Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

"What? Oh, about me being easy to convince…" Neolu said, giving him a short, nervous laugh. "Right, I don’t really have an answer to that. I guess you’re expecting some big mystery here but there isn’t any. I’m just kind of foolish, I guess. We know each other, I could tell that you had no malicious intentions towards me and you provided all the proof I asked of you… even if you were delusional or lying, I probably wouldn’t have been in any harm."

Zorian gave her a speculative look. The way she phrased her statement gave the impression she trusted a mere hunch about their good character to keep her safe, but the surety in her voice made Zorian think there some something a lot more concrete involved there. Perhaps something… divination-based?

"And if I asked you how you were so sure we had no malicious intentions towards you?" he asked curiously.

"Woman’s intuition," she said cheerfully, her voice sounding like she had been just waiting for a chance to use that response.

"Well, regardless of the reason, I thank you for your trust," Zorian said.

"No problem!" Neolu said, giving him an appreciative look for not pushing her on the issue. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask?"

"Yes, actually," Zorian said. "This may be too personal, but why did a girl from Xlotic decide to go all the way to Cyoria to attend a magic academy? It’s a somewhat curious thing to do, you know?"

"Ah…" Neolu sighed, her good mood suddenly deflating somewhat. But only somewhat. "That. Well, my mother is actually from Eldemar. She used to tell me stories of her homeland when I was little, and I always wanted to visit the place. So I begged my father to let me come and he couldn’t say no to me. That’s the reason I usually tell people when they ask me that question. And, I mean, it’s kind of true! I really did want to visit. And Cyoria is really interesting and I’m not really sorry for being there…"

"But?" Zorian prompted.

"But if it was for that, I probably wouldn’t have gone so far as to sign up for school here," Neolu said. "I would have simply visited for a few months. The truth is my father has made some pretty serious enemies back in Nelentar, and there were concerns they would go after his family to get to him. Especially after me, because… um, father doesn’t really trust my judgment much."

How… very surprising. Then again, most people would say that Zorian’s parents were in the right and that Zorian was being unreasonable when he clashed with them, so maybe he should be more open-minded about Neolu’s reasons for acting the way she did.

"In the end, it was decided I would be sent to Eldemar," Neolu continued. "That way I would be out of danger, I get to fulfill my long-time wish to visit my mother’s homeland and the whole thing can be explained back home as my father spoiling his daughter a little too much. Three birds with one stone, no?"

"Indeed," Zorian agreed. Though he personally found it sad that Neolu’s father sent his daughter to Cyoria to keep her safe, only to have the city invaded by Ibasans in the end. That didn’t exactly go according to plan…

"Anyway! I actually think the whole thing turned out really well in the end, so I have no regrets. You don’t have to feel sorry about me," Neolu said. "Though to be honest, I’ll probably be glad when I’m done with the academy and can come back home. I… kind of miss my family. You probably don’t understand, being able to see yours any time you want and all."

"Err, yeah… you’re probably right about that," Zorian said slowly. He didn’t bother clarifying that it was not quite for the reasons she was thinking of.

They wandered the rocky landscape for a while after that, after which all three of them returned to the airship and continued their aimless wandering through the desert. Neolu somehow talked him into helping her take away a large green rock from the site, even though it was pretty much worthless as far as Zorian could tell, and he couldn’t possibly fathom what she intended to do with it, and she was inordinately happy about that. She spent about half an hour humming to herself and inspecting the rock in great detail before eventually seeking him out again.

"Zorian, can I ask you something?" she asked him, then immediately continued with her follow-up question without waiting for his answer. "This time loop of yours… it’s going to end someday, right?"

"Yes?" Zorian said, unsure what she was getting at.

"So one day, this month will run its course as it always does… and I will live on and remember instead of endlessly forgetting?" she prompted further. "And you will remember this day and act accordingly?"

"I… that’s the idea," Zorian said, faltering slightly. They never told her that there was a good chance they would be destroyed in the end, having failed to leave the time loop before it collapsed. He didn’t really want to tell her about that if he didn’t have to, either.

"What do you intend to do when that happens?" she asked, biting her lip. "About me, I mean."

"About you?" Zorian asked, caught a little off-guard by the direction this was going in. "Well, it depends on what you want us to do, I guess."

"I don’t know what I want," she admitted. "I just know I had fun today and I don’t want to forget it all."

Ah… and here he thought the realization she would lose everything at the end of the month hadn’t affected her in the slightest. Maybe the implications of the time loop just hadn’t hit her up until now? Unfortunately, there was very little he could do to comfort her in regards to that. Aside from lying, of course.

"But," she continued, "since that is not possible, I have a somewhat selfish request out of you and Zach: when we meet again at the end, don’t pretend this never happened. You don’t have to tell me about the time loop, but don’t be a stranger. I know I’m probably not the most exciting person you’ve met over the years, but you’re not allowed to forget me, okay?"

Zorian gave her a strange look.

"Well… okay," he said slowly.

"Yay! New friends!" she exclaimed, causing Zorian to sigh a little. She really reminded him of a little kid in some respects. Or Novelty.

He really missed that silly little spider sometimes…

"I hope you realize we won’t be stealing this airship in the final version of this month," Zorian said. "So this particular memory is… probably never going to be recreated."

Neolu seemed to give it a serious thought.

"That’s probably for the best," she eventually decided. "From what the papers are saying, you killed a lot of people when you destroyed that pursuing airship. That wasn’t very nice."

"I… really don’t understand you," Zorian admitted, shaking his head. "You know that, but you’re still here. And you want to be friends with us."

"All those people will be alive when time resets again, so it’s fine," Neolu said with small shrug. "But hey! Even without the airship, you can still open doors between continents, no? That’s how we reached your airship in the first place. So you can take me to see all these places anyway!"

Zorian opened his mouth to point out that revealing they could perform intercontinental travel spells was still a huge deal, but in the end he just shut his mouth and remained quiet. Considering Neolu’s peculiar personality, she was probably one of the few people who could handle such a revelation without totally freaking out.

"I guess you’re right," he eventually conceded.

Besides, what was incredible cosmic power for if not for taking a girl out on a casual vacation into uninhabited desert filled with crumbling ruins and bloodthirsty monsters?

Maybe Zach was becoming a bad influence on him…

In the end, it was not hard at all to talk Neolu into helping them find the translators and contacts they needed to operate more freely in the Xlotic region. Most of these were going to be in her home country of Nelentar, since that was where she could wield her family influence the most and where her knowledge of local knowledge and customs was most pronounced, but that was still plenty useful. With such a solid starting point, it wouldn’t be hard to extend their net wider throughout the region.