Fall 1, 515
It was a quiet night on the beaches near Riverfall. The waves from the Suvan lapped gently against the shore, and a full moon brightly illuminated the scene. Washed up on the shore, her lower body submerged in the water, was a girl. She was unconscious, but breathing. Her long hair was strewn about in a tangled mess, and her only clothing was a worn dress that might once have been white.
~*~
It was not the cold that woke Alea, nor the wet, though they were plenty uncomfortable. It wasn't even the bed of small rocks she seemed to be lying on. The first thing she noticed as she struggled slowly to consciousness was a cool brightness. With an effort, she managed to flutter her eyes open long enough to glimpse the full moon in the sky above her.
Oh, is that all? she thought, and her consciousness left her again, just as the nearby watchtower flashed red.
~*~
There was no sense of passage of time, but before too long, the dream-like quality of the night gave way to more bodily concerns, and her face contorted into a frown as she slipped in and out of consciousness, distinctly aware of and able to list all of the factors of her discomfort, but somehow paralyzed and unable to take action to remedy her state, except in her dreams. In less than a bell, she dreamed she had gotten up out of the water no less than five times, only to return to the reality that it was still night and her body refused to move.