The Fateful Heart 2

James grinned, just a little, but it was a sad, tired sort of grin.

"Me too," he said quietly, but after a pause, added.

"Though, without them, I probably would've never known what happened. Or - I guess, what could've happened. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing or not. Or just... a thing."

Evaline sighed, tilting her head back to rest on the wall.

"It's a bad thing," she said. "You don't need to carry the burden of knowing, too. It'd be better to not know. I still don't even know why you'd..."

She glanced at him.

"Are you sure you're not a mage?"

James looked back at her and shrugged.

"If I am, I've never heard of anyone with magic as oddly specific as mine."

Evaline wanted to let out a small laugh, but instead focused her energy into the hypotheticals of James being a mage.

"If you were a mage, would it only work for my magic?" she thought out loud. "Or all time mages?"

"That's a great question," James said with a smile in his voice. "I have no idea. I've never met a time mage besides you, and you're not even from here."

Evaline felt a smile creep along her lips. "Sounds like we'll have to experiment," she said. "Maybe the secret time mage camp I made up does exist in Lettera. Think they'll take me in?"

"If they actually did exist, I see no reason why they wouldn't," James said, grinning. "You could pass for a real Nye citizen at this point."

Evaline smiled at the thought.

"A real Nye citizen," she echoed slowly. "Does that mean I need to get a last name?"

James hummed. "I mean, we can come up with one, if you want. As long as it's not anything ridiculous, it should be believable."

Evaline tried to understand the purpose of a last name, but none came to mind. It wasn't really explained to her.

"Believable and not ridiculous, you say," she said under her breath, then turned towards James. "Like Hawke? How is that not ridiculous?"

James turned to look at her as well.

"You think it is?" he said, with a smile in his eyes.

Evaline tilted her head, just a little, meeting James's eyes. It was nice to see him in an uplifting mood despite the harsh day and the exhausting week.

"Should my last name be Horse then? Just naming animals?" she said back.

James's mouth started to turn up into a smile, but he was holding back laughter.

"If I had to call you Evaline Horse, I don't think anyone would be able to take you seriously. I know I wouldn't."

Evaline was trying to understand.

"How is that any different than James Hawke though? Evaline Horse, Evaline Hawke. They're just animals, and I don't really see why it's so important anyways."

James's smile started to fade just a little as it became clear that Evaline really had no idea how last names worked, nor did she understand their significance. He felt his face start to burn, just a little, but he was glad that Evaline was clueless - otherwise, she probably wouldn't have said what she said. Not so carelessly, anyway.

"Last names are passed down in families," he said. "And often named have to do with a family line's early history, like their trade, or where they're from. I don't know the roots of my family's surname - I just know it was passed down from my father to me, and from his father to him, and so on."