Prologue

Prologue1

The girl wandered in the woods, thinking about why she had been born at all. The trees whispered comforting things as she walked. She could hear the birds singing to her, and could smell the clean scent of the leaves and grass. She came to a stream and sat down on a rock in the sunshine.2

As she sat pondering, she began to feel sleepy, and soon slipped from the rock, onto the warm grass and fell into a doze. As she slept, she dreamed, and the scenery around her changed; became a desolate, dreary landscape. The wind continued to blow ceaselessy, moving the ominous clouds overhead. The chill air was dull and the wind no longer whispered, but moaned sadness and despair. Along the banks of the stream, the dead, brown grass lay, sighing in harmony with the moan of the wind.3

From the corner of her eye, she caught a movement in the skeleton trees, and turned her head in time to see the Ghost. It walked toward her, steadily, and she wondered why she felt no fear. 4

"You have come to ask something of Them, have you not?" the Ghost asked her, and she started, though it had spoken in the hushed tones of the long-dead.5

"Who are you?" she asked. Though not frightened, she was curious.6

"My name is unimportant, though since you ask, it is Storn," was the reply.7

"Are you male or female?" the girl frowned at the singularity of the name. Though she knew this was, in fact, what people sometimes termed, "the other side," in her world, she also knew it was not that much different from her own world, aside from the time factor. People here did the same things they did on her side; birth, weddings, death, and living in general, and they usually bore more than a single name.8

"I am female, Child, though it does not matter, anymore, my One is dead. However, that is neither here, nor there. You have come to ask something of Them, correct?"9

The girl nodded. "There is more than one question I would ask," she said.10

The Ghost nodded and motioned her to follow, "Come with me," Storn said quietly, leading the way.11

It happened suddenly, they walked a short way, and then seemed to appear in a great, long hall, doors at intervals along each side, ending in a short wall with a sort of tapestry hanging from ceiling to floor over it.12

The Ghost led her along this hall, to a door(afterwards, the girl was uncertain which one, there were so many), and knocked. The girl heard a weird, floating voice give the command to enter, and the door opened. 13

As they stepped inside, the chill dissipated, and the girl grew quite warm. The Ghost told her in a whisper that she would go to find the General and alert him as to her whereabouts, and left, silently, and so quickly, it seemed she had simply disappeared.14

"What is the question, Daughter?" one of the figures on the dais before her queried.15

"You know the question, Mother," she answered, "You are Fiersa, you made me, you and Father, you know my mind, you know my questions."16

"I can give you no answers to the first, Child, you know that. The second may be possible, but there will be a price."17

The girl nodded, "Yes, Mother, there is always a price. There is a song on Earth, that says, "when it comes to love, you don't count the cost." I will not mind the price, Mother. I love him, I will pay it when it comes."18

Fiersa looked slightly annoyed, muttering, "This girl and her music, does it never end?"19

Another of Them looked at her, "You made her as she is, Fiersa, you gave her the music, there is no complaining of it now."20

The elder looked at her daughter again. "You do not know the price as yet, Daughter, you may not like to pay it."21

She stared into her mother's eyes, unwaveringly. "I do not need to know the cost. Whatever it is, it will be minimal to none, compared with how much I love him, Mother. Now, do I get what I want, and when do I get it?"22

Fiersa nodded again, "You get it. The when is something I cannot tell you."23

"Alright, Mother," she turned to go, then turned back. "He only did what he thought was best. There was no need for all of this, but for your pride. He is a good man, Mother. He does not deserve all of your pricking and prodding and taunting. He did not deserve to have things taken from him that he loved, Mother. It is not fair."24

"Nothing is ever fair for everyone, you know that."25

"He did not deserve what I have done in my life either. I understand now, why I was sent before he was. I understand I had to live longer in this life to gather the strength I would need to make my sacrifice. But it is not fair, Mother."26

"We can kill him instead..."27

"NO! You will not do that! Not after all I have done to prepare...everything I have been through...no...NO!"28

"Then do what you must, Child, finish this test. You will be with him one time before you make the sacrifice. Is that an end to your questions?"29

Tawnya stared at her mother, images flashing before her eyes, of the life before she moved to Earth. Whispering, painfully, she answered her mother, "Yes," and turned to go...30