The pink marshmallow must have given some signal, or maybe it was a simple coincidence, but within a minute after I had managed to pull myself together, Nurse Joyce and Cynthia returned, a trace of concern in their eyes.

“Now, Dani, first of all, here is your tea.” Cynthia greeted me, handing me a large mug, filled with steaming liquid and with a stylised letter D on the side. Taking it, the heat was unmistakingly and the scent of herbs filled my nose, helping me to keep fully calm.

“Thank you.” I gave her the best smile I could muster.

“You’re welcome.” she smiled back, a small knot of concern in my chest starting to unravel. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you some questions.” she added, the knot tightening back up. There were many questions I might be asked and I could answer so few of them, at least in a manner that I could believe in. And if I couldn’t believe the reality I was experiencing, how could anyone believe the answers I was giving?

“I will answer as best as I can.” I replied, before adding, “Though my memories are…” I paused, trying to find the right word, “They are jumbled, messy. So many things are foggy, others are twisted and make no sense.” I paused again, taking a deep, slightly shaky breath, “But ask away, I’ll try to answer.”

“Thank you. While I’d like to say that I know what you are feeling, I really don’t and while I have some ideas what has happened to you, they are mere ideas, nothing that I can state with any confidence.” she prefaced her questions.

“Let’s start with the simple questions. You said your name’s Dani. Would you provide your full name and origin, please?” she asked and I paused. My name. I knew I was called Dani. But that was it, nothing more. Screwing my eyes shut, I tried to remember, to push past the fog. Three smiling faces, two male, one female, came to mind, two old, one young. The young one looked so similar to the face I could see in a nearby mirror, my own face, but there were no names attached to any of them. And yet, I knew they were my family, my parents, my brother. My twin.

“Hey, it’s alright.” The concern in Cynthia’s voice caught me a little off-guard and I opened my eyes again, only now noticing the tears running down my cheeks.

“It’s not!” I refuted, anger filling me now. “I can’t even remember my parent’s names, just some faces.” I screamed, heat blooming next to me and I heard a growl.

A sad look filled Cynthia’s face, but she simply looked at me stoically, letting me scream at her and I had a feeling she would let me scream as long as I wanted, until I was all hoarse. On the other hand, the growl caused me to look to my side and there, my little Prince Charming was growling at the imposing woman in front of us, the flame on his tail burning larger and brighter than it ever had. Ready to burn the world.

His anger and state of agitation caught me off guard, his willingness to fight for me warmed my heart, just as his flame warmed my side. But there was no foe for him to fight, no enemy to burn. Lashing out, due to my insecurity would be foolish, childish. Wrong.

Closing my eyes, I tried to push away the bubbling emotions and confusion I felt, but they were clinging to me. The warmth at my side, made me think of a flame, the flame on my partner’s tail for example. A flame, hot enough to burn all those confusing, conflicting emotions up, leaving me calm to think and move forward.

Visualising that flame, I slowly fed all the emotions into it, letting them burn and leaving me calm. Or at least calmer.

“I apologise.” I finally said, taking out another tissue to wipe off the new tears. I wondered, how many of those did I have left? “I’m afraid Dani is the best I can do.”

Cynthia nodded, her eyes measuring me for a moment, before she simply continued her questions.

“Do you remember what happened before you woke up on the mountain? What you were doing, or maybe where you had been?” she asked, her voice remaining utterly calm and unconcerned, as if I hadn’t screamed at her, at all.

“I…” I paused, again, looking for words, “I was walking, travelling.” I explained, words coming slowly, but there was more certainty now, “I wasn’t trying to go anywhere and though I had a destination in mind, that wasn’t my goal. I was looking for something, but not outside, not in the world. I was looking for something within myself.” I continued, a sense of confidence growing. The confidence that I had to move forward, if I wanted to find myself.

“Mhm. You look that age.” Cynthia remarked, her eyes flickering to my Prince Charming for a moment. There were more questions, as she tried to probe my memories, but so many of them were foggy, confusing. The few clear memories I had were impossible and not relevant to her questions, though a few of the town-names sounded familiar, as did some of the regions she mentioned.

Finally, after a lot of fruitless questioning and confusing attempts to make sense, she finally gave up, or maybe she simply decided that I needed a break. Either way, my mug was empty and she took it back from me, promising me a new one, after she took care of a few things. Knocking on the nearby door, she called in Nurse Joyce again.

“Dani, Cynthia told me your memories are somewhat jumbled and thus, asked me to go over the care for your partner here, again, just in case some of the things you learned got caught up in the jumble. It really wouldn’t do, if your partner were to suffer due to improper care, right?” she asked, and while there was a bit of an edge to her voice, it was one I could wholly agree to. Trying to play things tough, if it could cause real harm to the sweet Prince Charming that was still next to me, now sitting somewhat clumsily ,leaning against my side,would be utter foolishness. Just the idea made me growl softly.

“No, please do. If you’ve got something to write, I’ll make sure that what you tell me won’t be jumbled. He’s my partner and we take care of each other.” I told her, almost surprised at the force in my voice.

“Excellent.” she grinned, producing a stack of paper, a clip-board and a simple pen, handing it all to me.

What followed put all the lessons I foggily remembered to shame, an intense lecture that saw me fill page after page, not just with information regarding the feeding and care for a Charmander, but also on a Charmeleon and a Charizard, just in case, as she put it.

And once those were dealt with, she started into a broader lecture, going by Pokémon-types, by phenotype and physiology, as if she was trying to cram as much information into my head as she could in the least amount of time.

Finally, she cleared her throat, sounding a little bit hoarse and I realised that the light had changed and now, sunlight was streaming in from the window. Looking at the clip-board, I noticed that there were dozens of sheets, filled with text and the hand around the pen was cramping painfully, to the point that I needed to use my other hand to unclench it, hissing in pain.

“Impressive focus, I’ve got to admit that. But maybe, let your partner sleep in his ball, that’s what it’s there for.” Joyce told me and I could only nod, even if the weight and warmth of the lizard sleeping against my side was calming me, just like the coat I was still wearing did. Once Prince Charming was returned to his ball, I stood, only to stumble forward, getting caught by an attentive marshmallow when my legs refused to cooperate, stiff from the long sitting on a bed.

“I don’t know about you, but I could really do with some food. And maybe, Cynthia has a couple of ideas about what your next steps could be.” Joyce suggested, and my stomach growled in loud approval, reminding me that there had been dinner, but it had been so long ago that I didn’t remember it, at all. Or maybe, it had been jumbled in the mess that were my memories, though my stomach clearly voted that too much time had passed.

“That sounds great. Could you lead the way, please?” I asked, habitually reaching into my backpack for the small, bill-fold I vaguely remembered.

“Oh, don’t worry about the cost, we’ll help you get your feet back under you.” Joyce waved me off and while her words gave me a bit of comfort, they also reminded me that if I wanted to continue eating and being able to feed my partner, I’d need some form of income and given how slim my bill-fold was, I’d need it soon.