There's a Problem Here

[»Míríel«]

Green eyes gazed through the large pane of glass that made the window. The eyes belonged to a young girl, appearance age looked to be able 18 or 19 give or take a little. She frequented this shop a lot lately, it was as if she was trying to find something, some peace in this little shop, and she couldn’t figure out why such a place could give her the peace she felt when she entered those doors. Perhaps it was the smells that greeted your senses revitalising you and giving you a little kick to your step. Coffee, what a blessed drink, so smooth and soothing, yet it gave you such energy. When that liquid passed your lips and slid over your palate it seemed to assure you that everything was ok, everything was normal.
Today though something was different, the girl, Miriel, didn’t hold a steaming cup of coffee in her hand, she didn’t have anything in between those pale fingers of her. Instead they were interlaced with each other, resting on the table before her. It was the table she always sat at, when it was open and when it wasn’t she would walk outside and sit on a bench, enjoying the nature about her.
“ Memories, what tricky things.” Her eyes were blanked out as she stared absentmindedly out the window. “They hold beautiful things, beloved things, little snap shots of your life. But they can also hold such horror in them that you dare not linger to long.[/b]” Her long lashes veiled her eyes for a moment as she leaned back. “But you have no bad memories Miriel, how do you know about such things? Everything in your life has been great.” It was true, she couldn’t recall a single bad incident in her life, nothing. But then again she couldn’t recall all that much.
“Ma’am?” a gentle and caring voice called out, breaking Miriel from her thoughts. “Ma’am, excuse me..”
Miriel opened her eyes suddenly and turned her head to face the lady before her. It was one of the workers there, an older gentlewoman probably in mid 50’s. “Yes?”
“Sorry too disturb you, but are you certain there is nothing I can get you to drink? What about your usual, the peppermint mocha, it’ll be on the house?”
“No, no, don’t bother I just came here to think and relax. Been a bit.. crazy lately.”
The older woman nodded to Miriel’s reply, “Well then, if you need anything just give me a call.”
A smile crossed Miriel’s lips as the older lady turned and shuffled away behind her counter and began taking orders of a man who had just walked in. Miriel turned her attention back to the window. The woman, her name was Heather, Miriel knew that, not only because of the name tag, but because she remembered this place. It was full of pleasant memories and feelings. The lady had always served her here, Miriel guessed, after all the lady knew her usual. “I must have come here a lot before I lost my memory, and I think I know why. I have never been in such a charming place before and my heart has never been so peaceful as it is now.[/b]” Her eyes followed a girl holding her fathers hand as they walked down the street. A pang of sadness hit her heart, but she wasn’t sure why. Sure her father had never really been that caring, but he was her father and Miriel loved him. Perhaps if he wasn’t always so busy. “I wonder if anyone I know comes here...”

[saerwen]

The day was a very nice one, comforting and gentle. The brisk breeze that blew through the trees was so refreshing that it made you want to fly. A man who looked to be around 19 or 20 came walking with a slight spring in his step by the cafe. He was thinking about stopping and going in. He was wanting something relaxing, although he was pretty lax as was, but something more could not hurt him any. He was passing the door, wind blowing his snow white hair all over the place, making it difficult. He sighed. It seems that even the wind is telling me to go and get something to drink. Maybe I will try coffee this time.
He turned around quickly, and walked back towards the door of the shop. A little bell at the top of the door jingled as he came in, the inner part of the building acting as a shield from the wind that was blowing so vigorously. He walked up to the counter, digging into the pocket of his navy blue slacks, and pulling out a rather gorgeous and smooth fine brown leather wallet. He considered very hard what to get for a moment and then, ordered just his regular drink. A few moments after paying he was walking away from the counter holding a firm but elegant cup and saucer, steam rising from the cup.
He looked around for an empty table, wondering if he would be able to find one or not. As he scanned the shop, he looked towards the window and saw a familiar and welcome face. He grinned and made his way over to the well known table, and greeting its inhabitant. “Good day, Miss Miriel! How are you?” He stood by the table. “Is this seat taken? and if it isn’t would you mind if I sat here?” His shining blue eyes looked at Miriel, he was still sad that she didn’t remember alot, but he was determined not to let it get him down. He was going to make her as comfy as possible, and then he would start playing Sherlock.

[»Míríel«]

Miriel hesitantly turned her face at the sound of a voice. Yes, the voice might be familiar, but would the face be recognizable .To Miriel’s relief and delight it was. “Damion. Oh, I’m glad to see you! Yes the seat is open if you would like to take it.” She motioned to the open seat across from her. Shifting her weight in her own seat she straightened up. “Oh, I’m doing fine, can’t complain, how are you doing? Have you recovered fully yet?” Her eyes grew worried as she asked. Then her attention fell to the cup in his hands and a smile came to her face. “I am guessing from the smell that you have gotten your concoction.” .
She liked Damion a lot, every time she saw him something within her jumped. Yet even though she felt extremely close to this person it was disturbing to know nothing about who they were or what they had done. She couldn’t even remember when they had met first, well that is besides from when she woke up. Just imagine waking up in a crowd of strangers but having this strange feeling that you know them. But this Damion, she felt closer to then the others, but why? Her eyes studied him for a second as if looking at him would reveal the secret.
Her fingers rubbed a cut on her hand, it already had a scab over it, but the wound was fresh, it had happened earlier in the morning when she had gone to open a can of food and it had cut her. It hadn’t been deep and she was feeling much better then the last couple days, but it hadn’t healed like usual. It would have been gone in a couple of seconds. Her eyes drifted out of the coffee shop for a moment, “I remember being here with you not to long ago. In this same spot. Am I right?” She turned her face back to him.
-----
Cecily sat in the far corner, enshrouded in shadow. Her amber eyes peered from the darkness and rested on a couple not to far away. This was one of her past times, watching people and studying them. In her hands she held a cup of coffee with come cinnamon and caramel, it was something spicy and sweet. To many this flavor might not be to their taste, but Cecily loved the complexity of it.
Brushing her silver hair aside she settled down to eavesdrop in on the couples conversation. Couples always had the most interesting ones, there could be fights, loves, kindness, hatred, so wonderful.
”I am guessing from the smell that you have gotten your concoction.”
A smirk curled her lips as she looked down at the journal that she had been jotting notes down in . “A concoction how intriguing. It seems that I have picked the right people to listen to today.” To make her motive more inconspicuous, she picked up her pencil and starting jotting down little things, herbs and spices and such, nothing big.

[saerwen]

Damion sat down, setting his cup on the table before straightening his red and faded golden yellow striped polo. He was wearing short sleeves for a change, and it was turning him upside down. He had gone at least three times today to pull the cuffs of his usual, but this time absent, long sleeved sweater down and then roll them up slightly. He had been slightly frustrated each time. He was about to do it again, when his frustration with the other three times came to him and he stopped himself. He shook his head and laughed. I am such a horrid creature of habit. He finished straightening his shirt and then took his cup and drew a long sniff before taking a sip.
“I’m doing tolerably well this morning, though a bit out of sorts. I have been having some slight trouble keeping my head on my shoulders. That wind is blowing something terrible out side.” he grinned. He enjoyed the wind blowing so hard, it made him want to fly, but when you were a human and the wind blew that hard, it was a challenge to walk without tipping one way and sliding the other. He knew that his hair would have quite the unruly appearance right now, he had had it looking nice before he had set out, and now he wasn’t even going to try and help its failing appearance.
“I am very well now. My leg still hurts a bit, but everything else has healed up just fine.” he was not very happy about his leg hurting so much, it had taken forever to get it to stop bleeding, and in the end it never happened naturally, he had had to use his own spell on it, and that turned out to be a very ill endeavor indeed. It had hurt horribly, and then it had come undone later. Oh well, no use worrying or getting upset over it now. It was done. He then gazed down fondly at the cup of steaming liquid. “Yes.” he smirked, thinking again how habitual he was. He then chuckled like he was holding in some sort of secret, and took a long sip.
He looked up at her when she asked her question. “Yes, it was not long ago, but probably much longer than you would think. Can you remember any other times that we might have been together? I can think of so many...” he sort of faded off into the distance, wishing that she would be able to say, “Yes, I remember them all! I remember everything!” but he knew that hope was too good to be true. He wanted the old Miriel back. It was selfish of him, becuase she was really the same person, but oh how he missed her being able to remember. He would never take it for granted ever again.

[»Míríel«]

Miriel smiled kindly as he said something of being a creature of habit. His little routine of straightening his clothes was so familiar, yet so foreign. In fact his little straightening of himself caused her to want to smooth out the white shirt she was wearing. It was one of her favorites, for it was a summer looking shirt, short butterfly sleeves flowed from her shoulders and delightful little purple, blue and pink flowers and green leaves were sprinkled all over the fabric. It made her black hair stand out as it fell around her shoulders, yet complemented her fair skin and green eyes.
When she heard about his leg hurting she frowned slightly, “I wish I could heal you, but I seem to have forgotten how lately, though I think it is mainly from my lack of strength...” She motioned to her hand with a slight laugh. “But I’m glad everything else is ok. What on earth did you do to hurt yourself so?” Her head shook slightly, causing her black locks to sway. She looked intently in his icy eyes and said warmly, “Take care of yourself...I don’t know what I would do if I ever lost you...” Her eyes closed for a moment and soon another smile was on her face as if the thought had been erased from her mind.
Then her head tilted as her face turned to the window. His question was a hard one, times they had been together...Flashes came before her eyes as the world beyond the window seemed to fade away and in its places the memories took their place. “Times we were together...” Flowers, beautiful flowers came before her eyes, they were so bright so beautiful. Flashes of Jaedon and Neron came to her, but she didn’t remember what they were doing or where they had been. Then she saw Damion and her discussing a nearby flower. “A garden... I remember a garden... there were flowers and a rose, a red rose.” Her eyes closed and her head tilted as if she were being called. “But I...I don’t remember anything else...” Bits of sound from her memories came to her, but they were garbled and nothing made sense. Her eyes opened suddenly. Now the window revealed the outside, people were walking along the road, some gazed curiously into the shop and others passed it without so much of a glance. Miriel turned to Damion once more, “I’m...I’m sorry but I can’t remember... I don’t know or any more...” A sigh came from her, it was so frustrating.
---
Cecily tilted her head as her gaze grew intense on her journal. So the girl had lost her memory. Interesting.

[saerwen]

“No.” he shook his head with a smile. “I wouldn’t let you heal me even if you could. I deserve every bit of pain this stupid wound is giving me. It is my fault.” a shadow came into his dazzling blue eyes. It really is your fault. For getting angry, Damion, she lost her memories because she couldn’t handle the strain of healing the wounds that you inflicted. It’s your fault that Miriel doesn’t remember, and so now you are suffering along with all of her other friends. These thoughts sobered him so. He was upset with himself.
He looked up when she asked what he had done to hurt himself. “Agh...” he avoided her eyes at all cost, a slight color came to his cheeks, one of deep shame. “I got angry with Neron and we fought. I am the one that wounded him so terribly. I really would be more worried about him if I were you.” his lips set into a hard line as he took another sip of his tea, pensive and disappointed thoroughly in himself.
Then, like a dagger thrust in his heart she said, “I don’t know what I would do if I ever lost you.” He choked on her words, trying to swallow them. He looked down to his cup of tea pushing tears that teased his eyes back before looking up to her, eyes glittering in the dim lights of the cafe. He smiled meagerly and then siad, “You know Miriel, as long as I have something to live for, I will live. I refuse to let anything happen to me so long as there is something for me to live for.” I’ll live the rest of my long years for you, darling Miriel. Please come back.
When she started mentioning what she remembered he grinned. “Yes, I remember that very well. That was not too long ago. We were in the garden, and Neron and Jaedon decided to play a sort of strange game of hide and go seek. Let’s just say that Neron lost, and ended up being a pretty sore loser.” He chuckled as he remembered the sight of Jaedon walking up with a little tiny Neron hanging from her mouth. That had been quite the sight. “Do you remember anything about being out by the lake we were at. You and Jaedon had been playing at some scheme that Jaedon had concocted and it almost fried me. Thankfully Neron came and stopped it. That was when we met for the first time.” He sipped his tea, looking at her to see if there was any hint of recognition in Miriel’s eyes.

[»Míríel«]

Miriel frowned when Damion said that he wouldn't let her heal him even if she could. “You don't seem the type that would start a fight...unless you had good reason. But what is your fault? The fight?” She didn’t know what to say to that, was he the cause of the fight?
When he mentioned getting angry and wounding Neron. Her eyes shifted over his shameful face and reaching forward she took one of his hands and looked him straight in the eye. “You must have had some great reason and you being shameful about it just shows that you regret it. I’m sure that if there was a mistake in getting angry or any bad consequences from it you will learn from it and not make it again in the future.” A crooked smile came to her face, “After all the reason we fall is so we can pick ourselves up again. Even the great eagles must learn how to mount the winds, spreading their wings to soar into the sky. With no mistakes how would we learn anything.” She released his hand and leaned back in her chair. “I would know, after all I have made plenty of them...” She winced slightly, she had remembered for half a second some mistakes she had made, but now the memory faded and she couldn’t remember anything about her. For treading on such ground her subconscious had sent her a little kick in the head to warn her not to think about such things.
Brushing this aside she listened to what he was now speaking. It was something about living. Her head nodded, “I understand that, I live for others, not myself. Without others I would crumble up and have nothing to do.” She shook her head and let out a little laugh. “I never understood the live for yourself method, never had any success for me.”
It was strange listening to Damion recall the memory, it was as if he had a great fondness for it. But was was even stranger was something that caused a tingling to go rushing up and down her spine. He remembered this and she did not, he knew and was filling in the blanks of something that she didn’t know she had blanks about. But these facts helped nothing, they didn’t give her memories or flashes, they were nothing. That is until she started talking about the lake incident, the first time they had met. Miriel’s eyes sparked for a moment before she winced and all recognition fell from her eyes. She lifted her hand to her brow and brushed her hair out of her face. There was a slight trembling to her movements. “I’m not sure...”
-----
So the white haired guy was trying to kick start the girls memory. With a side-long glance Cecily grunted slightly. The trick didn’t seem to be working to well, who knows maybe he needed to try a stronger memory, perhaps something not so recent. She twiddled her pencil in her fingers. Once she had been working to develop one of her special little “tea’s” that would attack the subjects brain in the area of memories, thus erasing all of them. But the first experiment hadn’t gone so well and the mouse had only lost some of its memory. But the strange thing was is that it only lost the memory that was most recent. She had put it in one of the old mazes he had known and he just breezed right by it, but one of the most recent ones he didn’t know which way to turn. Perhaps this was the same thing with the girl. But then again, the mind was a tricky thing.

[saerwen]

“The fight was completely my fault. I got mad at Neron, and he exploded from there.” Damion knew that she was just trying to make him feel better, but that was not going to do anything. He had already come to terms with the fact that everything was his fault, and that he was going to have to make amends to everyone for it, however he could. “Miriel, no matter who you are, there is no good reason to get angry. There is a reason to rebuke and to be upset, but not to get as angry as I did, like I did.” he was very matter of fact on this end. “Forgive me for disputing your excellent opinion, but that is my firm view on things. It seems that human imperfection is spreading to all creatures.” he smirked with his last comment.
“If I don’t learn from such obvious stupidity on my part then I will never learn from anything. I know that I am thick headed, but I hope that I am not that bad.” he smiled at her. He loved how Miriel was always encouraging people, trying to make them see the good side of things, and also how she was always giving such wonderful words of wisdom. People could learn a lot of things and a lot of life lessons if they just sat and talked with Miriel for a day.
When she talked about how she only lived for herself, he smiled and nodding his head slightly. “I know that, Miriel. I don’t think their is a single selfish part on you or in you. Selfish goes against your nature.”
The flash of recognition that passed through gave Damion hope for a moment, but then it faded into nothing. He looked slightly downcast, but he was determined not to let show too much. “You know, Miriel, I have to say that in all my years, I have never had anyone lose their memories on me.” Then he thought of something else to ask her. “Do you remember how old I am?” He cocked his head, interested if she remembered this fact. “I think that I told you in the garden, or perhaps I told you while we were in here...Now I am having trouble remembering.” he laughed at himself on the last part. “Don’t try too hard to remember things, it will probably give you a head ache. We don’t want that to happen. If you don’t remember, then I will describe it to you, and life moves on. Just think, everything that happened in the past that ever upset you won’t be there. Granted, there is always more time to make bad memories, but there is also more than ample time to make good memories.” He didn’t want Miriel to upset herself, trying to remember when she more than likely would never be able to. There had to be someway for her to remember though...there had to be. Some people, not all, but some people recover from amnesia, and he was going to try everything possible to make Miriel come back. He had come to terms with the fact now that Miriel was still the same lovable person, even if she didn’t remember alot, and he knew that he loved her whether she remembered or not. He chuckled as a thought came to his head. Wow Damion, 1,800 years old and you are just now devoting yourself to a girl. That is sad. Then he thought about what his British friend had always said, “I am going to be 50 years old when I marry, that way I will never have to worry about kids, and my wife will get the best of me: wisdom from age, refinement from age, and an even better taste in finely aged wines.’ Damion started laughing with this thought, almost uncontrollably.He didn’t say this out loud and he wasn’t planning on it, unless Miriel asked. When he noticed that he was laughing so hard he stopped, trying to avoid Miriel asking any questions.

[»Míríel«]

Miriel smiled disarmingly at him. “True you got mad, but as you said, there is no reason for anyone to get upset, therefore Neron should not have exploded. I guess the whole thing is just layers, take one away and something never would have happened, yet the layers are there and so it escalated into a fight.” Miriel shook her head and looked at Damion a quesiton in her eyes, but she was even scared to ask. “Was..was I there for the fight? Or did I just come in at the end? To tell you the truth I don’t remember how I got there.” She frowned, “Everything is just so fuzzy.”
She blushed slightly when he talked about being selfish going against her nature. Fiddling with her fingers she gazed hard at them. “I don’t know about that...I am sure I am selfish in some ways...Everyone is in some way...” She frowned before she turned back to him, “But I appreciate your compliment.” She laughed slightly, “I may not be as perfect as I seem”
“Yes, there is plenty of time to make bad memories...but I hope that I remember the good ones...People say that you usually remember all the bad things that happen to you better then the good. Is that true?” She looked at him blankly, “What a terrible thing to have if it is...I guess in some ways I’m lucky to have forgotten things, what if there was something in my past that was terrible or if someone did something terrible to me...What if it was one of my friends? I don’t know if I could stand it...” She sighed deeply as her eyes grew troubled. “How I would act.” Her head bowed as her thoughts deepened in her mind. Unconsciously her finger started to twirl her hair around one of her fingers, wrapping it wound and around, releasing it and repeating the action, you could call it a nervous habit. Just when she was about to be lost in her thoughts Damion posed another question, how old was he. She studied his face for a bit, trying to remember, but just when it was in her grasp the answer slipped through. Her eyes drifted to his and she was lost in his eyes. Biting her lower lip she released the hair she had twirled and started drumming her fingers on the table. “I’m not sure...I don’t know...” She blinked and leaned back, “[b[You are older then you look, that much I know, you have to much wisdom and experience in your eyes, and your manner is to refined to be as young as you look. [/b]” Her eyes flashed open at the sudden explosion of laughter. Miriel liked Damion’s laugh, it was so light hearted and free, it immediately brought a bright sun into your world. Tilting her head she gazed quizzically at him. Her eyes asked the question, “What are you laughing about?”
-----
Cecily had stopped paying close attention to the couple as she tried to write down certain little things about herbs. Sure he was still listening, but anything that she wouldn’t find interesting just passed through one ear and out the other. But then she couldn't ignore them, not with the man laughing uproariously. It had caused her pencil to go skidding across the paper in surprise. Glancing at him she was tempted to say, “What was that for?”. Instead she just erased the mark that marred the paper with rapid angry like movements. With a huff she continued writing furiously in her journal. People.

[saerwen]

He nodded in concession with what Miriel said. “Yes, but there is always a layer at the very bottom of everything.” He then looked up when she hesitantly asked if she had been there. “Yes, you were there for the whole thing. In fact, I think that you were so shaken up that that is what caused you to lose your memories. Just a guess though.” He looked at her with a slightly sheepish glance. “I was fighting Neron, your best friend pretty much.”
He wasn’t even going to lie to himself, Miriel was so cute when she blushed. All girls had a certain air of ‘cute’ about them when they blushed, but Miriel was really cute, because not only did she blush, she started some sort of fiddling. It was a sort of nervous habit, he knew it. She just started fiddling with stuff when she was nervous, or when she was thinking, or when she knew that there would be attention on her. He couldn’t help but sober a lot when she started mentioning what she would do if she had a bad memory with her friends. Poor Neron, or even worse, poor Jaedon. Did she know yet? Had Neron spilled? Probably. Poor Jaedon, she was never going to forgive herself for that. What if Miriel found out? She would hate Jaedon for the rest of her life if she never regained her memories. What on earth would Jaedon do? They were so close. “I suppose that it is different for everyone. I remember one time a friend had slight amnesia, and he forgot how to read and write in a language that he had been speaking for years, but he could do absolutely fine in a language that was not his own. He regained his abilities after a few days though. When I had slight amnesia once, I forgot all of the good things. It was a horrible few hours, because I had been by myself, but when my friends arrived, I had been fine.”
He chuckled and grinned, “I don’t know about wisdom and refinement, but you are right. I am a lot older than I look. Another good question, do you remember how old YOU are? I certainly hope so.” Then she started giving him the look. He hated that look. It always got him. Big green eyes stared him straight in the face, head cocked slightly brow slightly furrowed, she was curious as to why he had been laughing. “Forgive the outburst please. I was simply recalling something rather funny that a very good friend of mine had said. The friend that told me how to make my concoction was a rather interesting man…” he gave another little laugh as he sipped his tea.

[»Míríel«]

Miriel’s look darkened when he mentioned that she was at the fight. She couldn’t remember anything, nothing at all, except waking up. Her eyes glazed over with a distant look as her whole face dropped. So that was where it happened. Brows furrowed as she tried her hardest to remember, certainly if she tried hard it would unlock itself. But no such luck, the only thing she got was a headache. Why was this so hard, why was she locking herself up? “Neron is my best friend?” Her face was still distant. “Oh Damion, how can I do this? How can I be like I was, how can I have the relationships that once were mine when I don’t remember half the things we did together?” Those green eyes grew intense and she searched his face. “Like you, I know I care for you very, very much, but if you were to ask me why I would draw a blank. Jaedon, I have a feeling that we are close but it is a closeness that can only be brought through the flame of trials and survive, but what were the trials, what did we go through? How can we be as close as...before.” Her head bowed for a moment as she gathered herself. Sighing she gazed out the window, “Neron I just don’t know about. I’m so confused, I like him, but it’s like I’m worried about him, what to be worried about I don’t know...” Her eyes lowered, “I feel like a ship lost at sea with no compass.” Miriel looked at Damion with a slight wetness to her eyes. “How can I find my way home Damion?” Bowing her head slightly she bit her lower lip, fiddling with her fingers once more she continued, “Forgive me, I shouldn’t be...pouring this all out on you... Though...” A shadow of a smile came to her lips, “I suppose that’s what friends do isn’t it?”
When he asked how old she was she smiled and answered brightly, “Of course I do I’m -” Her face froze and her brows furrowed. “I mean..” Blinking a couple of times her eyes narrowed as she was in deep thought. “I must be around 14, but then again I do not have the body of a 14 year old... I must be....oh I don’t know...How old am I ?” She looked up at him distressed by all of this. But when Damion mentioned his friend she saw that he remembered this soul very fondly. “Oh really, sounds intriguing. He must have been quite a person to make laughter come so easily.”

[saerwen]

“Yes, my dear, Neron was friends with you before I was.” He answered her before she went off and became distressed. When she started pouring everything out he realized how selfish he had been. This wasn’t just hard for him, it wasn’t just hard for everyone else, it was very hard for Miriel. As she searched his face he simply looked at her, a very sad expression playing on his face.
“Well, Miriel, I can tell you that our friendship was developed through conversation and lots of hard times spent together.” he paused as he considered what to say about Jaedon. “Jaedon and you had a rough time as I understand it. She hurt you very badly, but you returned the hurt with kindness. She didn’t do it out of spite for you, it was just, sort of a mindless action. If I have understood most of the story correctly, you two had a rough start, but you are the best of friends. She always helps you remember your locker combination , and she introduced me to you for the first time, while you introduced Neron to us.”
“There are a lot of reasons that you could be concerned for Neron. He has been acting really strange lately, but then again, so has Jaedon. We also got into a bad fight, and he was hurt the worst, and he is so prone to get into fights.” He shook his head, thinking about all the worries that Miriel must have had for Neron, and for Jaedon. It was like his worries for Jaedon, except doubled.
He smiled at her comparison though. “Then we are just gonna have to get you a new compass, aren’t we?” He then grinned. “I have always looked at home as where my heart is.” He then shrugged, “I suppose that we are just gonna have to give you lots of new and good memories that will replace the ones that you lost, and maybe your relationship with some of us will be better. Then, you can decide where to place your heart, and that will bring you home.”
He was going to make sure that as long as Miriel didn’t have her memories from old, he was going to give her the best memories he could. Holding true to his statement, right now, he was home, and he was going to make sure that she found a home too. “I don’t mind, Miriel. If you don’t tell someone then it will stay bottled up and you will make yourself sick with worries and problems. Walls will listen, but they won’t be there for you like friends, and that is what we all need MIriel.”
He gave her a quizzical and very worried look. “Why must you be around 14?” he gave her a sideways glance after cocking his head, looking at her very studiously. “Last I checked, you were 18.” There was a slight amount of worry hidden in the depths of his voice.
“He was hilarious, dear. You would have loved him. He was all about being colorful and creative, a chemist by profession and an avid reader, I think Shakespeare was his second language.” He had been so fond of him...Dear old professor... He was long gone now, but his legacy would live on in Damion’s mind for forever. He had just finished this thought when for some reason he had the urge to look at the door, which had just been opened because of the sound of the jingling bell. There, the familiar figure of Jaedon caught his eye.
She walked over to the counter, pulled some money out of her purse, ordered something and then stepped aside to wait for her order. She was standing straight and tall. I swear, that girl doesn’t feel pain anymore. She is a ghost, or more like a wraith. I wish that she would stop those foolish games, they don’t profit her any, and they certainly don’t profit anyone else. How can she walk so normally?! I am gonna be checking her every time I see her now, because I know what a skilled little liar she is. She would win an emmy if she were to change professions to acting. He shook his head and turned his attention back to Miriel as Jaedon took her drink and walked over to a chair in the darkest corner she could find. Best to leave her alone...

[»Míríel«]

Miriel shook her head as he told her discreetly about her past. “I just wish I could remember. I can feel what you say is true in my soul, but the details, nothing comes up. It’s like my mind is hoarding those memories like the dragons in myths hoarded their gold.” Her back rested against the chair. When he mentioned how keeping things bottled up could be a disaster she got a crooked smile on her face, “I guess you guys don’t want me to loose my top more then I have.” Then as if by a certain little trigger Miriel straightened up and her face brightened a bit, it was time to put these things beside her, and accept what had happened.
But things aren’t so easy to accept and Miriel realised that when Damion told her hold old she was. “Four years older...four years...” Turning her face to the window she gazed out of it for a long while. Until she realized that he was talking about his friend. Turning her head she couldn’t help but smile. “Shakespeare eh? Your friend had quite good taste, seems have been quite the person. You two must have been close.”
The tinkling of a bell attracted her attention and slowly sounds from the cafe filled her ears. It was strange, while Damion and she had been talking the whole world beyond the two of them had been silenced. Now the sounds, sights, and smells rushed over her. The figure of Jaedon walked in and Miriel was struck by how familiar it looked to her eyes. Yet she had only met her a day or two ago, or so it seemed. Amnesia, what a strange and terrible thing. Cocking her head to the side she studied the figure of her friend. It was dark and stoic, much like Neron, but so stiff, almost too stiff. “Something must be bothering her.” She caught herself thinking, but how on earth would she know that? Probably just a silly assumption. Turning her attention to Damion she couldn’t help but ask. “What is wrong with her?”
----
Cecily had been busy jotting in her journal when a new figure approached the other dark corner nearby. The girl seemed very stand offish and dark. A smirk came to Cecily’s face. “My type of person.” Running a quick glance over her she frowned for a second, certainly this person didn’t want one of her tea’s... no even though this person looked slightly familiar, she didn’t think that she was one of her clients. Plus this was barely the place to be talking about her little medicinal teas. Tossing her silver hair slightly Cecily turned her attention back to her book. Taking a sip from her coffee she mumbled under her breath, “Aconite, Foxtail, baneberry...and what else....” the back of the pencil found it’s way to her mouth and she chewed on it for a couple moments as her other hand raped a rhythm upon the table, she was lost in her thoughts.

[saerwen]

Damion chuckled at her example. “I can assure you, dragon’s do not usually horde gold, unless they are unusually greedy. Perhaps your mind is simply being greedy for all of the good memories that it can get a hold of.” He knew that Miriel was trying hard to remember, because he knew that she wanted to return to normal. It was like she was trapped and she couldn’t get out. “You haven’t lost your top, the rest of you decided that it needed a vacation. When it comes back it will be all rested up and hopefully working better than before.”
“Yes... Why do you think that you should be 14? You answered that as if you were 100% sure that you should be 14. What makes you so sure of that?” He was really interested in knowing the answer to this one. Was it just a weird gut feeling that she had, and impulsive guess, or was there a memory that she did have that told her that was how old she was? “Yes... He had very good taste and we were very close, but that is a long story, meant for another time I am sure.” he shrugged the subject off, not wanting to linger on the memories of his long gone friend. His eyes clouded over for a moment, and then flashed back to Miriel.
When Miriel asked about Jaedon he just smiled. She still knew her friends even though she didn’t “know” them. “I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me. I asked her the night of the fight and she went off on a tirade. I think though, she was probably out gambling again.” He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. Why did Jaedon have to do that? She was so nonsensical sometimes that it just killed him. How is it that she can still beat me in chess? He looked at Jaedon for a moment and then back to Miriel. “It’s not like she loses badly when she gambles, its more the fact that when she gambles, its in the underground, and when people lose there, they get mad. Jaedon purposely throws herself into those situations and I don’t know why. She-” he stopped when he realized that he was practically giving a sermon. He was going to stop fuming to Miriel now. She already had enough to worry about. “Sorry...That is a rather passionate issue for me.” He let out a long sigh and shook his head. Shut up Damion, before you get yourself over-excited and too upset... It’d be bad if the entire coffee shop started to get cold a little too quickly.

[»Míríel«]

Miriel listened to all that Damion had said. Why did she think she was 14? There was no call for it. Miriel didn’t feel 14, act 14, or even think like a 14 year old girl, so why did her mind tell her that she was 14? “I don’t know Damion...” Her eyes grew distance as she racked her mind for something, anything. Something flashed before her mind’s eye, a raging Phoenix, but before she could concentrate on it, the flash was gone. Then another one came, it was of the Phoenix fighting something, some dark animal. But if left to quickly for it to think any more about it. Each flash was like a lightning bolt through her mind.
“Very good taste....” Her voice was distant, she had barely even been listening. Those flashes, they brought a cold to her heart, and a chill to her bone. What were they? Why did she remember those things?
“I have to snap out of this... Turn your attention to Damion or he will know that something is amiss.” Putting a forced smile on her face she turned back to her friend. This was where Damion started talking about Jaedon. “Gambling? Underground Gambling?” As soon as she said this more flashes struck. This time they showed a man, tall and thickly muscled with a bullet head and piercing blue eyes. “Dad?” Why was she thinking about dad? Then the sight of him later, older and a lot thinner, his eyes showed pain but were even more crafty then before. His form almost seemed as if it was wasted away. “After mother died.. why do these come to mind?” Confusion filled her as she saw gaming tables, rough looking people, fights, wounds, blood, her mother, more fights, her father, then last of all was the figure of a panther, standing alone and saying something, something that Miriel couldn’t understand. Unconsciously her hands had rested on the table and she rested her head on them. Pain, pain was streaming through her head, so much pain. She didn’t catch the last thing Damion said.
----
Cecily attention was diverted to the couple once more, the girl seemed to be in pain. Her lip curled, “poor girl”. But those last two words had no sympathy in them, not even a drop.