Chapter One - Brain-Fried
Far away from the kingdom of Arland's center hub, deep within a lush forest untouched by the changes of the seasons, a young woman stepped into her small round cabin and sank down on a soft feather filled mattress that rested upon the floor. Kicking off her boots she closed her eyes relieved that her swollen ankles were finally free and fell back onto the downy cushion, allowing the small precious pouch she had carried drop from her hand to the floor. Her hair spilled out from beneath her cap, spilling over her shoulders and down across her chest. She heaved a sigh, and twirled a strand of hair around her fingers in her right hand. She had been so caught up in her work recently she really hadn't bothered taking care of herself as of late. A few moments later, she opened her eyes to stare up at the wooden ceiling.
As she stared at the strong beams that crossed the ceiling of her small atelier and breathed in the strong scent of the wood planks her thoughts drifted back to her friends who had all offered to assist in the building of this remote hideaway that she had thought at the time would only be a place where she might rest while on her various travels across the kingdom. Their names and faces washed over her as she whispered their names softly in the room. One face in particular settled in her mind and she closed her eyes and sighed. It had been months since she had seen him and shortly after he had left to deal with a troublesome dragon that had nested in the new kingdom overseas she had retreated to her private sanctuary. She had left her Homs behind to continue the business in her shop. Hom, her first homunculus, a little brother Astrid had made for her, had kept everything in her shop running smoothly. He excelled at taking orders from customers and had quickly adapted to setting up adequate deadlines, directing the other Homs to gathering supplies while he remained to watch over the shop and manufacture some of the more often used alchemy ingredients. She had set up a container via a subspace pocket to connect the two ateliers and the two kept a daily rapport through letters. Often Hom would list items requested and deadlines, sometimes delivering messages from her friends back in the city as well, as well as a weekly request for more pies. Hom had seemed to sense partly what troubled Rorona and had gone out of his way to ensure her space and privacy. She had been thankful he had never tried to broach the subject. Rorona wasn't sure she was ready to have that discussion with the wide eyed homunculus.
As she stared at the single skylight built into her roof, her mind filtered in images of the single man who had worked tirelessly to install that window. He had been one of her first companions on her journey through alchemy and had always been there pushing her to do better. She had again and again relied upon his strength, his courage, and his honor both in battle and throughout the years. She sat up cross-legged on her makeshift bed, still not having bothered to decorate her little atelier considering the time-sink her side-project had become for her, and his last words jumped into her head, as they often did whenever she stopped moving for even just a few minutes. It had become part of the reason, she knew, that she had so completely buried herself in fulfilling requests and panning for the small pouches of risplalyp.
I am needed in Arls. The Council has requested my presence there personally. I… his voice trailed off as he stared back into her quivering blue eyes. For many moments, neither of them said a word as the reality of the situation sunk in. Rorona had been the first to break away from the locked gaze and to this day she still couldn't remember her own words to him. The memory had become hazy and more uncertain each time she seemed to think of it, until it had become too vague for her to trust her own judgment on what the outcome had been. She thought they might have sat down and spoken more, but even now, she wasn't even certain of that. She stared down at her hands gripping one another tightly within her lap and looked away. She was beginning to work herself up over something that was past and gone and that she'd had no chance of changing now.
Carefully she stood up, picking up the small pouch as she pulled herself up from the mattress. She stepped over to the window overlooking one of the many creeks that babbled gently across the mossy woods and focused on the last words of the conversation that she could still clearly remember. For you, I will wait. The problem she had with those words was simply that she couldn't remember just who had said them. Was it her? Was it him? She had spent so much time engrossed her in alchemy since that one morning she had awoken to the horror of not remembering something truly important. She knew she had left the city to rest and relax as he best friend, Cordy had suggested, but even once she had managed to arrive at her second home she had still not stopped moving and her memory only degraded faster. She had given up within weeks of targeting the cause. It was too odd the sudden onset of symptoms, yet none of the poisons she researched over the few weeks she spent in the city had yielded any potential suspects.
As she stared out the window, she gently rubbed circles over her stomach. She released a heavy sigh and poured out the mineral dust onto the windowsill, considering various options for experimentation with her newest pouch of the rare dust that she had spent days gathering from the nearby spring, the only source she knew of in all of Arland. She hadn't tried binding the mineral to food. Perhaps a batch of pies would be in store for the night. She didn't want to think of that conversation. She wasn't sure what had happened to injure her memory so severely but somehow she knew this mineral was the key to remembering. It's curative properties far surpassed any other ingredient she had ever used or read of. Something was bound to work.
She turned away from the window and her thoughts of the one person she wanted to remember the most. The was a pie looming in her future and she was craving a cream pie for dessert tonight.
-Author's Notes: So, I hope you have enjoyed the story thus far. I am intending this story to be a series of one-shots, not in chronological order. I will likely be uploading them fairly slowly. The story is intended to be focused mostly on relationships, character development, and so on.