Witness

13 - Words from the Flames

It was late by the time everyone was gathered, close to midnight. The heat outside was cooling to something more comfortable than the inferno we had endured during the day and Brygos opened the door to his large barn so the crowd inside could enjoy the wonderful breezes rolling in off the sea. Most people had already eaten their main meal for the day, so we had honeyed pastries and fresh fruit alongside coffee so thick with honey that you could almost stand the spoon on end. Most spread their rugs out on the dirt floor to sit more comfortably and crammed in together like sardines in a tin.

Next to me, a sleepy-eyed boy settled into his mother's lap while she carefully poured me a cup of coffee. My nerves had my stomach in knots, but I nodded along as she talked because despite the tension in the air, the gathering felt familial. Zita spoke with the comfortable rhythm of an aunt, as if we had known each other years and years.

Then Brygos drummed on a bucket to get everyone's attention. "As you all know, we have guests," he said, voice carrying over the hush. "Some hard decisions need to be made now. I asked Karsa if she would say a few words."

An old man, face wrinkled like worn boot leather, gave me a long and serious look. "Going to war with the regime will get us all killed."

"As if they need that excuse," Zita said scornfully. "Look at Helike."

My stomach dropped like a boulder and I turned to face her. "What about Helike?"

Brygos furrowed his brow. "You haven't heard?"

Thaïs looked over at me, well aware that my parents lived in Helike. I thought I saw sympathy there, along with a deep worry. Then she turned her attention to Brygos. "We weren't getting much in the way of news besides a bombardment dropped on our head, at least not from the northeast. What happened?"

Zita covered her son's ears. "They burned half the goddamn town. I don't know what happened to the people in the confusion, but I don't think the soldiers were there to play nice." She uncovered her son's ears, squeezing his shoulders to comfort him when he gave her a worried look. "Don't fret, baby. I just used a word you shouldn't know yet."

Everything in me wanted to drop my coffee and just run towards Helike until I collapsed, but it was further than I could reach now. They would have made it out, I told myself. It took me a full minute to realize that everyone was looking in my direction.

Thaïs's hand came to rest on my shoulder as she explained on my behalf. "Karsa's family lives in Helike."

The old man softened his expression. "I'm sorry."

"Let her say what she's going to say," Zita said firmly.

"Here." Brygos moved off the crate he was sitting on and motioned for me to stand on it. "Talk away."

I swallowed hard. What could I say? I tucked my hand into my pocket, fingers brushing across the broken pieces of Agathe's spectacles. A sudden anger welled in me and I was on my feet before I really knew what I was doing. I didn't know what to say, but I would say something for the people who death had silenced. I owed them that much.

"You know that we came from Seisa," I said as clearly as I could around the lump in my throat. "Some of us were students, some of us laborers, all of us living in the cracks. They bombed our homes into rubble, they burned our people into ash." The longer I spoke, the easier it became. "It isn't my place to tell you what to decide. It's your future as much as ours. What I can do is tell you what I see."

I hesitated a moment and Thaïs was there to nudge me onward. "What do you see, Karsa?"

Something inside me screamed for release, clawing up the inside of my ribs. "I see a broken world," I said bluntly. "One where I grew up hanging my head in shame, speaking a tongue that was not my own, toeing their line and praying to God that the Lathraí in me would be erased."