Intergalactic

CHAPTER 8: Plan A

By reading the title "Plan A" you probably understand that there is going to be a Plan B too, right? You must be having this feeling, this suspicion that another plan is on the way. That's because - probably- something is going to go wrong with Plan A, right?  Well it does.  I'm in Atlantis' jail now.
Here's how things went:

So, yesterday morning I woke up only to find Daròn next to me awake.

"For how long have you been staring at me while I was sleeping?"

"Eh, not for long." He said with a smile. I smiled back, having realized that my plan had worked. Keeping him out of the force field was a good idea. But still, we had to go back in the city. I had to assure him.

We stood up and headed for the city. We found Nyla training with her alien bow and arrow - she was really good, by the way.  She looked at us and came towards us with a smile.

She said something in their native language. The only thing I understood from her sentence was Daròn's name. I guess she said "hi" because she then  put her hand near her face, and then he did the same. Nyla turned to me with a big smile and did the same movement with her hand. "Nyla." She finally said. She is introducing herself again. She has definitely forgotten. Even though Daròn had believed me when I told him this was likely to happen, he still seemed surprised by that...or maybe it wasn't a surprise, but a shock - a shock for the situation actually being serious, a shock for me not being crazy...a shock for him being right about the king. The thing is that...I felt the same way, despite the fact I had been through that again. We looked at each other with a look that I cannot explain with words. We felt we were actually in trouble that we hadn't realized was actually real. We both felt this wave of responsibility hitting us, responsibility that was needed to be taken...responsibility we had never come to need to use. Now it was time we saw the situation more seriously.
It was also time for me to "handshake" with Nyla, since she had been waiting for a lot of seconds. When I told her my name, it didn't appear to remind her anything. Again.
Daròn suddenly grabbed my wrist and went far enough from Nyla so she couldn't hear our conversation. Nyla just kept on training.
He started on to say something, but he seemed as if he didn't know how to speak anymore.
"How..." he started and then changed his question, "What...", he then gave up, he was devastated.
"Daròn." I told him with a calm voice. "We can find a way through this, okay?" He looked at me without saying anything. "We don't need to rush. We have plenty of time to think of what we can do." I continued.
Then Nyla shouted to us something, still in another language, so I had to ask for him to translate but before I managed to, his face expression turned from "stressed" to "very stressed".
"What?" I said anxiously.
"The king." He looked at me awkwardly. "He is arranging a gathering, where all the Atlanteans have to attend."
I looked at him, still calm as I could be. He continued, "Today." I suddenly felt as if I had lost the Earth below my feet. Today?  "When the sun is in the middle of the sky. "He said losing his voice slowly. No, Heather. Do not look up. I looked up. The sun was in the middle, and I...I couldn't handle that. I looked down, right in Daròn's eyes. They were staring at mine too for some seconds, then he cringes having remembered something.
"You said that I told you that the day I met you I was returning from the place I found the photos."
"I did say that."
"Do you remember where in the sky the sun was  when I met you? Was it past the middle?"
"I don't know, Daròn. Looking up at the sky is not what I do to see the time!"
"Then how would you know what time it is?" Wow, he's being serious.
"Just tell me what you want."
"An answer."
"It's called a clock. An easier and more practical way to see the time."
"No, Heather. I mean the other question. The sun!"
Well, I tried. "I'm almost certain it wasn't past the middle. It was morning."
"That means I didn't go at the gathering. I probably didn't because I found out about the king from the photos."
"Okay?" I said without understanding what his point was.
"Here's the thing: Afterwards we went at the Lake of the Sirens and after that we met Nyla."
"Yes. You're just repeating everything I told you last night."
"Heather, answer me a question. When we met Nyla, where was the sun?"
"Definitely past the middle of the sky."
"That means Nyla did go at the gathering."
"And what about that?"
"The king, Heather. He never forgets because he is human, like you, right? The loop doesn't affect him."
"Right." I said, still with uncertainty of what he had been trying to say.
"If there is a time loop, that means that everyday the same things happen over and over. So if I didn't go at the gathering yesterday that means that I never go. "
"That makes sense." Nope.
"Well, it won't make sense to the king if I go this time. And especially if you come too."
So, this is what he was trying to explain. 
"Daròn, we have to find out what the gathering is about. And there's only one way we can do this."
"What way?" Isn't it obvious?
"By going there!"  
"Oh, right."
"I mean...What if the king found out about me? What if he wants to lure me in his kingdom and then kill me slowly?"
"Big imagination."
"I know."
"And stupid as well." Okay that's offending. "First of all, how would he find out about you? There is no way he could. And secondly, if this is what the gathering is about then, yesterday after the gathering Nyla wouldn't  almost kill you with the arrow, but she would have actually killed you."
"Good point." I did know the sad truth, though. I knew that I was there in Atlantis for a reason. And I also knew what the reason was. I knew that I was chosen for this mission because I was brave. And I knew, that I still was brave. I knew that I could not step back. I had to go at the gathering. "But, still, we have to go. Do you remember what I told you about me being  here for a mission? A mission according to which I have to save your ass from this dictator?" He took a more serious look. He understood I had to go.
After a while he decided to help, "Okay, but what if he sees us?"
"How many people are there going to be?"
"More than two hundred."
"And you're afraid that he is going to take notice of you between two hundred people?"
"I just...I don't have a good feeling for this." He started freaking out a little.
"Daròn, I respect the fact that you're afraid -"
"It's not that I'm afraid!" he said in a louder voice.
"Then why are you being such a -", I paused for a second.
"Such a what?" he demanded, but I did not answer. "Well, you know what, Heather?" He started approaching me. "This is your mission, not mine. I tried to help you, I trusted you...and I still do. But, as I see, you are not willing to trust me. So, now you're on your own. If you want to go at the gathering then do it. I don't want to be a part of this anymore." He said and he left. He left me standing there alone, sad and pissed at the same time. Okay, then. I'll go. Alone.