text: [Themes: fantasy]
  
  You don't want to cause a scene. And how do really you know you weren't the one to have your memory changed?
  
  The magical lights dim by half for twelve hours a day. You can still see, but you have to squint. You start walking nowhere in particular to clear your head. After a little while, you realize you're on the path to the central cave with the waterfall.
  
  You sit by the edge of the water, watching the whirlpool spiral in the middle. It makes sucking noises, like a drinking mouth. You dip your fingers in the water and move them back and forth.
  
  "Can't sleep?" says a voice. Westerly. "Neither me."
  
  "Why do I keep seeing you here?" you ask.
  
  He sits down next to you. "I like watching the water," he says. He looks dreamily at the whirlpool. "It's said to go down forever, to the middle of the world. Which you know. I find it..." His voice trails off, and he never finishes saying that.
  
  "I'm in love with Molly," he tells you brightly before you can add anything. "The girl you saw today. That's why I can't sleep. I'm going to ask her to marry me."
  
  You smile empathetically, but say, "That's quite soon."
  
  "I love her," he repeats. You listen to him as he gushes about her without pausing, about how kind she is, how clever she is, how virtuous and beautiful. He makes her sound like the most wonderful woman in Footink. You don't know what to say, so you smile and agree.
  
  Eventually he pauses. "I never asked you why you're here," he says.
  
  You shrug. You find it hard to find the words. It sounds like it can't be real.
  
  "Do you remember how you told me about the magician from outside Footink?" you eventually ask, cradling your knees.
  
  And so you tell him how you got lost in the caves, and how you were likely cursed, and how you woke up to find the girl with no eyes in your room, who your parents said was your sister.
  
  "You mean Sap?" he asks.
  
  "So you know her?" you say, mildly surprised.
  
  He nods. "She don't go out much, but I've seen her once or twice."
  
  "Are you sure you think of the same girl?"
  
  "No eyes is uncommon enough, I think I'd remember."
  
  You think about this. So maybe it is you that's wrong. Maybe that was the curse.
  
  "But why would the magician make me forget her?" you ask.
  
  He doesn't have an answer.
  
  After a few moments, he speaks. "Do you think we should tell the priests?"
  
  You look up at the shining white Temple. This time the sight of it gives you a tinge of nervousness.
  
  > tell him he's wrong about 'Sap'.
  "You're mistaken," you say to him, getting up. You recall the image of that creature in the rough shape of a girl with a shudder. "That creature is not my sister. It's an imposter. It's the curse the magician put on me. That thing."
  
  He speaks calmly. "What's more likely? That everyone else was tricked? Or simply you?"
  
  "How can anyone remove a memory of a sibling?" You pause for a moment, and, seeing he won't change his stance, march off.
  
  He begins to follow you, but halters and stops when he sees you won't turn around. When you're finally out of view, you see a figure in the shadows. The girl. The eyeless thing. You recognize it instantly.
  
  You step back. "Leave me alone," you begin.
  
  The movement stops, and you see there's nothing there. Maybe you were confused.
  
  Then something tries to wrap its little arms around your back.
  
  It. The closed-off eyes seem to bore into your soul. You try to push it away, and it clings to you with its cold, sticky hands. Its mouth opens and closes, but no sound emerges.
  
  "Stop what you're doing," you demand of it. "You curse." You grabs its hair and shake it. "I know what you are."
  
  "Do you want me to get rid of it?" says a teasing voice behind you.
  
  You spin around. There's the magician, hidden in a corner.
  
  "I will," he continues. "But you must do something small for me."
  
  The eyeless girl hits you, trying to escape. Fortunately for you, she doesn't have the physical strength to match you.
  
  The magician waves a hand, and you have a vision. A sunny place. An open sky. A lake, a forest, a city glinting gold, twinkling, sparkling. A tower of glass that goes high into the air, like the stigmata of a luscious flower.
  
  You understand this to be his city. A city where water runs into every home, where scrolls and ornaments decorate every facet. Where servants and slaves wait on their masters patiently.
  
  "It will be yours," he says. "Yours. And you parents, too. You can live forever."
  
  And you understand he's right. There are physicians there. Medicines run in the water. There is no age, for those who can afford it. You understand this man has lived for a hundred years. In Footink, scarcely anyone lives beyond forty.
  
  You're startled by the beauty of what he's shown you. How could you have been so fearful of him before? Why, these Temple priests are good at what they do, good for Footink- But the world out there is so beautiful. You've never seen a sunset or a sunrise. You're barely seen the Sun.
  
  "What would I need to do?" you ask.
  
  He shows you an image in your mind. An upright triangle with a spiky leaf in the middle of it. You recognize it as the emblem of the people who enslaved your people generations ago. Footink was founded by these escaped slaves, and to see the emblem of their oppressors here...
  
  But you remember the image of that beautiful city. Open skies... You don't understand. Why would your ancestors have chosen to flee it to live in caves? Even though you've been content in here your whole life, you've always longed for the sun, the beautiful open air, green plants.
  
  "Paint it on the Temple walls," the magician tells you. "And I will unburden you of this eyeless subhuman, and you and your parents may return to my homeland with me."
  
  If you do what he says, and paint that emblem on the Temple, everyone in Footink will know what it means. You'd cause terror and unrest. The people – your people – have been taught from birth that this emblem represents pure evil.
  
  But on the other hand, after what he's shown you, what he's promised you...
  
  > Agree to do it.
  You agree to do it. The vision of the city lingers in your mind, and you want to go there. What bad will a simple symbol do?
  
  "Pass me that girl," he says, reaching forward his arms.
  
  You're still holding the struggling eyeless girl. With forceful tugs, you drag her over to him.
  
  "Very good," he says. He passes you a paintbrush and a vial. "This will be enough."
  
  Then he disappears into the darkness with the 'girl'. You feel a wave of relief now it's gone. The curse is off you. And when your parents and Westerly wake in the morning, you know they'll see their memories were wrong – if they even remember it at all.
  
  You go to the Temple and, seeing it's becoming morning, climb fast up the stairs. You look around to make sure no-one watches you. You open the vial, dip in the brush, and paint in bright gold. A triangle. A leaf. The triangle represents masculinity, military power, civilization. The leaf represents the taming of the land.
  
  When you're done, you shovel the materials up your sleeve and leave the scene fast. The Temple door opens, and a young boy peaks his head out. You freeze.
  
  His eyes gloss over you, as if he doesn't see you at all. Then he goes back inside. The magician must've put a spell on you to make you invisible for this. You breathe with relief.
  
  When you get home, Rosimary and Tolmerrie are searching frantically for 'Sap'. You think about telling them she wasn't real, but they didn't believe you last night, so why would they believe you now? They'll come to realize in time.
  
  You agree to help with the search half-heartedly. None of the neighbors have seen her, of course.
  
  At some point, Rosimary sits down and cries. You're not sure what to tell her.
  
  "Are you sure she's really-" you begin.
  
  "No, no, Mary," she weeps. "Don't repeat what you said last night! She'll never return, then."
  
  Superstition. You remain silent.
  
  "Oh, I know that magician everyone talks of took her. My poor baby. My poor, poor baby."
  
  Your neighbor, Clar, and elderly woman, rushes over. "Rosimary! Mary! Something terrible has happened at the Temple. A fire!"
  
  You both stop, and Rosimary gives you permission to run and see what's happening.
  
  When you get to the scene, the fire is still raging at the Temple. It's a yellow fire, like the gold paint you used this morning. The structure of the Temple remains in place. It doesn't look like a real fire. There's no smoke.
  
  Westerly appears beside you, with the girl you saw yesterday at his arm. "The talkers said there was the Pandrian emblem on the Temple this morn," he tells you in a rapid voice. "And the priests covered it up, but the fabric set on fire, and now it's the whole Temple on fire. The Pandrian emblem."
  
  "I'm scared, Westerly," says the girl, burying her face in his arm.
  
  He hugs her. "Don't pay any mind to what they said before," he tells her. "The priests will protect us."
  
  You hear a voice screaming from a distance away. "The end times are here!"
  
  Another: "Better to die now than live as slaves."
  
  There's screaming and shouting. You cover your ears and try not to feel guilty. You did what you had to, didn't you? They'll all see that.
  
  "Calm, calm!" beckons a huge feminine voice. Hovering in the air is the head priestess: a small, wrinkled woman in flowing grey robes. "Have faith-"
  
  With a huge flash of light, the fire surges in all directions, swells up, hungry. A deafening roar fills the cave, echoing everywhere, and a hideously metallic smell fills your nose. You gag.
  
  More screaming. The Temple disappears in the flames, which now creep onto the cave walls. As the fire moves onto the walls, it's revealed the Temple is no longer there. Snowy white ash blows outwards, filling up the cave.
  
  The atmosphere turns from one of fear to one of outright panic. The crowd starts to move fast. To run away.
  
  > Run.
  You flee too, and so does Westerly and his girlfriend. It's too dangerous to stay here.
  
  Other frightened people bump up against you. You find yourself separated from Westerly, from everyone you know well. You can only keep pace with the crowd, which can't seem to escape fast enough.
  
  Screaming. Panic. The odor of fear. You can hardly breathe when there's not enough air. You can't see where you're going – only the backs and feet in front of you and to your sides. Pressing up and tripping over all around you.
  
  You find your feet coming to a halt. You bump into the woman in front, and someone else bumps against your back. You think about turning around, but there's just not enough room. There's nothing to do but wait and hope the crowd starts moving.
  
  And you smell that metallic smoke behind you. The sound of terrified women, children, men fills your ears. The heat of them. The sweat on your skin, both yours and theirs. Through the struggle, you can barely see. You can see when the golden flickering light reaches you, though.
  
  You remember nothing after that.
  
  You awake to find yourself on your feet, marching. Your hands are tied in front of you to a horizontal pole. There are several people to your left and right. You are under a dark, grey sky, and water soaks your dress. It must've rained on you earlier. You are shivering and goose bumps cover your whole body.
  
  Awareness comes to you slowly. You remember a crowd and a struggle. Violence. Was it a dream? But how are you here? Is this a dream?
  
  Who are these people? They look like everyone in Footink, tied up, dreary, marching. To where?
  
  You glimpse a figure you recognize far ahead. Rosimary. Your mother. She can't see you, though. You search for your father, Tolmerrie – but you can't see him. And what about your sister, Sap?
  
  Your sister, Sap. There are memories of her now. Of her birth, of the frightened reactions when her relatives first saw her, of the expectation she would die, and of the delight everyone felt when she made it to her first birthday, and then her second birthday, then her third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth...
  
  Your curious, helpful, cheerful sister, who spoke with her hands and had the most amazing memory and hearing. Your loved sister. You loved her.
  
  And you hurt her and betrayed her and handed her to the magician.
  
  "Thank-you for your assistance," says the sarcastic voice of the magician. You look around, but can't see him nearby. Then you look far ahead, and see him on a horse, his head turned around, his eyes firmly on you. When you hear his next words, his mouth moves in accordance with what you hear.
  
  "Without the power of your sister, whose life I drained to acquire, I would never have been able to achieve what I did in Footink. Now you are all my slaves, and I will take you to my twinkling city and sell you. And my wealth will be increased."
  
  You played right into his hands.