Spring for the Marsh

I'm not normally one for words. But Riya asked.
 
For ten years I haven't been able to shake the vision of fire against the black sky. The dark forms moving from hut to hut. The smell of blood, charred remains. The sounds of tears and torment.
 
The Anguish.
 
I ran. I ran for so long. I forgot who I had been. There was only that fire lit night and those screams. I found solace for a time in the town of Auberlême. It was there that I fell into drink. It was also there that I began to forget. I forgot the face of my mother, her voice and her lessons. The library she had collected was gone.
 
I forgot so many names and faces over ten years.
 
Then I woke up in Alderweld. I'd been waking up in the jail cell for years, but it all flowed together. Until I saw Riya. Heard Tully. I couldn't believe my eyes at first and thought I was back home. Or maybe had finally died and joined my comrades.
 
I don't say any of this to the two women. But they had given me a reason to heal, to remember. To possibly go back. To bring back Mobray. To bury Helena and Ingrid's memories.