Editing Eldramin (section)

== Chapter 19 ==
''Fannara''

The next day, it was decided. The train that would stop at Alithos was going to leave the day after. I had one last day to follow the routine I’d built up for the last five months. 

I went from class to class, saying as few goodbyes as possible. Strangely, Moren didn’t show up to any of the classes we had together. It wasn’t like we would really talk outside of patrols, but it was still weird not seeing him in any of the classes. 

I ate lunch with Ari and Mara one last time and went to my remaining afternoon classes. Now that we didn’t have most of our Trainers, we just went straight to patrols. Moren still was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t sure what to do as we technically weren’t supposed to leave the Arena without our partner. 

One of the few Trainers left ran over to me but hesitated as he reached me. 

“Harpson?” 

“Yes sir?”

He looked down at his clipboard nervously and then looked back at me. This was weird. “Your partner has been delayed. You’re instructed to go to your patrolling station and wait for him there.” I nodded. 

“Thank you.” I walked to the exit of the Arena. I grabbed my coat from where I had dumped it on the floor and ran to the elevator. Earlier in the day, I had to turn in my Training uniform, so I was going on patrol in my normal clothes today. 

It was freezing outside, so I ran to the transport that would take me and a few other people to our posts.  I realized that I was going to miss the bumpy ride up the mountain to the Burning Waters. It was the last stop the transport took.

I gave the driver an appreciative smile and stepped out into the snow. The wind bit through me as I climbed up to the entrance of the cave. I felt heavy as I walked up to the gaping hole in the side of the mountain. It wasn’t like I had anything extra with me today, in fact, I had less than normal. No staff in my hand, no casted-guards, not even my normal pack. Just a water bottle and my telecom. 

I waited inside the part of the cave where Moren and I always sat. It felt so lonely and empty without him. 

I sighed and leaned back on my hands. It was a content sigh. I certainly didn’t want to leave Lathra IV. The closest thing I had to a family was here. But I’d had a good time there, and I didn’t have many regrets. 

Moren arrived looking anything but content. He seemed nervous and agitated as he slowly walked down to where I was. 

I slid off of the rock and jogged over to him. “Hey! Where were…” I trailed off when he met my gaze. His sapphire eyes looked frantic and exhausted. “Are you okay?” Moren didn’t answer; he just stared at me as if I’d just received a death sentence. 

I slowly took a step back as his silence continued. “Did something happen? You seem a bit…off.” He swallowed hard and moved his eyes to the ground. 

“We need to talk.” He walked past me and further down into the cave. 

I turned around, increasingly confused and concerned. Not sure of what else to do, I followed him down. “What’s going on?” We were now standing on the level where the lake was. 

Moren slowed his pace slightly, allowing me to catch up. We started just walking around the bottom area without saying anything. 

He finally took a deep breath and started. “Fannara, you’re not getting on that train tomorrow.” I tilted my head, perplexed. 

“Why?” 

He paused again, as if preparing himself for something he didn’t want to say. “I know about the ring.” I stiffened and automatically reached for my hair where the ring was securing my braid. 

“I can explain-”

“-you don’t have to, Via told me.” I froze mid-step. Had they captured Via? Was it my fault? What did Moren have to do with this? Silence seemed like my best option as I waited for him to continue. It looked like he didn’t want to. “I have orders and…I wish they weren’t making me do this.” He said that last part under his breath, but I still heard it. 

He turned to face me head-on. “There was something weird with your blood tests.” I furrowed my brow. 

“What does that have to do with the ring?” He sighed and looked away, fixing his eyes on the water. My heart started to pound as if my body knew what was happening before my mind did. “''Moren'', what is going on?” He turned back to face me, regret seeming to gleam in his eyes. 

Nearly inaudibly, he said, “We found her. We found Izzy.” I couldn’t hold back the shock that came over me. 

“She’s actually alive?” He nodded, but he didn’t seem any less miserable. “...where is she?” When he still didn’t say anything, I assumed the worst. “Moren, does Jana still have her?” 

He shook his head and said, “It’s you.” I stared at him.

“What’s me? Moren, you’re not making any sense.”  He looked at me like he was trying to search my face for answers. 

“You really don’t remember?” 

I let out a slightly frustrated breath. “Remember ''what?'' I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He pulled back and frowned at the ground. After a few breaths of confused silence, he began again. “A few days after the soldiers were sent into Jana’s fortress, the centaurs rescued Isabell.” I had no clue why Moren was suddenly talking about this, but I figured that it would be best to just let him keep talking. “She was really wounded and…not in her right mind. Using the moon spells they knew, they blocked her memories and covered them with a new narrative of sorts, one that still held the key information that would let them identify her in the future.

“She was sent off-world for eleven years until one of the officials who had been informed of the plot arranged for her to return to Lathra IV.” My heart started pounding harder as he kept talking. I had a growing suspicion in my mind of what he was thinking, but it was too absurd to be real. 

He took another deep breath before confirming what I was worried he was thinking. “Fannara, that was you.” 

I scoffed. “Moren, I think you maybe need a bit more sleep or something. That’s ridiculous.” From the way he looked at me, I knew he believed what he was saying, but I couldn’t. “That makes no sense -I have ''very'' clear memories from Alithos- that wasn’t just something planted in my head.” 

“I didn’t believe it at first either, but when Via gave us the evidence-”

“-why would Via know anything about this?!” Panic was starting to overtake me. I was trembling from head to toe. A new headache tore through my head, along with a sudden wave of dizziness. “None of this makes any sense. It can’t be real, this can’t be real.” I took a few steps back as if physical distance would make this scenario go away. 

Moren took a step toward me and I immediately stumbled a few more steps back. He froze when he realized how insanely freaked out and scared I was. “Via knows because she was rescued along with you. Jana had been holding you both and a few others when the centaurs raided.”  

I shook my head fervently. “That wasn’t me Moren, you know that.” I pulled my sweater tighter around me in an attempt to stop the shaking. 

“If you don’t believe me, then look at what happened with the blood tests. They had to redo them because you were already in the system.” 

I swallowed hard and took another step back. “That’s not possible.” I wracked my brain for something to counter this with. “I had an older brother, there’s no way I imagined that, and Izzy only had younger siblings.” 

Moren took in an uncomfortable breath. “That’s…that’s actually not true. You do have an older brother, people just don’t talk about him much anymore.” 

“You’re lying. That wouldn’t make any sense. Why would people suddenly stop talking about someone? That makes no sense.” My words were coming out jumbled but I couldn’t help it. 

Moren put out his hands, signaling for me to calm down. “Eli had to leave Lathra IV after the government found out he married Via. But that’s not important right now.” The name was familiar and immediately triggered something. 

Sudden snippets of memories came to mind as I struggled to make sense of what Moren was saying. I could hardly hear him anymore. Sights, smells, colors, everything was flooding in like a torrent.

Between trembling teeth, I somehow managed to say something. “What’s happening?” I stumbled backward a little further. 

Moren’s eyes suddenly widened in panic, and he tried to grab me. I jerked backward and then realized my mistake. 

My foot slipped. The rest of me followed. I fell backward into the water, but this time it wasn’t like the field trip.

This time the pain was instant. So was the darkness.