We sat down at the table with Custos and dug in to the remains of the breakfast. We chatted a while in silence, but soon I decided it was time to get to business.
"Meera," I said, sighing a little inside. I found I was quite enjoying the easy company of the others. "You said to me earlier you had hidden something in a box in the ashes we saw spread across the room at hour house."
I paused, weighing Meera's reaction. I wanted to make sure I wasn't crossing any lines. That she didn't tell it to me and me alone, expecting me to say nothing to the others. Then again, Rosa and Meera were closer than me and her, so I hoped she wouldn't mind me bringing it up in front of them. She didn't seem to find. She actually turned to Rosa herself and took up explaining what I was talking about.
"Oh, I had to tell you, but I haven't seen you for a while now," she began, "I think I might possibly have something on who I am and where I came from. Well, where we came from, I guess. It's not much, but it's more than nothing, hopefully."
Rosa's eyes were sparkling now. She was excited about the news. And so was Meera.
"So, what is it?" I asked, catching on their excitement. I was nervous. My heart was hammering in my chest, anxious to hear what she had, no matter how small it was, no matter how small a chance it might actually lead to something.
"I may have found someone, who knew me before," Meera said. The rest of us, mostly me and Rosa, since Custos still wasn't all in on the whole situation, just stared at her for a moment. Then we both began talking at the same time.
"What?"
"Who?"
"Where?"
"Ho.. how? How is that even possible?"
"What happened?"
"Did you meet them?"
"Guys," Meera said and we shut up. She nodded, "I remembered something," once again all I could do was stare. I blinked, trying to get my mind to work. It didn't. It was all blank. My heart was hammering harder than it had ever so far that I could remember. Meera continued, "I think. I think I remembered something. It's very vague, but the idea of remembering is very clear, even though I can't make out any of the details. And I'm sure it's not a memory of something that has happened and been almost forgotten after I lost my memory. It.... feels different. It's hard to explain."
She paused, looking at us. We didn't say anything. I don't think any of us could say anything. She took a deep breath. A long enough breath I almost snapped at her to keep talking. But it wasn't quite long enough. And snapping at her wouldn't have been nice anyway, and I really did want to be nice to her.
"There was a man in that memory. He was... a friend, maybe? Or a brother? Someone I was close to anyway. Though no, even though I don't remember his face very well, he didn't look much like me, so probably not a brother," she paused, thinking, studying my face carefully. "I think he actually looked more like you than me," then she shrugged, "Might easily be a coincidence. A lot of people kinda look like someone else.
"Anyway. I remember I liked being with him. It was someone I trusted. I have no idea when this was. It might be it was only hours before I woke up in the forest, might be a long time passed. There's no way to tell. He was trying to dare me into doing something. I can't remember what it was. I only remember it was something dangerous, or at least risky. Something taboo. Something no one knew much about, and no one liked talking about. When you last night said we're probably from the other side of the river, I started wondering if it was crossing the river, to the other side. But I don't know. I can't remember.
But I did do it. What ever it was, the man succeeded in daring me into it. And I do know... well, I have a feeling, something I can't quite explain, because it's not something I remember exactly. What ever it was I did got me into trouble. Not normal trouble, like you get in your village or with your parents. But big trouble. What ever it was is connected to me not remembering anything, and waking up in the forest. I don't know how. And I'm not really sure what I mean by trouble. All I know is that I wouldn't have lost my memory, I wouldn't have woken up in the forest if I hadn't done what ever it was I did."
We were all quiet for a moment, absorbing the information, trying to understand what she had just told us. I opened to mouth to say something. I closed it again, not knowing what I was about to say. The stunned silence stretched.
"You said you had found something..." Rosa whispered, having recovered even a little of her voice before any of us.
"I think I found him," Meera said, "I had been looking for some sign of who he might be, which was hard, since I only had a vague memory of what he looks like in my mind, but I think I may have found him. I kept all my research in that box hidden in the ashes. I know, it's weird, but keeping all the things out on the table made me nervous, like I wasn't being careful enough, and some weird paranoia made me hide all of it. I didn't think rationally it was important enough to hide, but I now I don't know anymore. If the guys who are after me took it, maybe he is somehow important to something. Or maybe they were looking for any sign where I would be going after I got away..."
Her voice faded away and her face turned to horror.
"They might be going after him," she whispered. "If I really did find him, they might be going after him."
"We have to go find him," I agreed, finally getting my voice back. My body hadn't yet calmed down. It was all very confusing. I didn't know what to think about all of this. But I did know we had to find this man. We had to find him. "Do you remember where you think he is?"
Meera nodded, her face a little pale. I sighed.
"But before we go, I'm sorry. I need to ask you something else. Something that doesn't have anything to do with this. Probably," I continued, "One of the men who's after us called me piper during the.... well, not exactly a fight. And we wondered if you knew what that means."
"Well," Custos said slowly, "A piper is some kind of a... player, right?"
He looked at us and Rosa nodded.
"Plays a flute, or some kind of pipes, I think," she said, "But I don't know why they would call you a piper."
"I think I have an old wooden flute somewhere in the store," Custos said, standing up, "I go check it out."
We waited nervously, quietly, as we listened to Custos going through a closet, every now and then banging his head somewhere or dropping something on his toe or something, the bumps and curses audible to us. Rosa smiled a little bit, but it was tense. Finally Custos returned and held out an old wood flute. I took it carefully and turned it over.
I didn't remember ever holding any kind of an instrument, but it felt weirdly familiar in my hands. My fingers found their right places (I thought) automatically, having a memory of their own without me knowing anything about it. I looked up at the others. They nodded, half-excited, half-nervous.
I lifted the flute to my lips and blew carefully.
_________________________________________________________
Yeah, ok.
Your topic for tomorrow is Current
~matu
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