It was the stroke of midnight, the rain still pouring, albeit harder, hearing the slight thuds hitting the walls of the cathedral. The constantly clicks and drips sounded like nature's drums.

            "The weather right now is a bit too tumultuous, so I'll put you up for tonight," Ellava smiled, holding a mug in her hands, "Would you like some hot cocoa?"

            He smiled and gently reached for it, "Thank you."

            They both sat down, drinking away at their cocoa, and to break the silence, Gareicht gazed at her, "Um, Ellava?"

            She perked up at her name being called, "Yes?"

            "How many people have tried to claim the spear for themselves?" He felt a bit sorry for asking, but at the same time he felt a bit concerned.

            "Erm, just this year or for every year I've stayed here?" Her face wore some curved lips as if to think.

            "Uh...either?" He blinked, he had a bad feeling.       

            She took a deep breath, "Honestly, too many to count, their faces and species have all blurred together that it's hard to keep them all apart. None of them will ever come back anyway, I hit them with my spear which ended up banishing them from this place."

            That...many? He grimaced. He felt way too guilty to being pressured into his captain's words now. Then again, if someone else in his crew was put in this position instead of him, he figured it would've ended up worse.

            As if his guilt appeared on his face, she smiled, "Are you feeling guilty?"

            His body jerked.

            "Easily showing your guilt shows how much of a good person you are?"

            "A good person, huh? I honestly don't feel like I am most of the time."

            She looked up at the ceiling, choosing her words carefully, "Well, self-reflection can improve oneself to strive to better themselves, no?"

            He smiled for a moment, "Here we are, you're cheering me up, and I haven't listened to any of your worries yet."

            "My worries..." She repeated, "I have so many and yet I can't think of any at the same time."

            "Then it's fine to take it slow." His voice was calming and it put her at ease, she took a sip of her cocoa, and then sighed, "Let's see...I don't even know what my parents look like, but even so I miss them and wish them well."                                                                                      

            Gareicht's face was frozen stiff for a moment, I stepped on a landmine. But before he could even attempt to console her she continued, "The spear appeared shortly after I was born. Because of that, I was separated from my parents, who were a part of a monastery and was raised by others there. The reason was so that I couldn't be influenced by their actions, I suppose children are a blank slate, they can become 'good' or 'evil' depending upon how their parents raised them."

            Gareicht silently listened, after taking a breath she continued.

            "Even though being raised like that was stifling, it was better than this deafening silence. I was brought here when I was thirteen...at least that's how old I was told I was, my birthday's were never celebrated so I don't even know if that's accurate...I don't even remember when it is."

            "It's true that no matter how long a vine grows--each flower is a part of the same vine, but it's not just parents that can influence someone, a friend, a lover, parental figures. I don't think they should've separated you from them and so I hope one day you'll be reunited."

            "Thank you, but somehow I wonder if they even remember me, I mean how can you remember someone who you share no memories with?"

            "You just answered your own question, you still remember them even if you have no actual memories of them."

            "Perhaps I'm over-thinking it, but at the same time I can't shake this feeling as if I was born to be forgotten. Perhaps if that was the case then the world would temporarily forget about the Holy Spear and peace would be further established."

            Gareicht turned to her, and gently flicked her forehead. She squeaked for a minute.
            "You're over-thinking again, if that was the case then I would've left and you'd hold no place in my memory long-term, but I'm still here."

            Her strained face relaxed, "I guess...that's enough worries for now, any more and we'll be here forever. Once we're done with this cocoa, I'll take you to a spare room where you can sleep for the night."

                                                                        ***

The cocoa cups in the kitchen sink, the lights turned off, only a lit candle to burn its way through the now dark cathedral. They traveled up the stairs, "Sorry if it's too dark now."

            "This is fine, I'm normally out at sea and other than inside the ship the only lights we have to guide us are the stars, I'm used to it."      

            She gave him directions, pointed where the bathroom was and then they entered his room for the night.

            She placed the candle on the small table by the door, "All of the sheets are clean so you don't need to worry about dust or anything. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask me."

            "Thank you." He smiled at her, "Good night, Ellava."

            She smiled back, "Good night, Gareicht."

            He was taking off his coat and boots as she was closing the door. He laid them down by the table and bit his gloves off. He looked down at his bare hands and sighed, an intricate pattern was marked down on them.

            He plopped down on the bed, and his thoughts were too vocal to fall asleep right away, but he shut his eyes anyway. Thinking, What have I gotten myself into?

            The moon shone in from the color-stained glass window by his bedside, turning the room into what felt like a kaleidoscope once again, he eventually passed out by this point, so he couldn't enjoy the light show.

                                                                        ***

Ellava returned to her room, looking out at the moon before laying down in her bed, "I wonder...what the sea is like, I wonder if I'll be able to go there someday..." She rested her hand against the window, and took a deep breath.

            She let go of the window and tucked herself into bed, but because she was so unaccustomed to not being alone, she felt too excited to sleep.

            But soon morning came, her being excited eventually lost to sleep deprivation and she managed to knock herself out due to it, Gareicht, being an early riser got up out of bed, and had to take a brief pause to remember everything that happened yesterday. He still felt a bit groggy though, probably because he went to bed after midnight, but when you have active hours in the navy, it's a miracle to get 5 hours of sleep.

            He quickly put back on his gloves, boots, and jacket and shut the door behind him. He wanted to grab his stuff back at the inn he checked at, so he quietly went back down stairs towards the entrance.

            Even with as quiet as he was being, Ellava could hear the miniscule sounds, and it perked her to being awake. As she got up out of her bed, she smiled remembering that someone was here. As she left her room and walked downstairs she noticed that he was at the entrance.

            "Eh...? You're leaving already?" Her face went downcast.

            He felt a sudden surge of guilt again, "No--it's just I have my things at the inn...and would like to keep them on hand..." Still seeing her downcast face he made a sideways glance at the wall, "Err...I guess I'll grab them later then?"

            Her face beamed, "I'll make you breakfast then, what would you like?"

            "Um...whatever is fine, I'm used to being on a ship so the meals are rather paltry..."

            She turned towards the kitchen.

            "But wait...if you can't leave how do you get food and how can you still eat?"

            She suddenly stopped.

            I got too excited. She felt embarrassed.

            "It's true that I can't leave...but someone with dimensional magic always transports a box of produce to the kitchen, it's probably someone from the monastery. It's been about a month since the last transport so I'll check and see what I have."

            He stood by the entrance as she fumbled through the kitchen. She retrieved some bread, some fruit, tomatoes, a bunch of lettuce and cheese. The produce looked like it had seen some better days, so she used some magic to replenish the items back to a better state.

            She cut the fruit into a bowl, sliced the bread, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes, placed them on some plates and placed them down at the table.

            "Here," She smiled, "Come sit down."

            "Thanks," He smiled back at her, "Thanks for the meal."

            They quietly ate their food.

            Whilst they were eating, another package appeared in the kitchen without them even noticing.

            Ellava grabbed the dirty plates and brought them over to the sink and Gareicht walked up behind her, "Do you want some help?"

            "No need, I got it? Besides, you'll get your gloves all dirty."

            He stared down at his hands. A large part of him didn't want to remove his gloves, but the other part of him was reminding him of common courtesy.

            He bit into his glove to pull them off, and he came up behind her.

            "Eh...your hands...those markings...? They're a..." Ellava began, analyzing his hands.

            "Yeah, as you've guessed, I'm under a curse, I'm not particularly fond of showing these markings but I'm not about to sit down and do absolutely nothing either."

            She took her sudsy hands out of the soap water, dried them off and turned to him, "May I see your hands."

            Surprised by her words, he gently brought his hands forward and she clasped onto them. Her hands were soft, and warm.

            "It looks like a tangible curse, nasty thing."

            "Aren't most curses tangible though?"

            "It's true that most common known curses are tangible--showing proof of themselves on one's body, however intangible ones are just as common, but not given much thought. They normally attack ones mental health, they send them into crazy and bizarre nightmares, to the point where if it continues it'll lead to fatigue which is why they're always misrepresented as tangible...but they normally always lead to the same thing; death."

            He stayed silent, and she looked up at him, "How did you receive this curse?"

            He let his gaze reach the floor, away from her eyes, his mind flashing back to those days, but her voice snapped him back to reality.

            "Do you...not want to talk about it?"

            It's really hard to resist those emerald eyes, He thought.

            He opened his mouth but his face turned into a grimace.

            "I really...I really can't." He covered his face, trying to bite back all the pain that was lodged into his throat. But the tears began to burn and sting his face.   

            She reached for his face, her voice trying to stir his soul.

            "Shhh...it's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I'll be here, so let it all out, okay?"

            Not saying anything, he grabbed onto her tightly as she consoled him.