#gurjin

It had been a few days after naia and I rescued Rian from the Chamberlain and I couldn't miss the shock on rians face as he saw me again, I don't blame him for it, I thought I was done for as well considering the torture and..... getting drained of some of my essence...

I tried to convince Rian that it was nothing but he saw the way my hands shook, how my breath ran ragged, the way I staggered while walking and he basically forced me to take a rest from everything for a while as my body healed..

But the damage was more than just physical

When I was being drained I was not only losing my essence... I was losing my memories

Small memories such as things from my childhood that didn't have any importance

But as the draining became worse so was the removal of my memories to where I could no longer remember things about myself or my family and worse of all..

I had nearly forgotten about Rian

After one 'interrogation' I forgot his name... and I tried so hard to remember the name of this beautiful stonewood I saw in my remaining castle memories

The reason I remembered his name was when we rescued him and naia said it as we made our presence known.

I've been keeping this to myself to keep him from worrying, he already has enough problems as it is.

"babe?" Speak of the angel, "are you alright? You've been staring out the window for half an hour, come to bed with me" how can I deny going to sleep cuddling my lover?

Walking over to the bed that Rian was laying in, i quickly got myself situated holding Rian and kissing his face as he giggled from how it tickled

Once we settled down I found myself staring at the wall, stuck in my thoughts, when I felt Rians hand come to rest on my cheek, making me look down at him

"dear, is everything okay? You've been so out of it since you and naia rescued me.." my love said with worry in his eyes as he tried to understand what was wrong

At that statement I just couldn't hold it in anymore and started crying, stuffing my face into Rians hair as he whispered affirmations to calm me down

Once I managed to calm down enough to talk without breaking down I told him the truth

I told him about how the general drained me, how it made me lose memories, and how I couldn't remember his name or things about him

In the middle of telling him what had happened I started to break down again and sobbed loudly into his chest as he held me

Once I managed to calm down again Rian gently grabbed my face in between his hands and kissed me, making me momentarily forget why I was crying before

After breaking the kiss Rian looked me in the eyes and pressed his forehead against mine, holding my hand in his, "well how about I share mine"

I was confused for a moment by what he said until I was suddenly pulled into a dreamfast

I watched as memories that had been stolen from me flash in front of my eyes and voices free of misery filled the quiet

beautiful moments between me and Rian pass by and I feel as though I found a piece of myself I hadn't known I lost

As the dreamfast ended I could feel tears running down my face but not from pain

From joy

“Are you sure about this?” Gurjin asked as he stared dubiously at the vegetable in front of him.

“It’ll be fun.” Rian laughed, happily picking up the knife as he grinned down at his own pumpkin. “Besides, it’s traditional.”

Deet came and took her place at the table, rocking her pumpkin from side to side as if looking for an opening. “So how do we do it.”

“First you need to cut the top off, around the stem see?” Rian stabbed down at his own pumpkin, and began cheerfully sawing as he worked his way around the top. Deet soon followed suit, happily pulling off the top and beginning to scoop out the insides.

“Oh ew.” Brea groaned, watching Deet get her hands covered and gingerly picking up her own stem, fruitlessly trying to keep her hands clean.

“It’s just pumpkin, it won’t hurt you.” Deet giggled, watching her. “See?” At that, she flicked some of her gooey pumpkin insides towards her.

Brea yelped, glaring at Deet, though the expression soon softened into a grin. “Oh it’s on.” Without hesitating, she dug her hand into her own pumpkin to return fire.

“Is this normal?” Gurjin asked, furrowing his brows.

Kylan ran forwards, refusing to dwell on Hup behind him. They had to be close, the Scientist had come from this way not long before. The hall he ran down was quickly getting warmer, and as he ran into the chamber beyond, Kylan soon learned why. 

The furthest wall was partly missing, opening onto a shaft that led both up and down further than he could see at a quick glance. There was an orange glow coming from it, and he wouldn’t be surprised to learn it was filled with fire. Various strange machines and contraptions covered most of the rest of that wall and a lot of the floor space, making the actually large room feel cramped. He spun around to see the opposite wall lined with cages that all looked too small for the menagerie of creatures contained within. Despite how cluttered the room was, Kylan quickly spotted the Gelflings. Rian was hastily getting to his feet in a cage to his left, and a Drenchen he didn’t recognise was blinking at him from beneath a bleeding brow. Kylan walked towards him first, as he looked slightly worse for wear, and quickly spotted the bindings that strapped him tightly to the wall, digging into his arms and torso in a way that had to hurt, but kept him on his feet. For Kylan, it was the work of a few minutes to undo the knots and free him.

“Thanks.” Gurjin muttered, sagging as he was released and almost toppling to the ground before he got his feet under him. 

The Spriton turned towards Rian’s cage, picking up a nearby metal stick as he began working at the lock. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Not yet.” Gurjin muttered, gritting his teeth. His entire body burned, his muscles stiff and energy low after the days spent tied up, but he was determined to keep his word. “I made a promise.”

He reached out to the Grunaks who had shuffled out from their hiding spot and were now looking at him pleadingly. He flexed his fingers, feeling clumsy as he began to pick apart the thread that kept their mouths shut. “I told you I’d get you free, you saved my life.” He muttered, even as his head throbbed, pain shooting up his injured arms with every movement.