The smoke would have killed my long before the flames. Maybe this is what happened. Raped and hacked apart by those damned savage Gauls. I haven't run into her since then. I suppose it's like that for us Rivertads, or Riverorphans, as I've heard us called.
Death has no sting.
We never grew old, we never learned to fear it. It's never been real to us. I miss Anya, of course, miss her terribly. And it hurt me deeply to witness her horrific death. But really, I didn't understand the rage, the screams and the gnashing of teeth from my fellow travellers as we watched, helpless, in our bamboo cages as the dirty Gauls did their work.