Where do I go from here?

M  A   E    A I talked to God to no avail Said, "If you won't save me, please don't waste my time." A stray cloud wandered over the sky, thin and wispy against the resplendant LongHeat sun. Similarly, a very small dark figure meandered slowly through the marketplace, passing stalls and vendors and answering startled calls from familiar voices with a distant smile and a handwave. But Maea did not stop to talk to anyone. She was not in the right mindset for smalltalk, or for facing questions she didn't have the answer to. Turns out, being spirited away for a year did things to your life. Unexpected things, confusing things, painful and unsettling things. Anyone else would probably have been able to see the humor in her predicament, but Maea had always found it difficult to laugh at problems. With her shawl pulled up over the hair to shield her from the fury of the light, she retreated into the shadow between buildings and sat down on the ground. Leaning her back against the wall, she licked dry lips and tried to think around the slow pulse in her temples. She needed something to eat, to drink, someplace to sleep. Gods, how much she wanted to go home. But for the first time in her life, there was nothing to go back to. No home. No nothing. Everything was destroyed, everything was rotten and weathered and gone. Closing her eyes, she sighed and let the head thump back. If only it wasn't so hot... at least she could have napped for a bit.