That's the lie."