49. Help From A Stranger

Over the trip, Cris meets a dark-haired woman who goes by the name Davina. Having saved his life, they make a blood pact and she tells him that she will go to him whenever he needs her. Feeling lonely in Mulgore, Cris summons Davina to chat.
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“You’re blocking you memories? Did you choose to do this?”

“It was suggested that I do this.” He lied. Her remembered his words to Tia that day. “No, I asked her to help me forget.”

“And you expect to heal like this? Blocking out the one thing that is hurting you the most?”

“And what am I supposed to do?”

“Heal. That’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s the healthy thing to do.”

            Cris looked at the woman in the tent with him. She had already woken him up from a night terror once, and the fact that she was still there watching over him eased his anxiety, but he still didn’t trust her completely. The fact that she went all the way to Mulgore to be with him from wherever she originally was located amazed him. She said she would, but she was still a stranger to him; someone who only knew about him. He had so much to learn about her.

            She spoke to him of her anxieties with love, making him feel as if he wasn’t the only luckless soul in the world. The memories of her lingered longer than usual and for the first time, he realized that he was fine. He was out there exploring the world for himself, not for her, not for them, but simply for him. He was determined to find someone to fix his mind once more, but that would have to wait until he was done with his journey.

            “Sleep. I’ll watch over you.”

            Cris stared at her, “You’re…staying here?”

            “It’s raining outside. This is the smarter choice.”

            For a moment, Cris chuckled and shook his head. Normally, any woman staying with him would soon be naked next to him, but this one was different and the circumstance was different. The dark circles under his eyes were his sign that he needed sleep more than sex, so he obeyed. He lay down on the mat and stared at her once more. She reached out and moved a strand of auburn hair from his eyes, retracting her hand and turning to gaze out at the rainy evening.

            Cris’ eyes soon grew heavy and he slept. For more than ten minutes. For more than twenty and thirty. For the first time since he left Silvermoon, since she tried to give him her soul, since he ran away… Cris was able to sleep through the night without the night terrors haunting him.

For the first time in a long while, he felt normal again.