5th Interlude: The Battle of Zest's Gate

"We can recall their skills and their knowledges in our own bodies. Right now, we're living through their memories of the Imperial navy siege at Zest's Gate."

"And have they taken control of your bodies yet?"

"Yes. A few times, but only after waking up."

Jacob considers this information for a moment before he nods to himself and says, "Then I can see only one way to prevent your minds from merging: you need to voluntarily let them take control, at least for half a day. And they must do the same for you. I think you can switch places as many times as you want during the day, but it's important that you share the same amount of time in these bodies. Otherwise, your memories will blend together and you won't be able to distinguish who's who anymore."

Breeze pinches her lips in worry and squeezes Jacob's hand a little tighter. She doesn't like what she's hearing.

Steve, who has been looking a bit anxious since this talk of sharing bodies has started, says, "I too would also like to know what would happen to them. I've become friends with that May, we even hucked balloons filled with condiments at Zelk in one of my memories."

Konrad turns and looks at Steve. "What...? I didn't know we could do that."

Jacob squints his eyes. "I see," he says. "I don't know what effect this could have on your mind, so maybe refrain from doing that. As for preserving the memories of the time they spent with you..." He shakes his head. "It depends on how entangled your memories are. If you manage to compartmentalize your personalities, then perhaps I could make it happen; but only if my friends want me to."

"Why wouldn't they want that?" Breeze asks.

"Because living for so long can be a burden, Breeze. And taking on more memories can be painful for some of us."

The answer seems to bemuse the young fairy.

Steve's shrug in answer makes it clear he doesn't regret doing it.

"I don't know. Anne is very adept at taking over the minds of people who are sane and seizing their memories for her own. The only reason Fedler can be saved is because of her own orb. To awaken her, I suspect you'd need to show her something that would cause a strong emotional response. The stronger the reaction, the longer her awakening would be. This is merely an educated guess however."

Konrad looks at Jacob again, still holding Breeze's hands. "I have some ideas. If we can bring her into the memories of the ISA, there are a few that could give her the shock she needs. But, if we can bring her into our memories, well, I have one that would shock her for the longest time."

"You don't understand. I'm not sure how this dream-sharing of yours works, but if you want Fedler to take back control of her own body, you'll need to do it while Anne is awake. Even then, it'll only be temporary. Also, from what I know of Fedler, you can't use a negative emotion like fear or anger. Anne knows how to suppress those."

"The only person who saw us like this is Edward. I don't know if there's a guard beyond that door. As for where we are, I think we're in Feuilledor. Most likely within the walls of the city."

"Yeah, we were stuck in a bag of holding for a while before we arrived here!" Breeze adds with a frown.

"Edward does. He's left us enough food and water to last for days."

"The meanie!" Breeze says, as if it was the greatest insult ever.

"Out of curiosity, how long have you both been there?"

"I don't know for sure. The Enemy attacked our base on the evening of the 20th of March. They killed many of our members, including the people whose orbs you now possess." His expression darkens as he remembers that night. "We managed to repel the assault and retrieve our allies' orbs, but Edward, he..." Jacob sighs. "Once we reached safety, he knocked me out and placed anti-magic handcuffs on me. He carried me in his bag of holding for a while until he finally put Breeze in it too. He then left us here... I don't know, a week ago? It's difficult to tell without sunlight."

"I can't believe he'd do that to a friend," Breeze mutters angrily.

"Please, don't be too harsh on him. His many lives have taken a heavy toll on him."

The forlorn look he gives her manages to placate her, even if only for a little bit.

Konrad taps the table. "I'll think about it. But he can't make you do anything, can he?"

"No. He wouldn't risk letting me out of this cage."

Jacob stares incredulously at the adventurers.

"You're in contact with him?"

"We're in the harbor at Luxus. We just helped the King thwart a coup. We can send him whatever message you would like."

Jacob narrows his eyes. "Was it the Enemy?"