Chapter 3: The Remains of the Day
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Singing.  She heard singing.  The voice was low, rich, gentle - and though
soft, it clearly held a great deal of power behind it.  It filled her with a
sense of warmth and love.  Almost without realizing it, Rosa began to hum
along with the voice, the song flowing to and through her with easy
familiarity.  A tired smile broke through, then dissipated.  She stopped
humming and shook her head, wondering at herself.
    "What am I doing?  Hearing things again..."  She heaved a sigh and
looked about her, at Thamasa, at the smoking, blackened skeletons of its
buildings, at the people picking their way among the ruins, trying to find
and gather surviving remains of their lives.  It was a dismal sight, but it
did help jar her fully back to reality.  She began to wend her way over to
the nearest house, where a mother and daughter were digging through the
rubble in an attempt to find anything of their possessions that could be
salvaged.
    They looked up in surprise at her approach.  The eyes of the little
girl, who couldn't have been more than ten years old, lit up.  "Hello!" she
exclaimed brightly.  "You're one of the Returners, aren't you?"
    Rosa paused.  "One of the Returners?" she repeated, surprised.  "Well,
not exactly...but close enough, I suppose."  She smiled at the girl's
earnest expression.  "How did you know?"
    The girl's mother coughed delicately.  "Well, miss, it doesn't exactly
take a genius to pick you people out from a crowd."  She flicked a
meaningful glance at Rosa's dirt-smudged face and blood-stained clothes.
    "Oh..."  For the first time all day, Rosa glanced down at herself and
realized what a tattered figure she cut.  She grinned ruefully.  /Not
exactly the picture of royalty, am I?/ she thought, as she tried her hardest
not to laugh aloud.  To the mother she merely winked and remarked with a
smile, "Good point."
    The woman returned the smile and extended a hand.  "I'm Celia," she
said.  "This is my girl, Rosalind.  I'd offer you some refreshment and
perhaps some fresh clothes, but..."  She encompassed the area with a sweep
of the arm and shrugged.
    Rosa nodded, trying not to stare at the little girl.  That name...  The
melody she'd been humming earlier came back to her briefly, and it took her
a moment to gather herself and return her attention to the woman who stood
expectantly before her.  Taking the proffered hand, she shook it briefly.
"I'm Rosa," she answered quietly.
    Celia picked up on the association immediately.  "Really?  Derived
from..."
    Rosa nodded again and fought past the lump that had suddenly formed in
her throat.  "Quite a coincidence, I must say."  She looked quickly around.
"But I'd almost forgotten the reason I came over here in the first place.  I
wondered if you could use help with anything."
    Celia laughed.  "My dear, that is an understatement.  Yes, please!
We're just trying to find anything salvageable here.  If you could start
looking for us over there..."  She led the way over to an area of the house
that looked like it had been hit directly by one of the Imperial airships'
bombs.  "I tell you," she went on, "it's a good thing our inn is still
standing.  I can tell we've got rain heading this way, and if not for the
inn, many of us would have no shelter at all to protect us from it...."
    A glance upward at the sky told Rosa that stormclouds were indeed
scudding in from over the ocean, and she shook her head.  It just figured
that rain was coming *now*, after all the fires had already been put out.
Turning her attention back to the task at hand, she sighed and began
digging.