''Let go...''
His voice strikes her like a shockwave, making all of her senses stronger, the taste of salt water, the loud thunder striking her ears, the cold wind that hits her skin like knives.
''I cannot, you know this! I can't just let you go, T-'' - The name, a word she felt she had known her entire life, caught in her throat. A page torn clean, like her own name had been.
''If you don't, you will drown with me you idiot.''
He speaks like every word is his last breath, exhaustion knifes through him, he can barely cling to the plank, her hand is the only thing stopping him from going down into the freezing water below.
''I' c-cannot lose you, i can't li-live with it... It'll be like dying myself, you know i can't h-handle without you.'' - The cold is making it hard to think and speak, shivers make her stutter. If she had any strength left, tears would be running down her eyes.
Differently from her past visions, she doesn't feel like vomiting, but her voice still comes out on it's own and she has no control over her body.
He no longer responds, his body becoming limp. On a last attempt, he pulls himself closer to her and whispers.
''I love you more than anything, i'll never forget you, Sister. You'll do fine by yourself, you're strong, i know it. Maybe... - He coughs water from his lungs, unable to utter another word, only noises she cannot comprehend. Then he slowly retreats back into the water and push the plank away from him with all the strength he has left.
The plank she's on drifts away as he gets pulled down by his own weight. As she moves further from him, the storm thins, and the calm humming of the waves slowly make its way back to her ears.
When she reaches the shore, she sits by the sand, looking out into the ocean, as if a piece of her would never return from the water. Someone pulls her by her shoulders to face them. It's a man, old. But she can't quite make his face out of the blur, yet differently from her brother, that man's clothes don't change.
He starts yelling, screaming, even. At first his words smear into noise, then sharpen into things she refuses to hear. She clamps her hands over her ears.. With her voice breaking down, she whispers to herself. ''I'm not here. This isn't happening...''
''...and it is all your fucking fault, i should...''
''I'm not here.''
He lifts her by her arm, shaking her with fury.
''It is all bloody facking ashes now! Ashes! ''
...
''Ashes!'' - Phi'lip pulls her out of her confused state. As she shook her head and looked at him, she carried the feelings of her younger, scared self, shivering just enough to the point he can notice it. As if the cold were still needling in her skin.
He's covered in ashes, soot, and small burns on his face, his hair is tinted a smoky black.
She turns back without a second thought, desperately trying to move the piles of burnt down materials.
''Ashes, h'what are'ye doin'? The house is... Gone''
''No! There is someone in there, i heard it!'' - She responds aggressively, almost shouting, first time he's seen her like that.
He puts his hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down, pull her away from the debris. But she lashes out, pushing him away far from her, like something just exploded from her hand, though none of them saw anything.
''Do not touch me!'' - She screams. Her eyes glowing, moving from the inside, as if something was stirring a liquid from within. ''If you are not going to help me, then be gone!''
''Did... somethin' happen?'' - He asks as he gets up from the ground, almost falling again as he tries to rise up, holding his hand on his chest.
''Yes! There is someone stuck in here, yelling for help!'' - She desperately pulls away burnt wood and other materials that went down.
''There's no one there, nobody is yelling for he-''
His speech is interrupted by a group of men entering the village from the opening in the right side.
A mountain of a man leads the group inside, so large he almost doesn't look human. He looks like he could snap Ashes in two in a second. He's dressed similarly to Phi'lip, worn out but stitched together. On his back lies a massive boar.
She ignores him and goes back to slowly moving debris away to find whoever is under them.
The man steps towards her and speaks to Phi'lip. A strong, harsh but warm voice.
''Cad a las an tine seo?'' - Though she can't understand a word he says, he speaks to Phi'lip as if he was interrogating him.
''N-níl a fhios agam, ní raibh mé anseo nuair a tthosaigh sé, rith mé ar ais chomh luath agus a chonaic mé an deatach'' - Phi'lip speaks as if he's scared of the man, occasionaly stuttering.
''Cé hí?'' - They speak at her back, but she knows they are now talking about her.
''Duine a chuaigh amú san fhoraois... n-ní uirthi atá an locht'' - Phi'lip tells the man, defyingly moving between him and her.
She gets up and faces them both, yelling.
''Why are you two not helping me? Fucking hell. There's someone still in here, she needs help.''
''Án oirthear?'' - The man opens his eyes like he's seen a ghost, when he gets to see her face. He moves Phi'lip aside with an effortless, but gentle push. - ''I see, move away''
With a single heave, he throws a third of the debris back, exposing a hand beneath. Ashes moves past the man and starts pulling the hand, but it barely moves.
The man sighs, and lifts up the burnt logs that pin the woman in place, Ashes then manages to pull the woman out, dragging her out into the open. Ashes pushes the smoke-blackened hair from the woman's face, all battered, bruised, deep cuts from her forehead to her chin.
She taps on her face, trying to wake her up. But she feels no heartbeat, no warmth.
''Ashes, she's...'' - Phi'lip is stopped mid-sentence by another man, which rests his hand on his shoulders. He is older than the rest, long beard, fur hat, animal fur coat.
''She is still here, i know that. We need to... i don't know what but she is still here.''
''Her heart has by now ceased to beat. Leave the woman be, child. Let her rest.'' - The man kneels by her side.
''No! She is still-''
''Seán, leave us. She will calm herself in due time.''
''Aye, Máistir Ewan.'' - The big man turns away and scoops Phi'lip with him, who gives a last hurt glance at Ashes before leaving.
''I can still feel her here... There must be a way.'' - Ashes speaks while placing the woman on the ground, then sitting beside her.
''There are those who hear the echoes of the dead, child. But not even they can bring them back''
''What if you're wrong?'' - She asks, holding down her tears.
''...''
Ewan walks beside her and taps her head gently.
''You did your best.''
''Not good enough, i'm afraid.'' - She replies with a sharp but self-deprecating tone.
She hears the man whisper something. ''Róa''.
But nothing happens. He recoils a step, unsettled and disturbed by that having no effect on her.
''Who... are you? It is quite difficult to see Án oirthear around here.'' - Ewan tries to distract her from focusing on the spell he just tried to cast on her.
''Ashes.'' - She says, though her name wasn't what he wanted to know. Images from the manor skip through her head - ''I do not remember where I hailed from, the only thing i remember is being lost in a forest, and then Phi'lip found me.''
''I see. Perhaps you hit your head.'' - The more he speaks, the more she realizes that despite dressing like the other people from here - looking like them, even - he doesn't speak like them.
Soon after, a boy shows up, the same one she'd passed upon when she first got in the village. Not much older than 12 she imagines. When he takes a glimpse of the corpse that lies beside Ashes, he lunges toward it, desperately trying to wake her up.
''Naenaenae máthair!'' - It doesn't take long before the tears run down from his eyes, his words mixed up with his cries make his following words indistinguishable through his crying.
''Easy, now.'' - He pulls the boy from the ground and hugs him.
''Máistir Ewan... What i'mma goin' to do withou' 'er?''
''She lived a long and happy life, she would not want you to weep in sorrow, but to let go of the grief and carry on as strongly as you can. Make the best out of your life. You're okay now Finn.'' - He moves his hand to the back of the Finn's head and whispers. - ''Róa''
The boy doesn't seem to notice, but he almost immediately stops crying. Pulls away from him and wipes his eyes.
''Ye're right Máistir Ewan, i'll do h'wat máthair h'wanted.''
While they talk to each other, something pulls Ashes's attention, the body speaks to her.
''Let go...'' - It is said as a hurt, tired plea for mercy.
When she looks at her own hand, she sees the woman's wrist attached to it, as if Ashes had been holding her the whole time. With a heavy heart, she lets go.
She blinks and time drags. Her breathing becoming louder and more intense, she feels a weight being pulled out of her chest.
The corpse seems distant now. Cold, silent, empty.
....