The Ashes of Allmau: The Orfolk of Allmau

Chapter 26

Ahna stepped into a spartan space onboard the ship. A dimming, greyed light came through the windows at the back, but there was little for it to define. Square in the centre was one large table, upon it sat a candle and a plane wooden box, surrounded by small-dried flowers. It instantly arrested Ahna's attention.

A plane wooden box, middle- centre in the table. Just an ordinary object, but with such a palpable reverence to it. As though some sort of energy had been imbued upon it, Ahna was drawn in. Dried yellow flowers, fragile and crisp, were scattered around the box. The quiet crackle and pop of the candles wick brought a welcome comfort to this otherwise cold, strange place.

Ahna stood over the box and looked down at it. She didn't need to see inside. She knew what this was. She lifted her hand, still tightly clenched and uncurled her index and middle finger, reaching for the box. An odd relief came to her, but not in the usual comforting way. The stress that came off of her gave a moments respite, a moment of certainty and clarity, before the pains of the burden she carried set in. The pain of exhausting following the journeys end. Her heart sank, as did her expression, she turned her clenched hand over, opened her hand and stared down at Rune – the only thing left.

"You can sense it, can't you?" Ahna turned sharp, Rosalyne stood beside the door in the corner of the room where a set of shelves held a few simple possessions, "It's an odd gift of the aether. The ability to sense sentimentality. With some focus you can pick up any object and feel it's true value, no matter how trivial it may appear."

Ahna remained quiet, she recomposed herself, trying not to let the tirring pain show.

"How did you get out?" Rosalyne asked.

"You mean that dark place?"

"Yes," said Rosalyne.

Ahna frowned, "You helped me." She said, "You were there in the dark. You helped me get up and get away from it."

"Did I?" she asked calmly, admiring the objects on the shelf.

"I wanted to thank you." Ahna went on, "How did you get in there and back?"

"No one ever really leaves that place," she said to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing," Rosalyne turned away from the shelf, "What happened after I helped you?"

"Uh, It's like a weird dream. I can't really remember it." thought Ahna, "When I was in the aether, with Kydd. I remember all of that so clearly, but in that dark place."

"That dark place is as far from the aether as you can get." said Rosalyne, "Think, what happened?"

Ahna frowned and pondered, "There was a tree, like in the bramble woods, and you helped me up it. Then I started to climb."

Ahna struggled to piece together the memory. Her mind ached and groaned as she explored the memories and pieced together what had happened in her time in that dark place, "I kept climbing, and then Kydd rescued me. On a balloon."

"And what happened to Rosalyne?"

Ahna frowned again, her wording was unnerving, "You, were still there. In the dark."

She nodded slowly, "No one ever really leaves that place."

Ahna shook her head, "But you saved me." she said.

Rosalyne looked away.

"A piece of you is trapped in there," thought Ahna, "How?"

Rosalyne looked away, becoming furthermore distant. To Ahna, it was as if the colours and warmth of the room, what little there had been, cooled and dimmed. The yellow flowers seemed to grey, as did the flame, which shrunk down slightly. Rosalyne's lament had a very real impact on the world.