Apparently realizing that Rosei was awake, the woman turned to her and said, "Hello there, child."

"Who are you?" said Rosei in a weak voice as the woman walked to the bed.

"I am Krenwa, mistress of this place."

"Where am I? How did I get here?" Rosei asked. As she thought back before her awakening this morning, Rosei's memory began to fade. She remembered two familiar people arguing; and a bird, a golden one, telling her to do something. And then she remembered someone shouting at her and something hitting her head. In all of her memory, she could not remember this woman.

"As to your first question," replied the woman, sitting on the edge of the bed, "you are on Ryh Hill, on the southern tip of Illiam. As to your second question, three days ago a young woman ran up to me as I tended my garden on the backside of the hill. Dismayed, the woman carried a child shrouded in a brown cloak, whom she said she had found lying unconscious under a tree on the outskirts of the city of Sewuxo. The woman claimed that nearby the girl grazed a horse, which she mounted and rode to my place."

"Why did she come to you?" asked Rosei.

"Why, I'm the Earthen Spirit of this realm!" exclaimed the woman with a smile. Seeing Rosei's bewilderment, she elaborated.

"The emerald eyes distinguish me as an Earthen Spirit, one sent by the gods to protect one of the realms of this world," she said. "I was born in this realm and was thus obligated to protect it. This has been a heavy burden upon my shoulders, I must admit. Since childhood I have lived in seclusion upon this hill, tending to the sick in mind, spirit, and body brought to me. This is why you were carried to my aide."

Rosei let the ensuing silence allow for her mind to think. "I've never heard of an Earthen Spirit," she said at last.

"That is strange indeed," replied Krenwa. "Where are you from?" Rosei paused for a second, trying to collect her frenetic thoughts.

"I?I don't know," she stammered as a tear rolled down her face, feeling a sudden rush of despair. "I can't remember anything. I feel so lost, but I don't know how to get home." She began sobbing.

"There, there," Krenwa cooed, pulling herself closer to Rosei and gently wiping away the girl's tears. "I have something that will make you feel a whole lot better and will restore your memory with time."

"You do?" asked Rosei with a sniffle. She felt as if she were in a strange, faraway world, but was glad that she had at least one friend to guide her.

"I do," replied Krenwa. "Let me go fetch it now." She stood up from the bed and departed the room, quietly opening and then re-closing the door behind her.

While Krenwa was away, Rosei thought back to the woman's story of her lying unconscious in some distant city and being taken to her care. Fleeting images of the golden bird flashed in Rosei's mind, and she knew that the bird had told her to do something very important. As she wracked her brain for any memory, the door at the end of the room suddenly flew open.

"I found it," said Krenwa reassuringly as she entered the room. In her hands she held a glass flask in which an indigo liquid sloshed. She scurried to Rosei's bed, bending over to administer the cordial.

"Lean forward, please," she said to Rosei as she unstopped the bottle. Rosei strained her neck upward, feeling tension in the air. She slowly opened her mouth, taking a deep breath to calm her anxiety. Krenwa put the flask to Rosei's lips, tilting the bottle so that the liquid flowed into Rosei's throat. As the liquid passed through her mouth, Rosei felt a strange tingling sensation. She swallowed the tasteless elixir until not a drop remained, frozen in anticipation. Krenwa released the flask from Rosei's lips, moving to stand at the end of the bed.