They were back in the room where they'd woken up.
The two of them sat facing each other, on the edges of their respective beds.
Ever since they'd returned, Arin had noticed that Siel had been biting his lower lip. The younger boy still looked to be deep in thought, with a trace of anxiety marking his brows. Even so, he sat before him and waited in silence.
Clearly, he was waiting for Arin to share what he'd learned before himself divulging whatever he'd experienced since they'd parted ways earlier; before divulging whatever it was that was worrying him so.
Arin cut straight to the chase.
'Do you recall our conversation with the headman's family's old maid? From yesterday, in Willowshade?' he asked.
Siel blinked, looking a little confused at the sudden tangent.
'I do, senior brother,' he said, somewhat hesitant.
'What do you remember of it?'
Siel tilted his head to one side. 'She… well, she wasn't much help, was she?' he said. 'She mainly spoke of how much she missed the head family – and especially Elara, whom she loved as a granddaughter. She spoke of how she regretted that she'd left Silvershade, following her injury.'
'And what else?' Arin leaned forward, hands clasped upon his lap.
Siel looked even more confused now. 'Wasn't that all, brother? I remember we'd decided our time would be better spent speaking with the village recordkeepers, and healers, and the like. We didn't remain at her dwelling for too long. There – there was nothing else.'
'Wrong.' Arin sighed. 'What else did she say about Elara?' he probed.
He knew that it would've been much quicker if he just told the younger boy what he'd remembered. However, as someone who'd just regained his lost memories of that entire conversation, he didn't want what he said to color Siel's recollection.
Their minds were already muddled enough without introducing the possibility of false memories into the equation.
Siel was frowning harder now. His teeth were chewing on his lower lip so hard that it had turned bright red.
Arin sighed again. 'She'd told us of how she regretted not being there for Elara, when…' he paused, and waited.
'When… when… ah! When her mother, lady Elina, had passed!' Siel cried. 'Because… oh… Because Elara, in her grief, had confined herself to her room. For years, she refused to leave, and refused any company.' the boy's voice was becoming softer as he spoke. 'She didn't smile anymore, and she didn't speak to anyone. The anguish had weakened both, her spirit, and her body…'
The younger boy sat in a stunned sort of silence for a few seconds. Arin let him be. It had taken him about a couple minutes of walking to come to terms with the sudden influx of those missing memories.
Finally, Siel took in a deep breath.
'What else have I forgotten, brother Rin?' he asked.
Arin raised an eyebrow.
He'd been expecting the boy to jump up and exclaim in wonder at how he'd forgotten so much, or perhaps, why the things the old maid had said didn't seem to match the reality of the goings-on of the headman's estate.
But the kid…
Arin cleared his throat. 'Do you remember that she'd also mentioned having lost touch with the family, Siel?'
'Mm-hmm.' The boy nodded. 'That seemed to be another one of her regrets.'
'Well,' said Arin, 'that was a lie.'
'Oh?'
'Last night, before the 'curse' started affecting us, I'd wanted to take a look at the caretaker who'd been the next to fall asleep, after Elara.'
Siel looked at him blankly for a moment, then,
'…you had, indeed. I'm afraid I'd forgotten all about that as well, brother Rin. I apologize – '
'No matter. I had also forgotten all about it, until just a while ago,' Arin interrupted. 'The reason for it was that I'd seen him standing hand-in-hand with the old maid in one of Elara's childhood paintings. The ones hung upon her bedroom wall.'
Now, Siel looked baffled again.
'In those… those juvenile scrawls?' he asked, his wide eyes doing their thing. 'In my view, those were colorful scribbles, at best. Ah, I understand that they were created by the lady while she was yet a child, and I don't mean to disparage them. But, still…'
Arin shrugged, hiding a wry smile.
Looks like years of poring over details and designs had given him a discerning eye for colorful stick figures. Something about the figure with a narrow face had reminded him of madam Seren, and something in its partner's long, squiggly beard had brought to mind the face of the sleeping man. And even though he'd been mostly certain of his guess, that's what he'd wanted to confirm.
Well, it was nothing worth bragging about.
He couldn't imagine that his boss back home would ever offer praise (or a bonus) for the possession of such a… niche… skill.
'But why? Why would she lie about something like that?' Siel wondered out loud.
'She wanted to hide something from us. Perhaps, her husband was privy to it. Perhaps even the whole of the headman's estate…'
The younger boy had stopped biting his lips, and was now pursing them tightly.
'Brother Rin,' he said at last. 'The story of the flowers… wasn't real.'
Siel wasn't asking. It was as though he was simply thinking out loud, organizing his thoughts as they came to him.
'No,' Arin confirmed.
'There was no curse, and it wasn't broken by you.'
'Mm-hmm,' Arin nodded.
'That's just what we were told; me, when I woke up last night, and you, by me, this morning. But, falling asleep last night after the curse – well, whatever it was – had taken effect, is the last memory I can be sure of.'
'It is the same for me,' said Arin quietly.
Siel slowly nodded his head. 'I see. I think… I finally understand what's going on.'
Oh?
'Which is?' asked Arin.
Siel sat up straighter, looking up at Arin with an almost uncharacteristically solemn look in his wide eyes.
'I should tell you about the conversation I've just had with lady Elara.'