Heir of the Forgotten

~Questions~

Shrieks stirred in the silence of the night. The beauty of the moon soon disappeared in a thick cloud of ash and smoke. While the gray ash swirled down in the air like a flurry of snow, the intense fire raged on below, showing no mercy to anything in its path. Coppery, flowing blood soaked the once divine soil.

Jolting awake, Selenetta grabbed at her throat. Only a few seconds later, the bedroom door flew open, her mother came in as if she'd just witnessed an atrocity

Selena went years without a nightmare, but lately, they seem to be resurfacing. No matter how hard she focuses on what she'd witnessed, it remains hidden and locked within her mind. "Sorry, I had a nightmare."

Beth released a heavy sigh sitting on the side of her child's bed. "Can you recall it?" Looking at her daughter, shaking her head, she found her lips parting in yet another soft sigh. "Do you think the resurface of your nightmares could mean you're starting to recall things?"

It's been a few months since she turned eighteen; since she started taking lessons in the language her parents speak. She can speak fluently for the most part, but the accent, a soft and sort of whimsical accent, makes some of their words mush in her mouth.

"I doubt it. It's the second one, and I can't recall a thing. I just..." Selena shrugs her shoulders as she stares at her ceiling. "Today I woke up clutching my throat like I couldn't breathe."

Beth's eyes widen a moment, but only a moment. She offers her child no explanation for the widening of her eyes. When she'd found the child, she'd hardly been breathing. Her lungs had been a mix of water and blood. "Try to get some more sleep. Your father wants you to take a trip to town to get some things while he has company over."

Selena sighed, parting her lips lightly as she tugged the covers back over herself.

Stepping into her shared room, staring at her husband, who glared at her with his forehead in his palm, she nervously slid into bed. "She might be starting to remember. She was 13 and a half when we found her... she'll be 18 and a half in a few weeks."

"Isn't that a good thing? Maybe she'll stop being dead weight." Mark scoffs, though there's a hint of care in his eyes. "But she was alright?"

With a light hum, Beth nods and opens her mouth to speak, it comes out more of a broken whisper due to her worry. "She's startled and a bit off, but she's alright. I asked her to try and sleep again."

Beth had paused, looking at her husband to see his reaction before continuing. "What do we do if her remembering turns into pain? What if she tries to find her home and there's nothing left of it? Her screams are so hard to listen to. Her voice was so raw this morning. The screams sounded so real and raw that I thought she was being hurt. If she recalls what causes her that pain, will she be able to bear it? What if she says she shouldn't have been saved?"

The questions flew out of her mouth in rapid succession. "We act as if we can understand her pain. We were uprooted from our lives. This island, away from the mainland, is full of people who have had loved ones murdered and homes stripped from them, but we are human. Fae have it so very hard, what if she can't handle her memories?"

Mark stared at his wife, running a hand through his thinning hair. "Love, it'll be alright. You raised her and I see that stubbornness I love so much growing in her. You're raising a resilient woman." He may be wary of Selene, but he adores his wife.

Mark pauses for a moment, letting his words sink in.

"She's missing years of her life and had no way to communicate, but you got her to talk without a hitch. I still think she needs to sharpen up before she's too old to make her way in society and ends up on the streets, but she's strong. I also know you will be there for her when she needs arms to hold her if she needs it." He comforts his wife, something that happened rarely.

With a silent sigh, the two parents find their way back to sleep, hoping to dream a few more hours before the sun rises over the horizon.

No matter how hard Selenetta tried to find peace in sleep, she never found her eyes drifting off. Instead, her feet carried her outside to the railing. She leaned against it instead of swinging to sit on it as she usually would.

With her hair down, the small woman basked in the breeze. She didn't mind the pelting rain, even if it was cold. She enjoyed how it slammed against her face.

She listened to the rolling crash of waves hitting the rocks and climbing the sand higher than they should. Her lips tugged to a small smile as she relished in the night's storm. She held her hands out to catch water.

With her head tilted back, Selene wished she could lose herself in this forever. The feeling of having nothing to fret about or to be hurt about is beautiful. The night itself, whether quiet or storming, is beautiful.

Alas, beauty does not last, and with the crash of thunder, her lips parted in a gasp as the water suddenly became overwhelming. She can't breathe. Her hands fly to her throat before her heart slows down and her hands fall back to her throat as she stares at the sea.

Is that the key to it all? Water? Has she drowned before? Is that why her throat feels so sore and why she can't seem to feel at ease now?

With a heavy sigh, Selene slips back to her room and changes clothes. When she's changed, she sneaks from her room, quiet as a mouse, to cook breakfast.

She only made eggs and cut leftover meat from last night's dinner, but it was breakfast. She may need to visit the market while she is out today.

First, she needed to ask about things. She's an adult, and she's grown a lot in the last few months. She deserves to know how her mother found her. To occupy her mind until her parents awoke, she decided to do a bit of painting. She's not the best, but she enjoys it.

"Sel? Did you make breakfast sweetheart?" Selene looks up from her painting with a smile. Setting the brush in the cup of water, she scurries over with a hop in her step.

"I did! I thought you two would want to wake up with something pleasant; since I woke you up again last night!" No mention of how she couldn't sleep, nor that she did this because she wants to pressure them into telling her the whole story.

"You didn't need to, it's what I'm here for Selene." Beth sighs, but she's grateful.

The meal was pleasant, but before anybody could finish, Selene cleared her throat. "I want to know how I was found."

Beth jolted at the sudden question, looking at her husband. "Ah, is now the best time for that? Your father will have a guest over and It's a long story."

Selene narrowed her eyes, shaking her head.

"Well, then I suppose we do have two hours to kill before the guest arrives." Beth pauses, looking past Selene out into a distance that was far off in a memory.

"I suppose I should start with why I was anywhere near the Deadlands. You see, I had just lost my child and I was growing too old to continue trying. She died before I could hold her, a stillbirth. I was going to seek the aid of higher powers. I'd heard there was a temple that welcomed all, so I was hoping that if I could cross the Deadlands, I could get to Wisteria and seek this temple." Beth began the tale of how she had found the child she took in.