"But you knew my grandson."
Liora frowned slightly, uncertainty flickering across her face as she looked at the elderly woman.
"He fell into the palace fountain when he was five," the woman continued, a gentle laugh escaping through the tears gathering in her eyes. "The guards were too frightened to jump in because they feared they would be punished for letting him inside the royal gardens." Her expression softened with quiet affection as she looked at Liora. "But you didn't hesitate. You jumped into the water before anyone else even had time to react."
Liora searched desperately through the empty spaces inside her mind, hoping that somewhere, somehow, the memory would surface. She looked for the frightened child, the fountain, the cold water, anything that might connect her to the story she was hearing, but there was nothing.
The silence that followed was answer enough, and the elderly woman understood before Liora spoke a single word.
