I’m always told I’m too nice for my own good. “Zure, you should be more selfish”, they say. Today I really felt it. Not that I hate it, of course, as I enjoy helping people. But seems like saving this one girl is not over in a day or two. Let me start from the beginning. I was on my way home from school yesterday afternoon. Classes had ended early and she’s lucky I was on my way when it was still light. Usually after school practice continues quite late.
The road from my school, Enthrodtia’s School of Magic and Martial Arts usually called Ent’s MagMa, runs through thick forests. The visibility there is already limited, not to mention if it was dark. She wasn’t on the road. I found her a couple meters away, collapsed on the ground. I couldn’t even begin to guess why she was there. Most magical and non-magical beasts keep their distance, since Ent’s MagMa uses all nearby dangerous creatures as practice targets. They have long ago learned to stay north of Rsinna, the city nearby, or far enough south. And as far as I know this country, Enthrodtia, doesn’t have any human trafficking and what little bandits there are, they terrorise smaller towns.
She wouldn’t wake up no matter what I did, so I carried her to a hospital in Rsinna. I live about midway between Ent’s MagMa and Rsinna so I dropped off my things at home before running the rest of the way. Rsinna is a city of schools as well as Enthrodtia’s second large city. There are many different vocational schools, the Second High School for nobles that actually has a better reputation than the First High School in the capital and then there is my school which because of its size is located about an hour walk south from Rsinna. The whole area outside of town is one large forest except for the river and lake to the east. Rsinna was actually supposed to be a port town by the river, but as the land there is too wet for large buildings, it ended up in the forest.
Although it’s quiet in the forest, once you arrive to the main road and the south gate, it gets noisy. The southern main road leads to the capital so of course it’s busy. Inside as well. Rsinna is mostly populated by the craftsmen and merchants who want their kids to enrol in the various schools. That keeps all the markets bustling from sunrise to sundown and also attracts many traders from elsewhere. Even abroad. Carrying someone through the crowds at this time of day is not easy and the hospital just has to be in the middle of the city.
At least the girl doesn’t seem to be in any immediate danger, her breathing is steady and she doesn’t seem to have any wounds. Makes me wonder even more exactly what has caused her to not wake up. The ride here on my back must not have been too comfortable either. Finally, I reached the hospital. It’s one of the largest buildings in Rsinna, as students from Ent’s MagMa sometimes get too injured for the school to take care of, but inside Rsinna rare work accidents are about the only reason for someone to need a doctor.
It didn’t take long for me to catch a doctor to take a look at the girl. “What happened to her?” is of course the doctor’s first question. I could only sigh and explain the situation: “I don’t know. I found her on the road to Ent’s MagMa. Or rather near the road.” I described better the place she was in. The funny thing is, there were no footprints or hoofprints or anything, even though the area was covered by moss. It’s the type that takes days to rise back once you step on it. And I’m sure even if this wasn’t the firs day she was there, had she been there longer I or someone else would have seen her already.
“So, it’s like she appeared from thin air”, the doctor mumbled while checking her. “It doesn’t seem like there’s anything wrong with her”, he said a little unsure, “I don’t know why she won’t wake up, she might simply be exhausted. There are no wounds or any symptoms of poisoning.” But who would collapse of exhaustion in such a place? If it was that then wouldn’t she have been in the middle of the road. It appears the doctor took notice of my unbelieving expression. “She can stay here until she wakes up, then we’ll know more. If you give me your address, we’ll send someone to inform you once she wakes”, he suggested. I knew there wasn’t anything I could do by waiting at the hospital so I went home.
I was really tired from carrying all the way before, so I took my time heading home. I’m a magic student while also taking some martial classes, but since magic takes most of my time, I don’t have any stamina. On the other hand, I could barely feel any mana from that girl. If she is also a student then she should be a martial art one.
My home is closer to Rsinna than the school and it didn’t take me long to reach it. There is a small sign saying “Voks house” at the interjection where our home road starts. The house is really large for only two people, but it was cheap since it’s outside Rsinna’s walls. It’s nice and quiet and since mom grows medical plants to sell it’s easier to do here. As for me, I have to walk about fifteen minutes less when going to school. The house is surrounded by mom’s fields and those fields are surrounded by woods.
The house itself has two floors. We live on the first floor and the second is currently used as storage. Our house is quite modern, as we have a good kitchen and not only some hearth, the kitchen plus living room is a large open area. The first floor also has my room, mom’s room which is also her herb storage and the toilet. The second floor has a hallway and four largeish rooms.
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My trip to Rsinna had taken quite a lot of time so there was dinner waiting for me. My mom, Mary, is a nice woman who is a great cook, just that she is a little too obsessed with her herbs to socialize. Which might be one reason she hasn’t found a new husband after dad died seven years ago. Not that I mind, as long as she doesn’t get lonely.
Word came from the hospital early in the morning. For some reason they asked if mom could come as well. I had school like every day, so I had to take the trip over and ask if I could skip. I have almost perfect attendance thus far so it wouldn’t be a problem. But I had to inform my friends that I might not make it to evening practice.
Once I got to the hospital the doctor from yesterday led me straight to that girl’s room. “It seems the situation is a little complicated”, he said, “You’ll find out when you meet her, but she has lost her memory.” I was of course surprised by this. “But it’s not like she had hit her head or anything right? You would have known”, I wondered. “That’s what makes this complicated. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for her to lose her memory and we don’t even know how she ended up where you found her. Moreover, I contacted the school and they said no one has gone missing. There are only a few girls who don’t use the uniform so they would have known who she is”, he sighed, “But well, you can try asking her all about it yourself.”
She was standing by the window looking outside. I know I’m tall, but she was seriously short. Over a head shorter than me. She had short black hair except for a ponytail that reached her hips. She wore a t-shirt, sleeveless jacket, shorts and sandals, all but the sandals would be fitting for a martial student. I knocked on the door frame.
“Hey, how are you doing?” I tried asking. It would have been a lot easier had we known something about her. “Fine. You are… uh… who?” she seemed to have some trouble with her words. “I found you collapsed yesterday. My name is Zure Voks”, I answered her, “I was told you don’t remember anything, is it for real?” She nodded. “Here wake up. Before nothing. Name nothing. But I think wrong tong!” she seemed very proud of deducing that. “That would mean you are a foreigner. It seems your mystery is deepening”, she looked very confused as I said that. I think the doctor did not tell her about how I found her at all.
I told her the whole story. It didn’t seem like she recognized any of the surrounding places. “You really don’t have any idea where you’re from? Do you know what in your mother language?” I never knew how frustrating it could be when none of your questions are answered. She though very hard. “I think… Not from somewhere. Language know if hear. Maybe”, I was surprised how fast her speech is getting better. It’s a wonder what she meant by not from somewhere, but I’m sure she couldn’t explain even if I asked.
I tried asking various things, but the only result is that now she speaks better. Soon the doctor came back. “Did you get anything out of her”, he asked. His tone was nice, but the words made me think she was like some criminal. “Only that she seems to be a foreigner and most likely doesn’t have a home.” The doctor looked disappointed. “And here I thought chatting with someone her age might help”, he made way and mom came in, “I talked with Mary here, and she agreed to adopt her until we know more.” I have inherited my niceness from her. I just have more chances to show it as mom is not of a very social sort.
The doctor explained us three more about amnesia. Simply said doing and experiencing something she has done before might make her remember and at the very least doing nothing would be the worst. “If I can guess from her clothes, she must be used to combat or learning it. So even if it was not our school, she should have gone to some. Do you think you could get her enrolled? I can give you a letter to take to the school”, the doctor asked me. I think him asking has a higher chance of success, but maybe I’ll keep quiet. Doctors are usually not stupid so there must be a reason. “I think it won’t be a problem to get her a place in the transfer test, and your letter may let her skip the written tests”, I was positive she could pass the combat test. She was still unconscious only two hours ago and she was already energetic. And her jacket had hooks for most likely a sword’s sheath.
In the end she followed us home. She really seemed to be on edge while walking Rsinna’s streets, but got visibly more relaxed once we were out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone enjoy a forest as much except for that one annoying guy at school. But I suppose if she likes being in the middle of nowhere this much then some orphanage or other temporary housing would have been hell for her.
It took very long until we got inside the house. She was quite interested in mom’s fields and even climbed on the roof before she was satisfied. I have no idea how she did that. Our ladders have sunk into one of our storage rooms. And we really got a shock when she looked ready to jump down. People can’t fly. They’ve never been able to. Not with magic and not any other way. She looked confused for a while before coming down safely. “Why can’t I fly?” I heard her mumble, “Should I be able to?”
She wasn’t as interested in anything inside so we quickly got her settled in one of our rooms upstairs. Most of it was cleaning and emptying the room as we don’t really have any additional beds or other furniture for her.
We used the rest of the evening to fill her in some important details of this world and what she needs to know if she were to go to school. Like how Enthrodtia is far away from the centre of the continent. How people from surrounding countries also appear at school. How have good relations with other races unlike most countries. How magic is an important part of everyday life. How she can learn most of it all at school. How we need to make sure she has the strength to pass the transfer exam. And how she can take her time to remember once at school, since it takes at least six years to graduate.
We chatted well into the evening and she seemed to love mom’s cooking. We decided to rest early so we would have the energy to practice tomorrow. Seems like I’ll take another day off. She suddenly stopped while on her way to the stairs.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Isra.”
“What?”
“My name. It’s Isra.”