The old wizard continued to confuse Number One. She wondered if he was like this often and tended to confuse even himself. When he asked her for his name, Number One frowned, her expression concerned. "Your name?"
How does one misplace his name? Then she remembered one of the few human friends she managed to make in the last town she and Nicholas stayed at. The girl was an outcast, teased for choosing to isolate herself, sitting around outside, scribbling furiously in a journal in her spare time instead of talking to other people. Once Number One got to know her, she discovered it was because the girl's beloved grandmother was dying of Alzheimer's. As a Loric, Number One did not understand this illness. All she understood was how deeply her friend was affected by her grandmother having it. She didn't know anyone else from her planet who were of that age. The other Gardes were young like her, around her age, and even the Cêpans were no older than their thirties or forties in terms of human years. She understood, however, that growing old and the degenerative diseases that sometimes came with the territory was a sensitive subject for humans.
Not knowing if this was the reason for the wizard's forgetfulness, her voice was warm and gentle when she responded. "You told me your name was Fizaban."