After enduring a lengthy quarantine aboard Adar Kori’nh’s warliners, the evacuated survivors were welcomed back to Mijistra, shaken but relieved. The colonists looked weak and damaged, but under the never-waning light of Ildira’s seven suns, the survivors felt through the thism the healing presence of their godlike Mage-Imperator. Here, they would recover… but they would never forget.

Vao’sh needed to hear and then compile the true story of what had happened. The Saga had to be accurate, as well as compelling.

Taking meticulous care with his toilette, Vao’sh oiled the expressive lobes on his lumpy face. His flush colors would be prominent and bright as he spoke the story aloud to all enraptured listeners, once he had taken it into his heart and learned it in detail.

To protect his throat and his voice, Vao’sh drank his daily mixture of warm syrups, then sang wordless notes to keep his lucent voice in its proper range. Then he went to his first meeting with Dio’sh, the only surviving rememberer from Crenna.

Vao’sh met his younger kithman on a sun-soaked deck of the Prism Palace. Dio’sh had closed his eyes and placed his hands palms up on a polished tabletop, as if the brilliant sunlight could purge him of the taint of nightmares. Dio’sh retained a perfect, horrific recollection of everything he had experienced.

Seeing his expected visitor, Dio’sh turned his expressive eyes toward the master historian. The younger rememberer’s sense of relief was apparent as his fleshy lobes colored with appreciation and respect. “I am honored that you’ve come to speak to me, Rememberer Vao’sh. I am eager to share what I know, though I am afraid to relive it.”

“Rememberers do not create stories,” Vao’sh reminded him, “we merely tell them. And we must tell them accurately and well.”

Dio’sh bowed his head. “I will do my best, Rememberer.”

Vao’sh waited, saw his comrade summoning a host of terrifying thoughts. The coloration of his skin began to turn grayish, as if he faced an insurmountable fear. Dio’sh flinched.

“Crenna,” Vao’sh nudged. “You were there. You were witness to the courage, the tragedy, the unstoppable events.” He reached out to touch the historian’s trembling hand. “If you do not pass on your impressions, then all the tragedy that occurred will be for naught. The victims and the heroes must be remembered. You are a rememberer, Dio’sh.”