The small boy’s legs pumped as he ran as fast as he could through the tall grass of the orchard. His chest heaved with exertion. His lungs ached for more air. But he kept running. He didn’t want the other boy to catch him. He could see the hill just on the other side of the orchard and the wide river that rested there. All he had to do was reach the banks of the Everdell and he would be safe.

  The boy rushed past the last of the low hanging jazberry trees and started up the small hill. His legs burned, but he ignored it and ran anyways. His lungs protested at the new strain. He kept on going. He was nearly at the crest, when he felt something crash into him from behind. It sent the boy face first into the thick grass and his body hit the ground.

  All the air from his lungs left him for a moment and all he could do was turn over, and then just lay there in the grass. He looked up into the brilliant blue sky. His eyes immediately locking onto a large familiar ringed moon and its tiny perfect circular partner. The two moons of Darat often present and distinctly visible even in the middle of the day.

  Another body crashed in the grass beside him, it was the boy who had been chasing him. This boy was just as out of breath as the smaller one. The two lay there for a long moment, while they both recouped from the dash through the jazberry orchard.

  “Got you again,” the boy chasing him said after he was able to speak.

  The small boy felt a stab of anger. “Well, it’s not fair. You are bigger than me.” He looked to his side at the other boy who was twice his height and more than twice his age.

  “I gave you a head start, you baby,” the his playmate replied, but he said it in the teasing way, letting the small boy know he was just playing.

  The smaller boy looked up to the sky at the moons again and refused to let go of this seeming injustice. How could he ever beat his friend, if he was forever older and bigger? “Well, it’s still not fair. I think we should play another game.”

  The older boy rose up on the back of his elbows and toed a hill of nona beetles that rested just on the other side of him. The black and red insects raced in every direction to get away from the attack on their home.

  “What do you want to play?”

  The smaller boy moved his legs to the side so they wouldn’t swarm all over him, but a few did anyways. He reached down and flicked off one of them that was making a speed run for his chest.

  “Want to climb some trees?” The boy asked as he flicked yet another off before it could reach his stomach.

  “This morning pavi cornered me after breakfast. He said we had to leave the trees alone until after harvest. I guess he doesn’t want a repeat of last year when we trampled half the orchard in our climbing escapades.”

  The boy frowned. He really liked climbing. It would be hard to stay out of the trees for the next month. Maybe if he just climbed one tree? Would anyone notice? He immediately put that idea out of his head, because he knew Aragon would find out and tell. It didn’t matter where he went, the Protector seemed to always be watching, even if the boy couldn’t see him. Sometimes it was good and sometimes it was just plain annoying. Why did he have to have a Protector when none of the other children he knew did not? It was a puzzle he had yet to solve.

  “We could swim in the river?” the small boy made another suggestion.

  Done with terrorizing the nona beetles, the bigger boy flopped on his back with a content sigh. “Maybe. I think I like it right here for now. Let’s look for shapes in the clouds.”

  The smaller boy turned his attention back to the sky, but for the moment there were only a few little puffs of clouds and none of them were making interesting shapes. The boy’s eyes were drawn back to the tiny moon and the much larger moon by its side. His eyes traced the outline of the thick rings of the big moon. They sparkled with a rainbow of color in that moment that a particularly bright ray of sun reflected off them.

  “Tell me about Faji and Damor?”

  The older boy pointed up at the moons. “What’s to tell? They are rock satellites orbiting this planet.”

  The smaller boy shook his head. “No, tell me their story.”

  He emphasized the last word, making sure the other boy knew he wasn’t really interested in their physical nature. He was far more interested in the lore that surrounded the two moons.

  The other boy shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “Well, they are brothers of course. Cast off from their father millennium ago. Their father didn’t want them. Their mother didn’t either. They had no siblings, nor any friends to speak of. Faji and Damor didn’t want to be alone, and they decided to spend eternity together. So the little one follows the big one wherever he goes. That’s why you never see them in the sky apart from each other. They are always together.”

  The smaller boy thought about that for awhile. He knew what it was like to be smaller and always in the shadow of a bigger person. He was the youngest person at River Palace after all. “Well what if it’s the bigger moon that’s following the little one?”

  The older boy sat up with an annoyed look on his face. “Well, that’s just stupid! Everyone knows Damor always follows Faji. That’s how it’s always been. Ask anyone, they will tell you.”

  The smaller boy looked up at the two brother moons. “Maybe.” Secretly he wasn’t convinced, but decided to keep it to himself because he knew his friend could be sensitive about such things. “Well, there is one good thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “They are never alone.”

  The older boy just grunted, stretched his arms high in the sky, and then folded his hands under his head as a pillow and his elbow resting on the grass. The smaller boy moved to match him. They both laid side by side for a few long moments just enjoying the day and each others company.

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  “Markus! Adar! It’s time for lessons! Where are you boys?” a woman’s voice echoed through the orchard, suddenly bringing their carefree afternoon to a grinding halt.

  The small boy’s heart fell. He really had been hoping his mother would have forgotten to come find them for their afternoon lessons, not that it had actually ever happened, but a boy could dream couldn’t he?

  The bigger boy frowned. “You think if we hide she’ll go away?”

  The younger boy snorted. “Nope.”

  The other boy gave a heavy sigh. Of course they both knew she would find them. All she had to do was ask Aragon. He always knew where to find the younger boy no matter where he went, so it was better to just go and do the lessons than try to run and hide. Both boys had learned that the hard way long ago. Sometimes he really did not like having a Protector. It just wasn’t fair.

  The older boy stood up. He brushed off his pants and gave the younger boy a sly grin. “Race you to the palace!” And then he took off, not even giving the smaller boy the head start he always promised to give to make up for the size difference in their legs and body.

  The smaller boy pouted. It really wasn’t fair. But he put that aside as he raced down the hill. He might not be able to run as fast as his friend, but he could still run and man wasn’t it fun to race through the orchard with his legs pumping as hard as they could go and his lungs nearly bursting from the effort. And maybe one day when they were much older, he’d be able to run as fast as his friend.

  ***

  I opened my eyes with a smile on my face. I remembered. Or at least it was one memory, but it was a start. I knew from all the stories Markus had told me over the last few days that it was a memory, and not just a dream. It fit with what he had told me, but even more than that, I could feel myself as that little boy. I was him, and he was me. A shiver ran up my spine as I felt a connection with my five year old self. And I waited, hoping it would be enough to break loose more of my childhood memories, but nothing came.

  After a few minutes, I realized that was all I was going to get. My released memories with my dad teaching me quat-lo had been different. I’d managed to remember them all after tapping into one, but it seemed it wasn’t going to happen this time. I sat up in bed a little disappointed. How much more would it take to release them all?

  I decided that I wasn’t going to let that get me down. I remembered. Maybe it was only one memory, but it would have to be enough––for now. I threw back my covers and got out of bed.

  The heated floor under my feet felt good as I padded into the bathroom to the shower. Rainus said we were leaving today after breakfast, so if I was going to get a shower, then this would probably be the only opportunity I would get.

  After my shower and dressing, I stepped out into the shared living area of the chalet to find Rainus and Markus were already eating breakfast on the balcony. I went to join them. They both looked to me as I came outside and took a seat across from Rainus and next to Markus. They must have called in an order from the cantina, the table was full of fresh hot food that I remembered from my breakfasts while I was a Cadet.

  “That looks good,” I said as I took a seat and eagerly filled my plate. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I had smelled the delicious food.

  “You’re just in time. It was delivered a few minutes ago,” Rainus replied as he cut into a large casserole of gothnor steak and spicy eggs.

  After he was done, I took a big helping of the dish. It was quickly becoming my favorite breakfast food. Markus already had his plate piled with a little bit of everything on the table and was currently shoving it in his mouth. He gave me a grunt to acknowledge my presence, but that was it. I attempted to hide my smile at his gruff mannerism that I was beginning to realize was a trademark of the man as I took a few pieces of sweet bread to go along with my casserole.

  None of us spoke as we ate. Each of us content to dine in a comfortable silence. Once I was finished, I sat back and took a long sip of the sparkling jazberry juice. I had gotten used to having it with many of my meals, and I loved the taste. It reminded me a lot of grape juice because of its dark color and super sweet taste, though it had a much softer bitter aftertaste. The memory of young Markus and I running through the jazberry orchard came back to me as I looked down at the dark juice still left in my goblet. And a thought came to me.

  “Rainus, did this juice come from Darat?”

  The King looked into his own goblet as if the answer would be held there. He picked it up and took a small sip. He gave a thoughtful look, and then set the goblet back down. “Yes, I believe so. What do you think, Markus?” he asked turning to his son.

  “Yes,” the man confirmed as he filled up his plate for seconds, not even glancing at his own goblet of juice, though I’d seen him guzzling from it earlier.

  “There you have it,” the King said with a satisfied smile. “Not all of the jazberry products comes from Darat mind you, but if I am permitted to say so, the better stuff does. And this is quite good.”

  “The stuff from your orchards are better,” Markus added as he scrapped the rest of the breakfast casserole onto his plate.

  That got an even wider smile from Rainus. A far away look came across his face as if he was envisioning himself drinking the juice. “Ah, that it is. It also makes a fantastic wine. But I keep what grows around River Palace specifically for serving at the Palace, so you must come to visit me soon, so you can taste the wonderful bounty for yourself.”

  I nodded my head eagerly. “I look forward to it.” And I was. After getting to know Rainus and Markus over the last few days, I was eager to visit their home, and the place I had spent my first five years.

  I paused a moment, trying to decide if I should tell them about the memory, and decided that there was no reason to keep it to myself.

  “I ask, because I had a dream this morning. Well, it wasn’t a dream. It was more like a memory. I have found that sometimes released memories come to me in dreams. Anyways, it was of Markus and I running through the jazberry orchard when we were children.”

  Markus stopped eating and Rainus looked to me with surprise on his face. They both seemed unable to say anything, so I plunged forward.

  “It was just the one memory. There weren’t any others, but this one seemed so clear. Markus was chasing me. I think we were playing a game. I’d reached the other side of the orchard and was climbing the hill before Markus caught me and we collapsed to catch our breaths. I remember laying there and seeing the two moons. Damor and––”

  “Faji,” Markus finished. “You always asked me to tell you the story of the two moons. You were fascinated by it––by them.”

  “You told me the story in the memory,” I said quietly.

  The balcony was silent as a stiff breeze from the desert blew across our table. It tousled my hair that had grown out to around my ears in the last few days of constant Remaker treatments. The wind also managed to move the empty casserole container. Markus reached out a hand to stop it from dropping to the floor.

  “Well, that’s progress. I wasn’t expecting it so soon. I’d talked to Elorkis about what to expect for a possible timeline of your memories resurfacing. He said it might be take weeks or months, “Rainus said.

  It took me a moment to realize that the King was referring to Master Kiev. What a friend I was? Kiev’s first name had already slipped my mind, even though I told him to call me by my own and he’d asked the same.

  “Markus has been spending a lot of time telling me about our childhood,” I responded.

  The man beside me nodded his agreement. “He’s insatiable, pavi. He won’t stop asking for stories.”

  I felt my face redden, but I then saw the broad smile on Markus’s face and realized he was just giving me a hard time. “You can say no,” I told him.

  Markus raised an eyebrow, “And get on the bad side of the Heir of the Empire. I think not.”

  I gave him a playful kick under the table, which, of course, he was able to easily evade. The rest of the meal was spent in a comfortable silence as the three of us finished up the last bits on our plates. And as I sat back in my seat with my stomach full and my plate empty, I felt a surge of warmth in realizing that this was the closest I’d come yet since arriving in Ethia to feeling such ease and contentment.