“I hit you to make you stronger, idiot. I hit you because you ask me to. I hit you when you're a fool. I would never harm you if you were hurt, in the body or in the mind. I would die defending you."

He'd been about to say that he knew, and that he was sorry for not trusting her sooner. Except then she added that last utterance. It wasn't some overblown romantic declaration, or some accident escaping her lips in a moment of heightened emotion. It was almost cold, and delivered with the typical level of brutal honesty that Algra was known for.

Somehow that made it far more real, and it only took a glance to see that every single part of her meant exactly what she said. He'd never known anyone who would have died defending him before. Well, his parents might have, but they were sort of obligated in that department. Volunteering for such a duty was quite another thing entirely. The love that always stirred in his chest for her seemed to ignite and radiate a particularly pleasant sensation all the way down to his toes. Not having the remotest idea what to say in reply, he only kissed her again. A kiss that allowed her to feel that heat tingling from his Lips to hers, and lit a fire of her own.

“Ahem, Emmet cleared his throat. By then he knew the signs of impending naked frolics well enough by now to know when to head them off at the pass.

Algra growled, a noise laced with anger and resonating with passion. Gregory's lips shifted into an amused smile at her reaction to being interrupted during such an important smooch. So he decided to break it off and gave her butt a loving Little pinch that always seemed to make her jump in his arms. He leaned in to her ear and whispered out of sight of the others.

“I love you, Algra."

For a moment he thought he felt her shudder against him, and he squeezed her gently before turning back to regard Emmet and Talina.

“What is it, Emmet?" he asked.

“You seem to have forgotten the names of your parents. I think that is a revelation that requires further discussion."

“You're not wrong." Gregory nodded.

“So, when did you notice you had forgotten?"

“Honestly? I'm not sure. I've been thinking a Lot about getting home, but when I think about it then it's more a plan of how to get there than it is thinking about actually being there. It's only been in the last couple of weeks that I even realised I'd forgotten their names. I remember details about them, Like trips they took me on and stuff they taught me. I can remember their faces and their voices. It's just that every time I try to get something beyond “mum" or “dad” it's Like there's this white noise where the name should be."

"I see," Emmet nodded and lifted his hand to his chin. "Is there a reason you didn't tell us until now?"

“I guess that if I'm honest I kinda couldn't believe it was happening. Like, it's such a freakin’ small thing. Y'know? I recalled the names of everyone else I could think of and there wasn't anything similar going on there. My classmates. My teachers. The neighbours. They're all there."

“What about other family members?" Talina asked.

“They were all I had. No aunts or uncles and both sets of grandparents died before I was born. No brothers or sisters either." He shook his head.

"Isn't that strange?" Emmet seemed baffled at the idea of such a small family.

“Here families work farms, orcs have clans, and lineages are very important even to the commoners."

“It's not that strange where I'm from, no. I mean, it's probably uncommon but not so much so that I was considered weird for it. I was weird for other reasons." Gregory nodded with sage-like wisdom in speaking of his innate capacity for weirdness.

"Him. It does seem a very small detail in the scope of things."

“I was thinking it might be a side effect of the ring bringing me here? I mean, Jan put it on and it transported three people into another dimension. Freddie put it on and it made him explode with fire. I didn't come into direct contact with the thing, but maybe it just zapped that particular memory. Like some kind of weird magical side effect? That might explain the fast healing and the crazy sex-drive too."

“We've spoken with Janette about this, and she says that nothing Like that is happening to her," Algra said.

“Yeah, but it's pretty clear that not everyone who gets effected by the ring gets effected in the same way. Right?" he asked; getting three silent nods in reply. "So maybe that's just my thing. I mean, we can't know any more about it right now but I figured that after the provings I could go look for someone who knows more about the subject. Maybe I could ask one of the orc shamans or something."

"That wouldn't be a good idea." Talina interjected a little too quickly.

“why not?"