Sacrifices Must Be Made

The water was dark and unsettled, its surface reflecting a distorted mirror image of Yehare as she approached the lotus flower. There was a time when her tears would have mingled with the water of the lake, but that time had passed. Yehara had no more tears to shed.

Fifteen years had passed since the day when everything fell apart. Yehara had returned to Clear Sky Village with gifts for her sisted and brother-in-law. She arrived at an empty house. A neighbor shared the news. Yehara's brother-in-law had been killed in battle, another victim of the Talus-Stratus War. Even more tragically, Yesana had been murdered by the Grimhorn Tribe while passing through the swamps outside of town.

The enormous lotus had grown even larger since Yehara's last visit. The villagers claimed it had been planted over the place where her sister was buried and Yehara had no reason to doubt them. For reasons she couldn't entirely explain, the flower reminded her of her sister. Its beauty stood in contrast to the dark waters and tangled overgrowth that surrounded it. Yehara closed her eyes and inhaled the bittersweet aroma. Mingled with the heavy sadness was a desperate sense of hope, a hope that she had clung to for fifteen years. There was something else the villagers had told her on that tragic day so long ago. Before she was killed, Yehara's sister had given birth to a daughter. The infant had never been found.