Darkness was all Davina could see. Cold crept in her entire body. Her bare feet carefully took each step as she tried to see where she was.
"Davina."
"Felix." She'd know that voice anywhere.
She turned her head to the direction of the sound. There was Felix. His fiery red hair and shining green eyes were like beacon in the darkness. He held out his hand to her.
Without hesitation, she took it and the darkness disappeared. Colors and light filled her sight. He pulled her hand and the two of them ran in the world that used to be nothing but darkness. A world that used to be an empty canvas until he showed her how to paint in it.
But somewhere along the road, Felix suddenly disappeared.
The warmth on her hand faded away like air. Her world was dark and cold once again. The colors around her were starting to vanish. No matter how hard she tried to make them stay, the beautiful world around her disappeared like him.
She kept on shouting into the void. She kept on yelling his name. But there was no reply. Once again, she was stuck in the darkness. Cold and alone.
"Felix!"
Davina shot up from her bed. She kicked her covers away and left her room. She stumbled around the hallway. Trying to find which room he was in.
"Felix," she panted.
She kept on walking until she found herself standing on the deck of the ship. It was only then she remembered where she was.
It dawned on her that she wasn't in Eris anymore. She looked around the ship, still feeling rather hazy. But then her eyes landed on her bracelet. On the green gem shimmering under the moonlight. The sight of it grounded her.
This wasn't the first night this has happened to her.
There were many nights when she'd get lost in her dreams that she'd forget her own reality. During these nights she'd wake up and couldn't sleep, she'd go up on the mast and try to get fresh air. But there were also nights she didn't have the strength to climb. This is one of them.
Davina ran her hand through her hair as she fell on her knees.
"Felix," she said softly.
She waited for him to come. She waited for him to appear. But there was nothing but the moon and the stars in front of her. She wrapped her arms around herself.
"I forgot you were gone."
~~~~
Because she didn't have a peaceful night's sleep once again, Davina was silent and rather irritable when she and the Inarians were once again in the captain's room trying to look at their course. She tried to keep up with what they were saying, but there was also the factor that she had no idea what they were talking about.
Quinn tried to ask her and get her included in the conversation, but she ignored him until he finally stopped. So when the meeting ended, she wasn't able to say anything or participate in the conversation.
"You didn't get any sleep again didn't you Erisian?" Arlo said before he left the room.
"What's it to you Inarian?"
"Nothing. Just continue what you've been doing and stay quiet."
Davina only rolled her eyes as Arlo left the room. Kira also left earlier so it's now just her and Quinn inside.
"You should try to get some sleep," Quinn said to her.
"I doubt I can anyways," she sighed. She wished he wasn't talking to her. She just wanted some silence.
"Maybe I could help you."
"How?"
"I can make you a potion-"
"No thanks," she cut him off.
"Why?"
"It's filled with magic isn't it?"
"You still don't trust me?"
"I don't trust magic in general."
Quinn only sighed. He thought she was already progressing and was accepting magic. But even if they were in a magical realm, she was still skeptical of it.
"It's not magic exactly. It's just a simple medicine. I'm sure that even your Healers have them."
He was right. Davina did try to take sleeping potions when she was a child. They were to keep her nightmares away. She was familiar with them that when she saw them in Felix's room, she was confident enough to know what they were at a first glance.
She used to like those potions. They were able to give her good sleep and prevented her nightmares from coming back. But the last time she drank one was four years ago and after that, she swore never to drink them again.
"But I take it that yours is still different from our Healers in Eris."
"Probably," Quinn agreed. "Won't you try it? Even if it's for your sake. I'm using the instructions from the book the Elven King gave me." He took the white book in his hands and flipped over to the page. "Here, you can check the ingredients and see for yourself."
Davina looked at the page but no matter how hard she looked at it, it was nothing but gibberish to her. Her mood was already bad enough, but the reminder that she couldn't understand this language pushed her over the edge.
"If you can't remember, I can't read any of this. So try to think before you say anything."
She shoved the book right into his hands and marched out of the room. The hurt look on Quinn's face embedded in her mind.
She got back in her room and dropped on her bed. Staring at the wooden ceiling as she breathed in and out to let her anger seep away.
"You didn't have to snap at him like that." Felix appeared, lying right beside her. "He was just trying to help. Now he's scared of you again."
"I know." She had no idea if it was because of the sleep deprivation, but she felt guilty with how she treated Quinn. "I really need to sleep."
"Why don't you?"
"I'll get nightmares."
"Then take up Quinn on his offer with the sleeping potions. They were effective."
"You'd know," she faced him.
"So would you."
"I'll never drink another one of those potions again."
"You can trust Quinn, you know?"
Davina didn't reply. "He means well, but I still wonder if I truly can."
~~~~~
As much as she tried to rest and sleep, she couldn't do so. There was the underlying fear of her nightmares and the look on Quinn's face that she couldn't get out of her head.
After deliberately thinking about it, Davina knew that she had to do this. She took in each breath, thinking that he would finally have the courage to do it. But as each second passed, her feet stayed frozen on the spot. No matter how many times she thought it out in her mind, no progress was actually made. The poor witnesses to this scene were Felix and the setting sun.
"You can do this," Felix tried to boost her confidence. "You've faced armies of people who can do magic with only a sword and shield in your hand. You survived months alone when you were only six-"
"Seven," she corrected.
"Seven years old," Felix continued. "You were able to kill an ogre. What's this small thing compared to those?"
She took in another breath. "I can do this."
"Yes you can."
"I can do this."
While Davina's confidence was still high, she strided to the door. Only for her confidence to plummet when she finally held the knob.
She muttered a curse and took a few steps back away from the captain's office. "I can't do this."
"Davina," sighed Felix.
"I'd rather kill a sea monster."
"You'd rather kill a monster than talk to Quinn?"
"Yes," she said without missing a beat.
Davina knew that she had to apologize to Quinn. She couldn't rest her mind. Also, there was another thing she wanted to ask him. She didn't think she could ask him for a favor if she hadn't apologized to him yet.
Davina thought of asking him for this favor after she realized how ignorant she was of this new world, she knew that she needed help in order to learn more about it. The way to do that was to read the books that were in the captain's office. But when she looked at all of them, she saw that they were all written in the language of the Inarians.
There were only a few books with pictures and illustrations but not even those could help her understand what they were talking about. So, what she had to do was to learn the language. The best and only way she could do that right now was to ask one of the Inarians for help. For Felix, he saw this as a beautiful chance because who's a better teacher of a language than someone who knows it well. And she had three choices.
Of course, Arlo was out of the question. There was Kira. To ask her for help, Kira was easier to approach. But every time Davina would see her, Kira was busy practicing her magic. So Quinn was her last choice. She would always see Quinn curled up with a book or locked up in his room. Just a few minutes earlier, she saw him enter the captain's office. This was now her chance to apologize and ask him for a favor.
She's been standing a few feet away from the captain's office, trying to get the courage to walk up to the room for almost ten minutes. She was glad that Arlo was taking a nap and Rowan wasn't around. This sign of weakness was one he'll hold against her for the entire trip.
"You know what happens to me when I talk to people."
She remembered that Felix would always be the one who could easily charm people with his words. He could freely converse with other people no matter where they were. They would also give him what he wanted and tell him what he needed to know. She believed he had powers of persuasion because he was always able to convince her to come with him to the library no matter how late it was in the night.
"You've spoken to Quinn many times before."
"This is different."
"No, it's not."
Felix wanted to argue, but he thought she was right. This was different from her past conversations with him. "Just get in there. Pretend that you're given a mission to go inside the room and capture the Inarian inside."
"That I can do."
"Good-" Felix's eyes widened when he realized what he just said and what she could do to Quinn. But his hand only passed her arm as she charged towards the room with her usual air of confidence. "No wait-"
Before she was able to hold the knob, the door opened with Quinn on the other side. The two of them jumped and Quinn's book almost fell on the ground if it wasn't for Davina swiftly catching it.
"Quinn-"
"Dana-"
The two of them called each other at the same time.
"Sorry," Quinn laughed nervously. He couldn't look her in the eye and neither can she. He tried to smile casually, but he was obviously frightened of her.
"Here." Davina handed him the book.
"Thanks," he said timidly. "I'll just go."
"Wait," she held on his arm. She swiftly let go of it.
"Why? I was just.."
Quinn waited patiently for her reply.
"I'm sorry for what I said earlier." She wasn't sure if it was comprehensible with how fast she said it.
"It's okay," Quinn said. "I-I understand, you're tired and I kept bugging you."
Felix looked at Davina, expecting her to contradict him and say that he wasn't bugging her. But she did the opposite.
"True. You were bugging me."
"Davina," Felix hissed.
"But I want you to do it more?"
Quinn blinked. "Sorry."
"I don't want you to be scared to talk to me. Because I-"
You have to do this, she pushed herself. If you want to help, you need to ask for help first.
"I-I…" Why was this hard?
"Let down your pride," Felix urged her. "You need this, there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with asking for help."
She took in a breath. "I need your help."
"My help?"
The expression of surprise on Quinn's face matched the one Felix had. Even if he had a lot of faith in her, he was both proud and surprised that she was able to go through with it.
"Why? Are you hurt?" He started to inspect her arms where there were scars visible. The shy and timid boy disappeared.
"No. It's nothing of the sort. I need to learn how to read this," she pointed at the symbols and signs on the book Quinn was holding. "Can-can you teach me to read it?"
"Yes. Yes. Of course," he blurted out. "I'd be happy to help you."
"You will?"
"Of course."
"Perfect." She was genuinely surprised that he agreed. She tried to contain the smile forming on her face.
"Not thank you?" Felix commented. She ignored it.
"So when do you want to start?"
"Now would be the perfect time."
"No-now? Well um...you see I'm not yet ready. I have-"
"Of course. You need time to prepare and you still have things to do."
"Yeah. But I'll tell you when I'm ready."
"Alright. Just call me when you are. Good?"
"Good."