Young Writers Society

She did. But she didn't want to admit how much of a struggle it was to find the specific items she had in mind in such a short time span. Evaline just wanted him to enjoy the gifts, not feel guilty. It wasn't like anyone forced this upon her.

"It's really no problem," she said casually. "I have the right connections, so it wasn't too out of my way."

James seemed to study her.

"You're sure?" he asked, clearly doubting.

She'd rather change the subject.

"Well, the item that did take the longest was probably this one," she said as she pulled out a hand-held mirror to hand to him. "Not a lot of hand-held mirrors these days, but I did manage to find one for you."

James stared at the mirror for a moment and hesitated to take it. She'd gotten him a mirror. For some reason, he found himself unsure of the reason why. All of the other gifts seemed to have been thought out and well-intentioned, so he didn't see any logical reason to interpret this one through any different lens, but he still felt nervous when he held it, and glanced down at his own reflection.

So maybe he did need a mirror so he could clean up a bit. But holy hell, he was not used to seeing himself with such clarity. He barely recognized the face looking back at him in the mirror.

He tore his eyes away from it and he looked back up at Evaline, putting on another small, grateful smile.

"This will make shaving a hundred times easier," he said with a small nod as he set the mirror down on the table with the journal.

Evaline mirrored the smile. "I thought so. I figured it'd be nice if you could see what you looked like."

She paused, starting to dig through her bag again. "I've got one last item," she said, but hesitated to take it out. "Fair warning, though. This was a bit last minute and rushed."

Evaline then pulled out a framed sketch.



"I thought you could use your first decoration," she said with a weak smile as she handed it to him. "Like I said, it's rushed. But I thought desert mountains would remind you of home."

James took the framed drawing, holding it in his hands.

Home.

It had been years since he'd seen Evaline's artwork, but there was something strange about holding it and knowing it was a gift that was his own. He wondered if she remembered any of the countless things she'd drawn in their travels, like the picture of his sister, and his father, that he'd...

He held the picture frame to his chest.

"I'll have to find the perfect place for it," he said. He bit back more words. He didn't want her to think he was flattering her.

"Plenty of space on the wall," she said idly as she looked around.

"True," he said, leaning the drawing back up at him so he could look at it.

There was a small silence, and Evaline seemed to watch him wistfully stare at it.

"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to look at it," she said, breaking the silence.

"Sorry," James said quickly, setting it down beside the other gifts on the table.

"You don't have to apologize - I was only kidding," Evaline said back as she drummed her fingers along the table again. "But I'm glad you like it."

"I do," he said, looking back up at her, and then glancing out the window.

"Do you... have time to stay for a little while?" he asked.

She followed his glance his out the window. "Would you like me to?"

James didn't know if that was a yes or a no, but it sounded like a yes.

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't," he said, looking back at her.

Evaline raised a brow with a slight smirk, meeting his eyes for a long moment. "I accept your invitation to stay," she said with slightly smug voice as she sat down on the log bench. It took her a few moments to get comfortable as she set her bag on the table.

James was glad that she sat down, but he stayed on his feet for a moment. "Would you like some water?" he asked.

Evaline was already sitting casually, resting her elbows on the table with one hand on her chin to prop her head up. "Sure," she said. "I've heard Terra has the purest water supply. Let's see if the rumors are true."

James had no way of confirming that, but he nodded and grabbed a pitcher and a cup off the far end of the table, and he poured it for her.

"You'll have to let me know," he said as he handed it to her. "I wouldn't know the difference."

Evaline took the cup and inspected it for a moment. "You know, it's astonishing how we used to regularly drink river water with no problems. Here, you'd get sick if you drank from an outside body of water without some type of filter."

"Maybe people from Nye are just different," James suggested.

"I can agree with that." She then took a sip of the water, slowly swallowing. "Yep," she said as she set the glass down in front of her. "The rumors are true. Lucky you."

"I'm glad you're not disappointed," James said casually as he sat down on the bench beside her. "All I did was get the water from the well."

Evaline inched a little away to give him some space, then turned her attention back to the room in front of her. "Usually people with some kind of farming-enhancing powers are placed in Terra, and that includes water purists. Maybe you'll see the process one day." She paused. "You said you met your neighbor, though? What's she like?"

"Well, she sings to her plants to help them grow, or so she tells me. Maybe that's her power," he said, half-joking, because he honestly wasn't sure if that was something that could be a power.

Evaline paused, turning to look at him. "She sings to her plants?" she repeated, almost in disbelief.

James blinked. "Is that so hard to believe? I saw her do it."

She looked away in thought. "Not hard to believe, just..." She paused. "I've heard of someone doing that before. Just a weird coincidence."

"That person wouldn't happen to be named Isabel, would they?" he asked.

Evaline shook her head, but the name clearly sent her down some kind of trail of thought. "No," she said, then hesitated. "But what does she look like?"

James looked to the side in thought. "Well, she's a few inches shorter than me. Not too tall. She's lean, but decently fit from farm work. She has straight brown hair that I think goes about to her... mid-back. I don't know, she had it pulled back. Brown eyes. Soft facial features. She's very childlike in manner, and doesn't have much of a filter. She looks like she's about our age, though maybe a tad younger. Though, it could just be her mannerisms that make me think that."

Evaline watced him for a moment. "Those are some astute observations," she commented.

James shrugged. "You ask, I deliver."

"Well, she kind of sounds like someone I heard about." She let out a weak, strained laugh. "I think I've met her parents, Jovi and Belinda. They'd frequently talk about missing their daughter Isabel... And Belinda also sang to plants. She breathed out chemicals that promoted plant growth, so it helped." Evaline paused in thought. "Small world, I guess, if that is her."

"Huh," James hummed. "Well, that certainly matches her description. When did you meet her parents?"

Evaline thought for a moment. "A while ago. Around... six years ago?"

James pursed his lips in thought. So it was before they met. And Isabel had said she'd been in Terra for about six years, so that would match the time period of her parents missing her. Clearly, her parents didn't come to Terra with her.

"I guess... asking her about her parents is something I'll wait on asking about. See if it comes up naturally. But it would be quite the coincidence. I can't imagine there are that many Isabels with that specific power."

"That would be smart," she murmured, pausing to think again. She turned to face him. "But if it does come up and they are her parents, I don't think you should tell her that I told you first."

James scoffed. "Of course not. I wasn't thinking of doing that. She doesn't need to know."

"Just making sure," Evaline said with a small smile as she looked down at the glass in front of her. She rubbed against it with one thumb. "But... singing in front of her plants. How was that?"

James suppressed a smile. "Oh, I've seen stranger things. It was... endearing, I suppose. In a way."

"She sounds like an interesting character."

"That's a good way to put it," James said. "I don't really mind having her as a neighbor. She makes things interesting, at least. Breaks up the routine of it all, you know?"

"And your routine is?" Evaline asked.

James let his mouth hang open just for a second before he took in a deep breath and nodded.

"Yeah. Well. I get up before the sunrise, make breakfast, get ready, you know, typical things. Then I'll go to Elliot, feed him, brush him, take him out for a bit. Go for an early morning ride as the sun rises, and then I'm in the fields for the rest of the morning. The latter half of my day I've been saving mostly for working on the house and making furniture, repairs, and the like. I don't expect that to go on forever, of course, but--" He knocked on the table. "I'd like to check some things off my list before I ease off a bit."

Evaline was watching him as he talked, a smile growing bigger with each passing sentence. "It sounds like you've been keeping yourself busy," she said. "I'm glad you enjoy being here."

"It is a little bit of wish fulfillment," he said. "You could call it that."

"You're not wrong," she said. "This is what you've wanted, isn't it?"

That was a great question. James didn't know the answer to it honestly.

"That, and more," he said. "I never expected to have -- well any of this."

Evaline paused in thought. "What else would you like?"

James stared at her for a moment, blinking blankly.

"What? Evaline, you've done so much already. I could never ask anything more from you. This is more than enough."

"You're not asking me to do anything," she said stubbornly. "Can I not ask what you'd like in the name of curiosity?"

James leaned forward and folded his arms on the table, looking at Evaline with a smile in his eyes.

"Yeah. Curiosity. Which would probably lead to you getting things for me, right? Am I wrong?"

Evaline rolled her eyes and leaned forward on the table again, head propped on her hand as she loosely smiled. "Fine. Don't tell me."

"What if what I want isn't like, a tangible thing?" James said. "For example, what if I just wanted to see you more often?"

Evaline paused before she turned to face him, narrowing her eyes. "Are you using your example as a way to tell me that's what you want?"

"You're smart. I think you just figured it out," he said, fighting a persistent smirk.

She eventually faced forward again, using this moment to take another sip of the water. In the few seconds she looked away, he felt a spike of anxiety. He felt like he was one wrong word away from watching this whole thing crash and burn.

"How much more often?" she asked when she finished.

"Whatever would be doable for you," James said. "I wouldn't want to pull you away from your other commitments."

"But ideally," she persisted. "How much more often?"

James was starting to regret steering the conversation in this direction. Now he was both nervous and embarassed to say. He looked down at the table.

"I suppose, if I had to say, my unrealistic and ideal answer would be that I'd like to see you every day," he said.

Evaline stared at him blankly for a few moments.

"Like I said. I know it's unrealistic," he said. "You have a life of your own. I'm just a farmer now. And you're... well, I don't actually know your formal title. But, you know. A--"

"James, it's okay," she interrupted. "I was just a little surprised. Being a farmer is a respectable position around here."

That... wasn't what he was concerned about.

"I'll..." She cleared her throat. "I'll try to come as often as I can. It's difficult, though, since Terra is fairly secluded."

"I understand," James said. "Whatever time you have to give, it will be highly valued. But don't waste it all on me."

"I don't believe in the concept of 'wasting time,'" Evaline said. "Whatever activity I do tends to have some sort of return. And it's no different when I visit you."

James briefly met her eyes before drawing his gaze back to the table, and he smiled weakly. He was afraid it came off as timid. Though that would've been an accurate assumption.

"Well... I'm glad you think so," James said.

Evaline was mildly surprised that James would want to see her everyday since she assumed he'd want his space, but even if she knew that to begin with, she knew she couldn't fulfill that desire. Her mind was racing to think of when she could, though. It would have to depend on the week and her expectations. Right now she wasn't doing much, but only because she actively chose to ignore work that was requested from her. But she couldn't do that for long periods.

At least he seemed happy to be in Terra. That was improvement.

While thinking, she drank the entire glass of water. The too-pure water tasted strange without the natural minerals she was used to drinking.

"You said you picked up different skills here and there," she said as she slid the glass across the table near the spices she gave him last week. "Did you already know how to make furniture when I first met you?"

"Well," James said, the pitch in his voice rising. "Sort of. I knew a few things in general about construction and how to build things. More-so for the repair of buildings than making furniture."

She nodded. "I didn't realize you were good at these things, but I'm glad it went in your favor."

When she first arrived in his farm, she had noticed the scars on his arms before he pulled down his sleeves. She figured that he ran into more trouble these last five years than the first year he was on the run, but she didn't want to bring it to attention unless it came up naturally.

Which she also figured would probably not happen.

Evaline sighed.

"If you find your strength to be diminished because of what happened in your past, I can find a healer for you," she suddenly said, switching topics. "I wouldn't want you to not be able to do a certain activity because of curable physical limitations."

James stared at her, and any obvious indicators of emotion seemed to fade, apart from his brows being slightly pinched together. He opened his mouth slowly, like he was thinking over the words he was going to say next.

"Why... does it look like I need a healer?" he asked.

Evaline thought it was fairly obvious, but she didn't want to spell it out for him. Instead she wordlessly and obviously looked down at his neck and arms, then back at him, hoping that was enough of an answer.

"They've already healed on their own," James said. "A healer won't fix that."

"It's okay to ask for help," she said instead. "I just want you to be healthy. Mentally and physically."

"I'm not against asking for help," James said in a neutral tone. "I just don't want it from a healer, and I don't need it. What happened with Elise was an exception."

Evaline leaned forward again, glancing out the window. It was the beginning of evening, and the sun was just barely beginning to set.

"I think healers are quite remarkable," she said after a pause. "Those who choose to go down the doctor's path have taken an oath to put others before themselves." She turned back to James, studying him. "I'm guessing Elise didn't show you the effects of what happened after she healed you."

James was hard to read again. He seemed relaxed, but that was likely far from the truth.

"I assume it took a toll on her," he said. "Judging from your tone."

"Oh," Evaline said quickly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sound dramatic." She shook her head. "Toll is a harsh word. It probably left a long, thin scratch on her arm, or wherever she decided to spread out your injury on to her. That's how healers work. They absorb your injury and spread the damage over a bigger area on themselves, and doing that will lessen the pain and intensity. But the most surprising thing of all is that these doctors want to do this. They want to see people get better, even if it causes them a little pain."

She felt the same way.

James was quiet for a few long seconds, and he looked out at the wall. It didn't seem like he was looking at anything in particular.

"I guess I'll have to thank her, if I ever see her again," he said quietly.

That was very unlikely, but she didn't want to be the one to tell him that.

"I've known Elise for some time," she said. "And I can tell you that the best way to offend her -- and many other doctors, really -- is to refuse help."

"In all seriousness, it's best that you don't take me to one then. That way I won't offend anyone," he said.

"I don't plan on it." Not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't want to force anything on him or make him uncomfortable. "You'd have to tell me it's something you want. Don't worry, you won't see me bringing a doctor as a gift."

He laughed weakly. "That would be the first gift you'd see me refuse."

"I'm sure there are other gifts you'd refuse," Evaline said, changing the subject. She noted how James seemed to be uncomfortable, and she said all she wanted to say already.

"Naturally," James replied. "You just happen to be a very good gift giver, is all."

Evaline thought back to a random detail she had thought she had forgotten, but it randomly popped up as she tried to search for a memory for a gift he wouldn't like.

"So you wouldn't refuse a gift of chocolate?" she asked with the beginnings of a smirk.

James looked over at her, and his expression seemed to soften.

"Chocolate would be wasted on me," he said. "I'm surprised you remember that."

She flashed him a small smile, shrugging. "I happen to like chocolate. Memory by association."

"If I ever receive any, I'll just have to give it to you, then," he said.

"Good luck with that," Evaline said with a small scoff. "It's pretty rare. But hey, who knows, Terra basically has its own food economy."

"I'm sure someone is growing cocoa beans," James said.

Doubtful. Evaline didn't know much Terra, but she knew enough to deduce that it was unlikely they'd grow niche items. They fed and provided to the masses. Maybe they'd exist in small farm communities throughout the ungoverned lands, but she'd have to trade for it. It really wasn't worth the hassle.

"Tell you what," she said lightheartedly. "If you find some, you can bribe me with it to get me to visit more often. How's that?"

Of course, Evaline couldn't really promise that. But since she figured he wouldn't find cocoa beans in Terra, then at the very least, this would incentivize him to talk to other people and get involved in the community.

"Low risk, high reward," James said. "Fortunately or unfortunately for you, I am not beyond bribery. So consider it a deal."

He offered out his hand to shake.

Evaline raised a brow, smiling in amusement. "Alright then," she said as she reached out to grab his hand for the shake. It was oddly comforting that his rough, calloused hands felt familiar to her. Yet, at the same time, it was unsettling. He brought their hands up and down once before pulling away.

She pulled away too, now gazing out the window and idly watching the sunset. "So what's next on your to-do list?" she asked.

James hummed. "Well, I was in the middle of working towards a bookshelf," he said. "But I would gladly put that on pause if you wanted to go on a ride around the property? On the Elliots, of course."

She turned to face him, caught off-guard by the question. "Right now?"

James smiled. "Yeah, right now," he said like it was obvious.

Evaline hummed in thought. "It would be nice to get the grand tour."

"You know, on second thought, I am rethinking you riding Ellie up by my fields if you think she'd be likely to dig them up," he said, looking up in thought. "Maybe we should walk instead. You think Ellie will be fine entertaining herself for a little longer?"

"I'm not usually a gambler," Evaline said slowly, supressing a smile. "But I am willing to bet all my Nye coins that she is already asleep on your porch."

James held back a laugh, but he still made a faint noise in the back of his throat.

"With your concept of money, I'm positive you've already spent all of them," he said, poorly biting back a smile and he slid off the bench and got to his feet.

It was nice to see him smile, even though he was holding it back.

"That's exactly why I'd be willing to bet all of my coins," she said, following closely behind. "All zero of them."

He was walking towards the door, but he glanced back at her for a moment, and just for a second she caught a glimpse of what looked like a true smile. It didn't last long, but it was just enough time to be used as a reference point for what was genuine and what wasn't.

A genuine smile included his dimples.

He held the door open for her again, waiting for her to leave before he closed the door and started towards the path, passing Ellie who was indeed asleep on the porch. Her ear twitched as they neared her, but she didn't wake up.

Evaline silently looked up at James with a smug look. James walked backward for a moment to look back at her. His eyes flicked from Ellie to her.

"Looks like you're all out of Nye coins," he said. "However will you survive?"

"Oh, please, someone hire me, I can draw," Evaline said with a light mocking voice.

"I can pay you in furniture," he said, walking down the path towards the fields. "If you draw Elliot on the side of my house."

For a second, Evaline thought he was joking, but it was hard to tell. She was slowly starting to pick up that his serious suggestions for action items were thinly disguised as jokes, though.

"What, with a pencil?" she asked as she stared at the side of his cottage, not really understanding what he meant.

James scoffed. "Paint would probably be your best bet."

She pursed her lips. "I can probably help you paint your house if you want, but I'm not really a painter-painter. So, not sure it'd turn out great."

James looked over at her as she walked beside him. "It doesn't have to be anything complicated. Honestly, I wouldn't want a horse's face on the side of my house. But... something like the sketch you did for me? That would be nice."

Evaline slowly thought this over. She didn't really draw anymore, but she did occasionally draw some scenic places if she wanted to remember it. She could do something like that. Or maybe... something farm related. Plants?

"I could probably put something together," she said, although didn't reveal what she had in mind yet. "In exchange for more furniture, as you said."

"Just let me know what you want," James said with a small smile and a shrug. "I will make anything within reason, though I cannot assure it will be anything great."

Well, obviously the furniture wasn't going to be for her. It wasn't like she lived here.

She thought about what James could use.

"Maybe a rocking chair," was what she settled on. "That way you have somewhere to sit while you watch Elliot outside."

James looked like, for a moment, he wanted to protest, but then he went along with it.

"I could do that," he said with a nod. "It might take some trial an error, but I could make it happen."

Evaline shrugged. "Worst case, you mess up, and now you have extra chairs."

"True, true," James said.

He slowed as they reached the edge of the fields. There were rows and rows of raised dirt, and she could barely see what looked like the starts of sprouts peeking out from the ground here and there.

Evaline bent down and touched one of the sprouts.

"You said they're root plants, yes?" she said after a poke, pulling her hand away and looking up at him.

"Carrots. Potatoes on the other side of the field," he said, pointing.

She stood back up, following his gaze. "Are those your favorite vegetables?" she asked.

"They were what I was told to grow," he said.

"Did you want to grow that, or only did it because you were told to grow it?"

"I didn't think it was anything of consequence. It's not like most of the food will be for me, anyway," he said. "Besides, my favorite things to grow are berries, and it's not the season."

She only asked because she wanted to know what he would grow if he had the choice. Berries.

"What kind of berries?" she asked.

James narrowed his eyes at her, and it looked like he was suppressing another smile.

"Strawberries," he said.

That was good to know.

"Why strawberries?" she asked casually. "Do you farm them differently?"

"I think they taste good," James said simply. It was hard to tell if he was joking again.

"So, riddle me this," Evaline went on. "You like strawberries, and you don't like chocolate. Thoughts on chocolate-covered strawberries?"

"Why would you ruin a perfectly perfect fruit?"

Evaline laughed. So, strawberries were indeed his favorite fruit. She made a mental note of that.

"Oh sorry," she said innocently. "I'll try not to eat them in front of you so I don't ruin strawberries for you."

"Yeah, right," James said. "You'd have to find chocolate first."

Evaline was about to answer with another quip, but suddenly she heard muffled yells in the distance. She looked up and squinted towards his cottage near the fence line. It looks like there was someone there who was trying to get their attention.

"I think you have a visitor," she told him since James didn't seem to notice.

James turned around, looking towards the fence. "Oh. Isabel," he said. He looked back at Evaline, then at the fence.

"Do you... want to meet her?" He looked back at her again. Isabel was waving. A lot.

Evaline wasn't against the idea, but she also wasn't exactly thrilled to meet the potential daughter of two people who came from a guilt-ridden part of her life.

It wasn't like Isabel knew her, though. Maybe. It was hard to tell sometimes with commonfolk.

"Sure," she said. "She seems... eager."

Eager. Yes. They'd go with that. James nodded his head for Evaline to follow, and the two of them started walking down the path towards the fence. When they were about halfway, James could hear Isabel.

"Heeeeeeeey!" she called. "It's me! Isabel!"

"I know!" James called back. "We've met before!"

"I'm talking to your visitor!" she barked back. "I'm Isabel!"

James looked over to Evaline. "She's Isabel," he said at normal volume.

"Thanks," Evaline said blankly. "Had no idea."

"I just figured I'd help you out, in case you couldn't hear," he said.

It was a jab at himself, mostly. He hoped she picked up on that.

"What was that?" she asked, gesturing to her ear. "Can you repeat that again for me?"

It was an opportunity James couldn't pass up. Even if Isabel was watching.

Hell, if anyone wouldn't question it, it was probably Isabel.

"HER NAME IS ISABEL," he shouted in her ear.

Evaline seemed to peel back at the first syllable like she had realized she set herself up last second, but he still managed to yell all of it close to her ear. James was biting back laughter.

She rubbed her ear, making a sour face. "Yeah, okay. I deserved that," she said with a smile.

James was trying so hard to hold back his smile, but it was leaking through anyway. She met his eyes for a few moments.

"Yes. Yes you did," he said smugly.

"What are you guys laughing about?" Isabel yelled in the near distance. "Is it a joke? Can I hear too?"

They were getting closer. Close enough that Isabel didn't have to keep yelling, but she did it anyways, of course.

"It wasn't a joke," James said. "But it was still funny."

He walked a little faster to bridge the gap between them so that Isabel would stop yelling. Evaline didn't match his pace, following behind him instead. James looked back at her, waiting for her to come near, but he did look back to Isabel for a moment.

"Do anything interesting today?" he asked.

"I saw the neighbor's cat chase a mouse who ran off with some beans I was harvesting, so that was fun," Isabel said as she peered past him. "Hey, who's your friend? She's not from Terra."

"You're right. She's not. Her name is Evaline," James said.

Isabel frowned, squinting at her, looking like she was deep in thought. A few seconds passed, and James didn't interrupt her thought process as Evaline finally came up to join them.

Evaline barely had time to open her mouth to say anything before Isabel talked again.

"Hey, I'm not afraid of you either!" she yelled, waving her hands in the air in front of her.

"Is this how you greet everyone you meet?" James asked, looking at her with a slow-blink.

"No," Isabel said defiantly. "How did you even meet? I'm confused."

Evaline looked like she was starting to regret saying yes to meeting Isabel. James didn't mind taking control of the conversation.

"That's okay," James said. "Some things in life are confusing. But confusing doesn't mean bad." He reached over and patted Isabel's arm.

Isabel stared at his arm, looking more calm, but it disappeared as quick as it came. "I'm just sayin'," she said with a shrug as she narrowed her eyes at Evaline. "I thought Terra was supposed to be high-security and stuff... Unless..."

She pointed at her accusingly, and James gently pushed her finger down. It didn't stop her next words from coming out, though.

"You used your weird mind tricks on the guards!"

"I'm only visiting," Evaline said calmly. "And no, I did not break in, if that's what you're implying."

"You know, Isabel," James said, leaning on the fence. "I would appreciate it if you didn't blindly accuse my good friends. It's not very polite."

Isabel looked between James and Evaline, looking conflicted and confused. She drew her brows together and scratched the side of her head. "This is just sooooo weird," she murmured to herself.

"Get used to it," James said.

"I didn't even know Terra got visitors," she thought out loud. "Especially from... hmm..." She leaned even fruther down the fence, head hung low. "This is SOOOOO weird," she said again.

"I'll try to be a little less weird," Evaline said, causing Isabel to briefly look up and stare at her again.

James glanced at Evaline, trying not to smile, but also giving her an apologetic look.

"Much appreciated," he said. Then he looked back to Isabel. "How accomodating."

Isabel groaned, but then stood up straight again. "Okay, so you two are, like... friends?"

"Yes," James said. "That is what I said before."

"And she's here to visit you," she reiterated again.

James glanced at Evaline. "Yes. Is the interrogation over?"

"See, that's weird too!" Isabel said, ignoring his question. "Your farm is so lame. What's there to even see?"

"Isabel. I'm surpised you even asked. Obviously she's here to see Elliot," he said. "You know how popular he is, being the only horse here and all."

Isabel hummed this thought over. "True. Elliot is pretty cool. I'd come all the way to Terra to visit him."

James looked from Isabel to Evaline, as if to say: "See?" without words.

"Glad you understand," was all Evaline had to offer.

Isabel loudly sighed. She looked like she had more to say, but probably held back -- for once -- due to the circumstance. "Well... I wanted to say hi, I guess, but also!" Her face brightened as she only focused her attention back to James. "I made some extra potato casserole and wondered if you wanted some?"

James, for a moment, was about to ask if it didn't have any meat in it. Then he remembered that everyone on Earth was apparently vegan. Or at least, that was his understanding. It was a cultural thing. Right?

"I'd like that a lot, actually," James said with a smile. "How about I come by tomorrow morning? I'd like to finish showing Evaline around my farm." He paused, before adding: "Even if it's not that exciting. To you."

He could see Evaline looking back at him, repressing a smirk.

"Hmmm. Fine, okay," Isabel said as she hopped away from the fence, taking a few steps back towards her farm. "But... tomorrow morning then. Okay?"

"I'll keep my word," he said with another smile. "I'll see you then."

Isabel nodded, glancing at Evaline again, but then turned around and ran back to her farm. Once Isabel was out of earshot, James turned back to Evaline, returning to her side.

"Sorry about that," he said.

"That's okay," Evaline said as she watched Isabel run away in the distance. "I probably should have told you that I'm a little popular."

"It's alright. I know a little bit of what that's like. Believe it or not, I'm actually quite popular back in Nye, so I know what it's like to have people fawn over you."

Evaline pursed her lips, nodding. "I believe it, and I understand. It's exhausting sometimes when you have so many fans."

"See, that's why I lived in the wilderness all the time. It was the only way I could find any semblance of peace."

"Seems we have similar lifestyles," she said casually. "It's too bad my friend lives in the city of Terra."

"I'm grateful that you're willing to endure the adulation of the Terrans just to visit me," James said with a little grin.

"To be fair," Evaline began matter-of-factly. "Most of my fans only gawk from a distance. I don't know why I expected the same treatment from Isabel after all you've told me."

"Fair point," James said. "We'll call it an oversight. Won't happen again."

"Right," Evaline said softly. Her arms were crossed, and one of her fingers was silently tapping against her elbow. She was clearly thinking about something, but kept those thoughts to herself. James was quiet for a moment, watching her expectantly.

There were several times where she'd attempted to prod. He wondered how she would respond to being on the recieving end of it.

"What's going through your mind?" he asked.

Upon his interrupted, she stopped tapping her finger and she glanced at James. She hesitated, but eventually spoke up.

"I'm certain now that she's the daughter of the couple I mentioned," she said. "Just thinking about the coincidence of it all. Piecing it together. That's all."

James nodded slowly. "I suppose stranger things have happened," he said.

"Yes," she said. "Like transporting an Earth woman to Nye, or a Nye man to Earth."

"I was thinking more along the lines of naming your cat Elliot, but those work too," James said with a teasing smirk.

Evaline scoffed. "Elliot is a perfectly good name for my cat."

"I'm not saying I disagree. I think it's a great name," he said. "Evidenced by my horse. I'm just giving you a hard time."

She looked out at Isabel's farm in the distance. "Well, if you must know, I named Elliot after someone." She looked at him blankly. "Elliot."

James put his hand on his chest. "I'm touched."

"Careful," she said. "I could rename her to James."

James turned away and laughed. He needed a moment to recover.

Evaline leaned to the side. "Why did you turn away?" she asked.

James reigned it in, and cleared his throat loudly before looking back at her.

"I - I don't know," he said, still with the remnants of a smile. "Call it a reflex."

"Well... try not to next time," she said as she met his eyes. "You don't have anything to hide."

James was not expecting to go from laughing to serious in less than a second, and frankly, he wasn't ready for it. His smile waned, and he swallowed.

"...Okay," was his weak reply.

"I mean, that's just my suggestion," Evaline said quickly. "It's not like I'm demanding it. Don't do anything you don't want to do."

She kept... saying that. That she wasn't forcing him to do anything. Why did she keep saying that? Did he make it seem like he was being forced?

He was trying to come up with a response to break the awkward tension that he felt.

"I would never pity laugh for you," he said. "If that's what you mean."

Evaline focused on the skyline. "Does that inlcude fake smiles as well?" she asked.

James fixed his gaze on her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed together, like she was in thought as she looked into the distance. He had seen the expression before, when something would bother her to the point where she couldn't stay quiet about it anymore. He had honestly wondered how long it would take for her to notice. Or -- perhaps, it wasn't that he didn't think she'd notice, but rather, he didn't know if she could tell the difference between what was real and what was fake, or what was a partial or a whole truth, or an outright lie.

He couldn't tell either, anymore. Not with most things. It all just felt like a muddled blur.

But he didn't like feeling exposed.

James's eyes ended up looking somewhere past Evaline, unfocused.

There were a lot of things he could say in response. He could throw it back in her face, or he could deflect again. He could tell a joke. He could say something vague. But he had a feeling none of those would suffice for her. She would either keep pressing, or she would give up out of disappointment. And he really didn't want either.

"I'm not sure I know how to stop fake smiling," he said quietly. "It... it started as something that was intentional. Now it just happens. I don't even think about it."

Evaline shifted her attention back at him, and he looked down, avoiding meeting her eyes. That didn't stop her from studying him, though.

"I see. I'm sorry. I didn't know that," she said, then paused. "But -- since you're aware of it -- then if you want to change, I'm sure it will come with time."

That was the thing. He didn't know if he wanted to change, and he didn't know what on earth he would change to. He forgot how to be "himself" -- whatever that meant -- a long time ago.

"I've been trying," he said softly, still staring at the ground. "With you."

"Well, I'm happy to be your test subject," she said, a smile in her voice.

He couldn't help but feel his heart sink a little bit. He wished she knew it was more than that. But he knew those memories were forgotten. He looked back up at her, about to smile, but it faltered.

"I hope..." he said, pausing as he searched for words. "You'll be patient enough to wait for the end result."

"Of course," she said, and he could feel her eyes still on him. "I've got lots of time. And much more patience."

A small, genuine smile came, and he hummed.

"I've noticed," he said softly.

Evaline paused for a moment, still watching him. "Maybe it'll help if you see yourself smile in the mirror I gave you," she said. "A real smile shows your dimples."

James felt the faint remembrance of feelings he thought were long-dead leaking to the surface. His cheeks started to burn, and yet, at the same time, his heart ached with pain.

Evaline finally looked away. "Sorry if I've embarrassed you," she said apologetically.

"No," he said with a clearing of his throat. "It's - it's fine." While she was looking away, he took just a second to pinch his eyes shut, shaking himself out of it.

"Did you want to see the rest of the farm?" he asked. "I know Elliot would probably be happy to see you again."

"Oh yes," she said, sounding eager for the new topic change. "That would be nice."

He led her around the rest of the farm.

Isabel wasn't lying when she said there wasn't a lot to it. There was the cottage, Elliot in the shed, and the fields he'd plowed. He wasn't going to show her the outhouse, and the only thing left was the large willow tree and the well. Although there wasn't much to see, it was all very spaced out, so it took some time walking from place to place at their casual pace. When they made it back to his home, the sky was just beginning to turn an orangey hue.

He'd let Elliot out when she saw him, and he was out grazing in the field by the shed. Ellie was still curled up on the porch, asleep. It amazed him how much one animal could sleep at any time of the day, without a care in the world.

They stopped by his porch, where Evaline had retrieved her bag back from the table, and they both knew without saying that it was time for her to go. The sun was setting fast.

They were both standing there on the porch, looking at the setting sun. Evaline, with her bag over her shoudler, and Ellie, still asleep at her feet.

"It's a shame I haven't made the rocking chair yet," he said quietly, as if he didn't want to ruin the moment by being too loud. "It's a nice view... I guess the farm has that going for it."

"It is nice," Evaline said, mimicking his soft tone. "You're lucky you get to see the view in plain sight everyday. Having a rocking chair would make it more comfortable, too."

"Yes, it would," James mused. There was a lull of silence between them as the continued to watch the sun inch towards the horizon.

"Do you have to travel far?" he asked. "Before the day is over?"

"I admit I have been off doing my own thing this week," she said after a pause. "But the nearest campsite is a bit of a distance away. I'll probably make it before nightfall if I leave now." She glanced down at Ellie, giving her a gentle nudge with her foot. "And if she wakes up."

James was quiet for a moment as both of them looked at the cat who showed no signs of waking. Evaline bent down to reach in her saddlebag around her collar, presumably to take out the ball he had seen her use to wake Ellie up their first day together.

"If--" he started, before she could pull it out. It took him half a second to find the courage to just spit it out.

"If it would be easier for you, rather than having to hurry in the fading daylight, I wouldn't mind if you stayed here 'til morning," he said. "It wouldn't be imposing."

Evaline was watching him closely, then pulled away her hand from the saddlebag, empty-handed. "Would you like me to stay?" she asked.

He barely smiled, with his eyebrows pinching upward.

"That is... what I was asking. Without asking," he said.

She smiled softly. "You don't have to dance around it. You can just ask me next time." She closed the bag and stood up, taking a step back from Ellie to not disturb her. "Okay. Yes. Sure."

Evaline looked up at him, smile still on her face. "I'd like that. Thanks."

James smiled back, relieved. "It's only a shame that I made a table first before a bed," he said. "Then I would have something more comfortable to offer you."

She chuckled. "I'll just sleep on the grass. It's no big deal."

"What kind of host would I be if you slept outside while I slept inside?" he asked, gesturing in front of the porch, then to the front door.

Evaline studied him again. "I'm getting better at listening to what you're not saying," she said. "Are you asking me for permission if you can also sleep outside?"

James looked at her with another smile, but this one was small. Shy.

"That wasn't my initial solution," he admitted. "But I think I like that better."

"What was your initial solution?" she asked, now curious.

He looked to the side with a small shrug. "You got the cot, I got the floor."

"I mean..." She gave him a smug look. "Apparently, your cot is as hard as the floor. So I guess there isn't a difference."

James met her eyes with a smirk.

"I guess grass it is, then," he said.

They didn't have much time before dusk arrived, and Evaline helped James gather all the supplies for them to sleep outside. Except for the fields, there was grass all around them, but James insisted that they sleep near the thicket of trees by the well. It was a bit farther of a walk since it was on the other side of the farm, but they still made it before it got too dark. Luckily, it was a full moon, and so they were not completely in the dark.

They laid their blankets down next to a willow tree, but Evaline made sure not to put hers directly under the tree so it wouldn't obstruct her view of the sky. She sat on one of the blankets James gave her, setting her other blanket on her lap as she watched James nearby. He was setting his blanket down, and then he sat down on it.

"I hope this is just as or even more comfortable than your bed," she said to him.

"I think it might just be a step up," he said as he laid back.

Still sitting, she watched him for a moment, but then followed his lead and laid down on her blanket too, looking up at the sky. It wasn't quite night yet, but she could still see the sky and moon peek through. It was a slightly overcast night, but it sufficed.

"Seems like you should sleep outside more often then," she said.

"That's a good idea," he said. "I just might."

Evaline stole a glance at him also looking up at the sky. "Think it'll help you sleep?" she asked.

James hummed softly for a moment. "Historically, it hasn't really made a difference where I sleep."

"So that's a no," she said.

"Your powers of deduction are unmatched."

Evaline half-rolled her eyes and smiled. "Thanks," she said sarcastically.

"Of course."

A small bout of silence passed, but the repeating question in her head only grew stronger in volume.

"And I assume that means you're not tired yet?" she finally asked.

"No," James said, finally giving a straight answer. "I'll probably be up for a while."

Evaline wasn't particularly tired either, so she didn't want to suggest going to sleep first. She took a few moments to think this over.

"Well, we can lay here in silence and watch the stars, or talk about sleep, or we can play a game," she said with a small teasing smile.

"What game did you have in mind?" he asked, glancing over at her.

Evaline squinted at the stars, trying to think and focus. "I'd say cards, but I left that at my saddlebag. So not that."

"I would suggest playing fetch with Ellie, but that does require moving," James said.

"True," Evaline agreed. "So I guess that just leaves us with talking games." She paused for a moment, trying to think. It had been so long since she'd even done anything like this. She was also curious about learning more of James in general.

"I don't know. Two truths and a lie?" she finally suggested.

James was quiet for a moment.

"That's the one that has the rules in the name," he said. "Right?"

"Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. Say two truths and one lie. I guess the lie," she said. "Interested?"

"Yeah," he said. "Let's do it. Should I start?"

It didn't really matter either way. Plus, she'd follow his lead on what kind of facts he'd bring up. She didn't mind if he only brought up simple lighthearted subjects, though.

"Sure, if you want to," she said.

"I just need a second to think," he said. "Unless you have somethin in mind already."

"How about I think of some too, and the first one to think of them goes first?" she suggested, even though she had no intention of thinking of them until James went first.

James glanced over at her.

"Sure," he said.

A few seconds passed, and Evaline only paid attention to the bugs melding into the background around her. She closed her eyes until James talked, taking in the peaceful moment. It felt oddly more safe to be in Terra, in a random farm, under a tree.

"Okay," James finally said, breaking the silence. "I'll start simple. Pick the lie: I've worked as a sailor. I've worked as a fisherman. I've worked as a cook."

Evaline almost laughed. "That one is easy," she said. "You did not work as a cook."

"Wrong. I did work as a cook. Not for very long though. So what happens now? Do you go next?"

Evaline raised a brow and turned her head to look at him. "Wait, you can't just leave me in the dark like that," she said. "Does this mean I've been insulting your cooking skills for no real reason?"

James turned on his side and looked at her.

"You would probably be delighted to know that the reason I didn't work as a cook for very long was because I was fired. For not being great at cooking." Evaline squinted at him and laughed. It was more hearty and less airy than her other past laughs.

"The only reason I got hired in the first place was because they were desperate for help at the time," James continued. "So, the lie was that I worked as a fisherman. I've caught many fish, but never as an occupation."

"Hmm," Evaline hummed as she turned to look back up at the sky again, but then mimicked his position to lay on her side, facing him. It was easier to read him and hold a conversation when she could see him.

"So now I have to ask," she said with an innocent voice. "What did you cook so badly that they ended up firing you?"

"I would say it was a slow build up to that moment. There were frequent complaints made to the kitchen. Things being undercooked, or overcooked, or for being too bland, or over-seasoned. I could never find the happy medium, and because of that I never made customers happy. The straw that broke the camel's back was when - in the middle of a dinner rush - I served chicken soup with undercooked, nearly-raw chicken that made one of the customers so sick they came into the restaurant threatening to defame the business. Someone had to take the blame, and of course, it was rightfully me, since it was my fault. I don't miss that job."

Even though the story wasn't as comical as she thought it would be, she still listened intently and took in every detail. Since she'd met him again, James seemed to have a hard time opening up. She liked hearing him go into detail about any story, even if it was trivial.

"That sounded stressful," she said. "But I hope you don't ever serve me raw chicken soup as well."

"I thought you didn't eat meat," James said with a laugh through his nose.

"Well, that too," she said as she propped her head up on her arm. "I'm more glad than surprised you remember that."

She paused to think about the implications of the other two answers. James was a sailor at one point, but never a fisherman. She wondered if he was only a sailor because of pay as well.

"It's hard not to," James replied. "For a whole four months I barely ate meat too."

"Oh yeah?" she said half-distractedly as she pulled up a blade of grass in front of her. "Was that when you were sailing?"

James blinked and squinted at her, tilting his head to the side. "What?"

Evaline let go of the grass, giving him her full attention again. Did she say something wrong?

"Well, I guess I don't really know how sailing works, or how, um, eating animals works, either. I assume you can't bring animals with you when you're at the sea for that long?"

James stared at her for a moment with his eyes still squinted in what looked like confusion.

"Sorry, I'm just... not sure how you branched from not eating animals to sailing. But -- many ships don't store animals aboard, but some do. Usually, they're transporting them as opposed to keeping them around as a food source. But you know drying and curing meats is a thing too, which makes it last longer. You don't have to just get it fresh."

Evaline hummed in thought. She really didn't have a clue about how meat was eaten or processed since it was her personal choice to maintain this lifestyle, so she never bothered looking into it. She wondered if James would be interested in having livestock in Terra, though.

"You sure do know a lot," she said. "It's hard to imagine since I haven't ever associated you with the ocean, but it seems that you really were a sailor at one point."

"That is why it was one of the truths," James said.

"True," she said slowly, knowing she was just buying time before her inevitable turn. She offered a small smile. "But for the record, I'm glad you were a cook before a fisherman."

"Why's that?" he asked with a little smirk.

"You may have served raw chicken, but at least you weren't a fish murderer," Evaline replied back casually.

"I spared myself from being haunted by the ghosts of fish in my dreams," James replied in like tone. "Heard too many horror stories from other fishermen."

"Horror stories of fishy nightmares?" Evaline said back with a too-pleased smile that she thought of that pun on the spot.

James squinted at her and it looked like he was trying to suppress a smile. "Ha-ha," he said, suddenly plucking up a piece of grass and flicking it at her. "Very funny. Now it's your turn."

Pleased, Evaline brushed away the grass that flitted to her face. "Thanks, I've been working on my humor. 'I am hilarious' should be one of my next truths."

She was stalling for her turn, trying to think of something to say. James had mentioned his occupations, but she didn't really have much to offer there. Maybe random facts would work, but she had to think about them.

A few seconds passed, and she thought of something to say.

When she did, she shifted her attention back to James, nodding to herself.

"Okay. Here it is," she said as she prepped herself to say the next three sentences neutrally. "I've eaten eggs before. My favorite flowers are roses. I like to go on runs."

James hummed. The last time they played this game, there were penalties for getting the answer wrong. If you guess incorrectly, you would have to go again, and it wouldn't switch to the next person until you guessed it right. But this time, Evaline didn't seem so concerned with keeping the spotlight on him by rigging the rules.

He wasn't oblivious that she'd been stalling by asking him questions before her turn, but he didn't mind it. He was able to navigate it without saying more than he wanted to, and eventually point it back to her naturally. Whether or not she noticed, he didn't know, but she had a reputation of being observant, so he wouldn't put it past her.

He thought through the things she stated. They were simple, unrelated to each other, and things that were pretty inconsequential.

Unless something had changed, he knew roses weren't her favorite flower. As for the eggs, he wasn't sure. He wanted to say yes, but Evaline was so against eating any form of animal products. When it came to exercise, from what he'd seen, he knew she liked meditation and low-intensity exercises, but he'd never seen her go on a run. Not for pleasure.

Out of all of the things she'd said, there was only one thing he felt he could guess with some semblance of certainty, and it was the flowers. But it was clear that a lot of the things she liked or enjoyed might've changed.

"I'm guessing that roses aren't your favorite flower," he said. "Final answer."

Evaline waited a few moments, watching him closely. "Why do you say that?" she asked.

James returned the look with equal intensity.

"A hunch," he said.

They stared at each other for another moment, but then Evaline smiled and sighed, laying back down on her back as she stared up at the sky.

"Well, you're right," she said. "I've never really liked roses. I think it's because it's everyone else's favorite flower, but I've never really seen the appeal of them. Too thorny."

"Every rose has its thorns," he said, quoting a saying.

"Exactly why it's not a great flower," she said back. It appeared the saying went over her head.

"They're not my favorite either," he said. "But I think I've learned to appreciate them for what they are. I just won't jump into a bush of them."

Evaline let out a small chuckle. "I assume you won't be growing any then? I saw that you have an unused flower bed."

"No," James hummed. "I think I have something else in mind."

"What's that?"

"You'll find out when they grow. It's more exciting that way. The joys of farming," he said with a smirk.

She turned her head to give him a look of suspicion. "Why do I have a feeling it's going to be some kind of vegetable that flowers?"

James scoffed. "I could do that. But no. On a completely unrelated note, what's your favorite flower?"

Evaline stared at him with unamused eyes. "I see through what you're doing," she said, pursing her lips. "Just grow what you like."

"I don't know why you won't tell me," James said with an innocent smirk, looking down at her. "They're just flowers."

"I could tell you." She laid back on her side, propping her head up again and returning the smirk. "But I don't think you'd like it."

"Try me."

"Dandelions," she said. "I've liked them since I was young, but I've been told too many times that they were a weed and not a flower. But, being out here in the wilderness?" She gestured around her. "Newfound appreciation."

James propped his head up by putting his chin in his hand, still looking at Evaline with a small smirk.

"How poetic," he said.

She half-rolled her eyes. "I just think it's entertaining to blow on them when they're at the seed stage."

"It is nice to watch the little seedlings fly away, isn't it," he mused.

"Probably shouldn't do that around any farms, though."

"Well, the thing about weeds is, they can always be pulled," he said. "Most of them, anyway."

Mimicking his words, Evaline pulled up a few strands of grass. "Yeah, except there's like a thousand seeds per dandelion. It would take forever to pull all of them."

James shrugged and tapped his hand on his blanket. "I thought you didn't believe in wasted time," he said.

She tilted her head a little, eyeing him. "Are you really thinking about growing dandelions?"

"Maybe," James said nonchalantly, meeting her eyes. "Maybe not."

"Well," she said after a long stretched-out moment. "Good luck finding one out here. Terra's relatively weed-free, and I'm sure Josiah will greatly disapprove of your flower bed being full of weeds that'll infect other farms."

James watched Evaline for a moment, and then let out a little laugh, looking to the side. Normally he was the one to put a damper on people's aspirations with practicality. It was kind of nice being on the recieving end for once.

She shrugged, dropping the subject.

"It's your turn now," she said.

"Oh, right," he said. "Sorry, I was just trying to imagine you going on a run."

"It's not hard to imagine," she said. "It's like walking, but faster. I'm sure you've heard of it."

"Mmmmm, I don't know. That sounds like an Earth thing," he said with a grin.

"Ah," she said blankly as she inspected a blade of grass. "I've always known that the phrase 'man on the run' was figurative."

James looked down and away as a surprised, breathy little laugh escaped him. He brought his hand up to his mouth and half-hid it for a moment, but played it off as stroking his beard. He looked back at the ground and shook his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. I guess I'll save the jokes about you killing baby birds for later. My turn," he said.

"Like I said before," she said immediately after he finished talking, studying him. "You don't have to hide a laugh. But, reflex, so I understand." She smiled a little. "Just wanted to point it out again."

James met her eyes with one eyebrow raised and his mouth quirked up in amusement.

"Are you going to point it out every single time?" he asked in a teasing tone.

"Would you like me to?" she asked back. It didn't sound like she was teasing him back.

James blinked slowly, withe one eye's blink slightly delayed. The words came out a little slurred. "Well, no."

"...Oh," Evaline said after a pause. "That's fine. I won't bring it up again."

"The only reason I say that is because it - I don't want to. You know. Overthink it. More than I already do," he said. He pointed a finger at his face and spun it in a circle as a self gesture.

Evaline drew her brows together, seemingly confused. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, it's like I told you. The fake smiling started as something intentional, but now it's just a habit. I don't want to overthink it when I really smile. I just want to let it happen. Make sense?"

"Not to me," she said. "But everyone's different, so your thoughts are valid. To me, I don't really see how you can overthink a smile." She shrugged. "Just smile if you want to."

James raised his eyebrows and looked to the side with something of a smile, but it was more just him opening his mouth in mild exasperation as he took in a slow breath.

She made it sound so easy, but it wasn't.

"You'd be surprised," he said with a sigh. He lowered himself back to the ground, looking back up at the sky. His wrist ached from holding up his head in a stiff position for too long.

Evaline mimicked his body language, also laying flat on her back. James started to think of more truths and lies.

"Just takes some practice," she said after some time. "And also, for the record, the eggs I ate were unfertilized." She slightly tilted her head to look at him. "Unlike you."

James turned to look at her, but her last words caught him so off guard that he almost spat on her. At the last second, he flung himself forward, and ended up bursting out a short, surprised laugh that came out louder than he intended.

"Oh my gods, Evaline," he muttered. "Wow. Just wow."

When he turned to look back at her, she'd sat up with him and was watching him, smug.

"Since you prefer to not have me point it out, I won't tell you if that's a real laugh or not," she said with a smug smile.

James leaned in towards her, narrowing his eyes at her.

"But isn't you pointing out that you're not pointing it out still you pointing it out?"

"Do I need to also point out that you're smart enough to figure it out?" she said innocently.

"HA. HA," he said brusquely, tilting his head to either side with each "ha."

"You're a comedic genius," he said dryly.

"Thank you," she said, smug smile not having left her face. "Guess that makes two of us."

James narrowed his eyes even more and suppressed a smile.

"Okay," he said, leaning back down. "Now it's really my turn. Give me a few seconds to think."

"Sure. Take your time."

James closed his eyes for a moment and then looked up at the stars, filtering through things in his head that he could use. Things he could shorten. Things that would fit into small little facts without pointing in the wrong directions. He didn't want to ruin this.

The problem was, he wanted to pick things that were nothing of consequence, but he felt like he covered a lot of that the first time they played the game, five years ago. Granted, a lot had changed since then, but he couldn't remember all of the little things he did or didn't tell her. And he didn't know what she remembered either. Somehow she had remembered his favorite food but seemed to have forgotten they ever played the game in the first place.

He didn't know how the memory erasure worked.

"Okay," he finally said after some time. "I think... I have some. Here you go. I like the smell of the earth after it rains. I've braided Elliot's mane. I've written a short story."

Evaline thought through James's answers.

Liking the smell of the earth after rain seemed believable. It did have a certain smell that was fresh, but also, wet and musty. Plus, rain was a hassle when living in the wilderness. Maybe it would be hard to appreciate the scent if he didn't like the rain.

She hadn't seen Elliot's mane braided before, but she knew that James could braid hair, so it wasn't impossible. Plus, a horse's mane seemed like it would be fairly simple to braid. He may have done it to pass the time.

That left short stories.

That didn't seem right. Evaline knew he wrote in a journal, but that was to document his day. Plus, she knew that he liked reading history over fiction. He didn't seem like the creative type to make up fictional stories.

"Short story?" she guessed. "Is that the lie?"

"Hm. I guess I made that one too easy," James said with a small sigh. "Correct."

"Obviously your preferences could change," Evaline replied with a small victorious smile. "But it appears that time didn't change your distaste for the creative arts."

"Distaste?" James said. "You think I don't like the creative arts?"

Evaline paused before answering. It sounded like her assumption was wrong.

"Do you?" she asked instead.

"I do," he said simply.

"But not enough to write a short story," she quickly said back.

"Not on paper," James said, looking up at the sky.

Still sitting up, Evaline turned her head to look down at him laying down on the blanket. "So you have unwritten short stories?" she asked.

James kept his eyes on the stars.

"I don't know," he said quietly. "I used to."

It seemed that there were layers to this question that she wasn't aware of. As far as she knew, it was supposed to be a simple yes or no answer.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that," she decided to say.

"I never did write anything down," he said.

Evaline gazed out at the field in front of them, noticing how the leaves of the willow tree were moving in the slight breeze. It seemed that they were going in circles with this conversation, so she decided to drop it.

Well, sort of.

"Mind entertaining me with one?" she asked. "By voice, of course. To keep your streak of not writing anything down."

"I would," James said. "But I don't really remember them anymore."

"Isn't that the reason why people write down stories to begin with?" she said with a small smirk.

James looked over at her. "I suppose so," he said, before looking away again. "Your turn?"

Evaline had noticed before that James had asked follow-up questions to every answer in her turn, and she decided to take a page out of his book and copy him. She had to think of new answers anyways.

"First I want to talk about why you don't braid Elliot's mane more often," she said.

James let out a weak laugh through his nose.

"It's more work when I need to brush it again."

"A shame," she said. "He could have been a show horse."

"I don't think he'd like that," James said. "Well - maybe he would. He likes attention."

"Unlike you," Evaline said with a full-on smirk as she looked down at him.

"I knew you would say that," James said with a roll of his eyes.

"Couldn't resist." She leaned back with her hands, craning her neck back to peer up at the sky. "Well, okay. My turn again, I guess."

"Whenever you're ready."

It didn't really take that much time to think of three answers. They were mostly random facts about herself that popped in her head as she searched for something to say.

"I am flexible. I am good at math. I have never seen snow."

James hummed, closing his eyes for a moment as he thought. Evaline wasn't trying to be super competitive with the game. It just seemed like they were both using it as a conversation starter. He didn't think he had to think through these as much.

He felt like she was flexible from seeing her consistent morning routine, and he thought it was likely that she'd seen snow. He didn't know about the math. She was intelligent, but sometimes math could still be challening.

"I want to say you've seen snow," James said. If she'd experienced rain in these parts... maybe there was snow? It was hard to judge the overall climate from only a few weeks of one season.

"I haven't," Evaline replied, unmoved and gaze not leaving the sky. "It doesn't get cold enough to snow here, so I haven't seen it. Seems like it'd just be wet sand, though."

"It's not quite like sand," he said. "The texture is different. But it is cold, and wet."

She glanced at him. "So, you've seen snow," she stated.

"Enough to last a lifetime," he said, looking back at her.

Evaline paused for a moment. "Ever made an igloo?" she asked.

"I'm not sure what that is. We might have a different word for it," he answered.

"It's like a..." She sat up straight so she could use her hands to draw a large box in front of her. "Like a boxy house made out of snow. Could also be round."

James's eyebrows drew together in thought.

"Made of snow or ice?" he clarified.

"I have no idea," she said back with a slight laugh in her voice. "That's why I'm asking you."

James hummed and nodded. That was fair.

"We have these things called snow huts. The snow has to be hardened enough to cut it into blocks to build, though. If the snow is soft and powdery, it wouldn't work."

Evaline nodded slightly, pausing for a while. "I assume you saw the snow at the Moonlight Kingdom?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "The winters there are long."

"I can see why you didn't want to live there," she said. "Among other reasons."

Yeah. Other reasons. Those, at least, they both were aware of. They didn't have to get into that again.

"I don't miss the snow," he said. "That's for sure."

"You'd like the climate here, then," she said. "But if you ever get homesick and want long winters, I'll take you somewhere far and miserable instead."

James looked up at her with a half-lidded stare. "How courteous."

"Thanks," Evaline said as she glanced at him with an upturned smile. "The lie was that I am good at math, by the way. I'm just okay at it." She shrugged. "Was better when I was in school and actually had to do math."

"That makes sense. We can often regress in skills when we're out of practice."

She was quiet for a moment. "Not every skill needs to keep being practiced, though," she said. "I think I can make better use of my time than multiply numbers in my head."

"Completely valid," James said.

Evaline sighed and leaned back on her arms again. "Your turn?"

James nodded slightly. "My turn," he echoed softly, having to think of something else to say again.

Everything felt like it was a small gamble, even if it seemed innocent and simple.

"I've braided my beard before. I sang a song for Isabel about beans. I like your new haircut."

Evaline couldn't help but give him a long look when he said the last statement. Did opinions even have a place in this game? Well, at least it still played by the simple rules of being a truth or lie.

She didn't really take the time to think through this, especially since she already knew James could braid, and it seemed awkward if him saying he liked her new hair was actually the lie.

Plus, she couldn't imagine James singing a song, nevertheless it being about beans.

"Singing a song about beans," she said confidently. "That's gotta be the lie."

James closed his eyes, and slowly, a very small smile grew on his face.

"I've never braided my beard," he said, looking up at her.

"I have so many questions now," Evaline said with slinted eyes and a smile. To prepare for this, she angled towards him instead so she didn't have to keep turning her head. "First, why not? Second, bean song? And third..." She paused. "Thanks?"

James's smile grew a little. "You're welcome," he said. "And I don't know. My beard hasn't really been long enough to do anything I might have in mind, and I don't really like it long."

"I can understand that," she said, then realized that what she said. "I mean, not with beards, obviously. But long hair in general does get in the way."

"It really does," James said with understanding.

"But maybe Farmer James could try a new look," she said with a teasing voice. "Braided beards is probably a trending farmer style."

"Oh, gods, no," James scoffed.

Evaline let out a small chuckle and let her eyes wander past James for a moment, noticing how the sky was pitch black and there was artificial light in his distant neighbor's farm. It seemed they had access to electricity, but James didn't. She made a mental note of that.

"So, you sang a song about beans for Isabel," she stated.

"That I did," he stated back.

She wanted him to give the details rather than her having to pry it out of him. "And?"

"Well, it wasn't a very long song," he said. "But I was surprised I managed to rhyme."

Evaline felt a smile tug at her lips. "Care to demonstrate?" she asked.

James looked over at her with his eyebrows slightly raised, looking smug.

"I doubt I could replicate the song, seeing as it was a spontaneous, in-the-moment sort of thing," he said. "But maybe I could be convinced to sing something else if I was given inspiration."

Still facing him, Evaline crossed her legs and propped her head up by her arm that was bent at her knee. "What kind of inspiration?" she asked.

"Give me a topic. A subject to sing about," he said.

"What about the subject of writing down your songs and stories so you don't forget them?"

James narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, but then he propped his arms up at his sides and sat up, turning to face her. He adjusted his position for a moment, like he was getting comfortable, and then he cleared his throat, and started to sing.



Evaline watched him closely as he sang, and she was pleasantly surprised to find out that he had a decent singing voice, as well as the impressive ability to indeed think of lyrics in the moment.

"You make it sound like I forced this out of you," she said, deciding to not start off with a compliment. "But yes. I'd say my wonder is waived now."

James smirked. "Glad you're satisfied," he said with a dip of his head and a twirl of his hand as a small bow.

"I suppose I really was wrong when I said you had a distaste for the creative arts." Evaline smiled a little, trying to meet his eyes with sincerity. "But for what it's worth, I think you have a pleasant singing voice."

James dipped his head again, but this time in thanks. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome," she said with a nod. "I still think you should write some of this down, though."

James leaned a little to the side and rolled his eyes. "It's not that good."

Evaline shrugged with one shoulder. "Does it have to be?"

"It's not like I'm going to be putting on shows for all of the farmers in Terra," he said.

"No," Evaline said innocently. "But the beans would like an encore."

"Don't tell me you're talking to the beans too," James said with a teasing smirk.

She laughed, half-rolling her eyes. "Please. I doubt Isabel would even let me put one foot down in her farm."

"Her loss," James said, sitting up straighter.

Although, to be honest, Evaline didn't really want to step into her farm either. It went both ways.

"I guess so," she said. "Also the beans."

"Can't forget them."

Evaline tore her gaze away and pulled up another blade of grass. "I guess it's my turn again," she said after a long pause.

"That it is," James said softly.

She quickly went through some options in her mind, only briefly thinking over it again.

"I can read music. I can do the splits."

She paused, trying to think of the last statement, and then remembered how James had said an opinion as one of his answers. Evaline couldn't think of one on the spot, but something else came to mind, and she decided to take the risk.

"You can do the splits"

James watched her, and his head tilted to the side at her last statement, and a smile tugged at his lips.

"Evaline. It's two truths and a lie, not three truths," he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't believe it," she said stubbornly.

"Oh," James said with a challenging smile. He nodded his head a little as he looked around them. "Okay. Why don't we both do the splits and then see which one's the lie?"

Evaline smugly smiled. "Is that a challenge?" she asked.

James got to his feet, and extended his hand towards her to help her up.

"Do you accept?" he asked.

"Only if you don't get upset if I win," she said with a smirk, taking his hand.

"Please," James said, his voice suave as he pulled her to her feet. "I'm not a sore loser."

"For you sake, I sure hope not," she said as she stood up and let go of his hand. "Do you want to go first?"

James scoffed. "We both go at the same time," he said.

Evaline pursed her lips and shrugged. "Sure, okay. Ready?"

James looked at Evaline, eyes flicking up and down. She didn't look ready. He nodded. "Okay. Go."

As he suspected, as he bounced on his feet, Evaline didn't budge. Fine. He rushed forward, running past her in the grass, and then leaped, catching the air. He flipped, and then landed in the grass, doing the splits.

Despite the minor protests from his bodily frame.

He didn't wait for Evaline to catch up before he started to slowly get back to his feet, turning back to look at her. He stood up straight, looking at her expectantly, and then spread out his arms on either side. It was both a "ta-da" gesture and a gesture of exasperation. Because, well, she wasn't doing the splits.

Evaline walked towards him, slow clapping. "Wow," she said with a big smile. "I admit I didn't do the splits because I wanted to one-up you, but I didn't expect that."

"Surpriiiiise," James said with sarcasm.

"And that I am," she said as she stood across from him, hands now on her hips as she widened her stance and slightly went up and down on her tiptoes, like she was stretching and preparing herself. "Did you get hurt?" she asked.

James scoffed. "Did I get hurt," he repeated in a mocking tone.

"I'm just saying," she said innocently. "That was a very flashy move and you could've hurt yourself. Sometimes it's better to take things slow."

He crossed his arms, and she looked at him, still smug. "For instance, everyone does the splits how you do it, but there are so many other positions if you take the time to stretch."

Evaline took a step back and then lifted one leg up until she was able to lift it straight in the air standing up. She looked back at him as her leg pointed straight in the air, but then she dropped it and then fell into the sterotypical splits position, easing into it.

"This one is actually the easiest position," she said nonchalantly. "No offense."

She moved on before James could comment.

"But I'll do you one better. Same position, but upside-down."

Still in splits position, she then leaned forward flat on the ground with her elbows bent, then slowly brought her legs up in the air until she was doing a headstand with her elbows supporting her on the ground. Slowly, she dropped one leg until it was horizontal on the ground, and then she dropped the other leg the other direction.

As she did this, her shirt drooped down, revealing her stomach as well as a thin healed scar about two inches long.

James diverted his gaze to her face, and it was his turn to applaud. He clapped. She slowly got back on her feet, miming his little bow and hand twirl from earlier.

"What a show," he said dryly. "But unless you can't read music, then that was still three truths."

Evaline brushed down her shirt and pants. "Oops," she said innocently. "My mistake."

"Don't worry about it," James said with a small shrug. "I'll let it slide."

"Oh thank you, gracious gamemaster," she said back, voice thick with sarcasm.

"I've been promoted," James said with pretend shock, putting his hand to his chest.

Evaline laughed through her nose and looked back at the willow tree, noting how they were a short walk away since James had to run to demonstrate his backflip and splits.

"Are you tired yet?" she asked.

James pursed his lips. "Eh," he said.

Also known as "no."

"Want to take a night stroll?" she asked, gesturing around. "We can still play if you want. Now that we've moved and stretched, I'd feel antsy just sitting back down."

"I feel the same," James said. "We can go for a walk."

Without waiting for a response, he started walking out into the field of grass, leading the way. Evaline followed closely behind him, catching up until she was walking next to him.

"Do you take a lot of night walks?" she asked.

"Sometimes. When I'm by myself, I don't wander too far. But in the mornings when I ride Elliot, it's often before the sunrise."

Evaline nodded. "That sounds like a nice morning routine. I can see myself doing something similar if my Elliot wasn't so lazy in the morning."

"She seems like the kind of creature where it's harder to make them do something they really don't want to do," James commented.

"You would be right," she said. "She's not very disciplined, but she still makes for a nice animal companion, and she gets me places."

"Of course," James said. "I can tell she really likes your company as well."

"I can tell that Elliot likes your company too." Still walking, she looked up at the sky for a moment. "We picked simple creatures."

"I don't know if Elliot is simple..." James said in thought. "He picks up on things."

"Ah, that's right. He likes attention. He's the attentive type."

"Yes. He's good at sensing danger," James said.

"Sorry that he's retiring," she said. "Since Terra has no danger."

James looked over at Evaline. "Not all danger is physical," James said.

Evaline returned the look, not fully understanding. "What are you implying?" she asked.

James hummed. "Maybe I'm using 'danger' too broadly," he said dismissively.

Evaline sighed. In the previous days, she held back some of her thoughts because she didn't want to overwhelm him more than James already was. But now he seemed to be settled in Terra, opening up, and overall enjoying how things were going. She didn't really want to overthink these things for him anymore, instead wanting only straightforward answers.

"You keep skirting around what you really mean and then brush off statements as soon as you say them," she said bluntly. "Do you feel like you're in danger?"

James put his hands in his pockets and looked out at the grass ahead of them with a sigh.

"Not immediate danger. But I think I'm always considering potential dangers," he said. "I know your world is not devoid of them, even if Terra is one of the most fortified communities in the ungoverned lands. I know as long as word about my - you know - is kept between us then I should be safe from potential outside threats, but I do wonder about the fragility of my whole situation. I know it's not like my cover story is falling apart at the seams, but I'm trying to be as wary as I can of anyone apart from you. I have a feeling with certain people, if I were to say something wrong, or perhaps revealing without meaning to, then everything you worked so hard to put together might be lost. So no, I don't feel like I'm in danger. But I do want to be careful."

Evaline had no idea that he was this concerned, and she patiently listened until he was done talking before she could react. She did have an urge to shake him by the shoulders and tell him to not worry about it so much, but it was easy to fight it.

She instead opted for taking a big step in front of him to stop James from walking so that she could have his full attention.

"James," she said, her hands facing out in front of her. He came to a stop.

"It'll be okay. I hear your concerns, and I can understand why you'd worry, but I have everything under control. Do you trust that?"

James looked at her for a moment with his eyebrows pinched together in a straight line, and then he sighed.

"I trust you."

Evaline did notice the distinction between trusting her word and trusting her, but she filed that thought for later.

"Good," she said, dropping her hands as she let out a big sigh. "My mission here is to keep you safe, happy, and healthy. I won't let any dangers come your way. You can trust me with that."

"Thank you," James said softly after another pause, before he started walking again, slightly shifting direction so he didn't run into her.

"Of course," she said as she followed him, staying by his side again. "And I say that not only as a colleague, but as a friend, too."

James looked over at her, almost whipping his head over. He squinted at her in confusion. "Wait. Colleagues? In what?"

Oh.

She meant to tell him that later.

Evaline stopped walking again, looking at him with mouth slightly open as she tried to find some words. It wasn't often that she found herself in this awkward type of moment.

"I, um --" she cleared her throat. "I was going to tell you, but you didn't need to know until later." She looked away, squinting in the darkness. "Would you consider the possibility of tabling this discussion until that day comes?"

James had stopped walking, and his eyebrows were pinched together again as he watched her.

"If it concerns me, why don't I need to know?"

Evaline sighed. "I just don't want to overwhelm you with too many things right now. Like I said: safe, happy, and healthy. And right now, you should only be concerned with your time in Terra."

James watched her for a moment, but his gaze wasn't focused, like he was thinking. It took him a few too-long seconds to respond.

“Evaline, with all due respect, while I am grateful for your consideration and concern for my well-being, I am an adult. You don’t get to decide how I’m going to respond, and you have no way of knowing whether or not I am ‘ready’ to hear it.”

Evaline stared at him, not liking that she knew he was being logical here. She let out a long sigh.

"It's not a big deal," she said flatly with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"And yet, it's a big enough deal that you won't tell me now," James replied calmly.

"You're going to be a part of the committee," she blurted out quickly -- almost too quickly. She paused to hear his reaction, but then decided to keep talking. "I mean, not now. Later. It wasn't like I wanted this to happen. But it was so annoying trying to come to an agreement with Oliver, and he wouldn't budge on not having another 'time person'--" she air quoted herself with both hands, mocking those two words, "-- be on the committee. So I guess that'll happen. Someday. Not now -- I managed to convince him to get you situation on Terra first. But you know. Now you know."

James was silent the whole time she spoke. He was staring at her for a while, but eventually his eyes fell to the ground.

Evaline didn't like the silence that followed. "And now you probably think this is another danger," she said as she kept on walking, trying to push down her own irritation. She was usually better at controlling herself than this. "That's why I didn't want to tell you."

James was delayed in following. It took him two seconds to move, and another two to catch back up to her, walking at her side.

She glanced at him. "What?" she finally said to him, feeling nervous that James wasn't saying anything.

James glanced at her, but looked back out at the grass in front of them as they walked.

"I'm surprised Oliver thought I was qualified," James said.

"I can hear the implication behind that sentence," Evaline said back, not taking the bait.

"I'm not sure what you're hearing, but I'm being genuine. I thought everyone at that meeting had decided I was crazy," he said.

"Yeah, well." Evaline took a deep breath. "If anyone understands crazy, it's people like me and Oliver. And now you, apparently."

"I guess he was just the last person I would've thought to give me the benefit of the doubt," James said with a shrug. "He seemed pretty skeptical, but I guess first impressions can be decieving."

Evaline was quiet for a moment, trying to think of what she should tell James, if anything at all.

"Just be wary of him," she said. "Be careful on who you can trust."

James flicked a look at her, but was quiet again for a moment.

Evaline bit back a groan. "What is it?" she asked flatly.

"I'm processing," James said.

"Please, use your time jumping abilities to bring us to the future when you're done processing," she said, voice thick with sarcasm.

James hummed, glancing at her again with what looked like the hint of a smile, but he didn't say anything. She'd told him she'd gotten more patient over the years, and he couldn't deny that she had, but it was interesting... seeing a familiar side of her again. Leaking out, even if it was just in this moment. She was better and keeping a lid on her emotions and reactions, and so was he, but she was still Evaline. The Evaline that didn't like to sit in the tension, that didn't like to wait for the resolution when it was uncomfortable to wait.

He looked out over the expanse of grass ahead of them. They would run into another fence, but they would hit a grove of trees first, just ahead of the fence-line. In the darkness of the night, he didn't really want to go in the shadows of the trees. His eyesight was poor enough as it was. So he strayed away from the trees, gradually.

Evaline kept talking in the silence that followed.

"Look," she said, sounding more calm. "I'm sorry I kept it from you. I really was going to tell you. It was my mistake for revealing it so soon. I don't want you to let this keep you up at night, or add this to the list of worries in your head. I'll prepare you when the time comes."

"You want to manage my emotions," James said slowly. "But that's not your responsibility."

Evaline drew her brows together and looked at him, confused. "What do you mean, manage your emotions?" she asked. "I'm not trying to manipulate you."

"No. I know that," he said, still speaking slowly, and calmly. "But you're trying to keep me from worrying, or however you thought the news affect my emotions in a negative way. And I get it. But I have a right to know. And I'm not overwhelmed. If anything, knowing ahead of time helps me to emotionally and mentally prepare for when the time does come, so that it's not sprung upon me suddenly."

Evaline was quiet for a moment, still looking bothered. "Well, you know now. That's that," she said, not saying any more.

James was quiet for another few seconds, but then he peered over at her. It was hard to make out her face clearly in the darkness.

"Does my response bother you?" he asked.

"Does my response bother you?" she shot back.

"No," he said.

She thought for a moment. "No," she said, mirroring him.

"Are you upset that you told me sooner than you wanted?" he asked.

Evaline paused to take a deep breath in and out. "I'm not upset," she said slowly and calmly. "Just didn't expect this to come up."

James hummed, nodding.

"I'm sorry it was sudden," he said softly. "...Thank you, though. For telling me anyway."

She glanced at him. "You're... welcome, I guess." A pause. "But now you know. So. We don't have to talk about this anymore."

"Is that your way of saying you don't--"

"Ha ha ha," she said loudly, interrupting him. "Funny."

"You want me to say what I mean," he said, putting his hand on his chest, then gesturing to her with an open palm and fanned fingers. "I want you to say what you mean."

Evaline gave him a long look. "You want me to say what I mean? Okay. Fine." She looked away, slowing her footsteps. "I am fairly uncomfortable with the idea of you being on the committee. And if you knew that, then you'd worry more. Hence why I didn't want to say it. Until now."

James came to a stop and looked at her, nodding slowly. His eyes dropped to the grass.

There were layers to that. He knew that.

"You don't have to tell me," he said. "But you can probably guess that my natural question in response is to wonder why you're uncomfortable with me being on the committee. I know my own reasons, of course."

Evaline stopped beside him, her arms crossed as she looked out into the dark fields with furrowed brows. "Isn't it obvious?" she said in a low voice after a long pause. "You're not from here."

"That was my reason as well," James said lowly. "I don't think I should have a say in what happens here if I'm not from here."

He paused.

"Do you think that reasoning could translate to me being from another time?"

Evaline pinched the bridge of her nose. "I know you're curious," she said slowly. "And you have every right to be. But I don't have all the answers, and I can't change anything. I know I said I don't believe in wasting time, but..." She dropped her hand to meet his eyes, looking tired. "This is a waste of time."

James held her gaze for a second, but then looked away.

"We don't have to keep talking about it," he said softly. "But I do want you to know - I don't expect you to have all of the answers, and I know you're only doing what you can. I don't want you to feel like I expect more from you, because I don't."

Evaline sighed again. "Okay," she said as she blindly started to walk forward again. "Thank you."

James followed behind her, and he let a small lull follow before he decided to break it this time, for her sake.

"I don't suppose... you'd want to return to two truths and a lie," he suggested.

Evaline turned to give him a pointed look. "I... sure," she said with a small, strained laugh. "Go ahead."

James smiled innocently and shrugged, lifting up his hands. "It was the first thing to come to mind," he said. "But okay. Hmm..."

He subtly started turning their direction back towards the well, but not abruptly. He let Evaline follow naturally.

"There was a period of time where people called me Tommy. When I was a soldier, I would wear padded soles in my shoes to make me a little taller. I also have an irrational fear of people poking my bellybutton."

As James listed off each sentence, Evaline kept a tally in her head on whether she thought it was true or false. She barely paused before she answered.

"People calling you Tommy is the lie," she said.

"Nope," James said, looking at her with a pleased little smile.

She took a moment to rethink her answer.

"So you didn't wear padded soles to appear taller," she stated.

"I did wear padded soles, but it wasn't to make me look taller. It was because I was on my feet all day. It made them more bearable. It also doesn't really add much to your height. That's what heels are for," he said. "So yes, that's the lie."

"Makes sense," Evaline murmured, then glanced up at him. The next question came up without filter. "Have you ever worn heels?"

James smiled with bright eyes and shrugged. "For riding, yeah. When I was learning."

Evaline narrowed her eyes at the darkness in front of her. "How rude of you to not supply me with heels when I was learning how to ride."

James chuckled lightly. "Evaline. I was broke. I couldn't afford a baby's shoes, nevermind heels for you."

Evaline laughed through her nose, just a little. "You're right. With my own hard-earned money, I instead graduated straight into... what was it called... rider's pants?"

"Yes," James said. "Personally, I think those were a better investment. You were already getting the hang of riding in regular shoes."

"I suppose you're right. Baby's shoes would have been a step down for me."

Evaline glanced at him to offer a small smile, more out of apology than anything. She could tell James was trying to lighten the mood after their somewhat tense discussion, but that wasn't supposed to be his job. She shouldn't have gotten so annoyed in the first place.

"And they wouldn't fit," James added with a little smile back.

"I don't know, Tommy," she said innocently. "We probably could have found some custom ones."

"Careful with the nicknames, Baby Feet," James retorted.

Evaline narrowed her eyes at him with a growing smile. "I don't even know how someone could call you Tommy. I think Jimmy makes more sense."

"I was going by Thomas at the time," James said. "The nickname was meant to be condescending, as nicknames are."

"Oh yeah? Was Tommy friends with Yoen and Tibby as well?"

James bit back a smile and narrowed his eyes back on her. He pointed at her.

"Careful," he said. "You're on thin ice."

"I'd love to be on thin ice," Evaline said teasingly. "Don't you already know that I want to see snow and ice?"

"If you keep bringing back dead names you might see it sooner than you think," James said with a playful huff as he looked away.

Evaline's smile gradually faded as she was reminded of his dead names.

"Speaking of which, I briefly talked to Josiah before I came to visit you," she said, looking ahead. "We merely crossed paths. Small talk, you know. And I asked how Matt was doing."

James glanced at her. "And?"

"And he had no idea who Matt was at first," she said, the teasing tone returning. "Sounds like it's being added on to the pile of dead names."

James looked away nonchalantly. "Yeah, I introduced myself as James," he said like it was no big deal.

Evaline nodded slowly, still staring at the dark path ahead of them. "I'm glad you're being yourself," she said.

"Thanks," James said. There was half-a-second's pause before he continued. "So. Your turn?"

"Mmm. See, here's the thing," Evaline said casually. "You're mentioning truths I already know. How suspicious."

James looked over at her with his eyebrows raised. "Is that so?" he shrugged, closing his eyes for a second as he did so. "How was I supposed to know you'd remember that after five years?"

"James," Evaline said slowly with a blank face, although she was doing her best to suppress a smile. "How could I not remember you conceding defeat after I poked your belly button? It's hard to forget the face you made afterwards."

James did the same kind of shrug, but this time even more exaggerated.

"Sorry for being memorable," he said. "That must have been my moment of realization. I only got funnier from that point forward. Maybe the poke triggered it."

Evaline half-rolled her eyes before giving him a look. "Yeah, okay. I don't remember you getting any bit funnier in the months that followed."

"The effects came later," James said simply with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It wasn't immediate."

"How interesting," she mused. "I wonder if it acts like an on and off button?"

James looked like he froze for half a second with his eyes wide, but it was hard to tell, because immediately after, he took off running. No. Sprinting.

For a few seconds, Evaline watched him whiz past her, shocked that he took off without prompt. A playful smile tugged on her lips.

"Hey!" she said through a laugh, running after him. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not falling for THAT!" he shouted almost breathlessly.

"I wasn't even -- get back here!" she barked, deciding to just focus on sprinting ahead and follow him.

Evaline had told James that she liked going on runs, but what she didn't tell him was that they were mostly endurance runs based on distance, not speed. She did go on the occasional sprint if she had extra energy, but it wasn't necessarily a top skill.

Still, she tried her best to chase after James, pushing aside the silliness in the name of competition. James was fast, but Evaline was slowly gaining distance as she pushed herself to run faster. She didn't think she was much faster than James, but she had noticed how he was heading back to the tree. James was stumbling a bit in the dark to get there, but Evaline ran straight ahead, taking the shortest path.

She was only a few feet from James when they had finally arrived to the tree, and she assumed he was going to run past it, but then he slowed down, looking like he was prepared to jump. Evaline barely had time to process what was happening and tried to slow down in time, but failed, leading her to run right into James.

They both fell down with a thud, but Evaline's fall was padded since she landed on James's back.

"Sorry, are you okay?" she asked through a loud laugh as she peeled herself away and kneeled beside him.

James let out a low groan as he laid with his face in the grass.

"You knocked the wind out of me," he said in a faint wheeze, muffled by the ground.

It was hard to maintain laughing when she was still panting for air. Her heart was still quickly beating in her chest, not slowing down despite the sudden loss of movement. Still taking deep breaths, Evaline looked down at James and sat more comfortably next to him by folding her knees to her side and leaning on one arm.

"Running has that effect sometimes," she said through a small laugh.

James wheezed again as he slowly rolled over onto his back, looking like he was trying to catch his breath.

"So does... getting... pummeled to the ground," James said between breaths.

Evaline looked down at him, tilting her head. "And... conceding defeat again?"

James locked eyes with her for a second before he started to scramble to get up.

"Wait," she said before he could get away from her. "I have a proposition."

He paused halfway through his movement, squatting and looked at her expectantly.

Evaline held back a smirk as she met his eyes. "Let's make this interesting. If you guess my lie right, then you can be spared from the ferocious belly button poke. What do you think?"

"I think that's ridiculous," James said quickly. "Deal."

He sat back down in the grass.

Evaline lightly shook her head and rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Okay. Now I have to think of something extra tricky..."

She relaxed her posture and looked out into the side, squinting as she searched her mind for something that could trick James. This wasn't usually a game with winners or losers and therefore had no stakes, so she didn't have to think hard for her previous random answers. This time, though, she had to be more strategic.

It didn't help that she caught James saying at least one statement that he assumed she would forget. But maybe she could use that to her advantage.

Finally, she thought of her answers, and she faced towards James again.

"I don't mind wearing dresses. I try to sketch something at least once a week. I have an irrational fear of moths."

James was still recovering from the collision and sprinting through the fields. His heart was still racing, and he was still breathing pretty hard. If he'd been able to jump into the tree like he'd planned, he could've avoided all of this, but now he was stuck playing the game again.

Or else he'd have his bellybutton poked.

It really did sound ridiculous when he put it into words. But he was glad for the turnaround after the tension from earlier. Evaline was laughing, and smiling, and he almost wished he could shake off the strange feeling that this was all familiar. Familiar, but different. Surely, she had to feel it too, right? It wasn't just him? He could never know. He didn't know exactly where there were gaps in her memory, but he felt like he was slowly beginning to put it together.

She didn't forget their friendship. But she did forget everything related to... well...

Maybe it would never be more than that, then. Maybe it never really was.

He looked out into the darkness, trying to bring his mind back to the present. Trying to pick something out as a lie. His mind felt too distracted to think about it too critically.

He hadn't seen her sketch once in their week-long trip. He didn't know about dresses. He couldn't remember anything about moths.

If he "lost," hopefully she'd at least laugh. He could play along, like he had been.

"I'm going to say... you do mind wearing dresses," he said. "I don't know if that means you don't like wearing them at all, or if it's just not your favorite, but... that's my guess."

Evaline was watching him expectantly the entire time, and when he finished, she smiled smugly. "I don't mind it," she said. "I used to wear them more, but then I'm - you know - outside a lot." She shurgged. "Seems like you lost this one."

James sighed dramatically in defeat, and flopped back onto the grass.

"Which one was the lie?" he asked.

"How about I tell you after the poke so you don't forget your loss?"

James scoffed. "Oh, please. Stop gloating. Just get it over with." He gesture to his belly and patted it.

Evaline laughed through her nose and slowly lifted her hand out, but stopped mid-air. "This feels so childish," she murmured.

"It was your idea," James said.

"It sounded better in my head."

"A lot of things sound better in our heads. Come on. One poke won't kill me."

Evaline narrowed her eyes at him. "If I didn't know any better, it sounds like you wanted this to happen."

"Maybe I'm just using reverse psychology," James said, closing his eyes and looking indignant. "If you change your mind I--"

Mid-sentence, Evaline then suddenly poked his belly button.

James curled up a little, pressing his lips together in a frown.

"Wow, rude," he said, as he sat back up.

She watched him, smug smile not having left her face. "That was as anticlimactic as I remembered it being."

"Oh no," James said sarcastically. "How disappointing. For you."

"Indeed," Evaline said as she relaxed her posture and leaned on one arm. "And your guts once again didn't spill out, so good for you."

"I'm a picture of health," James said, hoping she'd just let it be a joke and not pick it apart.

"Yeeeah. That's the phrase I'd use," she said casually, rubbing her eyes. Maybe out of tiredness.

He gave her a look, blinking slowly. Then he sighed and looked over at their abandoned blankets, which weren't that far off.

"So, what was the lie, then?"

Evaline hesitated, dropping her hand and then facing back towards him. "Sketching once a week," she simply said.

James nodded slowly.

"You don't draw much anymore," he said quietly. "Do you?"

Evaline craned her neck up a little to look up at the sky, but it was obstructed by the willow tree. "Good guess," she said. "I only really draw scenic places I want to remember. It's been a while since I've seen anything worth capturing, though."

Worth capturing. He wondered what she meant by that.

"Where was the place that you drew in the drawing you gave me?" he asked.

Evaline was quiet for a moment. "The Outlands," she said, then turned to him. "Silly."

He stared at her.

"Oh," he said, looking down. "I guess... that makes sense. It doesn't seem like there are any deserts around here."

"Not anywhere nearby or that I've been to, no," she said. "Just the one in my head."

James nodded ever so slightly, looking out over the shadowed stretch of grass ahead of them. He wanted to ask her more, but he had a feeling she might not want to share. She often seemed like she didn't want to talk more about things, when she gave short answers with little detail. He knew that he was sending the same message with many of his answers. They would explain things in brief, but they both knew they were glossing over many of the details.

And the thing was, he knew she wanted to ask. She'd stopped prying as much as the first few days, and he wondered if she'd given up, or if she was just trying to give him space.

He didn't mind the space. But he couldn't help but feel the longing for what they used to have.

More than this, anyway.

Four months by no means meant you knew a person, but...

"You know," James said. "The Outlands aren't exclusive to the desert, and the desert stretches into other borders. Safer ones. It's not all criminals and danger."

Evaline was watching the leaves of the willow tree sway gently in the breeze. "I see. I can better understand why you found yourself coming back to it, then."

James tilted his head slightly to the side.

"The desert, or the Outlands?" he asked.

She paused for the moment. "Well, I guess up until this moment, they were synonymous to me. So... both?"

James hummed. "Fair enough."

Evaline stole a glance at him, like she was trying to read him. "Disappointed that I instead drew the desert side riddled with criminals and dangers?"

"What?" James said with a slight laugh. "No. I appreciated the drawing. I didn't even think of you drawing something else or -- nothing like that."

She kept her gaze on him a little longer, squinting a little, but then shrugged it off. "Fair enough," she said. "It was supposed to make you feel more at home. Maybe I'll add a rainbow to make it a little less gloomy."

"I don't think it's gloomy," James said. "Besides. Rainbows are cheesy."

Evaline scoffed in amusement. "I suppose they are a bit cliche. I don't think it would have the same effect with just a pencil, anyways."

"Yeah. If you're going to draw a rainbow, it should be in color," James agreed. "It's the only thing to do it justice."

Evaline stole another glance and paused for a moment. "So, you said the Outlands is not entirely desert," she said, changing the subject. "What would it be instead?"

"Well, the lower portion of it on a map would be desert, but most of it is actually forests, mountains, rivers, and the like. And, the borders 'move' a lot since there's no established government out there," James said.

Evaline hummed in thought. "It's funny," she said. "Without context, I'd have thought you were talking about the ungoverned lands. You've only seen the coastal safe zone, but outside of it, it's pretty similar to the Outlands. A big desert. Mountains, too. Probably rivers."

"The similarities are uncanny," James said.

"Like I said," Evaline began with a small smile. "That's probably why Nye is the brightest star in the sky."

James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. It's all the magic leaking into the atmosphere," he said, holding his hands in front of him and wiggling his fingers.

Evaline weakly smiled but then yawned and then sat up straighter. "Yeah. Magic," she said as she stretched her neck. "Anyways. You lost the silly belly poke competition. Your turn now?"

"Let's return to our blankets, first," James suggested, getting to his feet. "I will think in our thirty seconds of travel time."

"Sure, sure," she said as she also got up and started to walk towards the blankets.

James walked slowly, partially to have more time to think, and partially because he genuinely was struggling to make things out in the dark. He could finally make out the change in texture in the grass where their blankets laid, and he was able to find his because of the slight difference in thickness and hue. Evaline found hers first, and she laid down with her elbows propping herself up so she wasn't flat on her back.

James sat down on his blanket, but instead of leaning back, he tucked his legs up and leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees.

"Okay," he said, taking in a deep breath.

"I don't drink. I journal every day. I once slept for a week."

Evaline was starting to feel tired, but she didn't want to be the one to suggest sleep when she knew James was going to stay up. They didn't have to keep watch, and he did seem to want to maximize their time together, so she told herself she'd stay up as long as she could.

She tapped her finger on the blanket, quickly thinking through his answers to keep her mind busy.

James didn't tell her much about what she suspected was an old habit of daily drug use, but even so, she didn't think he didn't drink. If this were true, he obviously wasn't an addict now since he had no withdrawal symptoms, so she didn't think it was any of her business to ask. She did wonder, though. If this was a problem she should consider.

No idea if he journaled every day. She didn't see him journal yet, but she didn't see him journal when she was in Nye, either. He probably would do it while she was asleep.

Sleep for a week, though... That one was the obvious lie to her. He could barely sleep for a night.

"Sleeping for the week?" she guessed.

"No," he said. "I did. Once."

Evaline hummed. "You must have been really tired," she commented.

"I was," he said. "The lie was the journaling."

"Ah." She paused. "How many hours did you go without sleeping before you slept for a week?" she asked.

James was quiet, and he rested his chin on his forearms, which were folded over his knees.

"I really can't remember, honestly," he said.

"But you could probably remember generalities," she insisted. "Not a specific number, but at least a few days, I assume?"

He was quiet again for a few seconds.

"There's a lot I don't remember," he said. "It was all a blur."

Evaline turned her head to look at him, squinting. James made it sound like this was a bad thing. And it probably was, given the context.

"Was it your choice?" she asked slowly. "To sleep for that long."

"That would be... a really weird word to use to describe it," he said. "So, no."

"It wasn't your choice to sleep for a week," she repeated for clarity. "So it was... upon force?"

"Maybe it would make more sense to say that I was physically unwell," he said.

"So you weren't asleep," Evaline said matter-of-factly. "You were unconscious."

"I don't really know the difference."

She was quiet for a few moments as she leaned on her side to face him, still supported by her elbow. "There is a difference between being asleep and being unconscious," she said gently. "Being asleep doesn't have to be by choice -- it can be forced if your body is too tired. But you can't be unconscious by choice."

James didn't look at her.

"I can think of exceptions to that rule."

"Oh yeah?" she said, waiting for him to elaborate. He didn't.

Evaline sighed.

"Let's move on to my turn," she said after a long silence. She didn't take that long to think of three statements.

"If I were to ask for a non-tangible gift in return from you, it would be for you to aim to be healthy and well-rested. I know the previous note in Nye said we should open up and share personal stories from our past, but I want you to know that you don't have to feel forced to share anything you don't want to -- but I'm happy to listen to whatever you do want to share. And the final one is that I hate pesto."