I found
myself returning to the Festhall as much as possible, each time scrounging or
stealing what coin I needed to feel the rain on my face again. The City of
Doors, while not fully enclosed, didn't experience much in the way of weather
or seasons. It simply existed in a perpetual way that made time immaterial. The
only rain happened in tiny snatches in different parts of the city, seemingly
at some greater entity's whim, and seldom where I was.
My fortunes
didn't change much. I had no home, and was forced to sleep on the street or
occasionally in a park. But the nightmares did not leave me. Even in this new
world, as far away from the mists as I could get, the nightmares remained with
me.
I had not
been able to find the coin to start up my magical arts again, though my mind
conceived an enchantment to protect me from the nightmares. I volunteered to
work menial jobs. I begged and attempted to borrow, but every trick and measure
I tried got me nothing. I even had to evade the guards after a failed
pickpocketing. What little coin I could get was for food and the occasional
visit to the sensorium.
On one day,
barely a month since I had arrived, a lady passed through the hive in a
carriage, and I smelled roses. I had not smelled them since my arrival. The
vial in Rina's pendant was empty. It was not damaged as far as I could tell,
but it had emptied not long after I arrived. The scent memory washed over me,
and I needed to feel the rain and remember Rina all the more.
I went back
to the sensorium with two coppers to my name, and I saw Annali again. I offered
my coins but he shook his head.
"I
cannot devalue an experience for so much, and I think you know that. However,
perhaps there is another way you can make payment. You would also be able to
receive some."
"What
do you mean?"
"All
of the stones here have been recorded by people, mostly by those in the Society
of Sensation, but we do offer coin to people who record unique experiences of
their own. If you can offer such, I can pay you. The more unique the
experience, the more vivid the sensations and emotions, the better."
"I can
record my memories here? And they'll be forever preserved?"
Annali
nodded.
"Yes."
Annali
showed me to a room, where I recorded the first of my memories, all to do with
Rina and the rain. After that, I asked for another stone, and another. After
the third, Annali tried to send me away.
"Please,
Annali. I have lost so many memories already."
"You
need rest, my friend. Reliving experiences takes its toll."
"Then
take food out of that payment and let me continue."
She finally
relented, bringing food and after the seventh stone I recorded, took me to a
bed, telling me I could resume in the morning.
For the
first night in a month, I slept in a bed. In between the nightmares which woke
me with a start, I had dreams. I dreamed of Alistair, Markun, Windy, Faenoth,
Virgil, and Rina.