Nod. "And it would also seem risky to test. Hmm. It seems that fairy memory for people's names works somewhat differently than it does with humans; is that also true for your knowledge of your own name?" She's frowning. "I am trying to think how I can do this without risking learning it. The amulet you are wearing does not technically block my Mindhealing but does block Thoughtsensing, so it would prevent me learning any content of thoughts, but usually for something this fiddly and involved I would want Thoughtsensing as well, to check if I was making mistakes. If you think you can very accurately report on your thoughts to me while redacting the name, though, that might suffice..." 

"I'm not actually sure if the way I remember my name is like the way I remember others. I started knowing it. It's much more likely-seeming to me that Mindhealing can't be used to learn my name because of the immunity than that, say, compulsions can't, but I can probably report on my thoughts pretty well? Depending on how much detail you need. I think faster than I talk. Can you make yourself forget it too if you learn it, since it's just a normal memory, for you?"

"- Oh, yes, I can do that easily. It is much simpler to make myself forget something I only learned the once, if I do it immediately. I am worried this will be hard because it would be entangled with more of your past memories, but I suppose less so if you rarely think of yourself by that name because everyone in Fairyland goes by nicknames?" 

"Right. And even Thorn didn't casually toss it around."

"Mmm." Nayoki manages not to make a face about the mention of Thorn. "All right. Since you dislike mindreading and would find that distracting anyway, I will start out trying it without. I need you to think your name, without saying it is fine, just so I can see where the memory is in your mind." 

She shivers a little but thinks it.

And - there, that part of her mind. 

"Can you think someone else's name that you know, now? So I can see if the memory is at the same depth and salience, or less so." 

Nayoki's own is like so.

Does it seem like a similar brightness and salience in Promise's mind to her own name, or is it different? 

Different.

Huh. "All right, I think this ought be doable. I need you to recall memories of past occasions when your name was relevant - where someone else said it, or learned it from you - so that I can better see the bounds of what I need to be blocking, here. I will try not to block the entirety of those, just the link to your knowledge of your own name, but the most likely failure here is that I block the full memories of everything where your name came up in the past. Are you all right for me to go ahead?" 

"Yes."

Then Nayoki will watch what pathways in her mind light up or shift when she retrieves her name-related memories, she tries to gauge how extensive they are, and then she warns Promise she's about to begin and, very very very carefully, she starts putting in a block around the place in Promise's mind where her awareness of her own name lives. 

Her Gift has some odd sensory effects, but she's not doing anything big and it's very mild. 

"- Tell me what that feels like now," she says after a minute or so. "There might be a moment of disorientation when you try to think about your name...?" 

Promise tries to remember -

There's a brief, odd sideways zig in her thoughts and then she can remember it fine. 

"Ah, thank you," Nayoki says, noting the pathway routing around the edge of the unfinished block. "I will keep going now, if you are doing all right?" 

"I'm okay."

Nayoki keeps going. Every so often she asks Promise to remember her name, or think of one of the associated event-memories, to check the result so far. It gets progressively harder and harder to do so, and then at some point her name doesn't seem to be 'in' the memories at all, there's a dizzying sort of blank spot there, and if she tries to just think her name, the first attempt flat-out fails and leaves her a bit disoriented. 

"Almost," Nayoki says. "It may not be thorough enough yet. I want you to try to recall your name directly, and be very persistent about it, see if you can get there eventually." 

Promise tries. What did she know, when she was new in her tree - what did she choke out when she was at what she thought was her limit, when Thorn first had her -

Most angles she can try for it don't work - there's a blank, or she's suddenly thinking about something random instead - but eventually, with enough persistence, she can get through and remember it. 

"I can still dig it up."

"I think I saw the angle where you can still reach it. I am nearly done but it will be about another ten minutes. Do you need a break first or anything?" 

"I want to get it over with."

"All right." 

And Nayoki spends the next ten minutes carefully, painstakingly sealing up every last crack she can find that could let Promise through to her name. 

"Done," she says finally. "You are probably going to feel tired after this. And - I cannot promise it is completely airtight, it is difficult to make perfect blocks, but it ought at least be very hard and time-consuming for anyone to compel you to recall your name." 

"Which will at least give me some time to think of another way out of the situation, hopefully. Thank you."

She goes and has a nap in her tree.

No one bothers her there. 

Whenever he next happens to see her, Leareth asks if she's finding the book about Valdemar helpful and whether she still has questions.