"I shall not take away your memories of this place. You have earned my trust. But I must ask that you keep this place a secret," Uxie declared, to the relief of the Wigglytuff Guild whose members gathered by the lake shore, drinking in its stunning sights. Sure, after seeing what exactly the treasure of Fogbound Lake was they all completely understood why the Being of Knowledge resorted to such extreme measures in the first place in order to protect it, and in the back of their minds they had already resigned themselves to losing some of their memories in order to help protect the Time Gear… but the sight of the lake before them really was beautiful, and it would have been a shame to lose such precious memories. But just before Guildmaster Wigglytuff was about to open his mouth to give his assurances that his guild would keep their silence, as well as to give thanks to Uxie for his generosity, the Being of Knowledge spoke again.

"Speaking of memories, however… I do believe we have some unfinished memories in regards to yours, Laura," he said, surprising everyone present, if not for quite the same reasons.

"Huh? But I thought that you said you didn't know anything about what caused her memory loss?" Paula asked.

"That is true," Uxie confirmed, completely ignoring everyone else's confusion and sudden intakes of shock over this bit of knowledge about their friend. "But as I was about to say before the rest of your fellow guildmates appeared… while I have, lately, been more focused on erasing memories, it is also possible for me to help people regain them as well." Upon seeing the dual hopeful looks that started to spring up on Team Rainbow's faces, he hastened to add, "It is not always foolproof, as memories and the mind are complex things. Depending on the actual cause of your friend's amnesia, it may not be possible for me to do much. Laura's unique circumstances in regards to her species might also complicate things."

"That's perfectly all right!" Paula exclaimed. "Any little bit would be a big help. Right, Laura?"

But before the treecko had the chance to give her opinion, Loudred interjected, loudly demanding "WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! Just… HOLD ON there for a second. What… what are you TALKING about? Laura has AMNESIA? Since WHEN?"

Laura blinked at this before cringing a bit and blushing upon realizing that she'd never actually shared this piece of information with any of the other guildmembers. "Um… Ever since I met Paula," she confessed.

"Yeah," Paula gave a nervous chuckle, sheepishly rubbing her neck, "that's actually why she agreed to form an exploration team with me in the first place—I thought that since the Wigglytuff Guild was so well known and had so many resources, you might be able to help her figure out her past."

"…And the reason you never informed us of this so that we could, actually try and help you with this is because…?" Chatot asked, his eye developing a mild twitch at the fact that, first of all, this pair of recruits had neglected to inform anyone of the serious issues that were plaguing Laura, and, secondly, that this neglect occurred in spite of the hope for help being one of their main goals for joining in the first place.

"I mean… we were really busy settling in those first few days… and then there was that whole thing with Azurill… and then by that point it just felt kind of… awkward, I guess?" Paula shrugged, a blush rising to her face as well.

"Especially since you didn't seem to know much about the other issue I had, when I asked," Laura added quietly.

"What 'other issue?'" Diglett asked.

"Indeed, what could be a more pressing issue than the fact that you have amnesia?" his father inquired.

Wigglytuff, meanwhile, who was just as surprised as everyone else by this turn of events but was trying to be a bit more rational, for once—as he realized that this explained a lot about some of the more concerning things he'd noticed about his precious apprentice, and was trying to do some preliminary planning on what he could do to help her once they got back home, especially if Uxie wasn't able to help her retrieve any of her memories—suddenly recalled a conversation the guild had participated in shortly after Team Rainbow's first major exploration. "Oh! Does it have something to do with humans?" he asked.

That jogged Chatot's memories, which he had been searching through in an attempt to recall any questions Laura had asked him recently that he hadn't been able to answer that seemed particularly strange or out of the ordinary at the time. "Ah, yes!" he exclaimed. "Thank you for the reminder, Guildmaster! If I recall correctly… you and Paula were curious about their stories, yes? Specifically, if there were any about humans who were turned into—" he cut the thought off as something suddenly clicked, and then he sputtered, "SQUAWK! Wh-what?! You can't be serious! Are you… are you seriously trying to imply that Laura, our Laura who is obviously a treecko, at one point used to be a human?!"

"WHAT?!" the remaining guildmembers, sans Paula, Laura, and Wigglytuff, screamed. "YOU USED TO BE HUMAN?!"

Laura rubbed her arm nervously as she gave a quiet affirmation.

This just shocked everyone even more. "But… how is that POSSIBLE?!" Loudred demanded. But then he, too, recalled that conversation and remembered something that Croagunk had brought up during it in regards to legends about humans. "Unless… did Laura maybe PULL on a ninetales' TAIL?"

"Oh my gosh, Loudred, how could you even think something like that?" Sunflora demanded, sounding affronted on her friend's behalf. "No way would Laura do something that cruel!"

"But how would we even KNOW?" Loudred asked, his face becoming pinched as he actually stopped for a moment to contemplate the possibility. He suddenly turned his gaze towards Laura, and she cringed under the scrutiny. "If you REALLY don't remember anything about your past, then for all we, OR you, know… maybe you actually WERE a really mean person!"

Sunflora and Chimecho gasped in shock at his audacity, and Paula's expression became enraged. But before she had the chance to lay into him, Dugtrio barked out "Loudred! That is crossing a line! Apologize to Laura at once!"

"I—" Loudred looked around at the disappointed faces of his fellow apprentices and superiors, cringing when he saw the unhappy frown on Wigglytuff's face, and then cringing even harder when he saw that Laura had withdrawn even further into herself than usual and was clutching her arm tightly in a trembling grip. "I—that's—ugh… You're RIGHT. That was WAY out line… I'm really, REALLY sorry, Laura."

"Well, whether she had the capacity for that sort of thing or not, we can definitely confirm—without even having to look into her memories, actually—that Laura was not the human in that particular legend," Uxie suddenly piped up, making many of the assembled jump slightly in surprise, as they had momentarily forgotten his presence. He seemed rather amused by the whole situation, really. "Despite there being many iterations of that particular legend, all of them do share the same detail in common: the human was to be reborn as a pokémon. This implies that after spending an entire life as a human, they would then die and reincarnate—and it is this reincarnation which would be a pokémon. In Laura's case, however, she was born a human and then changed into a pokémon during this lifetime. Therefore, she does not fit the requirements set by this specific legend," he explained. Sunflora crossed her leaves and raised a brow at Loudred in an "I-told-you-so" sort of way, and he shrunk back under the scrutiny.

"Furthermore," Uxie added, "it's my experience that when memory loss is involved, it typically does not result in drastic personality changes. Therefore, if your friend's current attitude and demeanor indicates that she is incapable of that sort of cruelty, then it is highly likely that this held true in the past as well. If there was some sort of major personality difference, then it indicates a much larger problem." He then gave everyone a moment to absorb that information, taking special of note of Laura and ensuring that she was able to regain a bit of her confidence before he switched back to the actual matter at hand. "In any case… as I was trying to explain, the fact that your natural species is a human might complicate things in regards to how much help I can ultimately give you. Though, that is not so much because you were a human, but more because it is unclear what caused you to switch species in the first place."

Laura gave a slow, thoughtful nod. It made perfect sense… though it also made her a little nervous. What if he couldn't restore all of her memories? It would be one thing if he just couldn't help at all—a bit disappointing, maybe, but it would ultimately leave her no worse off than she already was—but given how maddening it was to be in this place, and to have these vague feelings of familiarity with no clear explanation as for why… if a partial recall led to such scenarios becoming even more common, then she thought that might actually be worse. But at the same time… it really did bother her that she couldn't remember anything about her past, even if she didn't express those sentiments too often. Or at all, really, since no one else outside of Paula had any clue there was even an issue until today.

Wigglytuff noticed her nervousness. "It's okay if you don't want to do this, Laura," he told her, moving to be closer to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and looked directly into her eyes. "Whether you get your memories back or not, you're still our friendly-friend, and we'll always do our best to support you," he assured her, giving her shoulders a comforting squeeze.

"Yes," Uxie agreed. "It is entirely your decision whether you want me to try and use my powers or not; memories are intensely personal things, and the process would still be rather invasive, even though I would be trying to help you regain your memories, rather than take them away. Also: even if you do decide that you would rather forgo my help at the moment… that doesn't mean you can't change your mind and return at a later date."

Laura took a moment to think it over. "I think…" she paused, taking in everyone's encouraging faces. Then she took in a deep breath to steady herself, and declared, "I think I do want you to try. Even if it turns out that you can't help much… I think I would regret it if I didn't at least make the attempt."

Uxie nodded. "Very well. In that case, I suggest that you sit down—the process shouldn't hurt, but it might leave you a bit dizzy, or disoriented."

Laura nodded, and Wigglytuff pulled her into a brief hug before he helped her settle on the ground. Uxie floated over and placed his hands on her temples. "Close your eyes," he instructed her. Once she complied, he continued, "I will begin on the count of three. One… two… three."

At that, his eyes, though still shut, began to glow slightly, and Laura's expression became a little pinched. But neither of them made a sound. The members of the Wigglytuff Guild waited with baited breath, but as the minutes ticked by with nothing happening, they began getting a bit restless. Before anyone could say something to break the silence, however, Uxie gave a small "Hm," and lifted his hands from Laura's head. Laura, in turn, scrunched her face up even more before relaxing and blinking her eyes open, her expression a bit dazed.

"So… did it work?" Corphish asked, looking between the two of them. The other apprentices were eager to know as well… but their hearts sank when Laura frowned and gave a disappointed shake of her head.

"Unfortunately, I was unable to uncover any concrete memories," Uxie informed the crowd. Their hearts sank even more, and they tried to prepare themselves to give him thanks for trying, or to comfort Laura over the failure, but before they could, Uxie said something else which brought a bit of hope back. "However, that in itself, Laura, gives me some clues to your past."

"R-Really? That's great! Paula exclaimed. "What does it tell you?"

"First, I should explain a bit what I look for when I delve into someone's mind," Uxie said, settling down on the ground himself so that he would be more comfortable while he explained. He waited for everyone else to follow suit before continuing, "When I delve into someone's mind to manipulate their memories, I typically don't do so with intent to pry—even when my goal is to erase memories of Fogbound Lake, I try not to look beyond the surface level since, frankly, it isn't any of my business. So, what I do instead is to search for certain impressions which I either draw closer to the surface to make them easier to look at, or push farther back into the subconscious, rendering them nearly inaccessible. In truth… when I erase someone's memories, I typically don't actually remove them so much as I simply push the contents down deep within their minds," he admitted. "After all, it is far more likely that people would become suspicious and attempt to come back and search the area if there was actually a chunk of their memories missing, rather than if they still retained some memory of an exploration, but no memories of actually reaching Fogbound Lake."

"I see! So, then they would assume that they really had searched everywhere, but just hadn't been able to find anything, right?" Chimecho guessed.

"Correct," Uxie affirmed, a proud grin on his face. "And this is typically the case with amnesiacs as well—it isn't that their memories are gone, it's just that they are inaccessible for some reason. Typically, what I would see in these instances is a sort of… fog, almost." He paused here, considering something, and then gave an amused shake of the head. "It's actually a little like Fogbound Lake, in a way—the mental fog obscures the paths that one would typically use to find and access their memories, much like the fog here obscures access to the path one needs to take in order to reach the Time Gear. So what I do in this sort of situation is to, essentially, clear away the fog of one's mind."

"But if you couldn't do that this time, then what does it mean for Laura?" Paula asked, glancing between Uxie and her partner—who actually seemed more interested in the explanation on the mechanics of memory retrieval than disappointed that it hadn't worked for her.

"In Laura's case… there really isn't any fog to sift through," Uxie shrugged. "There is a little bit, yes, and some dim impressions and recollections—which is likely why you felt this place was familiar to you—but for the most part… the area of your mind where memories are stored is just… blank. As if it was empty, or locked behind some sort of impenetrable door."

"If that's the case, then… hey, hey! How does that give you any clues to her past?" Corphish wondered.

"Ah, because you see… this is not the first time I have come across such a condition in humans."

Paula frowned. "But… hold on a minute. Uxie, didn't you say that humans had never come to the lake before? If that's the case, then how…?"

"I see your confusion, but while it is true that humans have never come here, that doesn't mean I've never met any—it simply means that in order to interact with the ones I know of, it meant that I had to leave my lake for a while. I actually used to visit with a group of them fairly regularly, but something changed roughly a millennia ago and I haven't really gone out much since." Uxie paused here with a sigh, sounding almost nostalgic. But then he shook his head, continuing, "Ah… in any case, this particular condition is rather rare, and is typically found only in one specific… subset, shall we say."

"OH! I get it NOW! So you're saying that since Laura has the condition too… then it means SHE'S probably part of that subset!" Loudred exclaimed, feeling pleased with himself for putting all that together when Uxie nodded.

"Exactly right. Mind you, this is only a guess at this point—circumstances being what they are at the moment, and especially with the transformation, I cannot say for sure… but the probability is high."

"So… what are these people like?" Laura finally piped up and asked. "If you're right, and I was one of them… what does that mean for me?"

Uxie turned back to her, and she blinked upon seeing a bit more warmth in his expression than had been there previously. It wasn't as though he'd looked unfriendly or mean or anything, but his expression before sifting through her mind had been more placid, full of a more neutral sort of geniality.

"Well," he began, "I suppose that the most important thing would probably be—"

But he abruptly cut himself off, tilting his head in consideration and looking between her and the lake. "Hm… Now there's and interesting idea… and since I'm the one doing it, it shouldn't have any negative effects…" he mumbled before turning to the group as a whole. "Please wait here for a moment," he requested.

Everyone was confused at the abrupt topic change, but readily complied. They watched as Uxie swiftly flew over towards the middle of the lake until he was right above the Time Gear… and then their jaws dropped in complete and utter shock when he suddenly ducked down beneath the water and re-emerged with the Time Gear in his arms. The light dimmed around the Time Gear's holding place, and they all looked around wildly, fearful of time stopping around them… but nothing else happened.

"There is no need for alarm," Uxie told them as he flew back to the shore, easily detecting their panic and immediately guessing its source. "I am the guardian of this particular Time Gear, so the area shouldn't experience any negative effects of time stopping so long as it is in my possession." Everyone gave a sigh of relief, and they watched curiously as he came to a stop before Laura. "That being said, however… would the Wigglytuff Guild mind doing a favor for me?"

Wigglytuff tilted his head, "A favor? Sure! We'd be glad to help you, friendly-friend! And it would only be right after all you've done to help us!"

"Good. Then… would you please hold on to this Time Gear for me?" he asked, offering the precious treasure to the treecko in front of him. Her eyes—along with everyone else's, honestly—widened in shock and she quickly backed up, holding her hands out as if to ward him away… even as a tiny part of her screamed out that she should take it from him, now, right now, she needed it…!

But she didn't betray any of these inner thoughts, instead offering a breathless "Wh-what?!"

This exclamation was echoed by a much louder "WHAT?!" from Chatot. "F-Far be it for our humble guild to question your judgement, Uxie, but why in the world would you ask us such a thing?! For us to take this Time Gear, when another has already been stolen—!"

"Yes… but that very threat is why I wish you to take it with you, and protect it at your guild." That cut the panicking off short, and Uxie further explained, "The Time Gear that has already been stolen, it is the one from Treeshroud Forest. Unlike the Time Gear here at Fogbound Lake, or the one in Limestone Cavern which your esteemed guildmaster has seen," at this everyone jolted and looked to Wigglytuff in surprise—both at the fact that he'd apparently seen a Time Gear before this one and because Uxie apparently knew about it, "that particular location has no secondary defenses. There is no puzzle to solve, or guardian to best. There is only the dungeon itself, which, while perhaps a little larger than most others, is just as ordinary at it appears to be. In that sense, one could say that its best defense was the fact that the Time Gear was, essentially, hidden in plain sight."

"I see, I see… and because it is so ordinary and plain-seeming, no one would think it hid such an important treasure. As a consequence, no one would go looking for one," Dugtrio nodded, thinking the reasoning through.

Paula frowned. "In that case… isn't it possible that the thief just didn't realize it was a Time Gear? I mean, I didn't know what Time Gears looked like until you told us about this one, Uxie, so if they just thought it was some other sort of treasure… then maybe everyone is worrying over nothing? I mean… the fact that it's gone is still really bad, but if it was just an accident, maybe we don't need to worry about any others being taken."

"I wouldn't count on it, meh heh heh," Croagunk shook his head. "Even if they did initially take it without realizing what it was, the fact that time stopped after it was removed would have been a big tip-off that something was wrong."

"Oh, yeah, good point."

"Indeed," Uxie concurred. "That leads me to believe that someone stole it deliberately. And the fact that they even knew to check Treeshroud Forest in the first place…"

"…Means that it's possible they might look for others as well… and that they may already know where some are located," Wigglytuff finished for him, his face grim.

"Exactly. Which is why, if the thief does already have information on the other Time Gear locations… by moving one of them to a completely different area, it would hopefully throw them off the trail. Or, at the very least, give us more time to try and stop them," Uxie reasoned.

"Okay, I reckon I can understand that," Bidoof said, "but why choose our guild, then? We get tons of pokémon coming in and out every day… wouldn't that just make it more likely for someone to find out about it?"

"…No," Laura said quietly, the reasoning dawning on her. "Because they wouldn't expect that we had it… right? Our reputation would protect us… and also the Time Gear… because it would hidden in plain sight, just like the one in Treeshroud Forest. Right?"

Uxie smiled at her cleverness. "Indeed, and that very reputation is one of the reasons why I know I could trust you with this task. Your renown and notoriety are such that even I, who spends much of my time alone, have heard of it… and added to that, another guardian has already proved that your leader, Guildmaster Wigglytuff, is trustworthy."

"Oh, oh? You heard from Ditto?" Wigglytuff asked, growing excited at the thought of his old friend.

Uxie nodded, this time fondly as he recalled the younger pokémon. "Yes. Ditto is probably the most… proactive of the guardians, seconded only by my brother, Azelf, and he always lets us know whenever someone seems to be extremely persistent in regards to finding the 'treasure' of Limestone Cavern… or, in your case, when someone actually manages to figure out the secret in its entirety."

"So, um… what's the other reason?" Chimecho asked. "You said there was more than one… right?"

"Yes," Uxie confirmed, "and that actually brings us back to you, Laura."

Laura blinked in surprise, and her partner asked, "Huh? What does Laura have to do with anything?"

"Just a moment ago, you asked what the people whom I suspect you are a part of are like… the most important thing to know about them is probably the fact that they worship a deity known as 'Relatia'… and that this deity is the one responsible for bringing the Time Gears to our world." Laura's eyes widened. "As such, if you truly do belong to those people… then you would be more entitled than most to deal with the Time Gear, and to act as its protector."

"But… but you said that you weren't certain that I was actually a member of that group," Laura pointed out. "So in that case…"

Uxie merely shrugged. "In that case, my first line of reasoning still holds. But I truly do believe that when you were a human, that you worshipped Relatia; it would certainly explain why this place felt familiar to you—despite never having been here before—as Relatia's people are some of the few who know the locations of the Time Gears," He allowed everyone a moment to let that sink in, before he asked again, "So, having explained all that… will you, the Wigglytuff Guild, undertake the task of guarding my Time Gear? At least until this crisis has passed?"

The guild turned towards their guildmaster, who had a serious expression on his face once more. He looked at Uxie, with his patient expression; at Laura, with an expression that was half scared, half hopeful; at the Time Gear, which, as an inanimate object, had no expression, but which still looked so vulnerable nonetheless, especially now that it was out in the open, and not surrounded by an intricate pattern of light and energy. The he looked back at Uxie, and his mouth widened into a big grin. "Of course we will, friendly-friend!"

Uxie tried to hide a sigh of relief—it wouldn't have been a big deal if Wigglytuff hadn't agreed, and he wouldn't have blamed him one bit for opting out of such an important and potentially dangerous task, but the fact that there was now this extra measure of safety in a situation as dire as this current crisis already made him feel a lot more hopeful about the situation. "In that case, this next part may be a bit tricky; while there are safeties in place that allows a Time Gear's guardian to remove it from its area with no ill consequences, it is not certain what happens when one of them willingly gives it up to another. So we all should be prepared to run as soon as this Time Gear leaves my hands."

"Understood," Chatot said, nodding decisively. Then he turned to the recruits and squawked, "Well? You heard the pokémon! Get ready to run!"

"Yes, sir!" the apprentices all cheered as they put their weight in their front feet (or whatever the equivalent action was, for those whose appendages and methods of locomotion didn't quite fit that description) and turned towards the exit—but only slightly, as they were all still supremely curious and wanted to see the actual hand off for themselves.

Uxie moved even closer to Laura, and once more offered her the Time Gear. "Are you ready, Laura?"

Laura started to reach her hands out for the precious artifact… but then she hesitated momentarily, still wary of the feelings that looking at it invoked. She took a deep breath, centering herself, before trying again. This time she was successful, and placed her hands on the Time Gear in a secure grip. It felt surprisingly warm beneath her fingers, for something which had just been residing at the bottom of a lake, and rather than feeling metallic, like she would have expected, it felt almost like… stone? But smooth stone, rather than crumbly or rough. But more than anything, it almost felt like… like it was alive, in a way. Or that it at least had some sort of emotional ability. Because as she stared into it, and into the light it pulsated… she could swear it emanated some sort of feeling of… joy? Relief? Holding it felt like… like she was coming home, for the first time in… in so, so long…

Laura was so absorbed in the sensation of touching the Time Gear that she almost didn't notice when Uxie let go. Actually, she wouldn't have noticed it at all if not for the unexpected weight change causing her to stumble. The Time Gear was a bit heavier than it looked, though not so heavy as one would assume based on its composition. But before she could devote any more time into inspecting it, there was a bright flash of light, and she felt a surge of energy that sent her tumbling to her knees. Luckily, though, she managed to keep her tight grip on the Time Gear. Unluckily, however, it meant that she was now in a position where she wouldn't easily be able to escape if something did end up happening to the flow of time in the area. But once the light died down and she was able to blink away the spots in her vision… nothing really happened. She looked around a little, but nothing seemed to have changed. Maybe it was a bit darker in the area? But that could easily be attributed to the late hour, or the fact that most of the volbeat and illumise had finished their dances above the water and were headed home. She glanced back towards the entrance to see her fellow guild members slowly relaxing from their tensed positions and also look around in confusion.

"Hm… I suppose that was rather anticlimactic," Uxie said from in front of her, causing her to jolt in surprise and whip her head back towards him, since she hadn't realized he was there. "I'll admit, that was not what I expected to happen… but it is a potentially useful situation, if someone else does end up coming here in search of the Time Gear." He floated a bit away from her, slowly turning around and taking in all the sights before turning his gaze back on the artifact in her arms. "Of course, the fact that the Time Gear is still in close proximity to the lake, despite no longer being in my possession, might be affecting things somewhat…" He hummed again before coming closer again and offering her a hand up, which she took, before leading her towards the rest of the guild. "Come—I will join you for a bit of your journey back down, in order that I might observe the effects of distance on the lake."

It was, admittedly, a little awkward to be sharing the presence with a legendary, especially one who was treating the endeavor as an almost scientific curiosity. The fact that no one really had the chance to discuss what had just happened—whether in regards to the revelations about their teammate or the ramification of the task they'd just been given—didn't help much either. Although, speaking of recent events…

"So, um, Uxie… I know that you couldn't help Laura out with regaining any of her actual memories… but do you know of anything else we can do to try and help?" Paula asked on behalf of her partner—who seemed too absorbed in hugging the bag now holding the Time Gear close to her chest to pay much attention to the attempts at small talk going on around her. She'd had enough presence of mind to put it out of sight once Loudred made a joke about the possibility that she was the real Time Gear thief all along, with how much focus she was putting on it and the way she'd refused to let anyone carry it, but she hadn't noticed when Sunflora subsequently exploded on him, scolding him for the tasteless joke—especially since she hadn't let him off the hook yet for how mean he'd been to her over the whole ninetales thing.

"Hm?" Uxie replied, rather distracted, as he glanced at her from where he was floating—backwards, so that he could keep an eye on the lake as it seemed to grow smaller and smaller the farther they moved away from it. But the change in perspectives seemed to be the only change afflicting Fogbound Lake; it was otherwise perfectly normal, despite its lack of Time Gear. "Oh, right…" Uxie said once Paula's words finally registered. He tilted his head, thinking through some possibilities. "I suppose that using an aura crystal might help, but those are extremely rare. Especially lately, for some reason," he mulled things over a bit more before shaking his head. "Unfortunately, there typically isn't much that can be done about this specific condition. However… I believe in Laura's specific case that the issue will resolve itself when she's a bit older."

"Oh wow, really?" Paula asked, excited, before shaking her friend's shoulder in an attempt to get her attention. Once she caught the treecko's gaze, she smiled widely at her. "Hear that, Laura? Uxie thinks that you just need a little patience, and that you'll get your memories back when you're older!"

"Golly, that really is great news!" Bidoof, who had evidently been listening in on the conversation—like most everyone else had been, actually, even if some were better at hiding the fact than others—said from Paula's other side. "How long do you reckon she'll have to wait?"

"Not too long—if my theory is correct, then things should become clearer for you once you turn thirteen."

Everything screeched to a halt.

"What?" Chatot asked, sounding scandalized. "What do you mean, once she turns thirteen? How… how old is she now?"

"Based on how developed your mind seemed to be… I would estimate somewhere around ten, maybe eleven years of age. Possibly twelve, at maximum."

"WHAT?! YOU'RE ONLY HOW OLD?!" everyone demanded, absolutely flabbergasted by the revelation of how young she actually was.

Everyone except Paula, however, who was significantly calmer as she said, "Huh. I thought you were a bit closer to my age, but it looks like you're actually a few years younger than me!"

Chatot's eye started to twitch. "And… dare I ask exactly how old you are?" he said in a strangled voice, extremely wary of the answer.

"Thirteen," was Paula's matter-of-fact reply.

"WHAAAAAAAAT?!"