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It was the type of rare summer’s day you most often hear about in fairy tale weddings and happily ever afters; bright, cloudless, soaring skies, all the flowers in bloom, and the temperature was just right: not too hot but most certainly not cold.  All the cute furry little creatures were at play, and birdsong filled the air.  It was beautiful, and, quite frankly, Meria hated it. 1

The girl, as usual, was holed up in her room, music blaring.  Oh how her mother hated that music.  “Devil’s music,” she called it, but Meria knew better.  The pounding melodies and oft-disturbing words merely contained beauty and truth, and although the truth is indeed terrible, that did not prevent it from being any less true. Or beautiful.  No one else could ever understand that, however.  No one ever understood. Anything.  Meria knew that if they could only see what she saw, feel what she felt, know what she knew, they would be different.  People, however, are much to preoccupied to ever notice anything worthwhile.  2

That’s where Meria differed from other people.  Where people saw only a tree, Meria saw a beautiful spirit, sad and alone.  Where people saw a mere puddle, Meria saw a vast ocean filled with life.  Where people saw a needless wood, Meria saw a magical grove, filled with dancing shadows and faerie dust.  And while people fought petty wars over false beliefs, Meria saw the truth.3

But, alas, the truth truly is a terrible thing, and cannot come without great cost.  Every bit of Meria felt that cost, from her shining raven’s hair, to her sad gray eyes, to her black painted toenails.  Even the small white scars that could be found in a row on the inside of her left wrist felt it.  Meria’s very soul shook under the weight of her burden, sometimes so bad she wondered if she could stand it.  She would though, because, quite simply, she had to.4

So what is this great truth?  That, my friend, I cannot tell you.  For wisdom must be truly learned, not simply picked up from a book.  I can, however, tell you Meria’s story. And what a story it is.5