Screaming. The acrid smell of blood, smoke, burning flesh, and death all rolled together into one great stench. Fear, shock, pain, rage, and grief all combined into one horrific emotion.
The feel of a small child's hand slipping from her own.
The sensation of falling. Cold. Oh so very cold. So cold it stings to the bone worse even then the bleeding wounds.
Desire for death; for the pain to go away; for the cold to go away. Numbness. Lassitude. Sleep…sleeping forever. Slipping away into darkness.
Then light and faces; a dark-haired boy and girl with bright green eyes looking upon her with concern and curiosity.
Then the questions; the questions she couldn't answer even had she tried. They asked what had happened to her.
She didn't know.
They asked her name.
She didn't know.
That was pretty much the summary of what she remembered. Her memory was fragmented into a million conflicting pieces with several million more missing in the impenetrable fog of amnesia. She struggled to force her mind to relive what had happened so these terrifying flashes of broken threads of memory would make sense. But it was all to no avail and she soon gave herself a headache over it.
For the moment, she was simply content to just let the nurses pour steamy water over her bare body as they bathed her. The hot water engulfing her aching limbs and washing over her scarred skin felt so nice she wanted to lie in that bathtub forever. Unfortunately, that was not to be so. As soon as they were done washing the cleansing substances out of her hair, she was wrapped up in warm, snowy white towels and they were rubbed all over her to dry. Then it was back to wearing a plain, white gown although this one was a fresh one. She had to admit she was slightly disappointed over that. She had actually wanted one of the pretty gowns the princess had been wearing.
She had to be practically carried back to her bed because the injury to her thigh made it extremely painful to walk. When she did try to put weight on it she gasped from the feel of a million needles of pain shooting through her leg and quickly brought it up to hop around on her uninjured leg.It was hard to walk on her uninjured leg as well...three weeks of lying in a bedhad that particular effect upon one's limbs.It was most degrading.
When she returned to her bed, she was surprised by the appearance of more people. The brother and sister with the dark hair and jade-green eyes were there, but standing beside them was a tall, stern looking young woman with dusky skin, shrewd blue eyes, and golden hair pulled back in an elaborate bun with jewels threaded throughout her hair. A small circlet of silver was set upon her head and a diamond rested in the middle of her forehead atop the silver. An older man and woman were also there; the king and queen, Tristan and Lilly's parents, she chanced a guess.
The queen had the same dark hair and green eyes as her two children and the king had the same kindly twinkle in his blue eyes though his hair was the same shade of blonde as the other young woman. Must be their sister.
"How are you feeling?" the queen asked softly.
Her smile made the girl's initial freeze of apprehension thaw a little. It even reminded the girl in her heart of someone close to her, but her mind could not fathom whom. It is a terrible thing for your heart to yearn for something your mind cannot remember.
"Better, I suppose," she answered nervously. She struggled to suppress the instinct to curl in upon herself and hide under her blankets. Why was she so afraid?
"My wife and I are glad you have finally awakened and are up and about. I am King Charmont of Kyrria and my wife is Eleanor. I do not think you have met our eldest daughter, Eleanor; crown princess of Kyrria," the king introduced, gesturing to his wife and the severe looking young woman with the devouring blue eyes.
Princess Eleanor gave a curt nod and appraised the girl with her sharp sapphire gaze. She made the girl feel very uncomfortable with her close scrutinizing. The boy, Tristan, must have noticed because he laid a hand on his sister's arm and whispered something in her ear. The austere princess frowned, but relaxed her gaze upon the girl. Tristan winked at her and she gave him an appreciative smile.
Also there was a lovely dark-skinned woman with intelligent eyes so dark brown they were almost black. Her thick black hair was pulled back by a leather tie and hung down her back like a horse's tail. Her voice was low-pitched and had a musical sound to it that made her feel a bit less wary of these people. If only they weren't so close to her bed or if there weren't so many of them there at once.
"I am Lady Jasmine, Mistress Healer of this infirmary. You gave us quite a scare there, young lady."
"Mother, Father, I think so many people crowding around her is making her nervous. Perhaps she would be more comfortable if we left her for a while," Tristan pointed out while staring pointedly at his elder sister.
The girl bristled at the well-intended comment. Something within her rebelled against this nearly overwhelming trepidation and she was determined to not let it rule over her. But she did have to admit it was very hard not to feel uncomfortable with all these inquiring gazes around her. They would still be asking the questions she couldn't answer and she didn't know if she possessed the strength to go through that again.
"Majesties, if I may? I think Tristan and I should speak with her alone," Lady Jasmine suggested.
The girl sighed silently in relief as the king, queen, and two princesses heeded the healing mistress's advice and left her alone with just the two. Lady Jasmine came forward and felt the girl's forehead before picking up her wrist and feeling her steady pulse.
"Good. No sign of fever and your pulse is strong," the woman commented in approval.
"Don't worry about Ellie. She makes just about every newcomer to our kingdom uncomfortable with that gaze," Tristan assured her, smiling slightly.
"Ellie?" the girl asked in confusion. Who was Ellie?
"It's what we call my elder sister. My mother prefers to be called Ella by all close to her and my sister prefers to be called Ellie," he explained.
"Oh."
"Yes, I think Ellie needs to work on her people skills. Fine head on those shoulders, but she needs to lighten up that tight face. One would think she was far older than nineteen," Lady Jasmine remarked dryly.
After running quick checks over the girl's vitals, Lady Jasmine pulled a chair up close to her bed to talk more intimately with her. Tristan did the same on her other side the girl felt oddly comforted by his presence.
"Tristan tells me you have amnesia; that you can't remember anything. Is that true?" the woman queried.
The girl looked away from the dark, solemn gaze of the healer in shame and nodded her head morosely. "I only have bits and pieces that are so terrifying…I'm not exactly sure I want to remember the rest. I do wish I could remember my name though."
"Yes. Your name. Well, we can't very well keep addressing you as 'my lady' or 'the girl'. Perhaps we shall find a substitute name for you until you regain knowledge of your real name," Lady Jasmine said, scratching her chin in contemplation.
"Who knows? Maybe you'll prefer your new name over your real name when you remember it," Tristan joked, wanting to make the girl smile.
The girl gave a small smile in appreciation of the boy's attempts at lightening up the situation. Truth be told, she was feeling so conflicted inside at the moment that she didn't know what to feel. But she did think it a good idea to use a temporary name until she knew her real one.
"Um, so…a name," Tristan mused.
Without even thinking, the word fell out of the girl's mouth almost mechanically. Though it wasn't her real name, she was sure it wasn't, it still carried a great degree of significance to her. Although why it did she couldn't fathom at the moment. "Rose."
"Pardon?" Tristan asked.
"Call me Rose," she clarified.
Lady Jasmine frowned. "Is that your real name?"
Rose, as she was called now, shook her head and her eyes narrowed, as she seemed to look off far into a great distance. "No, but there's something about that word…it means something important. I just don't know what."
Tristan and Lady Jasmine locked perplexed gazes, but Tristan just shrugged and quirked a smile.
"Rose it is then."