Pieces, Part 26 - Trust

We spent dinner talking to people, inquiring them, as subtly as possible, what exactly were we supposed to be doing there. Most people weren't quite sure about the details themselves, saying that we were training to help people as if that was explanation enough. Others said that we were learning to harness magic with our flutes, and use the music to save people. No one knew what exactly that entailed, and what people needed saving from. Everyone kept repeating that the "cleansing" was getting very close.

I didn't like that word. It sounded... genocidal.

The dining hall was adjacent to the main room. It was also large, even larger than the main room in fact, though not as tall, and it had more of the winged humanoid statues lining three of the walls. One of them had a row of windows instead, looking out to the garden and fields that must've grown most of what the people here ate. It was empty now, of course, the snow thick on the ground. I stared out the window, stuck in my own thoughts after I finished and waited for everyone else.

Everything was so weird. None of the people I'd talked to seemed to mind living in isolation, but to be fair they didn't know about anything else. They thought they were here of their own free will, but they were being used, kept here without their consent. Meera and I had figured it out and that's why we'd escaped, right? Right?

I couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. A lot of things were wrong, probably.

After dinner we went back to the main room, but I retreated back to my own for the night soon after. We'd spent most of the day walking, either in the forest or around the facility, and I was tired and my feet were screaming for a rest. Rosa said they'd stay for a little while longer, trying to get something out of someone. I left them to it, after sharing a look with Avani. They'd find something, eventually.

~x~

About an hour later I was leaning back on my (surprisingly comfortable) bed when someone knocked on my door. I went to open it, assuming I'd find one of the other three outside it, coming over to tell me some kind of new revelation they'd uncovered. I was partially right, as Meera was standing a little further from the door, but so was the man from way earlier, the man who appeared to be in charge. He smiled at me.

"Nicolas, I heard you'd retired for the night, but I'm glad you weren't quite sleeping yet," he said, his voice overly sweet. "May we come in?" he asked, gesturing at himself and Meera behind him. I glanced at her quickly - she shrugged, an apologetic look on her face - and then I stepped aside to let them in. I closed the door softly behind them.

"I suppose you came to have that talk now?" I said, managing to keep my voice level.

"Quite right you are, my boy," said the man, turned around and stuck out his hand. "I never introduced myself, did I? My name is Damon. I'm the Organizer."

That gave me pause.

"The Organizer? I thought you were the Leader?" I said. Judging by the look on Meera's face, she'd thought the same. The man, Damon, laughed a little.

"Oh, heavens, no. Whatever gave you that idea?" he said cheerily.

"Well, you did seem like an important boss person," I said, uncertain of what exactly to say. We didn't want him to suspect we remembered more than we should. "And... Christoph said something about someone named 'the Leader'."

"Yes, there is 'the Leader', but it is not I," said Damon. "Although, as the Organizer, I do suppose I am the... 'boss person', as you put it. I'm in charge of making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible, as per the requests of the Leader."

"So who is this 'Leader', then?" asked Meera, sitting down on my bed and crossing her legs. Damon went over to the small desk in the corner of the room and pulled out the chair that was tucked under it. He took a seat, and I walked over to the bed as well, sitting down next to Meera.

"The Leader is the reason we're all here," he said, his eyes sparkling. "The reason this whole place exists. The Leader is wise and good, and wants to help the world beyond, and she needs our help to do so."

"'She'?" I said. Damon nodded and leaned forward.

"She has been working on the Plan for a long time, probably decades, and it is almost perfect," he said, continuing to lean forward. "And when it is perfect, the Cleansing will be done, and the evil eradicated."

"What evil, exactly?" Meera asked.

"Death," said Damon. "Terrible, horrible, black death."

"You're eliminating... death?" I said, not sure what I'd expected but pretty sure that wasn't it.

"Trying to, anyway," said Damon and leaned back again. "We're making people's lives better. As soon as the Leader perfects the Melody."

"And the melody is... the flutes, yes?" said Meera. "What exactly are the flutes?"

"They are instruments of great power," said Damon. "Used to control a lot of things, including magic and minds. But I don't really know the specifics, Instructor Manfred should explain that to you when you begin your training tomorrow. Either way that is not what I wanted to discuss with you..." He paused, just briefly, but it seemed clear that he wasn't planning on answering any more questions about that, so we kept quiet. "Nicolas, Maya... what happened?"

We paused. I glanced at Meera. She glanced back.

"Sir, I don't..." Meera started, her brow furrowed.

"Yes, I know, I know," he interrupted, sighing. "You don't remember anything, because of the river... But... are you sure? You don't remember... anything?"

"Specifics? No, not really," I said. "But there is a certain... feel in this place that seems, well, familiar. Like a really strong sense of déjà-vu."

"That... that's a start, yes," said Damon, nodding. "What about you, Maya? Do you feel anything?"

"I'm afraid not, sir," she said quietly. Her face was downcast, and her brow knitted together in sadness. "Everything is blank."

"How unfortunate..." Damon sighed and stood up. "Perhaps... with time. And perhaps once you get your flutes back in hand it'll come back to you. We do hope you'll remember us soon."

With that he bid us good night and left my room. The tension I hadn't really even noticed was in me washed away as soon as the door closed behind Damon's back and I really felt like just slumping down onto the bed and sleeping for so long, but Meera had stayed behind, still sitting on the bed deep in thought. I nudged her carefully.

"I think he really does think they're here to help people," she said, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Just because he thinks so, doesn't mean it is so," I countered. "And I still want to punch him in the face. He seems so... smarmy. Like everything he does has a hidden, selfish reason behind it."

Meera regarded me for a while, quietly studying my face.

"Are you sure you aren't letting your presumptions cloud your judgement?" she asked finally. I gaped at her.

"What?" I said.

"I'm just saying, that maybe you think everyone is so unpleasant, because you want everyone to be unpleasant. You're expecting to find some kind of, what? Evil organization that kidnaps people here? People who belong to something like that do sound very evil, but you mustn't forget that they are still people."

"Meera, they're keeping people here against their will," I said, amazed that I actually had to spell this out for her.

"I don't know," she said instead of understanding. "None of the people we talked to during or after dinner seemed like they were unhappy or felt detained."

"That's because they don't remember what it was like, before," I pointed out. A slave is a slave even if he doesn't know he's a slave. "Besides, we escaped, didn't we? Why would we have escaped, if everything here was so squeaky clean?"

Meera didn't have an answer for that, so she stayed silent for a while.

"In any case," she said, eventually. "What we need to do now, is figure out exactly what this 'cleansing' is, what the flute playing is for, and how to get everyone their memories back."

"Yeah... And that means," I said, looking over at her and she nodded, "that we need to go talk to this... 'Leader'."

~x~

The morning was clean and crisp, and I woke up without the sleepy haze one often has when one first wakes up; my mind was completely clear. I lay, staring up at the ceiling, for a moment, and then pushed myself up on the bed and got dressed. After dinner yesterday we had been told that breakfast was served flexibly, and that we could go over to the dining hall whenever we woke up to eat. I did just that, considering for a moment knocking on Avani's door, but deciding to let him sleep in case he needed it. He had seemed exhausted yesterday, even if he had slept well the night before. I also didn't want to wake either of the girls up, so I went to have breakfast all by myself.

Well, not all by myself, I thought, when there were already several people in the many tables dotting the large room. Lotta waved me over as soon as I had a plate in my hand.

"Hey, Nick, did'ya sleep well?" she asked, all big smiles and bright attitude. She did seem... happy, like Meera had said. And not like she was being forcefully kept here and used for her talents. Although she still didn't know.

"I suppose," I said, scooping a spoonful of porridge. "Sleeping in an unfamiliar bed is always a little so-and-so, but I guess I don't really have a familiar bed at the moment, so that one does just fine."

She laughed, a soft giggle she hid behind her hand, and I the corner of my lip tugged up as well. Then she flushed, suddenly realising that maybe I hadn't intended it as a joke, but when she saw the smile on my face she relaxed.

"Sorry," she said quietly, scratching her cheek. "I'm so used to your blunt jokes, I didn't didn't even consider maybe you weren't joking. But I'm glad that your weird-ass sense of humour is perfectly intact, even without your memories."

I shrugged. "I guess it's a core part of me. Good to know." I paused for a moment. "Could you maybe... tell me more about myself? What I was like, when I was here before?"

"Oh, you were great," she said happily. "You were kind and helpful and a hard worker, taking care of even things that weren't a part of your routine. But you were also kinda, well, rough around the edges I suppose. Quick on the uptake. Very blunt. You did prefer to fix things by talking but if that didn't take you really weren't afraid to throw some punches." She laughed a little, clearly thinking back at something. Avani had mentioned something along those lines too, didn't he? I guess I hadn't grown out of my habit of picking fights even when I'd lost my memory. "Most people still liked you well enough, especially Maya. You two were instantly drawn to each other and were basically inseparable. You did appear pretty soon after one another, so it was probably a subconscious thing, maybe you'd known each other before, of... You do look kinda same, you know. Which reminds me!" She leaned closer to me. "Miles and you look super similar. Do you think you're, like... related or something?"

I laughed, a little awkwardly. "I really wouldn't remember, would I?" I said, brushing her off. "It's possible, at least."

"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't remember," said Lotta, sounding just a tiny bit disappointed. As if on cue, Avani appeared into the dining room doorway, and she instantly perked up, giving him a wave. I waved as well. He joined our table, once he'd gotten himself some food.

"What were you guys talking about?" he asked, pleasant enough.

"Lotta was telling me what I was like, before," I said. "Apparently I got easily into fights and no one understood my sense of humour."

Avani snorted behind his hand and started to laugh. Lotta flushed deep.

"That's not what I said!" she huffed.

"Sounds like a fun time," said Avani, a twinkle in his eye. It was my turn to snort.

We fell into a comfortable, light conversation as we ate. Nothing big, or game changing. Just... talking. It was nice.

But we couldn't get stuck on nice. We had a mission.

"Tell me, Lotta," I said when there was a lull in the conversation. "Who exactly is the Leader?"

"She's the one who is in charge of us," she said. "She's the one who built this place, and who took us in to teach us ways to help the world."

Again with the world saving. If the Leader's plan was seriously to "eliminate death", she must be all kinds of messed up. Death was inevitable, and trying to hold it off for good was against the very nature of, well, nature. I didn't say any of this to Lotta.

"So I heard," I said instead. "Tell me, is there some way to... talk to the Leader? To have a meeting with her?"

"Oh," said Lotta, slightly surprised, and scrunched up her face in thought. "I guess it's possible? Her study is just beyond the Organizer's office, but she's very, very busy so she's not usually bothered. Except with the most important things, the ones the Organizer can't handle on his own. But I think she'd be willing if you ask." She paused, looking up at me. "Why do you want to talk to her though? The Instructor, or someone else, can surely answer any questions you might have."

"Well, it's just..." I said, trying to come up with a reason that fit into my supposed situation. My eyes flicked to Avani on the other side of the table, and he looked worried. Was I being too obvious? "I wanted to ask her if, perhaps... she knew some way for me to retrieve all my memories? Not from my old life! But from when I used to be here before." That seemed to be a very good answer, as Lotta's face melted into a happy smile. "I really wish I could remember all of you."

"That's so nice, Nick!" she said, placing a hand on my arm and giving it a light squeeze. "You should definitely ask her! If someone can do it, it's the Leader!"

And with that I let the subject drop, and we returned to idle chatter once more. But in the back of my head I was formulating a plan to get into that study and confront the Leader.

~x~

At precisely ten o'clock all four of us met with Instructor Manfred in the main room. He lead us through the twisting corridors deeper into the building, until we arrived in front of a door marked "Instruments" and he opened it. Inside was a room, not too big but not very small either, and the entire room was lined with shelf after shelf of beautifully carved flutes. My heart did a somersault in my chest and tripled its pace, my breath catching in my throat. There were so many flutes, and they were all beautiful and unique and I wanted to play them all. I didn't even know where this sudden love for flutes came from, but they were amazing and I couldn't help myself.

"Woah," said Rosa as she looked around. "That's a lot of flutes."

"And both you and Miles will be assigned one," Manfred said. I had only time to turn to him and open my mouth when he added, "Nicolas and Maya naturally already have ones. We've kept them safe and perfectly working for you."

"Oh," I said. "Thank you. Where... are they?"

Manfred gestured to the right side of the room and I walked over, Meera on my heel. I looked among the flutes, trying to spot my own. I really wanted to spot my own.

Manfred picked one up, and gave it to me.

Oh.

I examined the flute in my hands. I couldn't recognize it. But I did feel like it suited me. Meera had also been shown hers, and she was turning it in her hands as well. She looked at me, and shrugged.  Rosa and Avani got flutes as well, after a selection process, and then Manfred took us to the room we were supposed to practice.

It was another large-ish room. I had no doubt it had good acoustics, which made sense since it was for musical practice. He took out several stands from the corner of the room, meant for music sheets no doubt, and brought them to the middle of the room. He went over to a sturdy, wooden table at the front of the room, and shuffled some papers around, before turning around and leaning against the edge. He crossed his arms. We looked at each other.

"Well then," he said and I swallowed. "Let's see if any of you can actually play anything."

I could. And Meera could. Rosa managed to make a few clean notes, but nothing too fancy. Avani couldn't play anything. Instructor Manfred called over a second Instructor to assign to Rosa and Avani. She took them into a different room to learn the basics, and Meera and I were left alone with Manfred.

He was pleased to find that we could still play so well, even if we didn't remember the Melody that was essential to the Leader's plan. I counted that as a small victory. He made us play tunes from notes he put on the stand - and which I was glad to notice I could also still read - and we spent several hours playing duets. Refamiliarizing ourselves with the flutes, Manfred said.

Half past noon he said we could take a lunch break. My stomach was grumbling in anticipation.

"That was really fun," said Meera cheerily to me as she packed her flute into a small box.

"Speak for yourself," I said with a crooked smile. "You kept playing so loud my ears are still ringing."

"Oh, hush, I didn't play that loud," she scoffed, and then grinned. "And you don't know ringing until you've had to sit in a bell tower for a day. Once an hour, every hour, right above your head. That's ringing."

I laughed softly and then...

"A bell tower?"

The bottom of my stomach lurched, dropping all the way to the ground. He had heard. Manfred had heard. We turned slowly to face him. He looked puzzled.

"I, uh," said Meera. "I mean... I think..."

She couldn't finish the sentence. I couldn't have finished the sentence. A realization dawned on Manfred's face and my blood ran cold. We were so busted.

"You remember," he whispered.

Busted.

I moved faster than I could think. My hand collided with warm flesh, and Manfred's limp body slumped forward and I caught it against my arm. I laid him against the big table, and checked his breathing. He was just unconscious, but I had no idea for how long. I turned to look up at Meera. She was staring at me, hands covering her mouth and eyes wide with... shock? Horror? I couldn't say. I couldn't think.

I forced myself to take a deep breath and stood up.

"We need to go," I said. Meera didn't move, just stared at Manfred's body. "Meera!" Her eyes snapped to me. "We need to go."

She drew in a shaky breath, steeled herself, and nodded. Her eyes flickered to Manfred once more.

"He's unconscious, for now," I said and walked past her. "Let's go. We need to find Avani and Rosa."

"And what then?" asked Meera, finally starting to move to trail behind me. My steps were determined, my destination unwavering.

"Then we take this party to the Leader," I said.

"The Leader?" hissed Meera and grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop. "Are you crazy? How do you even know where to find her?"

"I've been asking around," I said, trying to shrug her off. Her grip was ironclad. "And no. Manfred found out, and as soon as he wakes up he'll tell everyone. Now is our only chance to take them by surprise. We have the upper hand, but not for long. And yes, we do need to talk to her," I said before she had time to interrupt. "If we want to find out what is really happening here, we need to force it out of the mouth of the one in charge. Now let's go, we need to find Avani and Rosa."

She let go, hesitantly, and we continued our way, steps a little faster than perhaps usual. I led our way back to the main room, I knew the way, could remember it, and then through it to the dining room. Avani and Rosa were on a line to get lunch, and Rosa waved happily when she noticed us but when she noticed the looks on our faces her hand fell, along with her face. Avani was already walking quickly towards us, and she followed. A few heads turned to look as they left, but didn't linger.

"What's going on?" asked Rosa, voice quiet. "Something is going on."

"He figured it out," I said, glancing around. No alarm bells yet, so that's good. "We need to get going, they might be after us any minute."

"Wait, what?" said Avani. "Manfred did? What happened? Where is he?"

"It was my fault," said Meera, looking down with a frown. "I wasn't careful with my words. We left him in the music class, unconscious. But we might not have much time, we need to go."

"Right," said Rosa.

"To the Leader?" asked Avani. I nodded.

~x~

We came across no one on our way to the Organizer's room. It struck me as surprising, and frankly a bit weird but I'd take any small victory I could. As soon as we got to the large door we bust through it.

Organizer Damon was sitting at his desk and he jumped at the sudden, loud sound.

"What the..?" he said as we marched through the door but I didn't let him get any farther as I slammed my hands on the desk.

"The Leader," I growled. "We want to talk to her."

"Nicolas, what..?" he started.

"That's not my name," I said and slammed the desk again. "We want to talk to the Leader, now."

"What do you mean it's not your name?" said Damon, incredulous. He didn't seem to be aware of how close I was to punching him in the face. "You have no other name! You forgot it, like the rest of... oh."

I punched him in the face.

"Akash!" said Avani, and pulled my hand back.

"I've wanted to do that for a while now," I said.

"Wait... you remember? And he..? He remembers, too?" muttered Damon, holding his bleeding nose between his hands. "How..? How do you remember?"

"None of your damn business," I spat. "Now you let us talk to the Leader, or we'll let ourselves talk to her. Only one of these choices leaves the rest of your face intact."

"Calm, calm down, now," said Damon, holding up a hand in a defensive posture. I unfisted my hand and Avani finally let go of it. I leaned over the desk. "You can talk to the Leader. There's no need to get violent about it. Her study is just through there." He gestured at a small door on the right hand side of the room. It was very unassuming, so much so that I hadn't actually noticed it before.

"Much obliged," I said, and knocked him out. No need for him to start calling guards after us immediately after we went through the door. I looked back at my three companions. They nodded. I opened the door.

The room behind was underwhelming. It wasn't wide, but it was somewhat long. There were books strewn everywhere, as well as musical scores, and sheets and sheets of papers, and half finished flutes. Bookshelves covered the walls, and at the back of the room was a desk, and in front of the desk sat a woman.

The woman was old. Very old. She had tattoos on her wrinkly face and I suddenly realised that Damon hadn't had. Nor had Christoph. The tattoos were clearly only for a specific group of people... The pipers?

The woman was watching us calmly at her spot by the desk, leaning an elbow back on it. I hesitated.

"You are the Leader, yes?" said Meera, stepping forward.

"Yes, that is me," said the woman. She didn't seem at all disturbed by the fact that four random people had burst into her room, one of whom even had blood dripping along his knuckles. "What can I do for you?"

"You can start by telling us what exactly is going on here," I said. She turned her eyes on me, cool and calculating and way, way older than she looked.

"You might want to be a bit more specific than that, young'un," she said. "But I will gladly answer any questions you might have. I can see that the unexplained is eating you up inside."

"We could start with the beginning," said Rosa, seeming surprisingly unconcerned as she studied the books lining the walls. She seemed mesmerized. "Who are you, and why are you here."

"I am Sophia," said the woman. "And I am here because it is peaceful. It was peaceful."

"And why did a peace seeking old lady like you decide to start kidnapping people?" I asked. She laughed. I felt like a child.

"I haven't kidnapped anyone, goodness," she said. She hummed, thoughtfully. "Perhaps you would like to hear the whole story, hm?
"When I was younger, I used to live on the other side. Not this Other Side, but on the side where everyone else does too. The north side. I was a witch, which was slightly more respectable to be back then, but there have always been those suspicious of people who are different. I had a knack for divination, and fortune telling, and made my living by telling people about their futures. But one day a terrible vision struck me. A vision of death.
"But this wasn't any ordinary death, no. It was a vision of an epidemic, a disease of enormous magnitude that would sweep the world by storm, and many would succumb to it. I couldn't see how to cure it, but I did see what caused it, and so I decided to come over to the Other Side, to study it in peace, to find a way to stop it."

"So when Damon said the plan was to stop 'death'," I said, frowning. "He didn't mean stopping people from ever dying, he meant stopping..?"

"The disease," said Sophia. "The Black Death."

"The plague," breathed Rosa. "They're trying to cure the plague."

I stared at her.

"Not cure," said Sophia. "You cannot cure the Black Death. We're trying to merely... dispose of the cause."

"What is the cause?" asked Avani.

"Rats," said Sophia. "Infected rats, festering in the cities and passing the disease on to humans. And so, I thought, if I cannot rid the people of the plague, I must rid the world of rats."

"That sounds... insane," I said, running a hand through my hair. "How do you rid the world of rats? They're everywhere!"

"That is what I need you, my precious pipers, for," said Sophia with a smile. "As a witch, I had also dabbled in the art of hypnotism. I would play my pipe, and get people to do simple things, like clap their hands, or walk around, or dance, or whatever. And so I decided to apply this method to capturing rats. If I could get the rats to follow my playing, I could lead them out of the cities and away from the people.
"It was, however, not as simple as that... The songs that worked on humans, didn't work on rats. Rat's are different from humans, they have a stronger sense of preservation. They are pray animals after all. And so I had to practice, and change the songs, and try to find a melody that would work on them. And I finally did.
"But things got complicated. It was a complicated melody. And it was a large scale operation. If I wanted to rid an entire town, or even city, from all the rats that lurked around, I would need a lot more than one player."

"So you started to kidnap people?" I said, and immediately felt dumb again.

"I told you already, I didn't kidnap anyone," said Sophia with a shake of her head, and a disapproving purse of her lips. I looked away. "They came here on their own. I didn't put the spell on the river, it has always been there, or as long as I can remember. My magic was great enough that I could cross the river without losing myself, but many people along the years have crossed it as well, and their stories haven't ended as pleasantly.
"When the first person came knocking on my door, very, very long ago, I was surprised. He said he couldn't remember anything. He didn't know where he was. So I took him in, even though I only had a small cottage back then, and I tried to undo the spell that the river put on him. I couldn't. I can protect someone from being cursed, but I still haven't found the right counter curse to restore the memories that the river has already taken. That's why I decided they could stay with me. They really didn't have anywhere else to go, and I didn't feel right sending them back over without knowing that they would be looked after. At least on this side, they would be safe.
"And when I realised I would need more people to complete the melody, I thought I could teach the people who came across the other parts. That way they could still do something useful with their lives."

"And the more people that came, the bigger this place became," said Meera. "How long have you been here?"

"Decades," said Sophia. "Damon was the first to arrive, and he's been here near fifty years."

"Wait, you said you didn't know of a way to restore the memories taken by the river," I said. "But then why did I remember Avani when I met him?"

"Oh, I said I didn't know a spell to restore them," she said. "Sometimes, they come back on their own. The things that are most important, most vital to us and to who we are, they can be covered on their own. It happened to Maya, before."

"I..." said Meera, looking surprised. "I remembered something?"

"Yes, a few months ago," said Sophia. "It was very important to you."

"I... I remembered..." said Meera, rubbing a hand on her forehead. She was really trying to remember. "I remembered! I remembered you, Avani!" She pointed a finger at my brother's surprised face with a triumphant grin. "Oh, it had been bugging me for years, like something was left unfinished, and then I remembered that you were still on the other side! That you were the reason I crossed, and you didn't know if I was okay. I... I wanted to go tell you I was okay."

"We let you," said Sophia. "You begged us to let you go back over the river, so find Avani and tell him that you were okay and you were helping people, and that he needn't worry. And we let you. You took a boat over on the eastern crossing station."

"Crossing station?" asked Rosa.

"We have a few boat houses along the more calm parts of the river," explained Sophia. "We do occasionally need to go over the river, to get supplies and other things that we can't get here, and there is one to the northeast of here. A day's walk to Corsilva."

"That's why you came to our house!" said Rosa happily. "Because you crossed the river right near there!"

"Yes," said Meera, back in thought again. "But... the boat... It sank." Her eyes widened. "It sank before I'd made it across and I had to swim the rest of the way. The spell must've hit me after all."

"But... but if you didn't escape," I said, trying to fit the pieces together. Some things were making sense, but others seemed like they'd never fit. "If you didn't escape why did they send those men after you?"

"We waited two months," said Sophia. "You said you'd be back in a few week by the latest, but when we'd heard no news in two months. Every single piper is vital to the success of the spell, and the people who come across are so few and far between that I couldn't know when someone else would come along. We needed you back, and so I asked Damon to send out a search party."

"A search party?" I asked. "They were thugs! They were trying to forcefully kidnap her!"

"That is indeed unfortunate," said Sophia. Her head hung low and she did look sad. "The particular guards that Damon sent weren't the most agreeable ones, I will admit. They personally didn't appreciate that the pipers were higher up in hierarchy than they were, or so I've heard."

"Okay, but why did... why did I..?"

"That, my dear boy, I don not know. It is something that only you can answer."

Everyone turned to look at me as I tried to think, tried to remember. Why had I gone over the river? Why had I lost my memory if we could use the boats with the shielding spell? Why would...?

A sharp pain shot through my head and I winced, my hand flying to my temple. I could almost remember, I could...

The Organizer's room, dim light washing through the window. It isn't late but the days are getting shorter, the sun setting sooner. The Organizer sits at his desk. I stare down at him.

"You sent out the wrong people," I say, my voice kept pointedly emotionless. "Those thugs won't be able to convince Maya. They probably won't even try to talk to her, they'll just try to grab her and she will fight back."

"I understand your concern, Nicolas," says the Organizer. He doesn't look up from the paper he's reading. "But I trust my men to do their job well enough."

"You should send me," I say. Finally he looks at me. "I could get her to come back, easy as that."

"You are a piper, I can't send you," says the Organizer. "You're not indispensable. We need you here."

"But if I just..." I start but get cut off.

"We may have already lost one piper, we damn well aren't going to lose another!" His voice is loud and booming, and that is clearly the end of that. "You are dismissed."

The hands behind my back are clenched into tight fists and I forcefully relax them. "Sir," I spit out and turn around. Before the door has closed behind me I know what I need to do.

I was breathing hard, hands on my face. Another hand was pressed against my shoulder. Avani's. I knew it was Avani's.

"You remembered something," said Sophia. It wasn't a question. I nodded.

"I talked to Damon that day," I said, my voice hoarse. "I tried to get him to let me go after Meera. He didn't let me. So I snuck out, and went anyway. I... I took a boat, I know I did, but..."

"But there was no spell on it," said Sophia. "The spells only work for so long, and I only cast a spell on a boat when someone needs one. Or when I know someone needs one." She gave me a look and I flushed.

"I did not know that," I said.

"So that explains everything?" asked Avani.

"What about the tattoos?" asked Rosa. "Only some people have them, don't they?"

"Ah, yes, they are a part of the spell," said Sophia. "Every piper plays a different part of the Melody, and every piper has a different tattoo, that corresponds to their part."

"What about my abilities?" asked Meera, demonstrating by levitating a few books above head.

"And my drastic rise in fighting skill? Why would we need to know how to fight?" I asked.

"Your abilities were already in you, I just helped you get them out," said Sophie to Meera, smiling softly. "And as for the fighting, I do believe you and some of the other young men we have started some kind of... 'fight club', of sorts. I don't think we are supposed to talk about it."

Avani laughed, loud and hard. "Yeah, that sounds like you alright," he said, shuffling my hair. "I guess you might've learned earlier if I'd let you fight your own battles, but what's done is done."

"No need to worry about that anymore," I said, smacking his hand away. "So let me get this straight... Nobody is kept here without their consent, nobody is removing anybody's memories on purpose, you guys are actually trying to make the world a better place, the 'cleansing' isn't some kind of genocidal plot to take over the world, you aren't trying to control the minds of everyone in the world, and the whole reason this whole thing started is because the search party for Meera consisted of three jerks."

There was a silence. Then Rosa burst out laughing. Meera joined her soon after, giggling softly, a stark contrast to Rosa's full blown howling laughter. Avani's laugh was a bit awkward as he begun, but it soon grew more confident, a hearty chuckling. Even I couldn't help from snickering.

"I guess that's it then," said Rosa. "The end of out epic adventure. And no exciting conclusion fight, no dismantling evil organizations, and no blowing up an evil lair. Slightly disappointing, but I am glad that everything is fine after all."

"What do we do now?" asked Meera. "I mean..." She trailed off, gesturing vaguely. I understood exactly what she meant.

"I don't know, really," I said.

"Any and all of you are more than welcome to stay here with us," said Sophia. "If that is what you wish. I naturally understand if you don't, since you remember your old lives and want to return to them. I will provide you with a boat, though we would be sad to see you go."

"Well, we don't exactly have a life on that side anymore, but..." I said, and looked at Avani. I'd just found my twin again, I really didn't want to be broken apart any more. He looked at me with understanding, and concern. And then he decided something.

"I could stay here with you," he said and smiled. "I'm not particularly attached to my old place, and I am a story teller, so really I can work from anywhere."

"Really?" I said, my voice small in my ears. "You would do that for me?"

"I'd do anything for you," he said, his hand on my shoulder. "You're my brother. I've missed you so much in the past three years, I will gladly move here to spend time with you. If that's what you want, of course."

I looked at Meera. She seemed to have a similar idea.

"Well, ridding the world of the plague does seem like a very good thing to do with one's life," I said. "And we've come this far... If we can relearn our parts of the Melody, it would be a lot easier for everyone else as well."

"My thoughts exactly," said Meera, a face splitting smile on her face. "What about you, Rosa? What do you want to do?"

We all turned to her. She hummed in thought.

"I do think I should go back home," she said, eventually. "I have granny, and Custos, and I haven't finished my witch's training yet... I would love to visit, occasionally, if that's okay?"

"Of course," said Sophia. "Anytime you want. I can even teach you the shielding spell, so you can charm you own boat."

"Thank you so much," said Rosa, smiling happily.


"Wait, wait wait," said Meera suddenly. "What about the lanterns?"

"Oh yeah," said I. "Who the heck put those up?"

"There are mysterious things in this world," said Sophia. "And mysterious beings living in the Corsilva. Some malicious, some not, most... mischievous. I wouldn't think too hard on what exactly it was, you might never know."

I shared a look with all my friends. They shrugged.

Well, things weren't perfect. We still didn't have all the answers, and I still couldn't remember a lot of things, but for the first time in the entire week I felt like it might be okay. I had my brother, and I had Meera, and I had something meaningful to do with my life.

The rest, well... I'd take it one day at a time.
________________________________________________________

The end.

Haha, you thought they'd have to fight. They didn't.

Anyway, I don't know what will happen now, and it's super late so I'm just gonna end this here.

Byeeeeee.

Pie out.