Memories

April 20th, Imperial Year 876
Cartethene Academy

She was reading a book, under a tree.

It had been but a year since I had started attending Cartethene Academy, but it had felt like only yesterday that I had begun to wander these halls. 

The halls felt familiar. The knowledge of that emotion in and of itself, unfamiliar. The feeling of regularity, irregular. Had I really attended for a year already? 

I rounded the door, and headed out into the garden, to clear my head. No longer a freshman, but a sophomore. Starting today, my cohort had finally ceased to be the "new kids."

God, that's weird.

A breathtakingly beautiful girl sat on a small stone bench under a tree, tucked away as if she wanted to blot herself out from the world. More gorgeous than any flower, yet if not for my keen eyesight, she would have faded into the landscape of the garden. Tresses of golden locks rustled like the leaves above, her beautiful silken dress rounding out over her supple waist, and over her more ample...

No no, you can't do that Jason.

She must have caught sight of me, so I simply lowered my hat and began to walk past her. 

Why Jason, why? Are you really afraid of a freshman girl?

She won't remember you.

"H-hey." 

I turned around. The girl had put her book down, and had stood up, nervously looking at me. Then, with a deep breath, she stepped into the sunlight. 

"Phoebe."

"It's been a while, Jason." She gave me a small, gentle smile.

"...sure has." We awkwardly stood and looked at our feet for a second, before I spoke up once more. "How is the uh, family?" I scratched my head, while trying to straighten my somewhat slouched posture. Hmm, perhaps the etiquette instructors were indeed onto something.

"It's...nice." The girl looked off to the side, avoiding my gaze. "I-"

"Ah, where are my manners?" I said, changing the subject away. "I could walk you to the..." I trailed off, trying to think of a place to take her. "I can walk you around the garden, if you'd like."

"The garden?" She looked at me shyly, and nervously looked around, making sure that no one was around. "I'd love that!" After what appeared to be a moment of internal deliberation, she quickly blurted out her answer.

"After you." I outstretched a hand to her, a surge of confidence overtaking my body. She took it.

What can I say, Jason Thame is quite the gentleman.

"Mhm." Phoebe turned red and looked away from me once more, before giving me a small smile.

We walked around the garden, without a single word between the two of us until I finally broke the silence.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

"About then..." I looked over at her, trying to somehow get the words out, but my voice remained stuck in my throat. "...about then-"

Phoebe looked at me with a slight shock in her eyes, but she shook her head.

"It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, I guess so." We paused, trying to come up with something to say.

"The...garden is really lovely today." We stopped by a stone bridge, overlooking a natural stream that flowed through the garden.

"Hector the First would have looked over this exact waterway, wouldn't have he?" Phoebe's eyes lit up.

"Yes, he would have!" She produced the book from behind her back. "The book I was reading is actually a dramatized version of the life of Hector the First and his wife, Marietta!" 

I chuckled.

"Phoebe, you really haven't changed, have you?"

"Huh? Oh, maybe." She slid the book behind her back and covered her face with her hair, bashfully. "That's...not a bad thing, is it?"

"It's fine, I think." I scratched my head, looking up at the sky. There was not a cloud today.

"You haven't changed much either, Jason." Phoebe said, still holding her hair up to her cheeks. "I...I think I like that too."

A pair of boots clacked down the garden as Viola, one of my classmates, called out over to me.

"Jason! Where were you? Our class is about to start!"

"Sorry, I'll be right there!" I called out to her, and I looked back to Phoebe. "I'll see you later then, okay?"

Phoebe gave me a warm smile, and for a moment, that was all that I needed.

"Okay, Jason. I'll see you later."

***

March 20th, Imperial Year 879
Mercenary Campsite, Anya's Tent

"Whu?"

"Aww, you're up!" I groggily opened my eyes to see a somewhat cross Anya sitting at the foot of my sleeping bag. "I hope you remember my name?"

"Yeah, of course." I got up. "What do you mean?"

"You kept calling me 'Phoebe' as you slept. After all I did for you, you still think of someone else." Anya shook her head.

"S-sorry..."

"Nah, I'm kidding." Anya wiped the 'anger' off of her face and beamed at me. "Glad you're up!"

"Ah. Yeah." I awkwardly looked around the rather spartan tent. "Wait, Anya, is this your tent?"

"Sooo...can you tell me a bit about this 'Phoebe' girl?" Anya looked at me with a sly smirk, leaning into me. Of course, she completely ignored my question.

"Phoebe's, well, a friend of mine." Despite my grogginess, I managed to give her a slightly theatrical smile, which I quickly wiped from my face.

I want to go back to bed.

"Oh, I see." Anya raised an eyebrow and looked at me quizzically, but she shrugged and turned away. 

Good thing she didn't prod any further. I suppose any shock of mine over having slept in a girl's tent would have to wait. Then again, I wasn't entirely sure what the etiquette for commoners was, so perhaps this was normal for them. I did my best to scrub the dream from my head. Reminiscing about the past too much wouldn't do me any good.

I got up and stretched.

"Hey, Anya. Uh, what's for breakfast?" I put my boots on.

"Bread and pottage. Nothing like your fancy noble foods I suppose."

"Yeah, alright." As I tied my shoes, I noticed a shadow hovering over me, leaning inwards. I turned to the side, facing the shadow. "Gah!"

Anya was laying on the bed, her hands on her chin as she stared at my face. She seemed unfazed by my shock, and only looked at me with mild curiosity.

"So, what's it like being a noble? Are you rich? Or uh, the better question is, were you rich?"

"Uh-" I scrambled away from her. "Well-"

"Do you know how to do magic?" Anya got up as well, excited. "I heard nobles can do magic. It's rare amongst commoners, but I heard all nobles have magical talent."

"Ok so..." I stood back from her as she leaned in, her eyes wide with excitement. "So firstly Anya, I'm not a morning person. Can I just..."

Dear god, my head still hurt from getting up. My eyelids were still heavy, and my body felt as if made of lead. 

"Hmm, we're moving the camp in a few hours though. You should get up and help us. Or are nobles too high and mighty to do that?"

If there's one thing commoner society had with noble society, it was the irrational insistence on doing everything in the morning. 

"Ugh, fine. Just...give me a sec to actually get up."

"Want me to reserve breakfast for you? Before everyone eats everything up?"

"That would be nice, thank you."

"Alright, I'll try not to eat your breakfast on accident. I have a tendency to do that, hehe."

"Just...get me breakfast. And thanks, Anya."

"You're on it!" She bolted out of the tent, and I sat back down onto the ground, numbly staring at a random corner as I tried to mentally awaken myself.

This was going to be a long day.