The Equinox Flower

"Equinox - the time or date (Twice a year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator. When Day and Night are of equal length.

The equinox flower, also known as the red spider lily, hell flower, or red magic lily blooms during the autumnal equinox, usually around cemeteries. Legend has it that smelling this flower can help you remember past loved ones who are now going towards the afterlife. It only lasts 2 weeks, the red petals turning to a pink before they are gone forever, and the petals fade. Such short beauty that lasts for only a moment until you have to wait another year to see it again. Until you have to wait for the Autumnal Equinox to travel from one side of the world to the other. I suppose you can say love is also like that. Something that is so beautiful but only blooms for a short amount of time before it is gone."

Giggling is heard as children come in late to hear the story. A lot of shushing is being made as they hurriedly rush to their seats so the story can continue.

Smirking, he adjusts his glasses as he turns the page of the book to continue, "The origin of the equinox flower follows a story of war. A war that ripped apart families; I suppose as all wars do. It follows a story of loss, choices, and those dreadful goodbyes. When the sun crosses the celestial equator your choices and decisions are set in stone; unable to be edited. "

Looking the children in the eye, "This story dates back long before people thought of time and marked calendars. Dates back long before people decided to write their history in different languages, for who would need a translation for what they all lived through? This lily of death, flower of heartbreak and petals of blood has an origin story that is only remembered when you smell the flower at the exact moment the sun crosses the equator. At the exact moment that the light of the world makes its exchange with the darkness." The lights shut off at the moment causing the children to hold on to each other in excitement to hear the story. The older children pass out cups of hot chocolate to the kids as they listen to the story.

"It was a time of war, tribes as big as countries fought for power. Or was it land?" Flipping through the pages in the book he tries to see if there are any notes on what they fought over but there was nothing. "I suppose the reason for the war no longer matters. It was ages ago, men were ripped from their homes any time of the day and forced to fight for their tribe. Perhaps it was a war the people no longer wanted. But how could you break tradition? It got to a point where tribes were not sure why they fought so ruthlessly, only that it was something they had always done. Maybe that is human nature, to become ruthless. This was a time of despair, houses were set on fire yet; somehow, 2 people managed to find love. 2 people manage to find each other at a time where people are being taken from the world at any moment. Both only being on the earth for what we would now say 25 years, they knew that the love they had for each other was finite, as well as infinite. They loved each other to the greatest capabilities of man. The love they had for each other was enough even if it was to only last a moment. This is where our story begins."

Clapping is heard, this is where the story starts, and everyone is excited. Ready to zone into the story.

"I'll come for you." He held her to his chest so tightly that she almost could not breath, but she relished in it. How he hated the idea of leaving her, their home could be burning at any moment and whenever she was not in his sight he worried that he had seen her for the last time.

"I know you will." Rubbing circles on his back to sooth his tension. "You have to hide. If the guards find you they will take you away, force you to fight, force you to leave your family, force you to die without ever loving me."

"I could never live without loving you fully." resting his chin in her hair he inhales her scent. "I swear I will come back for you. I will meet you at the bank of the river when the moon reaches its peak." Forcing himself to move away he looks at her face. He studies her, wanting to always remember her just in case this is his last chance. He studies the sunlight bouncing off her green eyes swimming in the depths of them. Studies the scar on her forehead from the time she fell out of a tree. He studies her black hair falling out of its brain in curls dancing in the autumn breeze. He could not live with himself if he did not return to her tonight.

"I love you." Her silvery voice rang through their ears, soothing their aches and fears for a moment. She despises leaving him as much as he despises leaving her. Every time he is out of her sight she holds her breath praying to the Lord that the guards do not find him. She was the one who helped him stand strong when the war took his father. She was the one who helped him breathe again when the war took his uncle; and she was the one who wiped his tears when the war took his brothers. He was the only male left in his family. His mother could not lose another child to this war; nor could she. "Every part of me loves you, in every moment you are out of my sight my heart follows you encirculing you in all the love it can muster, and yet" She takes in a breath whispering her fears away, and exhales in acceptance, "it knows it cannot keep you safe. You have to return, not just for me, but for your mother, you are the only one she has left." Holding on to his hand she squeezes it, "I will see you tonight."

"Yes, with all the power invested in me, I will come to you. I will always return to you." He leaves her then. Cutting through the trees staying out of sight until he makes his way back home. This time tomorrow he will have already spent a night with his wife. How had the earth managed to gift him someone like Aizza. His life came in the form of her, and how his body danced and rose with excitement for spending a life with her.

Arriving home his mother immediately locks the door behind him. "Anhal!" yelling in a quiet tone, "We have to leave, pack your things immediately." She pushes him towards his room, where he can see his younger sisters have packed up their belongings in small bags.

"What do you mean? Where are we going?" The look he passes his mother is full of uncertainty. His joy and elation about tonight evaporating like wisps from a fire.

"We have to leave at dusk, soldiers, they will come through and take every man they can on sight. It is an order from our leader, all men must join the war." His mother begins to throw his belongings on his bed. "If we do not go they will take you. Then they will kill us for having you, we were supposed to have sent you to the war times ago."

"Soldiers?" It cannot be, Aizza will be waiting for him. He cannot leave, he vowed with all that he had within him to return to her. "Mother, I cannot go. I cannot leave her. Aizza will wait for me. We are to be wed."

Tears fill his mother's eyes as she places a gentle hand on her son's cheek, "I know you love her. You are my son and I wish for your happiness more than anything." turning to his belongings on the bed she starts to thrust them into the bag, "But you cannot be happy if you are dead. If we stay here we will die. All of us Anhal, would you send your sisters to their deaths?" No mother wished for their children to be unhappy. No mother wished to rip their last living son from his marriage, but no mother should be put in this position. She could not lose another child, her heart would not take it.

A tear falls along his cheek. What can he do? He already lost four of his brothers and his father. He is all his mother has left. If he stays he will place all of his family to death. "No. I would not." How his heart burns at the thought of leaving Aizza, but he has to. His love for her should not, will not be tainted with the deaths of all of his loved ones.

Seeing the pain in her son's eyes, "Pack up and then go to her. Say goodbye. May the Lord allow you to return to her. "

He stops reading for a moment and looks at the kids in front of him. "But what was not obvious to Anhal and his family was that the war was reaching its climax. Sastainian soldiers broke through the outer walls. Plowing through the hundred some soldiers, and they were hungry for more than just blood. They would be arriving to his village in 3 hours time. A brutal fight would take place in three hours, destinies would be aligned, and choices. Choices would decide the fate of so many lives. This was the equinox, the time in which the light shined through the world just as much as the darkness. The time where the sun changed its path abandoning half of the world for the other." Finding his spot he picks up the story and continues reading.

Anhal molded himself to the shadows as he raced to the home of Aizza. His heart dragged along the ground, he had no idea what he would say. Goodbye? Death would feel better than a goodbye. He would have to wed her. Even if he leaves her, even if he cannot stay, his life would be more complete at the idea of being one with her. She will say yes. She must say yes. Aizza is his life, he would give his life for hers a thousand times, but Aizza could not be his family's lives. He could not choose her over his sisters and mother; a part of him wished he could. So what did that leave him? Wed her and then leave her? No, he could not possibly do that. Take her with him? Would she abandon her family for this dangerous journey he and his family would face?

Arriving at her doorstep he knocked the secret code. Cari opened the door surprised to see Anhal. Immediately pulling him into the house, "What are you doing here! It is dangerous, you know the admiral is only 3 houses down. You could have gotten caught." Panic sets in at the idea of Anhal being taken, her sister would lose her mind in despair if that were to happen.

"Never mind that Cari, where is Aizza? I have to speak to her. I haven't much time." His chest rose and fell as he tried to catch his breath. His eyes search the room trying to locate her.

"Haven't much time? What do you mean? What is happening?" Standing in front of his line of sight, she urges him to focus.

"A new order has been sent out. Soldiers will come tonight and raid every home, leaving no place upturned. Any man they find will be taken and his family will be murdered. My family and I are fleeing tonight. I have to see Aizza. I have to tell her…" His eyes began to water and he took a moment to steady his heart. Clutching Cari's arms to keep himself steady he stares into her eyes, "I have to tell her I love her, that if it was just me I would choose her. I chose her! But my family, I cannot choose her over the lives of my family. "

Immediately understanding the situation, "You have to find her but she just left. Anhal I do not know where she has gone, she said she would go on a walk to find flowers. She could be anywhere. You will not find her before dusk."

Falling to one knee, air fills his lungs but somehow he is not breathing enough. "No! Cari I have to find her. I have to let her know. I cannot just leave her." The world is spinning but all Anhal can see is Aizza, how he wishes she was truly in front of him.

Gently going to her knees to comfort him, "Anhal I promise I will tell her. She will know. It is Aizza, she will always know how much you love her." Slowly getting up, she pulls him to his feet. "But now you have to go."

"Cari," Looking into her eyes it is almost the same green as Aizza's. "Cari please tell her…" Tell her what? What is there he can say to ease the pain in his heart?

"I know. I know." looking outside first to make sure the coast is clear she motions for him to go, and closes the door behind him.

He knows he should move quickly, but his feet are weighted with an infinite amount of sand. Every step he takes he sinks further in despair. Aizza. He sees her face, those green eyes that call to his soul. "Aizza I am so sorry."

Arriving home his mom does not comment on his broken expression. Mostly because she could not control the waver in her voice from seeing her son so broken. He deserved love, but maybe she was too selfish of a mother. She could not let him die for it.

"We should go now." His voice thick with loss, filling the sky with a darkness that causes water to fall from the sky.

A child unable to hold back, "Where is Aizza? Will Anhol find her?"

He is hit with a bunch of shushing sounds.

Smiling at the boy, "Aizza is still at the water's edge. You have to continue reading to know what will happen next."

The boy smiles and gulps down the rest of his hot chocolate, setting down the cup he focuses once again on the story.

Excitement moves through her in a frenzy. Her smile refuses to leave her face. Aizza looks toward the setting sun. Soon she would be wed, she would be a bride. She would have a home that called to her from the loving embrace of his touch. A heart to beat at the same time as his. The light bounced off the water making a perfect reflection. Placing a single yellow flower she watches as it floats away. Yellow represented innocence. Next she places a white flower; purity. Finally a red flower, this would represent her union with her love. After they wed she would drop the petals of the remaining flowers into the water, how she could not wait for that moment. The moment that she would become a wife. How she dreamt of this moment, and soon, her dream would come true.

He shakes his head and places the book down for a moment. "Aizza did not return home and Cari was unable to find her to tell her that Anhol was leaving." Looking at the older children in the back of the room, "Some of you already know this story." He looks at a recently engaged couple, "Some of you are in a position to truly understand the pain the two lovers will be going through. Anhol has chosen his family." Shaking his head, "Not a bad choice, but a painful one nonetheless." Opening the book he begins again.

Running through the woods, Anhal clutches his sister's hand to keep her from falling. They were almost out of the village, one more step and he would be gone. One more step and he would be leaving Aizza completely. He hesitates, his sister brings his hand to her chin. "Anhal. You do not have to do this. You can go back to her." Nihan cannot fathom her brother being in so much pain, and while it pains her to see him leave, she knows it would make him happy.

Nihan had lost her love to the war, which we would say not 5 months ago. He was ripped from his home by soldiers and forced to fight, he had not returned and she had received her last letter from him a month ago. Her heart screamed that she could not leave as well. What if her love came back and looked for her? What if he was still alive and thinks she abandoned him? The what ifs caused her heart to squeeze and cry out to stay, but she could not. Just as Anhal, she had to make a choice. Her love, or her family. Family had to come first.

Rising from his chair he motions for the older children to bring him candles. Placing the book on the table he lights the candles, red, black, white, and finally yellow. "As the Equinox transcended over the earth, choices were being made, love was being abandoned, hearts were breaking, and maybe they would be broken for all of eternity. But how dramatic of a story would that be? Man-kind easily moves on, man-kind does not find love the way they used to. Now we jump from relationship to relationship, from one love, to another love. Perhaps man-kind chose not to feel so deeply on an Equinox and the world set that wish into stone, unable to be changed. Nevertheless the Nai family had chosen to leave their loves, and there was only Anhal who was fighting the idea of returning to his heart." Picking up the blue candle he lights a childs candles, having him pass the flame around until every candle is lit. "As the equinox comes you all will be faced with decisions, with choices." Moving to the book, "We learn Anhal and Aizza's story to ensure we remember the effects of our choices. We remember the origin of what is now just a flower." He picks up the book and reads the rest.

Shaking his head a tear falls. He clutches Nihan's hand tighter. "No you are my family I have to protect you. I have to make sure you all get out safe." Forcing himself to walk forward he is now out of the village. "I have to be the head of the family, Aizza…" Taking a breath to steady himself as he walks, "She will live, she is my heart, so she has to live."

"No." Nihan stops her feet from moving. Clutching the necklace her love gave her before he left for the war, she looks at her crestfallen brother. Her brother who was sacrificing everything for his family. He was the youngest boy, he should not have had to go through any of this. No one should have. Her brother was attempting to be father, uncle, and her brothers all in one; and she could not stand idly by and watch him run into a pit of destruction. "You do not have to sacrifice your happiness for us. Anhal, this pain that is painted over your face, I am telling you, you have a chance to wash it off. Go back to her, find her and bring her back. We can camp in the woods and tomorrow go back for her."

Shaking his head, "And ask her what!" His voice yells in desperation. "Tell her what Nihan? Tell her to leave her sisters and mother? Tell her to follow us into a future of uncertainty? We have no home, no idea where we are going, and no plans. We are running because I am a coward who does not want to fight in a war." There it was, it was so much more than heartbreak that ate of the spirit of Anhal, there was guilt. His father, uncles, and brothers died with honor. Yet he was a coward; he was taking the Nai family name and pouring cowardice over it.

"That is not true." Hugging Anhal tightly to her, "Anhal that is not true, you are not a coward. If anything we are the cowards, mother, Ehlone, and I, we are the cowards. We are the ones who can not bear to lose another member of our family. We are the ones who are using our fear to ruin your life. We are the ones who have to be apologetic." Her voice wobbly as she tried with all her might not to cry.

The moon had risen, dusk was over. Anhal had not arrived, but that did not deter Aizza. She had decorated the water in lights and created a pathway of flowers to walk down. Anhal would come, he always did, and when he did she would be ready, her dress was laced in petals as was tradition. Anhal was most likely held up hiding from the guards, and decorating their wedding place helped to ease her fear that the guards may catch him. She had been here for hours getting everything ready. Because of the dangers a crowd of people could not come, so her mother and sisters were unable to attend this small ceremony.

Back at the water Aizza pauses hearing footsteps she turns expectantly, but she soon grows nervous when she hears so many footfalls. Could it be soldiers? Were they chasing Anhal? Is there a point in hiding? The bank of the river is decorated; it is obvious to anyone with sense that something is, or already did happen here. Debating for only a few seconds more she decides to hide in the trees. Covering her mouth she forces herself not to make a sound. They were Sastainian soldiers? They had gotten through the defences? They had gotten through the inner walls divisions, that meant her brother was probably killed. The last letter he sent said he was moving to the inner division to be the second line of defense if the soldiers ever were to break through.

Did that mean they were losing the war? Was everyone dead? What was happening back at the village? Regardless, Aizza prayed that Anhal would not come. If the soldiers found him they would torture him before finally ending his misery. Anhal, if somehow you can hear me, please do not come now, they will kill you. Anhal do not come.

Anhal. Anhal pauses mid run causing Nihan to almost fall over.

"Anhal what is it?" Her brother is frantically moving his head quickly scanning the left then right side of the forest. Pacing up and then down. "Anhal what are you doing?"

"She was here. I heard her." Letting go of Nihan he runs back toward the village. "I heard her voice, she is in danger, she is going to be hurt. Making it a few steps back towards the village. Please do not come. Freezing, what did that mean? He could hear her voice as if she was standing right in front of him. She was in danger, he could tell by the shaky tone in her voice. Yet, she was pleading for him not to come. "There it is again! I heard her. It was Aizza! She is in danger. I have to go to her, I have to…" Yet he could not shake the desperation in Aizza's voice when he heard her say not to come. Would he make her life worse by showing up? This was another choice that he had to make, would he run back to the village, abandon his family; in hopes of saving the girl he loves? Would returning to her place her in harm's path? Could he leave his family on a voice he heard in his head? "No. I have to keep you all safe. We have to go." Returning to Nihan he grabs her arm dragging her away from the village, only getting a couple steps he freezes. Is this really the right thing to do? Looking in the direction of the village, a part of him wishes Aizza would step out from the trees.

Tears finally cascade down Nihan's cheek. "Brother." Her sobs rack through her body as she tries to get through to him. They had been pacing back and forth from the village numerous times, Anhal had grabbed her hand and dropped it all in the same seconds. She could see the shattering soul of her brother and it was tearing her apart. "She is not here, Anhal. You did not hear her voice, she is not here." How is this possible? She had watched her father, her uncles, her brothers and now Anhal. He may not be dying in war but this war is killing him.

Looking at Nihan his breath feels like poison in his chest. Seeing her crying, he immediately rushes to her pulling her into a hug. "Nihan, I am sorry. I am so sorry. You are my sister. I love you, I will do everything to keep you safe." Moving back so he can wipe her tears, "Please do not cry."

"How can I stop? This is killing you!"

Aizza covers her mouth and ducks her head down.

"Well well well. Look what we have here." The guards step through the trees coming to the bank of the river.

"Seems a wedding was to happen."

"I told you, our people live in starvation, and mud while these people are enjoying their lives having weddings without a care in the world." One of the guards kicks a bundle of flowers. "I am sick of it."

"We are barely able to give meals to our families, but the Mitain tribe live like kings." Glancing to the left he sees leaves move. Walking towards the trees he smirks before yanking Aizza out from the trees. "Well if it is not a Mintain woman itself." Throwing her towards the ground, he gestures to the bank of the river, "Was all of this for you? Did you send servants to decorate the river for your ceremony? Were you celebrating your life while hundreds are dying on the other side of your now broken wall!" His voice rises in anger as he kicks dirt on her.

"Now now Zekial settle down. You are scaring her." Kneeling in front of her he aggressively pulls Aizza's chin to face him. "What is your name, beauty?" He pauses to see if she will not answer, "Did we ruin your ceremony?"

"Who cares about her ceremony. Kill her so we can go. I do not have the patience for this." Zekial rips Aizza up by her hair smirking when he hears her yelp.

Squeezing the bridge of his nose in irritation, "Zekial if you had an ounce of patience you would look forward to what I plan on doing."

Dropping Aizza back to the ground, "Fine Reish, what do you plan on doing?"

Ruffling her hair, Reish laughs when Aizza slaps his hand at him glaring. "Such a beauty, tell me" Leaning down to talk to her the guard smirks, "Do you have a man coming to you? Do you have someone who will avenge what we will do to you?"

Fear covers her like a blanket, but Aizza would rather die than show it. She knew exactly what the men were planning on doing and could only be grateful that Anhal had not turned up, maybe he would not show at all, that would be ideal. Something told Aizza that she would not be seeing Anhal again.

Anhol walks in silence after his mother and sister. Nihan made no motion to speak beside him, and Anhal felt as if his lips were sewn together. Perhaps it was to ensure he did not scream in frustration. All he could think about was Aizza's voice, he was so sure he had heard it. Clear as day, loud and drenched in fear. His heart was trying to rip itself from his chest to return to her, but it could not. His feet moved as if he was a puppet that could only do what the strings commanded of him.

Nihan could only follow, yet there was a feeling of trepidation that stuck to her, overcasting her, preventing her from seeing the night sky. What if Anhal was right? Maybe something truly was happening back in their village, and maybe Aizza truly was in danger. Maybe Anhal loved Aizza enough to feel it. To feel the connecting piece that ties two souls together. Mother claimed that she knew the exact moment father left the earth. When it happened she had collapsed to the ground as if she was struck with something. She cried as if she was watching father draw his last breath of life right in front of her. Maybe. Perhaps. Possibly, Anhal could be that connected to Aizza, and he really did hear her voice. Nihan could only hope that she was wrong and Anhal heard nothing. She could only hope that Aizza was okay.

Looking for an opening, Aizza kicks the soldier as hard as she can before clawing to her feet to run.

"You will pay that." Zekial pulls her by her ankle. "The downfall to you rich Mitain people is that you do not know how to fight. How else would we have been able to easily get past your wall?"

Rage boils through her veins and her words are soaked with venom, "You smile after taking life, but it took your people years to get past that wall. The people you killed will haunt you as you sleep. WIll follow you from the shadows and the light. You will burn for those you have killed!" Standing up she sees she is surrounded by 7 soldiers. "I do not have to answer your questions. I do not have to tell you anything, just kill me and move on."

"Perhaps we will keep you, my guards are ravenous, it has been a long time since we have tasted a woman." Reish takes off the belt holding his weapons, and the other soldiers follow his lead.

Seeing where their minds are going she fights as they swarm around her. Hands are everywhere, and all she sees is their sick grins, all she can hear is their dark laughter. The Equinox is reaching its peak and there is time for only a few more choices. Aizza punches one of the soldiers, causing him to fall on the other. Moving swiftly to the side she grabs one of the swords they left on the ground.

Nervous laughter comes from Reish who knows the choices that could possibly be going through the young girl's mind.

Zekial, so blinded by his arrogance walks towards her, "And what exactly can you do with that, beauty?"

Aizza responds by perfectly swinging the sword across his neck. It is silent as Zekial crumbles to the ground coughing on his own blood.

Immediately jumping to action the soldiers pick up their swords. They had not expected the young beauty to know how to hold a sword, let alone use it to strike someone down.

Aizza glances around, she is surrounded as well as outnumbered, no one was going to come to her aid. And there is a small possibility that their thirst for blood will end with her, and not carry on to her village and her family. Tears down her cheeks as she realizes what choice she would have to make on this Autumnal Equinox. "Anhal I am sorry." Then she did something that the guards were not prepared for. She stabbed herself, blood poured out of her wound as she sank to the ground slowly. The sword protruding from her gut. Her mouth, stuck in an open position, maybe to scream but no sound came out. Her lungs ache for breath but she is unable to inhale as she tries to carpenmaentalize the pain that is attempting to consume her.

His feet stop moving, it is as if the strings connecting him to his puppet master are cut and he is free. Immediately with his new found freedom he screams. His yell echoing before Nihan covers his mouth silencing him not wanting anyone to hear them and find them. Her arms wrap around him clutching him to her chest.

Anhol uses his arms to try to get away from her but Nihan locks her fingers around his chest. Tears run out of his eyes trying to find Aizza, but of course she is too far away.

"Stupid girl." One of the guards yanks the sword out, wiping her blood off her dress before he seethed his sword. "What a shame we could not have fun before."

Stuck in a kneeling position she falls forward as the sword is pulled out. Her hands shakingly go to her cut as she tries to alleviate the pain but it is no use. A single bloody tear escapes her eye. Leaning forward she finally falls towards the ground, only able to watch the guards as they walk away from her. Her body is shaking, hand coated in blood she sees the basket of petals. The petals that were to represent her marriage with Anhal. Dragging herself to the pile of petals she clutches them to her chest. "Anhal." A gasped whisper fell from her lips, it hurt to speak and she could feel her life pouring out like a fountain, her heart sends out her last words that she prays he'll hear. May I find you in a new life. As her eyes close she can see and feel the blanket of darkness calling her forward, and oh how easy it is to go.

Hearing the yell from Anhal his mother and sister ran back to see what was wrong, only to be faced with Nihan desperately holding him to the ground as Anhal tried to pry himself from her. His strength was draining as his brain slowly gave up realizing before his heart could that he was too late. Picking himself up with NIhan still clutching to his back he goes to walk towards the village. Then without warning he collapses to the ground, dropping Nihan to the side as he falls.

"Anhal!" His mother rushed to his side, shocked to see him like this. He was shaking, his breaths coming out in pants, tears falling from his eyes as if that is what it had always done. But that was not what stopped his mother from touching him; it was his eyes. His eyes, the dark pools, vacant from all emotion but pain. They glistened from the liquid his tears created.

May I find you in a new life. Aizza's final words reaches his heart and Anhal rubs at his aching chest. "She is gone." His agonied whisper broke through the forest, through the sound of the raindrops. His whisper froze the sun moving on its path to the other side of the world for a millisecond. For that millisecond the Equinox froze to stamp the pain into the earth.

"Who?" Ehlone, the youngest of the sisters, was too young to understand what was going on. Nihan and her mother knew what had happened. It was the same thing his mother felt when her husband died in battle. You could feel it, a piece of you break off, never to be whole again. Ehlone was too young to understand the gravity that is love, it holds you down and keeps you centered; but it also rips you apart and leaves you broken.

"Aizza." Clutching his chest he attempts to get to his feet but stops when his knees refuse to unbend. "I felt it, she is gone." Taking in shaky breaths, his voice wobbly, "I saw her die, she was on her knees." His tears stopped, as if they could not balance the emotions Anhal was feeling any longer. "I saw her leave, welcoming the darkness that is death, falling to the ground. I saw her leave my world."

As Anhal looks at his mother, her own tears start to fall. There was her Anhal, her son, her child, her baby boy. He was in front of her feeling the worst pain anyone could feel and there was nothing she could do. She saw her baby in front of her shattering, and there was nothing that could comfort him. How useless of a mother she felt, how inept and helpless of a mother she turned out to be. The man Anhal had grown into was ripped away and there was her baby boy in front of her instead. His eyes pleaded for her to do something, anything to make the pain stop, but she could not.

As Anhal swam in a sea of pain something happened at the moment of the equinox. Something happened as the sun left one side of the world for the other. Something happened as the rain stopped falling from the sky. The world mourned. The trees dropped their leaves in mourning, the ground shook, dropping rocks in sympathies. The ocean raged dropping waves onto itself as it mourned for the broken lovers. And where Aizza's body lay, her blood seeped into the soil. The earth cracked as it took in Aizza's body returning the human flesh from which it came. And those petals, the petals that were now soaked in blood, moved and evolved into something else, a flower.

A single green stem erupted from the ground. The bulb bloomed in shreds of red petals, strings reached around it, its tentacles stretched below, above, left and right; as if it was trying to find something. It reached everywhere before finally curling upwards to the sky. The root of the flower broke open as the petals immediately faced down bearing its heart to the world. One single raindrop fell from the sky splashing upon this flower. The flower, the red lily, slowly let the water wash off of it as if it was crying. Crying for its Anhal.

He finally closes the book and addresses the room. "You see things are not beautiful because they last. Beauty can come from a momentum of pain. Come from decisions that are unable to ever be undone. Love that is unable to be complete. Many like to believe love is this magical beautiful thing, but it is not so simple. Love is loss, love is choosing family over your heart. Love is understanding despite the heartbreak. Many like to believe we are nothingness floating in a world so big and beyond understanding. Like to believe that the world could never see us, for we are nothing but a spec of sand on an unending beach. They are wrong, the world sees us and mourns for our struggles." Placing the book back on the shelf he kisses a petal and sends a prayer before leaving the room.

Marlon the chief's son stands in the front of the room and finishes the service and story. "The soldiers slaughtered everyone in the village. Later it was revealed that it was intentional, the division was sent to protect the wall without weapons. The military plan was to let the Statanians focus their military on what they thought was a weak point so the Mitains could surround them. The Mitains won the war on the sacrifice of 342 men in the inner division, as well as the entire west village."

A child raises her hand, "If Aizza died then what happened to Anhal?" Many other children nod their heads, also curious about what happened to him.

Marlon shakes his head sadly, "Anhal forced himself to live on, if that is what you can call it. He found those broken strings and tied them around his limbs surrendering himself back to the puppet master that is life. He loved no other, courted no other, smiled for no other. He saw the eyes of countless women, but none of them called for his soul the way Aizza'a did. He found a job and worked, keeping his sisters and mother safe, and well fed. The war finally ended and it was safe to return home. Yet it took 3 decades later before the puppet master refused to command Anhal any longer, and thrust him aside.

Once free his body immediately returned to the village, which was now nothing but a forest. His old body naturally walked to the water, the place in which he should have married the love of his life decades ago. The place where his life ended, and there it was. One single flower, the Equinox flower, the red spider lily, the magic lily; and as he touched it his heart warmed, and the boy within him came alive again. As he smelled it, there she was; those green eyes that commanded his soul, those green eyes that after decades still called for his heart. She was there and his young soul rejoiced at finally being reunited. How his memory failed him over the years, her eyes were brighter than his memory, her smile caused wrinkles to appear, and raised her cheeks up. His Aizza was in front of him once more wearing a dress decorated in beautiful petals. After smelling the flower he was able to see her as if she was standing before him again. See her smile, and hear her laughter. It brought him to tears and he cried. He cried as he remembered his Aizza, his life. His body was finally home, his heart was finally pieced together. The emptiness he had felt those decades without her was finally filled, and in that same spot his old body took his last breath falling in the same place."

Many of the adults in the rooms wipe their tears, unable to imagine what it would be like to finally be reunited with your love. Can only imagine the peace and agony you feel as your heart finally returns.

"The Equinox flower is a story of love and loss. Of pain, decisions and sacrifice. It was created at a time of war. Many see the Equinox flower and think nothing of it. Yet there are the chosen some, maybe they are blessed, maybe they are cursed, but when they smell the flower. Some claim that they too can see a pair of green eyes."