"G-good morning, " you stammer. She's even more intimidating in person. Her eyes looked grey in the photo, but they are the color of steel in person. You immediately recall Emerson's instructions. "Emerson went to the library, they should be back by nine. Would you care for some tea?"
   Surprisingly, Ophelia bursts out in laughter her sullen expression melting away. "I'm so sorry, I must have given you quite a scare. My brother hasn't had visitors in so long, I didn't expect anyone to be here." She hangs her cloak up on a nearby coat peg, "Yes, I would love some tea. It should be in the yellow cabinet in the kitchen."
   Heart still pounding, you walk briskly over to the kitchen and locate the yellow cabinet. There is an impressive collection of tea and you eventually settle on a jasmine tea. On the bottom part of the yellow cabinet there is the tea set that was on the table the day prior. You bring the tea into the living room after you've prepared it and pour Ophelia a cup.
   "So, Emerson went to the library. Did he say why?" she inquired.
   "Yes, they said they went to run some errands. He might also be researching why I have no memory of how I got here or why I'm here. All I remember is walking up the path to the inn. They also mentioned checking the records to find any more information that could help me"
   Ophelia furrows her brow as she stirs sugar into her tea, "That is strange. I've treated amnesia before but this isn't like anything I've treated. Usually I'm brought to people who bumped their head or something similar. Not people who just appear in villages in the woods."
"Treated?" you ask inquisitively
   "Yes, I am the town's doctor and apothecarist."
   "You look very young to be the town's doctor."
   "I'm twenty-seven."
   "Ah...well... I'm... that was incredibly rude of me I'm very sorry, I probably shouldn't have said anything."
   Ophelia gives an uncomfortable chuckle , "It's quite alright, I'll take it as a compliment, I get it from my father after all."
   So much for being polite. In desperate need of a change in conversation, you bring the topic back to Emerson.
   "Your brother seems nice." you say, desperately trying to ease the tension
   Ophelia sips some tea, this seems to have put her back at ease. She sets her cup down and says, "Emerson is always kind to everyone, but I'm surprised by how much he trusts you."
   You're a bit surprised, it just seemed like his nature to trust. "Why are you surprised? They seem like a very trusting person."
   Ophelia pauses a bit, weighing her words carefully before saying, "I shouldn't be telling you this but if Emerson trusts you enough to leave you alone with the inn, then you should know this. Emerson has recently left a relationship where the other party was more devious than preferred. She betrayed the inn's trust, thus betraying the family's trust. That is why I'm surprised Emerson left you alone in the inn at all, not to mention alone with the inn. He even let you use our grandmother's tea service."
   You sit a bit in silence, what do you say after something like that? And what does she mean by with the inn? You notice that Ophelia's cup is almost empty, "Would you like some more tea?"
   Ophelia gives a small smile, "Yes I would, thank you." As you pour, her eyes are drawn to the ring on your finger. She obviously noticed the snake ring but says nothing, instead she takes her cup and stirs in some sugar.
  You are just about to make another poor attempt at conversation but Emerson bursts through the door. You glance at the clock, could it be nine already? To your surprise it wasn't nine, it was nine thirty.
   Emerson walks over to the coffee table, moves the tea service aside, and places a heavy satchel that could only be filled with books on the table. "Sorry I'm late, I was talking with the librarian. This is all the information I could find about magic induced amnesia and other similar instances. You wouldn't have happened to be cursed by a donkey have you? Right, you wouldn't remember, we could do some troubleshooting for donkey curses but we definitely shouldn't rule out potions."
   Ophelia's jaw is almost on the floor. Offended, she huffs "Good morning to you too Emerson."
   Emerson freezes, his face only showing a fraction of the panic, "Ophelia, you didn't say anything that would scare away my guest, did you?"
   Ophelia feigns an expression of innocence that could fool any priest, "My dear sibling, whatever could you mean? I would do nothing of the sort!"
   Emerson's eyes narrow, "I know you would never purposely do such a thing, but please be aware that I will find out if you did."
   Ophelia rolls her eyes, "What are you so afraid of? Let's take a look at your books, shall we?"
   Everyone worked well into the afternoon, scouring books and performing tests. You jumped over iron bars, kissed spiders, kitted unicorn hair, and many other bizarre things. It was at the final desperate attempt of throwing a bucket of ice water on your head that Emerson and Ophelia both concluded that their answer was not in the village library. It was time for lunch and as you all sat in the kitchen, which is were you conducted your experiments, Emerson sat mulling over all of his options. Ophelia nudged is arm, "You know where we have to go."
   Emerson gave a heavy sigh, "I know. We'll have to pack, and I'll have someone take over the inn for a bit. Once I find the checklist I'll pick up some supplies..."
   You interrupt them, "Wait, where do we have to go?"
   Emerson walks across to the living room to a hutch and returns with a map from one of the drawers. He lays it in front of you, "We are going to the palace to search through the king's library to see if we can help you. All of our more common and local sources of amnesia remedies aren't applying to you, so we need to broaden our range. The king's library is bound to have something." He points to the map, "We are here in Elderbrooke at the bottom of the map, we need to travel to the palace at the top of the map. It's not terribly far away, but it will definitely be a week's journey at best. Luckily, I have a friend that will be able to help us."