Things I Almost Remember: A Selection Story

What About Illéa?

"How is this possible?" Ahren asked, finally releasing Kate and wiping tears from his eyes. "Where have you been all this time?"

Ahren looked his niece up and down because although he knew it was her, the scrawny young woman with the long tangled hair and tattered clothes was a far cry the little girl at that Christmas long ago with shiny new Mary Janes and curly hair pulled back in a velvet bow. 

"I can hardly remember anything before the orphanage, I've had, I have amnesia, and I only just started remembering that I am...I was once Kerttu Koskinen. I haven't been Kerttu in a long time," Kate said quietly, hugging her arms around herself.

"What do you mean?" Elodie asked, stepping forward and joining in on the conversation.

"I've been going by Kate, and Kate is all I have known since I woke up alone in the woods...," Kate began.

"What were you doing in the woods? Who left you alone?" Ahren demanded, his voice rising.

Kate looked down, and General Leger stepped in.

"We don't know exactly, but we believe it was Lucy," General Leger began. Seeing Ahren was about to speak, he quickly continued. "Ahren, the night of the attack, your mother told Lucy and me to take Kerttu and run. We were able to get out through some of the old passageways that had been used during rebel attacks. That is how Kerttu was able to escape. We all were on the run for two years, but some of Marid's men caught up with us. I told Lucy to run with Kerttu, and I had not seen either of them since until I and some people I have been working with under the radar against Marid's rule located Kate. She was living with Johnny and Connor here, and we knew they were the sons of a former palace guard. Kate had Kerttu's eyes. We knew it had to be."

"But I don't understand, she has amnesia? She is going by Kate?" Ahren asked, running his hands through his dirty blonde hair.

"Kate is who I am now!" Kate snapped suddenly. Everyone turned at her outburst. 

Kate recoiled a bit and then stepped forward.

"I was found on a road outside a small town with nothing but a note identifying me as 'K.' I did not know who I was or how I had gotten there. I had a bump on my head, and they thought it might have caused some sort of injury in my brain. They told me I was going to be called 'Kate' and was going to be sent to a youth home. I lived there until I was sixteen, and then, I went off on my own. I have been hoping to get here, to Paris, since I read the inscription on my locket. It had to be the place I had family, people who loved me. I could not remember if I had a family, but in my dreams, I had constant flashes of bodies lying dead and cold, soaked in blood, heard gunshots and screams. They constantly haunted me as I slept under bridges and in alleys and at the base of a tree in the middle of the woods. I kept hoping, in those moments, someday I would find a family, but then, when I learned I was Princess Kerttu Koskinen, I suddenly did not know if I wanted to find them, find you. I can see the way you are looking at me. You don't want to believe that this is what has become of me, but I Kate the amnesiac orphan who lives on the street."

"That's not what--," Ahren began to speak but trailed off as he looked at the sadness and hardness in Kerttu..Kate's eyes. 

"Kate, I have to admit I think we did not know what to think of what may have happened to you," Camille interjected, more composed than her husband. "I will admit that the girl who stands before me today is not the little girl I once knew, but even if all these horrible things had not happened, you still would be different at your present age than you were then. We all want to get to know who you are now."

"I just don't know who that is," Kate whispered, hugging her arms around herself as tears began to well in her eyes.

Johnny moved as though to move toward her, but Ahren moved faster. He held his niece in a tight hug. 

"I'm so sorry it has taken us so, so long to find each other again, but I promise we will take care of you. You will never have to worry about anything again. You are safe here," Ahren whispered, tears coming to his own eyes. Kate allowed herself to cry into his chest. 

"What about Illéa?" Connor asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"What are you talking about, Connor?" General Leger asked, a tone of irritation in his voice.

"What is going to happen to all those people under Marid? Kate is the rightful heir and should be the queen. Are we just going to leave everyone in our country to suffer?" Connor asked.

"Illéa has damned itself," Ahren muttered 

"There is still good in it, Ahren," General Leger said cautiously.

"They killed my entire family. They caused my niece to be parted from her family and to suffer most of her adolescence with no sense of who she truly is. They took everything," Ahren shot sternly. "I will not allow anyone in my family in that country again."

"Uncle Ahren, there still is some good. Johnny and Connor have helped me and wanted to help me find my family, even before they knew who I was," Kate whispered, still held by Ahren.

Ahren stiffened at her calling him "Uncle Ahren." Johnny fidgeted that Kate had decided to bring him up. Connor rolled his eyes because no one had yet answered his question.

"So what about Illéa?" he asked again, crossing his arms.

"I think there will be abundant time for us to talk about that subject once you all get a bit more settled," Camille said, again breaking the tension. "You all, of course, will be our guests. You three gentlemen can stay in the guest wing, and Kate, if you want to, we still have the old room you used to stay in when you would visit. It is just down the hall from Elodie's room."

"We used to play together as children. I used to be so excited when you would come and when I got to go visit you in Illéa," Eloise said.

Kate breathed in and then nodded, and she was led off by Camille and Elodie up the stairs. 

"Wait, Kate..." Johnny began, but Ahren cut him off. 

"I am forever in your debt for bringing our niece back to us, and you, of course, are more than welcome to stay here in France. However, we can take over for caring for Kate from here."

"But, but she..." Johnny began.

"He is totally in love with her," Connor said, snorting.

Ahren glanced between them and then cleared his throat.

"We can discuss arrangements and the next steps soon, but I insist you all get cleaned up and get some rest. I am sure you all have had a long journey," Ahren said before nodding and leaving the room.

"Well he totally doesn't approve," Connor said, snorting again.  "It probably is because we are not princes, Jonathan."

"He doesn't approve because he just got his niece back after thinking she was dead for ten years and doesn't want to lose her again," General Leger said, glaring at Connor.

"I can't lose her either," Johnny said, looking at them both. "Not again."