Amentia

Chapter 65 - Righting wrongs

The following day, the troupe packed up their stage and left Ehlevit to continue their journey towards the Temple. It had been a long, long time since this caravan had driven this far west on this side of the river. So long that Az and Ruvyn didn't even know when the last time had been. After the Human Incursion, hardly any creatures passed by the immediate forest of the human village; they distrusted humans as much as humans distrusted them. If anyone wanted to visit the Temple, they went the long way round on the north side of the river. It could very well have been more than three-hundred years since the Theater had come here. They were still more than a day away from it, but they spent a good chunk of the afternoon debating about whether to make a stop in the human village or keep going straight to the Temple. They had enough food to make it there and back to Ehlevit, but no one could deny that they were most intrigued by the state of that village. The Amentian creatures openly admitted they were interested purely from a gossip standpoint. The five human girls wanted to know how it all looked now, if they had rebuilt themselves out of the ashes. The one human man in the room only had one person in mind that made him consider the idea of stopping in that village; he just wanted to know if she was still alive. To give a sense of closure to the girls and to Adam, they decided to stop by.

The entrance arch was still standing tall, intact. At first sight, all the houses were accounted for, though they were not in good shape, badly beaten up and uncared for. The dining hall was all but gone, only a partial structure remaining, covered with burn marks and hacking indentations. But they were all being repaired. Carpentry noises echoed all around the area, along with the sound of casual conversation. Small groups of people were carrying wooden logs and tools; others carried the usual elements, such as water, clothes or food. Everyone walked with a purpose; it was clear they had organized well to not bump into each other and be helpful in any way they could, even if it was only by holding a ladder for someone to climb on a rooftop or passing a hammer to them. There was no fighting over nothing, no yelling, and powers were only being used as tools to make the work easier. Some laughter was even heard from time to time.

As the troupe slowly and silently walked into the village, they began to pull focus. People passing by slowed down to get a good glimpse of them on their way, openly gawking. When the troupe was close enough to the dining hall, people just stopped walking altogether to stare at them. They all recognized the five human girls from their brief time in the village right before disaster happened, but the other six were a surprise. Even the people standing on rooftops stopped working to look down at the eclectic group. Most of the humans alive had never left this village and so their knowledge of the world was small, if not nonexistent. The only Amentian creature this village usually saw was the bulletin distributer, and that post was always taken by orange-skinned Drehvians; the other species were a mystery.

A woman carrying a bundle of clothes rushed inside the dining hall yelling, "It's them!" and a moment later, a familiar face appeared behind the battered door.

Adam inhaled through his teeth and held his breath when he saw Margaret walking towards them, getting flashbacks of his childhood on his first days in Amentia. She looked so much older than he remembered her. She had two thick scars across her cheek and forehead that hadn't fully healed yet, and a bad burn mark on her left shoulder. But she was still holding a cloth between her fingers, though it seemed to be a new one, and a smile was painted on her lips. She stopped in front of the group, put her hands on her hips and took a look at each of them. When their looks crossed, Adam waved at her awkwardly and she had to look twice at him to see if she'd been mistaken somehow.

"You're so grown up I almost didn't recognize you," she said to him with a hand over her mouth. Adam came out from behind the girls and approached Margaret with an awkward smile; she welcomed him with open arms and embraced him. "For years I thought the worst. I'm glad to know you've been safe," she said into his ear and dissolved the hug to look at his face and put her hands on his cheeks like a common aunt.