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Aphmau needed help.
Well, it was more of a strong want, but it still counted in her mind! What she needed help with was more vague, but knowing, well, anything about her past or the world around her seemed pretty spot on. How to ask for said help was the complicated part. She couldn’t just go up to someone and be like “Oh by the way I have no memories from the before yesterday and need you to tell me what the heck is going on.” actually, that wasn’t to bad of a plan. Maybe she should do just that, but who to talk to? She glanced at Emmalyn, who was reading a book in the corner of the room. Definitely not. Someone else then. Maybe one of the babes would understand? Molly seemed nice enough, but Aphmau didn’t trust her not to go gossiping to her roommates. The guards? Not the ones in the fountain. Garroth and Zenix though… they both seemed sober enough. Zenix was a bit young though, therefore through the process of elimination, Garroth was the one to talk to.It was actually embarrassingly obvious now that she thought of it. He was the only competent one she had met so far. Oh well.
Welp. No time like the present. She got up and went outside, Emmalyn muttering something that she was fairly sure was an insult as Aphmau passed her. The guards were still in the fountain, which was actually quite impressive, considering they had spent over a full day splashing around in there. She didn’t see Garroth though. He didn’t mention anything about.... Well, anything. This was why she needed to figure things out.
Aphmau spotted Molly leaning against the wall of a nearby house, looking at the guards with something between disgust and amusement. She was already asking for help, so why not go a little off schedule?
“Hi.” She began “I was just wondering if you knew where Garroth would be right be right about now?” Molly didn’t look away from the guards as she answered.
“He’s usually on patrol on the north side of the village around now.” wow. That cleared up exactly nothing.
“And north is…?” Molly pointed across the fountain and to a path that tapered off into the forest, not taking her eyes off the guards. Well. That worked spectacularly. She knew asking for help was a good idea. See? Another reason talking to Garroth was a good idea. She didn’t know who she was proving herself to, but she still counted it as a victory.
Aphmau followed the little path to the forest and looked around. Great. “North” was pretty vague in hindsight. She sighed, then spotted a glint of silver through the trees. This was her lucky day! Well, she didn’t really have much else to go off, but still. She rushed over to where Garroth was walking pretty far behind the treeline.
“Oh, lady Aphmau. What do you need?” Oh no. Aphmau was beginning to realize why her initial plan had sounded so ridiculous. What was plan B? Oh right, she didn’t have one. Crap.
“Lady Aphmau? Is everything alright?” Right. Conversation. She was supposed to be engaged in one right now.
“Hnnnnn. Yep!” she squeaked.
“Um… okay?” He turned to walk away.
“Wait!” Well. Now or never.
“Could I, um, tell you something?”
“Well, I’m kind of on patrol right now. We could walk and talk though?” He turned again and Aphmau followed.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Alright. This was it.
“Um, you remember when I just sort of wandered into the village yesterday?” That was a start.
“Yeah?” Deep breaths.
“Well, about… five minutes before that, I woke up in the forest with no memories.”
“You what?”
“Woke up in the forest with no memories.”
“Yeah, I got that part, it’s just… why?”
“How should I know?”
“Good point.” There was a long pause.
‘You know what? We’ll figure this out, just… don’t tell anyone in the meantime.”
“Cool. Yep. Will, er, won’t? Do that. I’ll do that. Yes.” With that she made her escape, in a very elegant and not at all awkward way.
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It was some time after that, when Aphmau had become a regular of the village, when she passed by Garroth on her way to help Brendan.
“Oh, hi Aphmau, what’s up?” she looked up, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, what was he talking about?
“No! I didn’t mean literally!” how can you ask someone what’s up and not mean it literally? She raised her eyebrows at him.
“What did you mean then?”
“Do you really not know what what’s up means?”
“Dude. I have, like, two week’s worth of memories. How am I supposed to know when you’re speaking in riddles?”
“I’m not--! Ugh, whatever. When someone asks you what’s up, they’re usually asking what’s going on. Like, what you’re doing.” huh. That made a lot more sense.
“Well, in that case, I’m going to help Brendan with harvesting the crops.”
“Was that good?” she asked
“Yup.” there was an awkward pause.
“Welp. I’m gonna go do that, so…”
“Right. See you around.” they both shuffled off to do their respective jobs.
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“Your boat is… certainly something?” Obviously. Although, she could see why he sounded so hesitant. It didn’t look all too sea worthy.
“What did you expect? Visher’s boat was the only one I’ve ever seen! Probably!”
“Fair enough.”
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Garroth was just back from patrol and getting ready to go to bed, the moon already being high in the sky, when the door burst open.
“Garroth!” he leapt to his feet in alarm at lady Aphmau’s entrance
“How are babies made!” He blanked.
“What?”
“I, um, suggested Molly and Dale should have a baby, but Dale got really flustered, and I don’t know why?” Oh Irene. He was going hato explain the birds and the bees to her.
“Well, you see, when a mommy and a daddy love eachother very much…”
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“Garroth help.” He had just been starting his patrol, but that could wait if something more pressing was happening.
“What’s up?” Aphmau glanced up briefly before turning back to him.
“Dale is acting weird! He keeps slurring his words and hiccuping! What do I do?” Damn it. How did Dale even get a job as a guard?
“Don’t worry, he’s just drunk.” He would have to drag him to the guard tower before he could start his patrol. This was just great.
“Drunk?” Aphmau parroted back at him questioningly. Oh. Of course she didn’t know what drunk meant.
“Well, when someone drinks alcohol -- do you know what that is?” She shook her head.
“It’s a type of drink, anyway, when someone drinks alcohol they can’t really think straight.” He explained
“That… doesn’t sound very pleasant. Are you sure he’s alright?”
He’ll be fine other than a hangover in the morning.”
“Hangover?”
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“Why does he call you “my love”?” Garroth asked her
“I don’t know, I figured it was just a thing he does” She responded
“No, I’m pretty sure he’s flirting with you.”
“What’s flirting?”
“When someone likes someone else, they’ll do and say things to make that person like them back.”
“Like, like like?”
“Yeah”
“gross.”
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“What should I do?” she asked frantically. How do people even take care of babies?
“I don’t know” he shrugged
“You don’t know? You don’t know!? You’re the one who’s supposed to know things!” She yelled.
“When did knowing things become my job!” he shouted back. Aphmau just raised her eyebrows.
“Right.”
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“So, you like her, huh?” Laurance stated.
“What? Dude, no, we’re just friends!” He exclaimed. She was a good looking girl, sure, but Garroth had known her for long enough to know she didn’t have a clue about romance. As far as he knew, she had never even experienced romantic love, and she never seemed interested in anyone like that.
“Sure.” Laurance answered skeptically before walking away. That was a problem he would deal with later.
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“You’re Irene?” He said, breathless
“I’m Irene?” She said, confused
“Who’s Irene” She asked.
“...”