Role

Chapter 9

While embraced with unending love at the Bathhouse, I finally gained the
strength to let myself remember. The Lady of the Purple Lotus had shown me
the way to my memories weeks ago, yet I had hesitated with fear. I let
myself focus on the love I felt inside and saw the faces of my parents. The
shock of doing this alone, led me to mindlessly lay down and sleep for a
while. I knew after waking up, I could not do this alone. I came to her,
the one I have grown to love as a mother and friend, to remember it all.

The memories came to me in torrents with pauses that felt like the eye of the
storm. Tears leaked from my eyes, but I felt no shame while in her company.
First the love for my parents came, then the lightning strike and their
almost unquestioned deaths. A torrent raged through my mind as my history
with them flooded into me. Suddenly I knew who I had been, named Innaken by
my parents. Was I still Innaken? As I started to feel at peace, I still
felt like I was missing something. I felt like there was still love in me
that had not surfaced. Focusing on that love, I remembered Shaile. I had
spent time in Arial City, yet I can not remember seeing her. Where was she?
A feeling of doubt crept through me as I wondered, would she still love me?

My Lady explained the crossroads that I was at, of the choices Shaile might
bring up in me and my Lady's faith in me. I could not answer any of these
questions yet, as my mind began to solely focus on finding Shaile. I
sprinted to Arial City, letting those that would distract me run and lick
their wounds while I tried to focus on what was important. I screamed for
her in the city, but received no response. I went to the invoker guild,
knowing she should have quarters inside. The guardian sneered and would
share nothing, so he was struck down in my haste to find out more. The
guildmaster seemed to wish to share nothing, but finally motioned for me to
step closer and whispered her fate. He said that Arial City mages had become
complacent, with so few of those from the horrid village to the south unable
to climb or fly to it. A young arial assassin had came a few days after I
had left and slipped his blade into her heart. No one at the town square had
noticed, until he started to descrate her body and make a trophy that he
eagerly donned. As people began shouting for the guard, he slipped into the
shadows and disappeared. Tears began to fall from my eyes again, though I
did not notice. I asked him if he was sure, and he nodded. Her parents had
left the city shortly after the funeral, wishing to live far away from a
world that could do this. I felt thunderstruck, as I began to realize that
this was why the guard to the guild has been so unwilling to give
information. He was simply trying to protect his guild from his own kin. I
apologized to the guildmaster as I left, a slow and steady anger deep inside
me.