6

Fishermen wives awaited their lovers, never knowing when they would return. They parted at dawn and it was as though they never knew if that departure would be the last. The seas were known to be unpredictable and yet, she has chosen to live here. Perhaps, somewhere in the deepest crevices of her mind, as a whimsical joke, she had retained that part of her memory enough to place herself in such a rural coastline area with unpredictable seas and unpredictable storms, similar to her character of sorts. She must have been a night time orchid. A really difficult plant to grow yet a really beautiful one at that. Thankfully, the people in this town were friendly and nice. Her features were dulled to fit that of the realm.

It wasn't intentional - the Fates had informed her she would lose four fifth of her powers and that indeed was what had happened when she jumped into the spinning wheel of time. It was also true that she had her memory sealed and she knew nothing about who she was nor what she truly was.

Which was fine, given the fact that this was where she was supposed to be.

"Lola, you're not going to the market with just that, are you?" her friendly neighbour asked and pointed at the sparse amount of herbs she had managed to gather painstakingly.

Her eyes fell to their bountiful catch of the day and her stomach growled.

Out of the kindness of their hearts, her neighbours gave her one fish and she, in return, placed some herbs into their hands as well.

"Lola, you're not that shabby looking yourself. I was wondering...," her elderly kind neighbour looked at her and paused.

Lola quirked her brow and her neighbour finally uttered, "I have a son, he's not...the brightest but he's definitely obedient, and filial. And since you've been alone all these years, why don't you consider him?"

Lola was taken aback. Marriage? She had never considered that... She knew that she was supposed to wait for something. Yet, she couldn't remember what it was anymore.

"I'll think about it," Lola finally uttered politely. Dull looking as she was, her mind was still working. Something in her knew that she had to exercise caution in dealing with the elderly folks. She knew that they were prideful and she probably shouldn't turn them down too easily.

Her elderly neighbour didn't look too taken aback. However, she quickly added, "Let us know by end the of this week... it would give us more time to prepare."

Prepare for....? Lola's mind wandered. Marriage processions?

And with that, the elderly folk handed her the fish and headed back to their houses. Lola sighed and got back to her tiny hut that was situated right at the end.

It was a shabby small looking hut that overlooked the sea. Her eyes lingered on the surface of the water. It was quiet, deathly quiet for some reason.

She sighed once more, wondering why she felt somewhat strongly for something that she knew not to be.

"Splash!" Her eyes widened. Wasn't that...? Wasn't that a human who had descended from god knows where and had landed in the sea?

She rubbed her eyes for a bit, thinking that her fatigue must have played a part in this.

No, wait - the person was moving. Without thinking too much into her actions, she went towards the sea and tried to save the person before it was too late!