Rae hadn’t managed to find anything.

It was as if the Servlac knew what he was up to and stayed out of his way, removing the awkward interaction of having to deny his request to talk with their masters. In fact, the first Masked he saw had only been after he gave up on finding a Promem to talk to, as if the Masked were reading his intentions and avoiding him.

The Servlac turned the corner, going straight for him, right as his stomach demanded dinner. They bowed, then offered to take him to the courtyard for dinner. Relieved that he wouldn’t spend the whole night wandering through the hallways, lost, Rae had gratefully accepted.

Now, he found himself back in the courtyard. The Promems had already arrived, and the table that he usually sat at, alone, was occupied. This didn’t bother Rae. Quite the opposite, it suited him just fine. Feeling bold, he directed the Servlac to find him a table that only had a single empty seat. The Masked didn’t bat an eyelash -- not that Rae could tell -- as they led him through a maze of tables. The Promems ignored him as he sat down, but they were also ignoring one another as they ate, so Rae didn’t take any insult.

The Masked moved closer to him, up to his left shoulder, and bowed their head. “May I attend you?” The Servlacs lining the walls seemed to step closer, ready to whisk the offending Masked away if he refused.

Startled, Rae didn’t answer. The past week, Talon had assisted him during the dinners, keeping him company and attending him. She hadn’t shown any signs that this arrangement would change anytime soon, and the thought of having another Masked attend him hadn’t crossed his mind.

Rae gave a cursory look-around, checking to see if Talon was anywhere nearby. Not spotting any sign of her, he turned back to the Servlac, who was waiting patiently, still by his shoulder.

“Er. Sure,” Rae said, feeling both relieved and slightly-guilty at the same time. The Masked lining the walls straightened up, taking their attention away from him. Gracefully, the one attending him arranged the food on his plate, watching for Rae’s approval before stepping behind him and kneeling down. They remained in that position the entire time he ate, only moving when his plate was getting close to empty.

As the Promems around him finished eating they started conversing with each other, little pockets of chatter popping up around the courtyard. Rae was used to not interacting with anyone other than Talon, but he wasn’t used to having a completely silent dinner. The Masked attending him was quiet; the most he managed to coax out of them was short answers, nothing like the discussions he’d lately started having with Talon. Quickly bored, he folded his cutlery in his plate. Talon usually took this as a sign that he would like to head back to his rooms or wait a bit around and try to draw a Rememberer into conversation, depending on his mood.

He hesitantly motioned for the Masked to come closer. “I have a question.”

“How may I help?” the Masked asked.

“Talon told me that standing up indicates availability of conversation?...”

They nodded. “Yes. Would you like me to signal it?”

“Not yet. I was actually wondering, what are the rules for approaching someone that’s signalled availability? Are only some Promems allowed to do so?” Rae asked. During all the dinners that he’d eaten out in the courtyard, amidst the Masked and the Remembers, Talon hadn’t brought this up. He’d waited for someone to go up to him and strike up conversation, but he’d never actually initiated it.

“Of course not! Granted that the other party is willing, anyone may do so.” The Masked’s reply was impassive, as was their posture, but Rae got the nagging feeling that he was being pitied.

“Great, thank you.” Met with no further questions or requests, the Masked nodded and reclaime their position behind him while he thought things over.

Rae looked around the edges of the room, then scanned over the Rememberers seated at his table. The middle of the courtyard hadn’t yet been cleared for dancing, and by now the majority of the Promems were chatting with each other, waiting for the festivities to begin.

Talon had seemed sympathetic to his plight and desire for conversation with someone new -- was it just a ploy to guard the information? Rae couldn’t imagine her being as stingy as to not let him talk with others. ‘She must have not wanted to disrupt things too much,' he thought to himself. Whatever the reason, a week had passed since he’d joined the Promems for meals. Surely they were used to him by now, so they -- and the Servlacs -- wouldn’t frown at him for trying to meet some people.

Rae turned to the Masked, gesturing for their attention once again. “Er, who around here is the friendliest? I’d like to talk with some people.”

Cocking their head to the side, Rae waited for the Promem’s answer. “Noria, but she is still eating,” they eventually replied. Before Rae could nod disappointedly, they added, “She will be free soon enough, I’m confident of that. Would you like to wait, or should I search for someone else?”

“Let’s wait, why not,” Rae shrugged. “Where is she?”

“There,” the Masked pointed. Rae craned his neck, looking over heads and shoulders, to see a figure sit hunched over her plate, a curtain of wavy hair hiding her from the world. She kept pushing back at it.

“Thank you. And could you still signal that I’m open for conversation, please?” Maybe today would be the day that someone finally approached him.

Or maybe not. No one approached him, although he did draw more glances than before. Trying not to let it get to him, Rae waited more than not.

They waited until Noria finished her meal and her Servlac stood up. Rae hadn’t yet gotten the hang of reading the Maskeds’ poses, but his Servlac started walking, so he quickly got up and followed them.

The Servlac came to a stop before Noria's attendant. They motioned to Rae, who waited off to the side, unsure of the protocol. In turn, that Masked tapped her on the shoulder to draw her attention and motioned to Rae's attendant, who once again motioned to him.

Rae raised a hand in an uncertain half-wave, but Noria's eyes had already passed over him and returned to her attending Servlac. "The Promem wishes to talk to you," he said, speaking for her. The Servlac seemed to wait for a reply. "Do you wish to talk to her?" he prompted Rae.

"Right, yes. I wish to talk to her," he nodded. His Servlac sighed at his breach of protocol but the other one and Noria didn't seem to mind. Rae stepped forward, holding his hand out. The Promem took it and gave it a light, almost uncertain shake.

"I'm Rae," he introduced himself. He skipped sharing his last name, hoping that she wouldn't pry and force him to reveal his connection to Kijah'dar. In an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar people, he didn't know how they would react. Back in Kijah'dar, especially in Miladiel, his town, anti-Ga'ani sentiment had been on the rise, and when he left it had been quite rampant. He didn't want to take any chances that his hosts might mirror that sentiment, perhaps gain leverage in the war through his position as Crown Prince.

“They call me Noria,” she said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Nice to meet you, Noria.”

“Likewise."

Formalities out of the way, however awkward they might’ve been, and seeing that they were no longer needed, the two Masked retreated some steps away, giving their charges privacy. With the Masked lining the walls, and others waiting on nearby Promems, it was just the semblance of privacy, but it was appreciated nonetheless.

“May I?” Rae motioned to an empty chair. At Noria’s nod, he pulled it over, sitting down next to her. “How long have you been here?” he asked once he was settled in. Might as well get right to the crux of things.

A look of mistrust appeared on Noria's face, and she glanced towards their two Maskeds. Rae winced internally. A bit too straightforward, then. "I've only been here for a handful of days," he offered, hoping to break through the ice. "I was wondering how long others have been here for. It's a very nice place."

"Yes, it is," she agreed.

"I don't think I would still be alive without the Maskeds," he said honestly. "From what they tell me, they found me just at the right time and took care of me, and also my crew." He explained, "We hit a bad storm, probably ran through some rocks, and got shipwrecked not far from here. The crew is actually still recovering, so I'm just waiting for them to get better. So… how did you get here?"

A shrug. "I don't remember." The distrustful look on her face was replaced by one of confusion. She stayed silent for a bit, studying him. Rae bit his tongue to keep quiet.

"Do you remember much?" she asked. She seemed faintly hungry for information, even if still distrustful of him. “What were you doing? You and your crew.”

Sensing that this was a test of some sort, he shrugged, feigning ignorance. "It’s just what I gathered from what the Maskeds told me. We were…” Rae had a brief blast of clarity. Like a lightning bolt illuminating a path through the dark, his goal was suddenly at the forefront of his mind. Not his goal of finding out more information -- that paled in comparison to the reason why his crew was in Ga’ani, the real mission.

They were on a mission. To start a war? It was hard to think, almost as if he was wading through quicksand, or running, struggling to stay ahead of the storm that threatened to liberate him from his awareness. No, the mission wasn’t to start one. Rae jerked in his seat, feeling the revelation like a spear through his heart. It had already started. He needed to stop it. That’s what he was here for -- diplomacy, a secret show of goodwill, a final rally before the Queen gave up and armed herself like the rest of the kingdom.

As fast as it came, the sense of lucidity streamed away from him as the storm swallowed him whole. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts and drive away a sudden splitting headache. “Where was I? Right. We were… sailing around.”

Noria nodded, relaxing in her chair. "Yes. They are very good at what they do," she agreed. It seemed oddly ominous.

Rae yearned to ask what exactly it was the Maskeds did, but he kept his curiosity at bay, forcing himself to go slow and try to build some trust between them before going for the hardest questions. "Do you remember much?" he asked curiously, posing the same question she asked of him.

"No."

"Nothing at all? How did you come here?"

Noria glanced at her Masked again, as if looking for guidance, or for help. "No, nothing." She didn't elaborate further, but sat all tensed up in her chair.

Looking at the Masked too, then quickly looking away to not attract her attention, Rae changed subjects. "How do you spend your time? What do you usually like to do? I've been mostly walking around the place, but it's starting to feel repetitive."

"Walks are good," she agreed. "Dinner is entertaining. I like dancing."

He didn't share her feelings, finding the whole affair odd and quite eerie, but he nodded anyways, gesturing for her to go on.

"The food today was really good." The main course had been vegetables, sweet and savoury alike. There was no meat, but pastries had been plentiful, as were sauces and nuts on the side of the dishes. Just like the rest of the days. Noria licked her lips. "The Servlac said they only serve it on special occasions, and today happened to be one. I'm glad. I've never eaten anything like this before."

"Right," Rae said. 'Perhaps each table was served a different meal?' he thought, wondering at her words. Today was the first time he'd sat at another table, but the meal hadn't been at all different from what he ate at his usual spot. Perhaps he just wasn't used to it. After all, the Masked had made it seem like they were very familiar with this Promem, so that must mean that she'd been staying at the Keeper's Temple for quite a bit. The fact that she couldn't remember how long she'd been here reinforced that idea -- Rae couldn't deny that the days were blurring together. If he weren’t keeping track of the passing of days through markings in his room, he could imagine that losing count wouldn't be hard.

"What else do you like to do?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"What do you usually do during your days?"

"I don't know."

He tried to keep the surprise and exasperation from showing on his face, struggling to maintain his composure. "Well, what did you do today?" Seeing her hesitate again, he spoke about his own day, hoping that would keep her from retreating again and encourage her to share her own day’s events. "Like I said, I've been taking a lot of walks. I visited the crew, then walked around for a few hours because I got lost again."

"I would get lost without the Servlacs."

Headache not abating, and feeling disappointed that he wasn’t getting information as fast as he hoped for, Rae stood up. Noria got up as well, and their two Maskeds immediately appeared by their sides. “Apologies,” he said to her, indicating to the Servlacs that nothing was wrong. “I’m not feeling very well. If you’ll excuse me?”

“Of course.”

“Perhaps we’ll talk tomorrow again. Have a good night.”

With that, Rae turned sharply on his heel and left, the Servlac attending him telling them a more proper farewell too quietly for Rae to overhear before following him.

“She doesn’t seem that friendly, or she dislikes me” Rae said once they were out of earshot. “I could barely get a word out of her.”

The Masked reassured him, “No, no, you were fine. You can try again tomorrow, if you wish. She will come around eventually, I’m confident of that.”

“Thank you for the support.” While he was talking with Noira, more Promems had finished eating and the Servlacs had moved the tables around, clearing some space for the dancers. A part of him wanted to stay behind and try conversing with another of the Rememberers, but many were already engaged in conversation or dancing, and his headache pulsed, disorienting him.

Not trusting himself to find the right way, he asked the Servlac, “Could you show me to my room, please?”

He followed as they led him out of the courtyard, the sounds of the festivities growing quieter and quieter. The trip seemed shorter than usual, as if the complex was responding for his need to crash in the bed and sleep.

“Would you like me to bring you anything?” They opened the door for him.

“No, thank you. You’ve been more than helpful today. Thank you, really.” The Servlac inclined their head, bidding him a goodbye and leaving.

'No such thing as a sentient building,’ he chuckled to himself after the Masked left. ’This place is already odd enough as it is. The headache is just making it worse, but nothing a good rest won’t fix.’