Redtail Rise above me, the sky is a river

A wildfire is what happened, he replied through a mirthless smile.

There was no reason to tell the truth, but neither was there a reason to lie. He glanced up at the sky, framed by arachnid branches, as if to recollect. The reality was that his memories of the moment -- during which the fire had crawled toward him and made the first contact with his skin -- were unclear, a foreign experience that had been grafted onto his life a posteriori.

If he had been even younger, perhaps he would've "rationalised" it as a literal brand of courage, or a mark left by supernatural abductors. But he had been old enough to take it for what it was. If it hadn't been him, it would've been someone else.

I was trying to escape. They told me I passed out in the smoke, had to be dragged out, he finally said.

Were you around for this fire? Mulherin seemed young, but Gavrel was hopelessly face-blind and so had learned to keep his assumptions minimal.