Rationale
I regained consciousness slowly, gradually, like coming out of a thick pool of mire. My eyes opened, blinking against the bleariness, against the obscurity that threatened to envelope me afresh. I had no sense of time, no sense of place. I could tell that I was lying on my back, but I could not hear the river anymore, nor could I smell the forest, the water, the blood . . . .
My memories rushed back to me in a tidal wave, every horror, every fear. I blinked my eyes fiercely and invoked my ice to sharpen my vision, so I could learn what had become of me. It seemed that I lay inside a room, a very dimly lit room. I lay upon a surface that felt neither hard nor soft, the light of a thousand candles flickering off of the wall to my left, the ceiling above me. Everything was in shad
