Chapter 18: The Satellites And The Embarrassing Memories.
Alex sat up on his bed and looked out the window, watching the horse stable behind the inn building. He looked up at the sky and noticed a moon, "Neat, the moon is out during the day." He said absentmindedly.
"Two of 'em are." Elara said, pointing to the right of where Alex was looking. Alex looked at where Elara was pointing, and another moon was there.
Alex jumped up a bit and crawled up to the window, "What the- two moons?!" He said, pushing his head out the window.
"Two out of three are visible right now." Elara said, sitting down next to Alex and also observing the moons.
"Three?!" Alex yelled, which for a short time attracted the attention of a couple of horses and the man attending to one of them.
"Yeah, three. And they are the reason royalty from another kingdom is visiting." Elara said, eliciting a confused look from Alex.
"What do you mean? Is it rare or something?" Alex asked.
"The third moon, which is called Kir and is the furthest away, is currently almost directly above us, but in a couple of days it's going to cause a total solar eclipse. To Kir's left will be Ari, the moon closest to us, and to Kir's right will be Kuo, which is further than Ari but closer than Kir. Together, they will form a triangle in the sky. That is where the crowns of this kingdom gained the triangle shape on the top." Elara explained.
"Wow…" Alex said, and after a moment a confused look emerged on his face, "Wait, you mean my parents wear these crowns?" He asked.
"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't they? They're king and queen of this kingdom." Elara responded.
"So, a solar eclipse is rare, to the point that royalty from other kingdoms visit to watch it?" Alex asked.
"It's not about rarity of it, more so with the religion surrounding it." Elara said.
"Religion? There's a religion based on these moons?" Alex asked. He sat back down next to Elara on his bed.
"Yes there is. It's called Riarism, and it's believed that Riar, the deity of this religion, will make fields more fertile when these moons are in this specific shape." Elara explained, looking out the window.
"And does that work?" Alex asked.
"Yes it does, actually." Elara answered.
"Really?! A god exists?!" Alex yelled, his excitement evident on his face.
Elara shrugged her shoulders and answered, "I don't know."
Alex's expression changed to confusion, "Ha? But you just said that it works." He asked.
"It's true that when an eclipse happens, there is a sudden increase in Xen that temporarily enhances the fertility of the fields for the following few weeks, but there is no evidence that it's some higher being as opposed to a natural phenomena." Elara explained.
"Guess so." Alex responded before lying back down on his bed with a sigh. Elara returned to her own bed, also lying down.
The room went quiet for some time before Elara unpromptedly asked, "Remember when you had a girlfriend?"
Alex turned his head towards Elara, who was already looking his way, "Huh? I never had a girlfriend." He replied, his face barely but noticeably red.
"You did." Elara insisted.
Alex went quiet for a short moment, looking through his memory before confidently saying, "I think I'd remember if I did."
"5th grade? Remember the girl who sat in front of you in class? Sarah?" Elara questioned, and Alex's face changed to a deeper shade of red than before.
"That doesn't count." He quickly responded, looking away at the ceiling.
"But it does. She asked if you two could become a couple, and you agreed." Elara said.
"We rarely spoke before that, and we almost never spoke again after that. And it was 5th grade, nobody is serious about anything in 5th grade. So, again, it doesn't count and I never had a girlfriend." Alex replied.
"Whatever you say, Alex. Whatever you say." Elara said, also looking away from Alex and at the ceiling.
They went silent once again. This time, however, it was Alex who broke the silence with his question, "Hey, Elara, is there some way I can listen to music?"
"Yeah, just imagine which song you want to listen to, I'll make your mind recall the entire song, and you'll be able to play the entire song in your mind." Elara answered, and Alex nodded. He closed his eyes and after a moment chose the song. Immediately after, the song began playing in his mind. Even better, the song was at the perfect volume, not too quiet, but also not too loud.
"Thanks." Alex said, relaxing even more in his bed.
"No problem." Elara replied before rolling over, lying on her side with her back to Alex.
For the next 20 minutes, Alex and Elara lied on their individual beds in complete silence, the only noise heard in their room coming from the somewhat busy outside. The songs in Alex's mind changed whenever he wanted.
Alex sighed and turned his head to Elara and said, "Elara, I'm bored."
"I'm not." She responded. Alex became interested in what his companion was doing to not stay bored. He sat up on the bed and looked at what Elara had in her hand. It was a book, more specifically a manga.
Alex stood up and slowly walked up to her, "What are you reading?" He asked.
"One of the manga from your memory. I recreated it and removed my own memory of it so that I could experience it as if I read it for the first time." Elara answered and showed Alex the cover. Alex, upon seeing and almost immediately recognizing the cover, tried taking the manga from Elara's hands. Elara, however, stubbornly held onto it.
After successfully defending the manga, she held it close to her chest with a grip that could probably shatter bones, "What the hell are you doing, Alex?" She asked.
"Do you even know what you're reading!?" Alex asked.
"Oh, that. Yeah, when creating this I also added some descriptive words that describe this manga so that I'll know what I'm getting myself into." Elara explained.
"And what are those words?" Alex asked.
"'Yuri, light smut(not main focus), wholesome, fluff.'" Elara answered casually, while Alex's face distorted in deep cringe and desire to be swallowed whole by the ground from embarrassment.
"Why so descriptive?" Alex asked weakly, sitting back down on his bed.
"Why are you blaming me? I got it from your memory, ain't my fault you read stuff like that." Elara responded defensively, "And it's actually pretty good." She added.
Alex sighed and held his head in his hands before asking, "You think it's good?"
"Yeah. The plot is pretty good and mostly consistent, characters are not bad, no unnecessary drama, no misunderstandings, and no love triangles. Overall, it's good. Not perfect, not bad, but good." She answered.
"You know what, let's just move on." Alex said, at which Elara shrugged and went back to reading.