The next day, at dawn, Mahnu watched as King Richard slept. He was still holding her, and his legs were entwined with hers. He looked possessive, even though he was sleeping. Trying to escape his hold of her, she felt him hold her even tighter.

Sighing, Mahnu poked him with her finger, "Let me go, Richard."

"...mmnnoo..."

Mahnu chuckled at his sleepy mumbles, "Yes!"

"Never let you go!" His small voice and possessive movements only made her chuckle again.

Mahnu pushed him with all her strength, only to have them both fall off the bed.

"Oww! Dam!" The King said, touching where he hit his head.

Mahnu got up, laughing, "Well, you should have let me go!"

"Oww. I'm sure you could have made it happen another way...Other than pushing me off the bed!"

Mahnu stopped, hearing words coming into her head. 'Another way, other ways. What other ways could I try? Did I try them all?'

"Mahnu?" The King's voice didn’t quite reach her.

It had been my own voice, she thought, and it had sounded...Sad. What was the previous me trying to do?

 

"Mahnu!" The King yelled, snapping her back to the present.

"I feel like...I've forgotten something extremely important."

King Richard sighed. Things were already very strange, he thought.

He remembered her screaming and not breathing, most likely because of being tortured in her past. She knowing about the tablet, when it was known she could no longer hear thoughts. And now, she seems sure to have forgotten something that seems to be important.

But it is interesting that she feels that way. She was trying to get the tablet over two years ago. Does she have that much obligation to finish what she had started? Or is it something else?

He sighed, I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about her.

It really started to dawn upon him on how troublesome this woman of his was!

But she was so magnificently naked in front of him right now, how could he feel like she was a burden in any type of way!?

Before his desire pooled down to his groin, he tried to calm himself down, seeing her still somewhat serious…Again, he was worried…

 

"But what are you worried about? That I might actually remember what it is that I've forgotten?" Mahnu stared at him. "That I can read your thoughts? That..." She looked down at her hands, "That I used to be a God..."

In a stunned silence, King Richard blinked and felt an ache in his heart…

King Richard pulled her into his arms in the next moment, "You've remembered? All of it?"

Mahnu shook her head, "No...Just glimpses that seem to make sense. But my mind is filling up with them, even right now."

The King sighed and wondered if it was okay, even if she did remember.

"Do you remember me?" He asked.

"Only from two memories...Three. One was when you were alone, and I was...Snapping necks." Mahnu was very confused to this memory…

"Right! You were really strong...And angry at me. But I was angry at you too!" The King pointed at her childishly.

"Why were you angry with me?" Mahnu asked innocently. She honestly couldn't remember.

"You...You went to them! Honestly, you would have known that they were going to torture you! You shouldn't have bothered! I mean..." He gathered her closer to him, "You had a nightmare about it, didn't you?"

He knew he could be wrong, that her nightmare could have been from any of those thousand years, but…He couldn’t help himself from asking…

…Mahnu was silent as she pieced his information to her dream. "Yes, I remember. I put them into the box myself..."

King Richard interrupted her, "Another reckless act of yours! Why couldn't you just..."

The King stopped. He knew that without her help, the two God's might even still be here, or there might have been human deaths. Sighing, the King said, "I'm glad that you are still here…I started to think that you didn't exist anymore and..." He sighed again.

 

Mahnu put a hand to his face and smiled. A flash of more memories hit her, and her head started to ache even more than before.

It made sense now, why her head was hurting the last couple of days…It looked like the reason was because she was regaining her memories.

…Was it because she has come into contact with Richard again? Would I have still received these memories, if I had never been found?

Unable to question more about it, she put a hand to her hurting head and cringed to the onslaught of pain.

"Mahnu?"

"It's fine, my head..."

"I'll call the doctor!"

She stopped him, and said, "I'm fine, really. It's just slowly all coming back to me."

The King stared at her in silence. His most treasured person was in pain and he never wanted her to go through anything terrible again. But here she was, accepting that pain easily. For a slight moment, he didn’t feel like much of a man. His pride for doing what he could for his woman seemed to have plummeted…

 

Unable to accept that there was absolutely nothing that he could do, Richard asked, "Mahnu...If there's something I can do for you. You will tell me?"

Mahnu smiled at him, "You have already done so much. When I went back to Conrella with you the first time, you changed my entire existence."

She was remembering him now and what she had received. She couldn’t deny that there were a lot of loneliness within her memories, but…Remembering the last few months where Richard had come into her life…Her feelings skyrocketed. Watching him with his children, listening to his thoughts, following him around. Talking once again, feeling special…Wanting…Wanting a lot. She had wanted to eat again, to smell, to be with another…

All these long-lost feelings and desires flooded into her again and she couldn’t help but feel glad once again…Glad to have known Richard and to have experience those most happy times.

"What do you mean?"

His question made her laugh and she replied happily, "Beforehand I didn't want to eat, I didn't have any friends. I didn't laugh or smile, I didn't let people see me, let alone touch me! The sufferings were foremost in my mind and I never thought that I could not love someone or have somebody love me in return. You have given me so much, Richard."

Mahnu had never really been so open with him before and his thoughts took on a whirlwind of happiness.

It felt really good to know that I have been able to give her something in return!

He smiled at his own thoughts and kissed her on the cheek, "I love you, Mahnu, surely you must know that."

"Yes, I do."

 

Mahnu got up and started to walk away.

What do I do when he does that?

As far as she thought back to what she knows of her memories, she couldn’t remember it happening before, so she didn’t know how to respond…

‘I love you, Mahnu’ repeated in her head and she found her heart beating faster and faster…She blinked and felt giddy…

Even if she hadn’t heard it before, right now…She felt pretty good!

"Wait!" The King got up and grabbed her and saw her eyes were shining when she turned back to him. She was smiling and even a small laugh escaped her lips. She was happy that he stopped her, he always made her feel special when he did.

"You were...Teasing me just now. Weren't you?" King Richard put his head to her shoulder, a smile on his own lips.

Mahnu, he thought, I'll never stop chasing you!

"Are you mad at me?" She asked. It wasn't really her intent to have teased him, she just wasn't sure how to respond to his affection.

"Yes! Very mad! I was having a sweet moment!"

 

Richard put his hands around Mahnu’s bare waist, as she breathed out and said. "I never knew the feeling of being in love."

Mahnu's memories had very little black spots now.

…Her past before meeting Richard...The bleakness of the world, the solitude and loneliness…

Then being with Richard and how the world and her had changed. "But when I was with you. I felt like...Maybe it's that feeling..."

Mahnu took a deep breath, why was it so hard to express myself? Was there something wrong with her? Did my head hurt too much?

King Richard let out a chuckle and looked at her, "It's okay, tell me when you're ready."

Mahnu felt wronged! She really wanted to tell him that right now she felt very happy and that her heart was crazily beating for him, it was just…Well, she had no idea why she couldn’t just tell him!

"But I am ready! It's...Hard to say...Why is it hard to say?"

He smiled at her and put his forehead to hers. "Mmm...Maybe you're embarrassed, or shy? You were when we first made love."

Mahnu looked away from him and breathed in. He was right, she hadn't felt embarrassed or shy until she had met this particular man, obviously though, she wasn't so shy anymore. Looking down, to only see their naked bodies, she felt like it was fine…Well, to a certain degree…

She knew he loved her body, yet, just like a few other girls…She did feel shy to do as she was doing!

She should get some clothes on…

Silence filled the room and the King moved her head gently towards him, before she could have a chance to get away. Of course, she was putty in his hands and heard his thoughts of not having to tell him more…That he already felt special…

Then he kissed her…

 

***

 

When it was no longer dark outside, the King got into business because they had made it to Bena the previous day. They were staying at a luxurious house that the King said he had in most of the towns outside of Conrella.

Mahnu didn't know how she felt about that, still to this day, as she had known about it before as well...There are many people without homes, yet, he had homes spacious enough for at least four families!

When he wasn’t here, this place was empty, yet livable. It was also situation in a pretty good area that overlooked the rich and the poor.

On one side there were little houses all close together, leaving minimal room to use a carriage…On the other side, Mahnu was sure without even looking that there was the rich, big houses that could fit up to ten of those little ones!

Knowing of what Bena looked like and where they were, her mind quickly told her in which way that Governor Sedric stayed and that this house was not all that far away from it.

It was nice though, as the place had obviously been looked after and was filled with furnishings for a King. Apparently, these houses have always been around and always only for the King’s of Kralaide…Of course, there was a matter that no one may believe, but Mahnu knew otherwise…In fact…These mostly abandoned homes held her cash…

It wasn’t like she owned the land or the houses, it was the fact that this place was secure and protected well. Within this same location, her buried money was located, and she was sure that it would still be there…

The problem was, her treasure was buried under a big tree that she would normally pick up and move…Now she probably couldn’t do that, simply because she had lost her God almighty strength!

 

Sadly, Mahnu wasn’t sure what to do now about her buried money that was in nearly each town.

Would she even need it now?

But, just like this King’s residence, her money was buried in the other King’s residence’s in the other towns too!

And…The King’s of Kralaide had not always owned these houses at all!

This one in Bena hadn’t even been build until two hundred years ago!

Before that, it was platformed area, with a small house. It’s use back then was to keep the poor commoners from going into the rich noble area and making a nuisance of themselves.

The King of Kralaide, from two hundred years ago, had abolished it…Not because he wanted to stop the separation between the rich and the poor, but because it was a very nice piece of land and at that time, he was in Bena for two months in one sitting…

There were stories for all of them, in which Mahnu knew, but she got over it pretty quickly when she heard that she had to get back into the bed for the doctor, who was supposed to arrive shortly…