When the Past Meets the Present
There was a nagging feeling, one that she could not get rid of, after running into an old friend. It had been nearly two years since she had left civilization and retreated into the woods with her husband. Two years since she was attacked and poisoned, and ultimately left in a coma that ate away at her memories from years prior. It took Khulma three weeks to get her out of that very coma and back to functioning...but the poison had done its damage.
She could could remember how to shoot her bow and skin an animal. How to cook and mend her armor. She remembered Khulma, and what he meant to her, but she could not remember much past that. Her friends, her family. They all seemed a distant flicker in her existence, something she could never have back. She remembered some names and some faces, but not the memories that were associated with them, as if she was suffering from a permanent amnesia.
Then Kal and Val found her, and they brought her back after they had heard the news. Khulma had been killed a year after the had escaped, leaving her on her own for the year following. For a year she had been on her own, save the company of her wolves, salvaging a life in the wild on her own. So they hunted her down with the help of a couple others and brought her back. Val did what she could to help restore memories, but there had been so much time and damage that they had returned jumbled and out of order.
Which is why the night before was bothering her so much. Before she met Khulma, she remembered little of what she did for work. She remembered being a mercenary and enjoying the carnal desires that came with the bloodlust, but nothing more. “You were a worker for a company for hire...”. The words echoed in her ears, causing her to rub her temples. Lighting a torch, she carried it with her as she pushed open the doors to a place she once called home.
Dust had long since settled across the furniture and every surface, long overdue for being thrown out and cleaned. Yet nothing seemed to be destroyed or even moved in the two years she had been gone, leaving the life she once lived intact and ready for her return. Exhaling slowly, she maneuvered her way through the house, from room to room, only stopping when she reached the one that served as an office. Placing the torch in the holder mounted on the wall, she stepped inside and wiped dust off the surfaces of everything. It clouded the air, causing her lungs to seize and spasm, coughs falling from between clenched teeth. “Bloody fel, I need to hire someone to clean this place out...” she muttered, opening the drawers to the desk. Inside would hold the answers she was seeking.
A leather bound book laid on top of a metal box of some sort. Opening the book first, she flipped through the pages, skimming over the contents. Each one was a ledger for the month, noting her incoming and outgoing funds. There was always a surplus of incoming, and she had an idea of why. If what he had said was true, then she truly had been a mistress of the night. Clenched fists thudded onto the desk as she let a grow out, hating herself even more for being unable to remember. Why. Could. She. Not. Remember.
Gathering herself the best she could, she reached for the box, opening it and staring at the contents of it with a blank expression. Of course he had been right. Of. Course. Pictures filled the box, her own face smiling back at her in a taunting manner. Each one was provocative and alluring, a clear testament to the life she lived prior to becoming engaged. Flipping through a couple of the photos, she dropped them onto the desk and withdrew a parchment and quill.
Opening a jar of ink, she dipped the quill into the ink and began scribbling on the parchment, mindful to not smear her already wobbly writing. It had been too long since she wrote anything.
‘B, enjoy these. I have no need for them anymore, and it seems you were right. Not that I had reason to doubt you, but none the less...I don’t need these.
-Sha’
Wrapping the photos into the letter, she sealed it and tied a string around it before grabbing the torch and making her way outside. Once in the fresh air, she took a deep breath then let out a low whistle. Serkin dropped down from the trees, the large black crow looking at her with beady eyes. Smiling towards the bird she held up the letter, tapping the bird on the beak after he took it. “Fly dad and fast, Serkin. I have other things I need to attend to, for it seems I have forgotten much.” She mused before turning her back to the house and bird and wandering into the woods.
Soft Mentions: @ebonhartduo @boendark
