Private Wasn't here last year

[Vyn]

They came upon ruins and decided to make camp there. Now a bunch of stones in the middle of nowhere wasn't anything new to people who spent their lives on the Road. What made these interesting is that no one remembered seeing them before. Which was especially strange, given they took a very similar route each year. Had been, for a century now. Strange as it was, the Pathlights found no warning signs. No bandits. No undead. It seemed vacant. The Council decided they would benefit from camping leeward.

„If anyone asks, I did this alone.“ Vyn complained, one elbow wedged into a half-raised tent. Her other hand fumbled for a rope she had dropped twice already. „I hope the stories say I died heroic, crushed under a flap while everyone else stared at rocks.“

The semi circle of what could pass for stone pillars was overgrown with ivy. Remnants of a floor nearly gone to underbrush. Must've been good stone, to still resemble itself in these conditions. It stood a mere dozen paces from the treeline. The entire place was silent.

She didn't like it.

It was the kind of silence that made people think twice at the edge of camp. The kind that left firepits half dug. And of course someone had gone poking around.

She looked up upon hearing boots. Quick pace. A flash of someone hurrying past, across the clearing. Hand held high. It was clutching a smooth stone, dark as blood and lined with script. It wasn't the old Deva tongue. Wasn't any language she'd seen before.

The brief distraction had her let got of the rope long enough. The stone hummed as it caught the light.

Her tent collapsed.

„That's not funny.“ But no one made a joke.

 

[Kahnai]

It was strange. The old ruins in a place that they had definitely passed through before and there'd been no rumors, no stories on the road to indicate that there might have been an upheaval of the land such that the ruins had been uncovered. No one seemed to know what might have caused their appearance. So of course, this had been the perfect spot to camp. As one of the Story Keepers, this just seemed like a tragic ending waiting to happen.

Kahnai was curious, just like all the others, and her hands itched to touch at the stone and see if it could tell her it's stories. Tell her the stories of this site, but it was not a skill so easily called upon. Sometimes it came easily, others it refused. Still other times it came without warning initiated by a simple touch. It's why the Deva was often found wearing a pair of gloves unless they were reading fortunes for coin. Glimpses into a person's past could help to tell the fortunes and sometimes, if the shroud was particularly friendly, she could see a bit of the future as well though this was much rarer.

Footsteps raced back and forth across the space as the people of Elum slowly settled their camp. Many much more interested in the ruins that they were going to be camping near than prepping for the evening. Really she should probably be with the other Keepers, but there was something about the events that made her just want to observe for now. It would be another viewpoint for the story later, once it was recorded, if it was worthy of recording anyways.

So instead of joining the chaos of inquiry and discovery, she moved through camp watching and mentally taking note. It was in this was that she stumbled upon her sister trying and failing to set up her own tent. "Need a little help Vyn?" She asked as she moved closer to join Vyn. Kahani had already set hers up along the outer circle of the wagons as part of those who helped to keep watch during the night.

 

[Vyn]

„No.“
Took but a heartbeat.
„Yes. But I'll complain the whole time, so don't say I didn't warn ya.“

Vyn moved back slightly, making room for her sister, like a storm cloud hesitant to give the Sun its corner in the sky. She resented how even in her own story she was the fucking cloud. As she moved away, the flap sagged, and soon after the whole thing collapsed. Given the audience, it seemed almost like the tent wanted to insult her personally.

„When you keep this one, let the record state that I got this far on my own.“ Voice quiet, soul anything but. She was bothered by her inadequacy. Vyn loved her sister, but whenever she was around, it brought up the same feeling. Still, it was hard to properly resent Kahnai – because she was one of those rare good people. Hating her only told on yourself even more. And Vyn couldn't chalk her another win – simply wouldn't feel right!

With the tent back to its deflated state, she turned to the ruins again.

„You ever seen something like that before?“ Almost expecting the slight. „Not the tent, that.“ Annoyed.
„Walked this road a bunch o' times, and suddenly there's a ruin here. Either the world's playing tricks, or someone's folding the map on us.“


She would never admit such things to her sister, but changes in the road scared Vyn. It made the one thing she could barely hold onto even more unreliable.
If an Elum couldn't trust memory – what in Sitha's name else was there?

Sometimes she wanted to confide in Kahnai. About the pact and the price. But she didn't.
Because how could you explain something like that to the Sun.
All it would do is make the cloud feel smaller.