A Fractured Land (Working Title)

Part 7

Redness flowed onto Aster's shirt as he sat on the bed, taking a bite of an especially plump strawberry, his features softening with delight. Sava had also taken a strawberry, and wiped some excess from her chin. For a time, the four of us sat in silence, enjoying the food and each other's company.

"Thank you." Sava said after swallowing.

"Did you get anything else to eat? We brought plenty back with us." Leah offered a basket we'd obtained at the market. It was true; we had brought back plenty. I assumed the Kingdom was compensating these merchants well, because the few who remained as we strolled through the market beckoned for us to visit their stalls, going as far as to unpack the products they'd halfway stowed away for the night. Leah and I had visited every stall that was still open. Every one.

"Auntie paid us a visit earlier. She brought us dinner when she saw we weren't visiting the market." Sava explained, gesturing to two plates in the corner we hadn't noticed on our way in. "She's a kind woman."

"She is." I concurred.

Sava and Aster finished off their strawberries, and when Aster looked longingly at the basket, Leah gave him another. Sava declined.

"What did your parents think of you being summoned?" Leah asked.

Sava glanced at Aster, who seemed predisposed with his strawberry. "Our parents are dead." I heard Leah's breath catch in her throat. Sava was quick to assuage her. "It's all right, they have been for some time. Years. Aster and I have been taking care of ourselves since we were very young."

"Who have you been staying with?" I asked.

"Just us. We learned to work very young. The Soturi took our father off to fight when Aster was hardly two years old. I was six. We never saw him again. Our mother fell sick and died several years later, and by that time, Aster and I could fend for ourselves. We've been doing it ever since." She patted Aster's leg. He smiled at her.

"I'm so sorry." Leah comforted.

"Please," Sava managed a stiff but genuine smile, "Don't be."

Leah instinctively returned the smile, and Sava's eyes turned to me. I also felt the warmth of a sympathetic smile creep into my facial features.

"Did you grow up with your parents?" Sava asked after the silent moment bordered on uncomfortable.

"Our father." I responded.

"And your mother?"

"We never knew her."

"Never knew her?" Sava's brow furrowed. "No memory of her at all?"

"No." I said simply.

"What happened to her?"

Leah took the reigns. "Our father says the Plague took her in the last Murrain. I was a newborn, and Drevyn doesn't remember."

"You don't remember at all?" Sava was dumbfounded. I shook my head. "How?"

"Our father tells me that, around the same time, I was very sick, but it wasn't Plague. He says that's why I can't remember."

"What were you sick with?"

I shrugged. "They say it may have been the fever. A really bad strain."

"You just... don't know?"

I shook my head again, pursing my lips. It was absolutely true. My memory doesn't extend past age eight or nine. I've tried time and time again to trace it back further, and I've been able to trace it back to a journey into Smalltown where father introduced me to Walter, but I don't remember traveling to the town, I only remember returning. Beyond that, it's just blank. Vacant memory.