When Nora and Audrey came back to the house, after maneuvering through the media army that were still camped outside the entrance, hoping for a glimpse of some of them, they were met with a somber group.
"The FBI has made a list of people they suspect the leaders have kidnapped over the years," Leann explained. "They want us to go through the list of names and pictures and see if we recognize any of them. We thought it might be a good opportunity for all of us to go through this together, like we mentioned that first night."
Audrey sighed but agreed. She just hoped this would help them as much as it had helped Rita earlier.
"And it also might help some of us to find our own identity," one of the others said. "I have no idea who I am, and I have been gone for so long that I doubt any potential family will recognize me either."
The stack of files and photographs were enormous. How were they ever going to get through all of them?
"How can so many people have gone missing?"
"There are over 30 years' worth of files," Leann reminded them. "But yes, there are many people that go missing without a trace in America. That's probably why they were able to get away with kidnapping people for so long. Ok, let's get started." Leann took the top file and glanced at it. Then she threw it on a nearby chair.
"We need a system, so we all at least glance at most of the files, before we reject them. We might all remember different people after all. We make one pile here for people at least one person is certain that they recognize, one for "maybe" that the rest will also look through, and one pile here that at least half of us have looked at and not recognized. I hope that will be most of them, so let's leave those on the floor."
"If you remember any details about what happened to one of the people you recognize, write it down on a blank piece of paper," Nora added, leaving a stack of blank papers and pens on the table as well. "That way, the FBI and the next-of-kin can get closure."
"If I were someone's next-of-kin, I'm not sure I would want to know what happened to them, if they ended up with us," one of the others mumbled.
"Let's leave that decision to the FBI," Audrey said. "They know how to deliver news like that."
"I don't envy them that job," Leann said. She held up the first file of someone she recognized. "I know this man. He was held back only a few years after I was taken. He tried to run away three times and was eventually executed. I suspect what remains of his body is at the bottom of the mass grave outside the castle."
They all grimaced as they remembered that sight. That was definitely something that was worse to think about now, than when they were there.
They worked their way through the pile of files diligently, only taking a short break for some food. Nora took over making dinner for the day, since she couldn't be as helpful with the files. They all had the sense of wanting to do this properly, but also wanting to finish it as quickly as possible. They also started writing down descriptions of people they remembered, whose picture they had not found yet. Nora brought out her list, and Bryan sent over the list Rita had collected and many of those were also recognized. Audrey at once saw that the man she had known as Æthelric was the landowner that had gone missing after he had, most likely, discovered the burh on his land. No wonder he had wanted to escape, he hadn't even been a visitor. Audrey reluctantly wrote down everything she could remember about him, including how he died to protect the others. She debated whether to say that he was sacrificed to Woden, but the others meant that she should write it down, then the FBI could decide what to pass along.
Audrey did sense that they all felt a sort of closure by doing this. They were able to talk about the horrors they had seen, but this also meant that they gave the victims their identities back. And there was something empowering about it. Knowing that Æthelric's real name was Carl Oscar Harding and that he and his whole family were all devout Christians made her less sad to remember how Arthur had burned the man Æthelric alive as a sacrifice to Woden. It was the same with many of the others. Instead of remembering them by the names the woman had given them, they remembered them by their true names. Along the way, they recovered things about their journey that they had forgotten or hadn't really understood at the time. Audrey wasn't the only one who had days where she forgot the outside world existed. She at least had a head injury to blame, the others had probably developed it as a mental defence mechanism, combined with the herb mixture in the water.
Inevitably, they also talked about the various people that were now in prison. Some of the former churls had started to cry as they recognized a picture of someone they had been part of abusing. It was easy to say that they just did what they were taught, and that they were under threat of torture themselves, but they would still have to come to terms with what they had been part of. That would take time and probably some therapy. Some of them also suddenly remembered their own names, when they saw their own picture in a file. Knowing that someone had missed them enough to report it was a relief, even if it was just an employer, or a friend.
Audrey dreaded finding the name of the thief she felt responsible for, but he didn't come up. When she told the others about him, Nora reminded her that the police had found his body, and the woman named Karen, before this. Audrey still wanted to tell their stories, since she still felt some guilt towards the man caught stealing. But it seemed most of them had at least one such person. The person that died because you did something. Because you stumbled during an escape attempt. Because they said something to a churl. Or, for the churls, because they said something to Philip or the woman. Many of the churls had also used this chance to apologize to the others here for any abuses they had done. An apology wasn't enough, but at least none of the former theows wanted to return the abuse. Maybe because the ones who had remained theows were the ones who didn't want to use violence at all. Most of the ones with violent tendencies had been made churls over the years.
All in all, it was an important bonding experience and it resulted in around 60 confirmed missing people who had been there, and potentially a 100 more. The numbers were staggering. The "Definitely not" pile wasn't high, possibly because the FBI had already limited the number of people beforehand.
"Well, this was surprisingly cathartic," Leann said as they finished the last folders. "Let's hope it will lead to closure for some of these families. I mean, these people at least had someone who missed them enough to report it. I don't even want to think about how many more there might be that no one misses."
"They knew how to pick them. Many of these were reported by a coworker or a friend months after the initial disappearance."
"I wonder," Audrey said. "How many of them would have said yes to working there, if they were asked. I know I would. I would have loved a job like that, if it didn't involve chains or whips."
She had debated whether or not to mention that, but if there ever was a time to say such things, it was now.
"I wouldn't have minded much either, for a time at least. I mean, it's like Ædven said, we did get a community. I just wish it was a community that you chose to join." Several others also agreed with that, but they were interrupted by some FBI agents knocking on the door. Audrey wondered why they bothered to knock. It was their house, technically. Though she was more worried about what they had come to say.