Unara

The moons hang high overhead, major and primary minor on course to eclipse just as their third companion sets early for the night. Tonight will be darker than most, and the world will sleep through it unawares. In the morning, the sailors will load their river boats with fresh goods, the merchant will hock his wares, the politician will scheme, and children will fill the streets with peals of laughter, just as any other day.

It's been long enough that there's no one left to remember.

Somewhere unseen, a page turns. The distinctive, rhythmic tap tap tap of needles pauses as the knitter reaches for a skein that is no longer there. There's a sigh, and the fabric of the universe shudders. She resumes her endless work, and all is again as it was a heartbeat ago.

Elsewhere unseen, a queen banished from her own lands toys at the fraying edge of a dying memory. She feels the fallen's pain as her own, and, for just a moment, she is herself again. So much lost, so much to be found. A single tear slides down her face, and the moment ends. She resumes her endless work, and all is again as it was a heartbeat ago.