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Dimitri slowly awakened in a bed. He didn't know where he was, but he appreciated the hospitality of whoever placed him here. The bed was comfy.
He swung his legs off the bed and got up. He stretched, and noticed a familiar-looking lance leaning against the wall. When he picked up the lance, its blade glowed. He inspected it curiously.
"Oh, you're awake!" he heard a woman say. He turned to her, lance still in hand.
"Where am I? What happened to me?" Dimitri asked.
"You've been unconscious for a long while. About two weeks, I'd wager. I found you nearby, collapsed on the ground. You had a nasty scar on your face." the woman explained. "That weapon was next to you. It looked much different from ordinary lances I've seen, so I figured it had some special importance to you and brought it here with you. I've been taking care of you as best as I can, but it's safe to say that my own skill in medical care is...lacking. I had a local cleric heal up the scar I mentioned, but unfortunately the eye itself was lost. At least, your vision in it was."
"Strange..." Dimitri said. "I don't feel any pain..." He reached up to feel his eye, only to come across an eyepatch. "...What is this doing here?"
"Oh, that." the woman said. "I put that on you so that your eye doesn't freak people out. It was...pretty creepy."
Dimitri nodded.
"Would you like something to eat? I was just about to make breakfast for my kids." the woman asked.
"...I would like that, yes. I feel as though it has been a long time since I last ate." Dimitri admitted.
The woman smirked slightly. "Well, you aren't exactly wrong there, what with the two weeks you were out."
She turned to leave, but Dimitri called out again. "What's your name?"
She stopped, and turned back to him. "Hm? My name?"
"Yes."
"Oh, that. I'm Amiya. How about your name?"
"I am Dimitri... I thank you for your hospitality, Amiya."
Amiya smiled, and he followed her to the dining room. She made some good-smelling food, then divided the contents into four plates. After she put the plates down on the table with silverware, she called up the stairway. "Nikolai! Kimora! Breakfast is ready!"
She smiled as her young children practically fell down the stairs trying to get to the table first, but both of them came to a complete stop once they saw Dimitri.
"Who is that...?" Kimora asked.
"Don't you know?" Nikolai said, elbowing his sister. "That's the guy who's been sleeping in the guest room for the last few weeks."
"Ohhhhhhhh."
Nikolai snickered, and Amiya guided them to the table, sitting them down at their spots.
"Kids, this is Dimitri." Amiya said as they began eating. "Dimitri, these are my children. Nikolai, and Kimora."
"It's nice to meet you, Mister Dimitri!" Kimora said, beaming. "I hope to get to do fun things with you, provided my brother doesn't talk your ears off."
Nikolai did just that. "How did you get here? Where are you from? Why do you have that weird-looking lance? Why is it so weird-looking? Are you a soldier? Can you teach me how to be one too?"
Dimitri smiled. He opened his mouth to answer, but then realized something, and the smile faded.
"I...don't remember..."
"You don't remember? That's weird." Nikolai said.
"Nikolai, be nice." Amiya said. "He was unconscious for two weeks. Let's give him some time to try and recollect everything, okay?"
"Yeah. It means stop asking so many darn questions." Kimora added.
"Kimora, you aren't helping."
Dimitri couldn't help but smile a little, again. "I wonder if I have a family like yours..."
"You don't even remember your family...?"
Once again, the smile faded. "I don't... Other than my name, I don't remember anything..."
Amiya looked at Dimitri, concerned. "Do you think you'll be okay...?"
Dimitri pondered this for a little while, before giving an answer Amiya didn't expect. "I will. Because I have you three. And I'm happy because of it. Maybe my memories will come back. But right now, I'm happy just being with you. With this family I've found."
Those words, along with his gentle smile, warmed Amiya's heart. "Dimitri... You're really sweet. You know that?"
Dimitri raised an eyebrow, smirking, and Amiya realized what she said. "Oh. Right. Amnesia. Ha, silly me!"
"Whuh ahheehuh?" Nikolai asked with his mouth full.
"Mouthful." Amiya calmly reminded.
Nikolai chewed his mouthful of food before swallowing it, then asked again. "What's amnesia?"
"Amnesia is when you can't remember anything." Amiya explained. "Most of the time, like with Dimitri, those with amnesia remember a few key details, like their name. Others forget absolutely everything."
"Oh, so Dimitri has amnesia?"
Amiya nodded.
"Does it ever go away?" Kimora asked. "As in, do people eventually remember what they'd forgotten?"
"That's what we hope." Amiya said. "And some do recover all of their lost memories. But some people don't. They forget who they were before, forever."
"How can we help people remember things again?" Nikolai asked.
Amiya couldn't help but smile. Her kids barely knew Dimitri and yet they sounded like they wanted to help him find his memories. "Usually things like what the person drew or wrote, or important objects from their life they've forgotten, can help in restoring memories."
"Like Dimitri's lance!" Kimora exclaimed.
"Yes, exactly." Amiya said. "That lance should help Dimitri remember parts of his life before."
The four of them continued talking about amnesia and how to help people recover from it as they finished their breakfast. As Amiya was cleaning the dishes, they heard a loud noise, as if many people were approaching.
"Those must be the rations...! Finally! I was starting to run out of food!" Amiya said, sighing with relief.
"Rations?" Dimitri asked. "Why would you need more food? You have some already."
Amiya shook her head. "Compared to the average household elsewhere, I have little food. The other houses are the same. Ever since the calamity that struck our village five years ago, we have struggled to survive. When the village was rebuilt, we received a flock of new people, but Remire Village has never been the same since before the calamity..."
"Remire Village..." Dimitri said. "Is that where we are?"
"Yes." Amiya said. "As one would expect from a struggling village, we have had a famine. Not one the ones from the history texts that leave people starving to death in their wake, but a serious one nonetheless. Serious enough that the Empire sends a battalion of soldiers regularly to give us enough rations to make it to the next rotation."
"C'mon! Let's go! I wanna see the soldiers!" Nikolai said, running to the door. "Hey, maybe they'll recognize you, Dimitri! Wear that armor Mom found you in!"
"I don't think that's a good idea, Nikolai..." Kimora said. "His armor looks like he belongs with the Kingdom. With how bad the war has gotten, they'd probably kill him on sight."
Nikolai stopped. "...Oh. Yeah, on second thought, don't wear the armor. Sorry."
"It's alright." Dimitri said, coming to the door. "You didn't know."
Dimitri took the family to the edge of the village, where the Imperial battalion Amiya mentioned had stopped for its delivery.
"Apologies, everyone, but a shipment delay caused us to come with less than usual." a soldier said. "Please, I encourage you to make do with what we have here, and we will return with thrice the regular load."
The people gathered their shares of resources. As Dimitri looked on at the soldiers, he started to wonder if any of them knew him. Or if anyone they reported to knew him.
A man walked up to the soldiers. "What's the wild game you saw this time around?"
"Same as usual, except there's more of them." the soldier responded. "I'd wager now is as good a time to hunt as any. Could provide you with sufficient meat to last alongside the rations until the new year."
"That could end the famine here and now...!" the man exclaimed. "I will have our best hunters gather and venture into the woods to collect as much game as they can feasibly carry."
As the soldiers prepared to leave, Dimitri was approached by Amiya.
"Now's your chance to talk to those soldiers. Maybe go with them to wherever they're going." she encouraged. "It could be your best chance of finding your memories again."
Dimitri nodded. But then he remembered all they said about the famine, and how there's potentially enough animals to hunt that the famine could end. He could even help with the hunt, gathering even more animals.
He then remembered how happy he felt just being with Amiya, Nikolai, and Kimora. Was whatever he once had worth leaving behind the happiness he has now?
He stood there, at the edge of the village, watching the soldiers prepare to leave. He was at a crossroad. Two paths were laid before him, and he could only take one.