Eventually I fell into a forced slumber. Marley did try ease my headache but none of her magic worked. Even the few concoctions I had prepared did nothing. In the end I asked Ronalt to knock me out. He was a little too happy to comply than I would have liked. He was still serious as usual but there was an underlying 'want' to help that I couldn't quite tell if it was good or bad. Still when he choked me to sleep the pain did ebb away.
The problem was my dreams although painless didn't alter too much from reality. Flashes of Lara's world kept bursting into my mind. Each one I'd spend a few seconds in before they faded away to darkness. It was like I was being transported again and again to places I didn't quite know. Sometimes Lara was there, others I was alone, and occasionally people I had never met appeared. Their mouths would move silently, no words coming from them but then a single name, Jane. Each time I heard the name I couldn't help but frown. It was one thing to look like a girl but to also have a girl's name… I felt bad for whoever I was seeing.
By the time I woke up I was feeling dead and groggy. A glass of water sat next to my bed and I drunk it eagerly. It looked like they had taken me into the carriage instead of the room, the beds were more comfortable but the crew members didn't like us hanging around in the cargo hold. I stood up and shuffled dizzily to the kitchen area. From the window I could see outside this ship. It was night.
The water was helping and I was no longer getting spastic imagery flashed through my brain. I was a little hungry and decided to cook something small. There were plenty of supplies still in the carriage preserved by the enchantments Ardent had placed and not long after I had taken them out, the smell of fish sizzling immersed into the carriage. While I cooked I sipped at a glass of rice wine that was given to us as a gift in Reese. It was an interesting drink with a strong after taste. The rich alcoholic bite snapped my mind awake.
"You shouldn't drink while cooking," Lara's voice spooked me.
I turned towards her eyes wide, "What are- sorry I didn't know you were here." She had half her body hidden by the doorway into her room. I was so immersed in my task I lost track of my surroundings again.
"We decided it best to have one of us stay to look after you," she smiled and sat at the table. "Ardent wanted to but was rejected. Earnest and Marley just wanted to sleep and Ronalt was busy. It ended up between me and Taylor and I won."
"You 'won'?" I wasn't sure looking after me should be considered a prize.
"Well it was mostly for the bed," she chuckled.
I continued to lightly fry the fish and began to add other vegetables and spices, "It's a bit late but you want some?"
"Sure," she nodded keenly. "I won't ever refuse something from you."
"And you shouldn't, because I'm a damn good cook," I let the food simmer and prepared some plates. When it was done I sat opposite of Lara and began to eat.
She spooned the food into her mouth and immediately her eyes expanded in surprise, "This flavour…."
"It's your favourite right?" I said with a knowing smile.
"How did you know?" she looked at me and then her food, switching between us in pleasant confusion.
"I've cooked for you long enough to know." I held my spoon pointing towards her, "Just make sure to eat your carrots. They're good for you and I know you don't like them but they should taste pretty nice like this."
"I- did I tell you I didn't like them? I thought I was keeping that hidden pretty well."
My mind clicked. I was pretty sure she had told me herself but I couldn't quite remember from where or which cycle of my life it was. In the end I just chuckled, "Well you could have done a better job obviously."
She smiled warmly and popped one into her mouth, "If it's cooked like this I'll have no problem." Her expression loosened happily, "Still I can't get over this taste. It reminds me so much of home. Where did you learn the recipe?"
"One of my father's taught it to me…," I paused. No that wasn't true. Just where did I learn this? It tasted nostalgic so I must have eaten it before.
"My friend-," Lara frowned. Her brow scrunched in thought. "Umm my friend…, I can't remember his name. He used to cook something like this for me."
"Jane?" I said curiously.
"Yes that's it!" she clapped and then sighed. "I feel like the longer I'm here the more I forget about him. Wait, how did you know his name?"
"I saw him in your memories earlier today," I replied a little uneasily. "He looked like a girl."
"Yeah… he did," Lara rubbed her head. "Ah this is frustrating." She began to eat again, now with more gusto.
We both finished our meals and after saying goodnight separated to sleep the night away.
*
The next few days were strange or at least in a sense. Nothing was particularly wrong, in fact you could say it was even a good thing. My relationship with Lara had been going well especially after Greytree but now it was more than that. I felt closer to her than ever before and I found myself knowing things about her I didn't think I knew or should have. It was small things, her favourite colour was red, she liked the number eight, when playing games she was surprisingly aggressive, in rock paper scissors she'd always go rock first. They appeared one by one as we sailed to Citlia and it wasn't just on my end. Lara was able to peg things about me that I had kept hidden. It was one thing for Taylor or Ardent who were with me in Axel but she was able to read my movements too easily that it was kind of scary. It all started when I saw Lara's memories.
"Good news everyone!" the Captain of the trading vessel shouted across the deck. "It took longer than expected but we'll be reaching Citlia this evening. Don't slack off now though, we still have a ways to go." A cheer resounded from the crew members.
It was a relief that we'd be off the boat soon. The journey had been pleasant but with a small ship my legs were feeling a little angst from not being able to walk around enough. However my main concern was my proximity with the others, especially Lara and Taylor. Being around Lara was worrying me. There was a lack of distance between us where there should have been and it was getting smaller quickly. It was unnatural. As for Taylor… even though I was used to her being around me lately she had been more insistent with her jokes. A few things happened that I'd rather forget about for both our sakes.
I was below deck in the quarter I shared with Ardent, Ronalt and Earnest. Because we'd be leaving soon I needed to make sure everyone's things were packed and ready to go. I didn't quite trust Earnest and Ardent to not forget something. As I sorted through their belongings Ardent entered the room.
"Oh Rain doing the tedious work for me I see," he smiled cheerily.
"Well it is my job," I replied simply.
Ardent sat on the bed beside me, "It's going to take some getting used to when we part. Although the guild has a few aids, none are for personal use."
"That's if everything goes well form here on out," I said a little darkly.
He slapped me on the back laughing, "Don't be so pessimistic, of course it will. Just keep an eye out to the future and never stop wishing for it. We'll make it there eventually."
"Thanks… I guess." I took his advice half-heartedly. We were the only two in the room and when I had been on deck the others were busy doing their own thing. Now was the perfect time to talk to Ardent alone. "Ardent I've been meaning to ask you something."
He raised his brows curiously, "Go ahead Rain. A question from you always burns my interest."
"Umm actually I've been having some trouble with Lara," it was hard phrasing what I needed to say.
"Is that so? To me it looks like you two have been getting along better than ever."
"That's the thing," I latched on to his words. "Since she shared her memories with us I've started to 'know' things about her that I shouldn't. Is that weird?"
"Hmmm," Ardent scratched his head in thought. "Well the spell is designed to do just that, share knowledge between others. However I believe you mean things more personal."
I nodded.
"Other than an intriguing set of memories I can't say I feel anything new about Lara and Earnest is the same. Even with your constitution for mana you should have seen the same things as us. Unless you didn't… which now I must ask, what did you see?"
I began to explain the memories I saw to him. While he saw them from Lara's eyes I saw them from beside her. That itself wasn't too strange and could just be a problem with perspective. It was when I mentioned the last memory, the one with the boy called Jane that Ardent frowned.
"That I definitely did not see," he spoke seriously. "I am quite sure Lara did not set the spell to include sound either, only a visual component."
"Then what was I looking at?" I was confused as he was.
"It is possible Lara let slip an additional memory to you only. It can happen when a novice uses the spell. Unfortunately it does not explain these additional titbits you know of her. I have never seen or heard about a similar case as yours however that being said, it is possible that some kind of spill has occurred between the two of you."
"I see…." I was disappointed and now more confused than ever. "Thank you Ardent." I stood up and picked up his bag, "Well I need to take these to the carriage."
As I reached and opened the door Ardent called out to me, "Actually Rain there is one case I do know though different."
"Go on," I turned to him.
"It is not a small amount farfetched to your experience but I recall a case of some apprentices using the same magic. The two knew each other since childhood and because they shared the memories, the magic itself became convoluted." He chuckled and shook his head, "But Lara being from another world and you from ours it's an impossible theory in your case."
"Of course," I nodded adamantly however inside a small doubt lingered. I left the room and headed to the carriage alone.
What Ardent said at the end was impossible so there was no point in thinking about it. Something must have happened and a bit of our conscious swapped. With how my body reacted when I used mana and despite what Ardent said, there was always the chance it caused something. After all he had never come across someone like me. I packed away the bags into the carriage and ran through a list to make sure we had our luggage in check. It was now noon and everything was good to go aside from the girls' personal belongings.
I turned around only to bump into someone. We both stepped back.
"Ah sorry Rain," Lara apologised.
"No problem," I said naturally. "You were always a bit of a klutz anyway."
She puffed her cheeks, "I'm not that bad and you're the one who suddenly came out."
"Sure sure," I waved away her complaints. "You packed your bag properly right?"
"Of course I did," she replied indignantly. "I don't need you watching over me the entire time. We're no longer kids."
"Huh?" I replied a little stunned.
Lara looked at me confused then realised what she said, "S-sorry, I don't know why I said that."
"Yeah… I need to go," I hurriedly edged around her and out the carriage. It happened again. The conversation had flowed far too naturally and then bang! What was going on inside my head? It felt like someone else was taking over. Lara let me leave silently.