It was mostly ruins, some overgrown now, but still ruins. There were dips and bumps in the landscape too, amongst the shattered ruins of what had been buildings, graves and other distortions of a landscape. I'd been a farmer long ago, in what now seemed like another lifetime. So, I understood the land and how time shapes it. This was a landscape that had been at war. A landscape ruined by the power of armies to twist, distort and destroy all that stands in their path, including the land.
I was crouching there, at the edge of some ruins, feeling the soil, letting it run through my fingers. Jale was watching me. I could sense some impatience in her, but – as I said – I'd been a farmer and I knew how to wait.
'What's wrong?' she said, glancing around with the eyes of one who used to just looking and not seeing.
'There has been a war here,' I said.
She looked around. 'Here, but there is nothing, just these old ruins.'
I could feel the ash of something more than just wood in my fingers, I scraped at the topsoil and pulled out a bone, the mark of a blade on it.
Jale swallowed as she saw what I held.
'There has been a war,' I repeated as I stood up. 'You know what this means?'
She shook her head. 'No.'
'There will be work here for me. Come.' I walked back to the road and she followed, still looking but not seeing.
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