A Thousand Miles And Poles Apart

say i love you when you're not listening

You couldn't stop yourself from running forward ahead of the others when you saw Thena. You threw your arms around her tightly, relieved to see her again. It took her only a moment before she responded, wrapping her arms around you as well. She remembered. She remembered you. You wondered if her experience with Mahd Wr'ry had helped her. She was already used to living lost in unknown memories. You'd had your memories pushed down by Ajak every few decades, which helped with your Mahd Wr'ry, but Thena had had to live through it for centuries.

You pulled away as the others approached and greeted her. You could see the relief on Sersei and Phastos's faces that the warrior had her memories also.

"How do you remember?" Sersei asked.

"When the Deviant came, I fought him," Thena said simply.

Of course. It made sense now. "The cut on his face," you said. "When we saw him in Chicago, he was injured. That was you."

"I struck him many times," Thena said. Well, she was never one for many words, you supposed. "Once I remembered, I knew you would come so I waited."

"So is anyone going to introduce us to the sword throwing lady?" Kingo asked.

Thena raised an eyebrow at you. Right, this was going to be a fun conversation.

——

The others had gone inside. Thena had apparently prepared for your impending arrival and told the others to get comfortable. You had chosen to stay outside for a few more minutes, needing to clear your head. Because now that you were all together, you needed to figure out a plan. But so much of your mind was on Druig, you couldn't think straight. Thena had remembered in battle, just as you and Sersei had. But Druig had been in several battles already, and still he remembered nothing of you.

"He doesn't remember you," Thena said suddenly appearing beside you. You were sitting on a bench she had outside, your face in your hands. You looked up at her when you heard her voice.

"No," you said simply.

"Hm," she said.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything."

"But I know you want to," you rolled your eyes at her.

"Sersei said you have chosen not to tell Druig of your path," she told you.

You sighed. "Of course she did. Look, the whole point of the test is to prove our love is real right? That it's strong enough to weather any storm? If I tell him we're supposed to be in love, he's just going to think he has to feel that way, but it won't be what's in his heart."

"Perhaps he would remember if you told him," she said. "We all know what's in his heart of hearts."

"I doubt it. He has to feel it himself," you said.

"Hm. Sersei also said you appear to be avoiding him," Thena added. You could tell she disagreed with you but you were glad she didn't push.

"I'm not," you said quickly. You hadn't been, had you? You were around him all of the time. There wasn't any real way to avoid him, even if you wanted to. But then, you hadn't really made any kind of effort to talk to him, had you? You'd talked to him at the gala in Chicago but he had come up to you. You hadn't gone to seek him out. Thinking of it now, you hadn't tried very hard at all. "Okay maybe I am."

"Why?"

"I—I don't know," you said.

"Hm," she said again.

"Yeah that's still super annoying," you said jokingly.

"I don't think I need to tell you things you already know," Thena said.