You Taught Me That

21st of Byrn the forest of Auðr, the lands of Ragnvaldr

(A few hours later)

“Hey, I need to ask,” Fin started at some point as they walked through the forest still. “Why is the guy still following behind us?”

She looked over her shoulder, perplexed, at the man clad in white armor, nicknamed ‘Hrim’ by Hal, as he walked a few steps behind them.

“Doesn’t look like he’s got anywhere to be. Leave him alone, Fin, he’s fine,” Hal reassured with a relaxed smile as they continued on their path.

Hrim’s presence was akin to a walking statue. He didn’t really say much, at least not yet; nor did he make much noise when he moved. This surprised Rei with all his armor as she examined it up and down, her usual politeness nowhere to be found.

“I’ve never seen armor behave this way,” she said, seemingly mostly to herself. There was a small spark of awe in her eyes.

“That is because it isn’t truly armor, it’s basically my body.” He opened up his palm, looking at his fingers and how they moved. The motion was slightly rigid, calculated, and a little too smooth.

Rei thought for a moment, listening to and absorbing the new information, then asked, “Then, are you some sort of golem?”

Hrim shook his head.

“I am functionally human, but my body is mechanical.”

“Then, are you made of the kind of stuff the dwarves are making?” Fin raised one of her eyebrows, turning her head slightly to get Hrim into her periphery as she continued forward.

“No, I would not say that they’ve reached that level just yet.” He looked a little ahead, at Fin. “My body is closer to the ancient armor of the elves, or at least an inferior version of it.”

“Ah, I see. I guess that makes sense.” Fin pondered. “The continent of the elves is shrouded in mystery. Nobody really remembers the truth about their artifacts and how they were made, not even themselves. Not after the Red King.”

Her glance lingered on Hrim’s body, her eyes all of a sudden shining with a heretofore absent spark of greed, too obvious to miss.

“Maybe if we can replicate it…”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I do not know how I was made, either,” he replied, making Fin click her tongue in disappointment, her hopes of cashing in on his secrets dashed as quickly as they’d come.

Hrim ignored the reaction and continued, “Just like elves, who live exceedingly long lives, remembering everything would put an unimaginable strain on a human’s mind and soul. Long-lived beings like us must choose which memories to keep and which to discard.”

He looked up to the sky.

“I must have decided some time ago to forget my origin,” he said, voice a little softer now in his retrospection. “I can only hope I made the right choice.”

Rei looked down at her feet. She knew that she was not a long-lived species, and even if she was, there would be no reason to have discarded all of her memories. Yet the thought still gnawed at her. Perhaps, unlike Hrim, who still seemed to want to recall at least some of his experiences, Rei had decided she didn’t need any of hers. Perhaps there was something that she wanted so desperately to forget that it was worth losing everything.

At some point, the group stopped for a break, Rei still lost in thought.

She didn’t notice the way the thought made her face twist itself in worry, she didn’t feel her eyebrows as they furrowed and her mouth as her lips pulled thin. She didn’t notice that she was completely inside of her own head, that she couldn’t hear the others.

She also didn’t notice how long she’d been thinking to herself.

“Rei, are you alright?”

Hal’s face appeared from below, her body bent down to a comedic point to do so, and Rei jumped.

“I said your name like three times now. You okay?”

“Ah… Sorry, I was thinking. What is it?” Rei clutched her chest, her heart still slowing back down. She smiled awkwardly at Hal, probably trying to look reassuring, and failing.

She finally noticed her surroundings and that she and Hal were alone. Her expression confused, she asked, “Wait… Where’s Fin and Hrim?”

“That’s why I was trying to get your attention, they went to see the sunset!” Hal grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

“It’s supposed to be a real pretty view. Let’s go!”

Hal tugged Rei a little to the side of their soon-to-be camping spot. It wasn’t far to get to a place where the trees grew more sparse, opening up a view of a wide valley stretching underneath them, beautiful in its grassy autumn colors, and made more beautiful still by the golden light of the evening. The sun only still peeked over the mountaintops, bathing the whole landscape with its vibrant lights of reds and golds, accentuating those autumn shades. They could see the large river they’d crossed, and small in the distance; dots of villages, a few houses still with lit hearths shining through their windows and smoke coming out of their chimneys; and, furthest away, the smallest hint of a familiar shade of green in the corner of their eyes.

“Wow…” Rei couldn’t help but quietly say, almost breathless, as she looked out with awe at the landscape before her. “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”

“Yeah…” Hal answered, not quite as enraptured as Rei, but still impressed.

“Look, look!” Hal pointed in the distance to the green speck. “You can see Grœnnbýr from here, just barely.”

“Yes. And if you look, even further is how far Hal’s pride stretches,” Fin snickered.

Rei looked over at the sound of her voice, a little surprised as she finally noticed Fin and Hrim standing a few paces away. She wondered briefly if they’d been there the whole time.

“What do you mean by that, you half-rate artist?!” Hal jumped at Fin, but the mercenary, for all of her training, nimbly dodged.

“Oho, that one stung, did it?” Fin laughed as she was chased around by Hal.

“Should we… Do something?” Hrim asked around Hal’s shouts and Fin’s heckling as their antics continued, a tone of vague concern in his voice.

“No, it’s fine.” Rei shook her head. “If they were serious, there would be damage by now.”

Rei’s eyes softened as she watched them, smiling affectionately as they went around in circles, passing harmless insults back and forth between each other.

“They’re just playing around.”

“I see.” Hrim did not seem particularly convinced, but he let it be, shuffling a little bit to adjust how he stood so that he might better ignore those two and watch the sunset. The rest were unaware, but Hrim did protectively keep one ear out as the antics continued, just in case things escalated and he needed to step in to break them up.

Hal’s chase ended as Fin jumped from tree to tree and Hal grew more tired than the spat was worth. Hal gave up with a sigh, walking back to stand beside Rei. By now the sun had slipped beneath the mountainous horizon and light was slowly dissipating, making the sky turn a rare shade of purple as darkness began to roll in from the east for her nightly shift.

Hal and Rei stood next to each other for a moment, their hands brushing against one another, the silence comfortable. Fin and Hrim, a few paces away, discussed between themselves about where to set up the camp for the day, leaving the two alone.

“Feeling better now?” Hal asked, breaking the long silence as she continued staring off into the distance.

“Yes. A lot better.” Rei genuinely meant it. “I was thinking about my past but… I realized again that it doesn’t really matter,” she confessed, noticing a star in the sky now. “What matters is what I do from now on.”

Rei turned her head towards Hal, and smiled gently.

“...You taught me that.”

“Huh?” Hal tilted her head, returning the look, “How?”

“How do I put it…” Rei tucked her hair behind her ear as she looked out again, her eyes lingering on the edge of the mountains as the last rays of sunlight dimmed over the horizon, hot shades of orange, then red, then pink. She thought for a bit, disregarding Hal’s visibly impatient squirm as she did so.

“When I first met you,” Rei finally started to Hal’s obvious relief, ”All I cared about was my own past. As time went on, I realized that it would not be so easy to find my lost memories… But, as we traveled together, I saw you again and again put yourself in danger for complete strangers that you’ll most likely never meet. And the ones you do meet, you’ll probably never see again. Then I saw you again and again go out of your way for me, and all of this made me realize that it doesn’t matter if I have my memories or not. That they don’t define who I am to the people that we’ve helped. To them I’m just ‘the hero Reiki’… And I figure maybe… Maybe that’s alright, too.”

Rei looked over at Hal, a genuine smile on her face.

“So, even if I don’t find my memories again, that’s fine. I can be myself here, with you. It’s enough.”

There was a small pause, Hal’s lips slowly parted, her eyes shifting to the side, unable for her to look at Rei directly as she thought. But, as usual, it didn’t take long for her to find an answer to Rei’s words.

What was unusual was the answer she had and the softness in her voice.

“I’m glad,” Hal said, her own smile bright in the dimming light. “I’m sure that we’ll get your memories back at some point, but until then…” She paused, then looked back out to the sunset.

“Being just Reiki, just the Reiki that’s right beside me... That sounds very good to me.”

Tears slowly started falling on Rei’s face, making Hal panic a little bit when she noticed while turning back towards Rei.

“What- What is it?” Now she sounded like Hal again, loud and impulsive. “Does something hurt? Did I say something weird?” Hal scrambled about, arms flailing a little in her worry.

Rei only laughed.

“No… I’m just happy,” She wiped off her tears away, a large smile on her face. “Thank you, Hal.”

“You’re… You’re welcome.”

With no better ideas, Hal awkwardly hugged Rei, now laughing in her arms through the tears, Fin and Hrim watching on warmly from afar.