When he went to sleep at the inn room the Council had arranged for him, Kaim had known nothing but the acrid smell of the ash that had clung to the sweat on his skin after the meteor fell. But in his sleep, a vision came. A little girl, meeting his gaze one last time before plunging over the cliff into the sea. A woman, sobbing brokenly beside him. An anguish washed over him that was more painful than the sting of his enemies' blades, more searing than the heat of their magic. It was the agony of loss.
He awoke with a gasp, his body trembling. He knew their faces, the woman's and the little girl's. Their names were on the tip of his tongue, at the fringes of his mind. But as his consciousness roused, even the sensation of knowing was lost.
What was that? he wondered. Was it a dream, or a memory?
If that was remembering, then he'd rather forget.