The Voice Begins the Story

New to Things Lost and Found? Start here.

Child,

Today is every concern. We all feed the fires, turn the wheels, press the molds. It was not always so. Before we had time to make machines and feed them, we walked. As our motions changed, so did our name. The journey to reclaim our city made us Walkers; finding it made us Citizens again. We cannot forget Another Desert, where we lost and found ourselves.

This all happened Yesterday, so your mothers and fathers had no reason to tell you these stories. But now, as you reach the age of truth, it falls to this Voice to remind you of the past—the endless cycle of Daruhn.

Ours is an eternal city. Daruhn Yesterday was in Another Desert, but it was as much home as Daruhn Today. Our grandmothers had a saying: “Tomorrow’s path follows Yesterday’s footprints.” We spend our time well, taking these moments to remember Daruhn Yesterday and the long path leading out of Another Desert. Despite how great our Daruhn has become, we have so little to remember Yesterday—a scrap of poetry, a few scrolls shut tight in museum vaults, a crude drawing in an heirloom journal nearly returned to dust—and the path from Another Desert to fertile lands.

This came before so many things. You sit before a banquet untouched, having gulped the final drink. Now, in the age of truth, we can return to the fruits and meats of ourselves, the sweet nourishment of our past. You already know the destination—here we are—but no one has given you the journey.

Perhaps in taking the journey, the destination will change.