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What memories I had were scattered and unclear; familiar faces, stages, a grand library built on a mountain far to the West; a sudden explosion of lava and force; awakening in a village downstream, devoid of memory. Not knowing what else to do, I followed the winds as they blew to the East. For a hundred years, I wandered the entire world, traversing great empires and tiny villages, learning the songs of each place as I went. Through the Great Han and more, the winds carried me, bringing me to a great white mountain in the North. Somehow, from there, I knew I was close. I followed the winds. -Hyul 192, 8th Moon, 30th Sun- "Buya." The word came to me as I crossed the city gates, without my knowing why. "It's Buya!" I said again, shocked at myself. Unlike the bustling town I seemed to not-remember, the North Gate was entirely desolate; a man in shabby armor slept against the city wall, while a rather annoyed-looking merchant shuffled by me as I blocked the entry. "Yeah, of course it is, lady," he said. "Nothing to see here anymore!" "Where is everyone?" I asked. "It's been a total ghost town for decades - most of the young people moved south to Koguryo. Barely any reason for me to come here anymore, cept Ogi and Yunsil pay me a premium for sour plums." "Not that Koguryo is all that busy these days either," he continued, muttering to himself. I tried to ask him more questions, but he teleported away, clearly uninterested in talking to a ghost. I found a clearing with the ruins of a great clan hall, mostly stripped to its foundations, rubble and loose jars and shattered pottery abounding. A sleeping mage (why did I know to call him that?) stood guard over the rubble, unwakeable despite my best efforts, a quiet sentinel watching over memories long vanished. I made my way to the palace grounds, where officiants shuffled around great empty halls; instinctively, I knew to go to the woods south of the palace, but did not know why. I stood there in the forest, tears streaming down my face, bewildered by my own reaction, and, resting against a nearby tree, sang a song to the breeze as it returned, home at last in the Kingdom of the Winds. -Hyul 192, 9th Moon, 11th Sun- I had met several people in my travels here, with bits of memory returning as I went. A busking girl at the North Gate of Buya, tip jar in hand, told me she was a Muse, which jolted something awake in me. Not knowing why, I asked her for a Stardrop, which she gave with a puzzled expression. As I held the tiny droplet in my palm, a familiar melody returned to me, and I started to hum. "Oh!" she said. "That's our song, the Sacred Verse! Why do you know it?" In a stupor, I made my way through the Islets, to a lush and verdant Garden. I stumbled around it, not knowing my way, even though it felt deeply familiar, until I reached a grand tavern in the back. "I'll have the soup, please," I said, someknow knowing this was a bad idea. The girl preparing it smiled maniacally at me as she served it up. As the numbing, sour spiciness hit my tongue, the memories flooded back into me, both halves of the 200 years of my life now reconciled in my mind. The names I'd seen etched in stone wandering the kingdoms, devoid of myself, became real, vivid faces etched in my mind: Leodaris, Sarina, Lokira, my dear friends. Startled by remembering who I was, I screamed quite loudly, quite instinctively. "Ska!! WAKE UP!!!" Despite being in Shilla at the time (incapacitated from a particularly potent Shillan wine for the past 100 years, or so he says), he heard me, and came in a hurry. We made our way back to the Treehouse nonchalantly. The two of us snuck in quietly, not sure if two former Muse Elders could easily explain our hundred-year absence. "Perfect," I said, "It's completely silent!" The quiet was broken by a teacup shattering as it fell to the ground. We turned around, and Elder Quistia stood before us in her graceful majesty, her eyes wide, completely stunned. | |