After walking for a while, Theora stared at the path. It was close to being overtaken by nature; leading into some part of the region that was rarely travelled to. Little weeds encroached on either side, stinging nettles forming the pioneer front.

Most importantly though, due to the position of the sun, Theora noticed the path was leading east.

“We are walking in the wrong direction,” she said.

“Damn!” Dema laughed. “Not common for you to get us lost!”

Theora shook her head gently and frowned. “I don’t think we are lost. We are walking in the wrong direction, but it doesn’t feel wrong.”

Dema let out an annoyed grumble. “Something messing with our heads again! Wait… I swear this happened before.”

“Yes,” Theora confirmed. “I remember too. This happened before.” She came to a halt. “Remember,” she repeated. With a confused look, she turned her head back to Dema, and then it all came back to her.

Dema was carrying Tras piggyback, and he was sound asleep.

“Oh,” Theora let out. “Tras. We were getting up the cliff to find his family.”

Dema’s eyes widened, as if she only now recalled what she was transporting on her back. She turned her head to look at his calm face resting on her shoulder. “Why, what a cutie. Yeah, gonna need to up our pace before we forget him again.”

She sped up a little, and Theora increased her pace to match.

Was bringing him back really enough? He had run off to find the wolves, and asked the two of them specifically to help him with that. Even after already having been lost for a good while. He seemed rather determined on finding the wolves, no matter what. He had already proven that he was willing to take on quite an amount of inconvenience to get there.

If they just brought him back to his family — would he run away again? Immediately, or after a few days? But the longer they travelled with him, the higher the chances that they’d forget about him for long enough that something might happen. Getting him to see the wolves was a risk.

About another hour later, they’d almost reached the top of the cliff.

Tras, Tras, Tras.

Theora repeated the name in her mind, doing her best not to forget him.

Tras. Yes, the boy they were currently delivering back to his family. Or, perhaps they’d deliver him to a pack of wolves. She still hadn’t decided.

To the best of common knowledge, children were rarely born with the Mindslip. Of course, the number of people affected by this curse was hard to track. It was an estimate, and Theora had heard about it long ago.

Making it to the age of five years, what a truly remarkable feat that was. His parents must be caring deeply for him. Theora couldn’t imagine the amount of safeguards and precautions one would have to abide by to make sure an affected child was safe. And yet, with the Mindslip, no amount of precautions was truly enough. Restraining or locking away an affected person might cause you to forget they are restrained, leading to potential harm. So, they needed to be free, but that would then lead to situations where one might get separated and forget.

In addition, there was no way to cure the curse. Using [Obliterate] on it was out of the question too, because while it might destroy the curse, that Skill was by no means a precise instrument. Theora was not going to use it anywhere near a child. It would tear the curse out of existence, and with it, a good chunk of its surroundings as well. Like pulling out a plant, and finding yourself with a lot of soil still attached. Like cutting out a pattern from a piece of paper with jittery hands. Like ripping a barb out of skin, and finding flesh still attached. There was no telling what would happen and who or what might get harmed in the process.

In other words, there was no way to cure it, and no way to stop forgetting.

The Mindslip was truly terrifying.

Truly terrifying.

Ah… Why was Theora thinking about the Mindslip, again? It seemed like a very specific topic. She felt disoriented for a moment, just looking around the trees, nearing the top of a cliff. Dema was walking in front of her, swirling her head around as her gaze followed birds flying in the canopies, her horn making the usual small twirls.

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The Mindslip… a very peculiar topic to just lose oneself in. That couldn’t be a coincidence. No, there was something suspicious about this. Why was she feeling lost? It was almost like she’d just been hit by that curse herself. Theora hummed in thought. Perhaps Dema and her had recently met someone who was affected? And then, Theora had forgotten that person, but her thoughts stayed lingering on the curse itself?

Maybe. That certainly sounded possible. She focussed for a moment, trying to get whatever had been lost back into her mind. Who had she forgotten? As if the sun was slowly rising from behind the horizon, she could feel the connecting memories at the edge of her mind. There was something, definitely. All she needed to do was pull.

And so, she pulled.

Oh, that’s right.

Tras.

She’d been thinking about Tras.

Theora looked around, and found him way behind on the stair-path. His little figure, stumbling upwards in exhausted hurry, struggling to breathe. His little legs just weren’t enough to keep up with them. Theora stepped back down, stretching her hands out to him, until they reunited.

The little boy grasped her fingers tightly, coughing, sweat on his forehead.

“Damn!” Dema’s voice shouted back from way ahead. “Forgot again!” She started walking back down too.

“Too fast,” Tras panted. “Walking too fast.”

“Yes,” Theora confirmed. “We walked too fast, you couldn’t keep up.” She gently pressed on his hands, and gave him a while to calm down, keeping him steadfast in her gaze. Slowly, his breaths evened out, and then she said, “Can you do me a favour, Tras?”

“Yes?”

“Please say, ‘I’m here.’”

Tras frowned at her, and then, tilting his head, yelped out, “I’m here?”

“Yes. Thank you so much,” Theora replied, a gentle smile forming on her lips. “Just like that. Can you say it again, but louder?”

“I’m here, Theo’a!”

Theora nodded. “Whenever it seems like someone is forgetting you, please be loud, alright? Say ‘I’m here’. Say ‘Don’t forget me’. Don’t become sad. Become angry! Can you do that for me?”

Why was she asking this, again? She felt dizzy for a moment, and swallowed. Ah, this was frustrating. Who was that boy she was talking to?

“I’m here,” he said, and smiled back at her. A lot of freckles. Brown hair. A few bruises that looked one or two days old, slowly healing.

That’s right, she was talking to Tras.

“Thank you so much,” Theora said.

Her initial idea of returning him home by making him remember the path ran out of luck rather quickly. After getting back up the cliff, that’s where it ended. He had some ideas about where his home might be, but it turned out after a day of travel that he was mostly guessing.

However, he quickly learned to yell at Dema and Theora whenever the two of them lost him from their minds. ‘Theo’a’ seemed to have become his favourite word. He said her name whenever he could, just like that, even when not even talking to her.

On the second day, he was walking next to Theora with his little and steady steps, holding her hand. Dema was trying to consult the map and made sure to note down all the areas they had already been at.

“Theo’a,” he whined at some point, apparently attempting to pull up one of his legs with his hands. “Can’t walk. My feets are stuck.”

Theora looked down at him, and his big, deerlike eyes. “Your feet are stuck?”

“Yes,” he said, acting as if he couldn’t raise them from the ground.

“We can take a break,” she said.

He shook his head. “Carry.”

“You want me to carry you?” Theora asked, and Tras nodded. Why did this situation seem so familiar? He looked a bit healthier now, but his eyes still seemed oh, so tired. Tired from last night, when he hadn’t been able to sleep well. She’d already carried him then, until he’d fallen asleep, so why not do it again? She might as well.

She bowed down and picked him upright into her left arm. Immediately, he snuggled onto her.

As if pulled in like a moth to the light, Dema appeared out of nowhere and stared at Theora as if this was the greatest betrayal. “Hey! No fair!” she whined. “I want too!”

“I’m busy,” Theora mumbled.

“You got another arm! Hold me too!”

Theora just walked past her.

Dema’s face warped into one of the saddest puppy-eye imitations Theora had seen on her. “Why? Why are you bullying me!”

“You are the one who is bullying me,” Theora muttered.

Ignoring that, Dema’s gaze snapped onto Tras, her eyes glaring playfully. “I ain’t gonna forgive you! Hogging her all for yourself.”

In a masterful feat of defiance, the boy climbed a bit higher onto Theora’s shoulder, and then made a sound of sticking out his tongue.

“You!” Dema blurted. “You little…! I’m gonna get you!”

With that, she jumped towards him with a bright smile and a loud and mockingly intimidating, “Gah!”

He giggled, but still tried to escape Dema’s threatening approach by climbing all over Theora’s arms and shoulder onto her other side. He didn’t seem to care at all that he might fall, but she did her best to make sure he remained firm in her arms.

Immediately, Dema sprang around to the other side, issuing another “Gah!” and holding up her hands like claws about to reach him.

“No! No!” the boy screamed and laughed. “Theo’a, Dema is being mean to me!”

“Oh, is she? That’s very bad of her.” She glanced over to the culprit, stared at her intently. “Bad girl.”

The ‘bad girl’ stopped dead and stunned. Mouth agape, she let out a restrained and broken ‘ah’ sound with her raspy voice, and gulped, hard. “Wait!” she yelled, as Theora was walking past her. “Wait, say that again!”

Theora accidentally bit her tongue. “I—I’m not going to say it again.”

“No, you gotta! I need to hear it again. My heart almost stopped!”

“Bad girl?” Tras said, but Dema just laughed.

“I suppose it only works when she does it.”