[Mkguild] The Illusive Chain: Ignorance (2/?)

[Azariah Wolf]

Sorry for taking a day off.  Pretty much just forgot.

-LurkingWolf

---

Lucy was not, of course, so convinced of Lois' harmlessness that she 
left him without summoning someone else to guard the room.Thankfully, 
the combination of her bond to Julian and her magical talent made that 
simple.The moondog had soon arrived, his face curious as he approached.

"Has he moved?" he asked before she could greet him.

She nodded."He awoke not five minutes ago.He has shown no violence 
towards me, but his confusion is certainly still present.He claims to 
have lost his memory, and I cannot dispute that claim from what he has 
said.It seems that only fractured remnants of his memories remain, and 
he has shown some confusion about what is memory and what is fiction.

"I wish to tell the others of this development.Would you be able to 
guard him in the interim?"

The moondog glanced at the door before looking back at her."Is it safe?"

"He does not seem to recall enough of his past to be a threat, and even 
if he secretly does remember some things, he is nonetheless 
unarmed.Based on the abilities that you have shown on the battlefield 
since our acquaintance, I have no doubt that you will have little 
trouble with him."

He nodded, stepping up to place his back against the door as she stepped 
away.After a few steps, however, she turned back.

"Julian?"

His ears perked and he looked at her inquisitively.

"Do not be too quick to trust."

He nodded resolutely."Do not worry.I will make certain that he does not 
escape."

Lucy considered reminding him that Lois was their fellow patrolman, not 
a prisoner, but she quickly realized that the truth was otherwise.The 
events of the past few days cast serious doubt on everything they had 
learned about the man.He could very well have returned to being the 
assassin that Andwyn had feared he was when he arrived.

Dismissing both the thought and the reprimand she had been considering, 
Lucy struck out into the halls to find her companions.The search was 
mercifully short; without the present need to find a solution to an 
unknown spell cast on a friend, the members of both patrols had returned 
to their sleeping quarters in the common bedding area.While she briefly 
considered informing only Alex of the development, she realized without 
much additional consideration that Balrog had been far more involved in 
their success that the lynx had been.The lutin and his commanding 
officer deserved to be informed as much as anyone.

While the sleeping area was very nearly empty with the departure of so 
many patrols in the wake of the plague, Lucy still led them all back to 
the room where they had cast the spell to rescue Lois.The fire was long 
since extinguished, but she did not intend to spend much time within.The 
youthful mage magically lit the sconces that were present to illuminate 
the room before turning to face her fellows.

"Lois has regained consciousness," she announced simply.

"You brought us all the way here just to tell us that?" Alex asked.His 
tone was easy to identify; he did not actually think that she had taken 
such unnecessary measures for such a simple announcement.He was simply 
driving her more rapidly towards the real news.

The effect was immediate."Lois claims that he has lost his memory."She 
forestalled questions with a raised hand."I spoke to him about it, and 
he clearly can remember some things, but even those are confused."She 
briefly recounted her conversation with the Cursed ermine, noting at the 
end that she had taken the precaution of leaving Julian with Lois.The 
others in the room remained in contemplative silence for a few moments, 
until Balrog finally spoke.

"I understand your concern.While I call myself his friend, Lois himself 
has frequently admitted that his past was hardly admirable.Still, isn't 
it his past that was forgotten?Wouldn't that make him less dangerous?"

Lucy shook her head."Perhaps, but we cannot assume either that he truly 
has lost his memory, or that he has lost only the dangerous portions of 
his memory," she explained."He clearly remembers some things, but others 
are muddled.I have asked him to try to sort it out as much as he can, 
but we need to find a way to help him."

"I may be alone in this sentiment, but why are we even talking about 
helping him?"The man speaking was Nathan, who had taken up the position 
nearest the door.His tail bobbed back and forth in agitation as he 
looked for reactions on the faces of the others."I think that everyone 
here is aware of his past sins; what is wrong with him simply forgetting 
them?It may take some time to adjust, and there is always the threat of 
his memory returning, but it may very well make him more worthy of 
confidence than he has ever been before."

Lucy scowled at him."I cannot justify that," she declared 
angrily."Memories define us.If we leave him as he is, we are as good as 
accomplices to the person who destroyed the man he was."

"And that is a bad thing?"

"Yes!"Lucy, despite her stature, always projected very well, and she 
took full advantage of this ability as she strode confidently towards 
the wolf."It is not for us to dispense justice at all, let alone by 
killing a man by our inaction."

"It is not that severe!" Nathan insisted.

"If you forgot who you were and we made no effort to recover that 
memory, would you say the same?If the Keep had the same morals that you 
do, the mages could simply collect fetish stones and use them on anyone 
they disliked for any reason.I would not wish that on the worst 
murderer.Punishment is worth nothing if it revokes all memory of the crime."

Nathan glowered at her coldly, but he resigned his argument with a 
wordless huff and a wave of his paw.Balrog looked none too pleased with 
his commander's suggestion, but he was not about to challenge him.Alex's 
gaze, as severe as always, darted between the two debating Keepers once 
more, but any thoughts that he might have held privately remained 
private as he returned the discussion to its original focus.

"Is there any way that we might be able to help him recover his 
memories?" he asked.

Lucy shrugged."The difficulty with a man losing his memory is always the 
lack of a consistent method that might lead to its recovery."She paused 
a moment; it seemed that she was still; regaining her composure from her 
heated spat with Nathan."One possible saving grace is the fact that he 
does remember some things.Memories are connected, and only rarely are 
those connections completely dissolved, even in the most severe 
circumstances.If he can discover those connections, he might very well 
be able to reconstruct all of his most vital memories through little 
more than concentrated consideration."

"What is our task, then?" Alex asked.

Lucy looked at Balrog."Not many of us have known him for very long, but 
you say that you have known him for years?"

The lutin nodded."Should I help him recall memories from when he knew 
me?" he asked.


"Yes, but be careful," the diminutive mage responded."If you simply tell 
him of things that happened, the memory will have no connections.It 
would be like setting a board on the waters of a river, hoping to build 
a bridge with it.It will be quickly washed away with no evidence of its 
presence remaining."

Balrog frowned."So I must try to help him discover the connections?"

Lucy nodded."It may be time-consuming and frustrating, but I see no 
other way.If there were some way to restore memories with magic I would 
gladly make the attempt, but I have heard of no such thing.We must take 
the long, hard road to succeed here."

"What if he remembers his years as an assassin?" Nathan asked coldly.

Lucy's glare was enough to show her displeasure in his question, but 
even she realized that it was something that they needed to decide 
before it became a problem.

"We are all warriors of one stripe or another, and he is unarmed.If he 
becomes violent and suspicious we should protect ourselves, but we 
should try to take care that we do not harm him regardless."She thought 
for a few moments before adding one more thing."To that end, it is 
probably a good idea to have a mage on hand at all times, to make 
subduing him easier."

"Since it seems that my task is the most vital to begin with, I will 
take that responsibility first," Balrog replied.

Lucy held up a hand."I have no problem with you being the first to speak 
with him, but I believe that it will be best if we all have a few 
moments to speak with him.He has known most of us for at least a brief 
period, and I hope that seeing us together will help him to make some 
immediate progress."

There was no argument from the others in the room, even though Nathan 
clearly wanted to say something.Lucy stared him down for a few brief 
moments to make certain that he never did say anything.Once she was 
certain that he would not dare her anger again, she turned back to the 
others.

"Does anyone have any other questions?" she asked.The only response was 
a few shrugs and shakes of the head."Very well; we should probably go 
see him then.The sooner we start, the sooner we can make some progress."

When no one presented any argument, Lucy led the way as they went 
through the halls towards the room where Lois now rested.Nathan hung 
back, his thoughts weighing on him heavily.He had never been an 
acquaintance of Lois, but the thought of helping an assassin when they 
could as easily do away with the danger irked him.Still, he could not 
fight the arguments that had been brought against him, even if he was 
certain that they were wrong.Shaking his head, he quietly told Balrog 
that he had somewhere else to be, and stepped out of the procession to 
attend to other things.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.integral.org/archives/mkguild/attachments/20141006/6420e2d3/attachment-0001.html>