This is the Year (Chapter 8)

"No luck again?" Dyari was there, waiting for me with a pot full of soup.
"What do you think?!" I snapped at him, collapsing on the boulder I now used as a bed.
"Uh... No luck?"
"Exactly." He handed me a bowl of soup and I carefully slurped the piping hot liquid. As annoying as he was, sometime ago he had picked up the knowledge of cooking. I was grateful for what little he knew how to cook, for by the time I had finished searching, I was usually too tired to make anything to eat.
"And what are you going to do about it?"
"How am I supposed to know? I've searched all the snow capped mountains PLUS all the ones that aren't already and I still haven't found anything."
"Ouch..."
"No, really?" I rolled my eyes and finished off the soup. It was slightly bland but it was food all the same. I chucked the bowl at him and lay down on the boulder.
I wondered how Dyari had stayed looking like the same 18 year old boy he was when we first met, but it only was logical that he jumped through time so that it would still be almost his mother's birthday in his time and he would still look his time's age. It was a confusing concept that made sense sometimes and sometimes didn't. The whole time travel thing confused me.
"You know, if you don't find it soon, I'm going to start looking too old for my time."
"I'm aware of that." I muttered, closing my eyes. I really didn't want to talk tonight. We usually talked until I fell asleep, but today I was more tired than usual and was extremely frustrated.
"And just because you think I'm good for nothing doesn't mean I can't help."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, I finally figured out that the flower is to bloom this year. I messed up the time, and I'm sorry to have made you search for almost 2 years now. My calculations were off! At first I thought it was two years ago that it was supposed to bloom and then I thought it was supposed to be last year, but it's this year!"
"You have GOT to be kidding me!" I screeched, sitting up and glaring at him.
"Sorry! Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!" he apologized hastily. I growled and then lay back down to sleep. At least it would be easier this year since I could just teleport to each cave instead of manually searching. I would have to store up energy for a couple days though.
"I forgive you, but now you have to let me sleep. I'm going to be here for a couple of days so I can collect enough energy to search through all the caves at once." He immediately shut his mouth and presently, there was the sound of ripping air. I knew that he was going to his time, and he probably wouldn't be back for a couple of days as I waited for my energy to recover.
I tossed and turned as I tried to let myself fall asleep.
It sounds strange, but it didn't hurt to toss and turn on a boulder. What did hurt was my head and eyes, for my head hurt from concentrating so much and my eyes hurt from peering in the dark. I tried to stay still, but no matter which way I turned, it was uncomfortable. This was unusual. Normally, I would fall asleep instantaneously. But today, even though I was exhausted, my body wouldn't let me fall asleep.
Giving an exasperated sigh, I opened my eyes to see the sun peaking over the tips of the mountains. I groaned and then sat up. I couldn't sleep when it was light. So, I sat on the boulder and tried to meditate. Which didn't help because my back became sore after a couple of hours. It was impossible to meditate when I had a back shooting spasms of pain. I stood up and stretched at that point, my back bones cracking. I wined at the sound, but it felt better afterwards.
The sun was steadily climbing up the sky as I lay down on the boulder again and closed my eyes. I knew I wouldn't fall asleep, but it was a comfortable position for staying still.
As I lay there, I shuffled through my memories and brought forward all the different caves I had been to.
On that subject, it's hard to explain what exactly I was doing. it was sort of like my memory was a giant room full of filing cabinets that was organized chronologically. These chronological cabinets had files and files of things that had happened. If someone were to ask me about something that had happened, I could search through these "files" and find the information that was needed. Sometimes it took me a while because I did have to remember around when the event took place, but it was always there. One could say that I have photographic memory, but it's not the same thing. It was more than photographic memory.
Anyways, I pulled out all the caves I had gone to and put them aside in a special...folder I guess you could call it, so I could find them quickly. It was a bit like a person grabbing some papers, stuffing them in a folder, and putting them on an empty desk to find later.
By the time I opened my eyes again, the sun was beginning to set. It was amazing how much time past when I was going through my memory files. I gave a yawn and then that night, I was able to fall asleep almost immediately.