Born of Beauty

She didn't know why she chose to stay in the forest. Lily was the last of her people, she was so young when an attack from slavers took away everything she loved leaving her alone. It was so many seasons ago she doesn't remember how old she was, or what her parents looked like. But Lily remembered one thing.

The raid took place the night of her naming ceremony. She remembers the feel of chilly night air against her bair skin, the feel of the mud from the shore of the lake being painted on her from the village women. Lily remembers that night so vividly but the pain of losing everything made her lose the memories of her people to the darkness.

She could never forget that night the goddess of the moon and water gave her a name and a gift. As she was left on that bank all alone, waiting, a loon flew from the darkness and presented her with a white lily. The striking bird then spent the rest of the night teaching her to sing, for it had seen her before and wanted nothing more than to share it's pure heart with her.

When the sun had risin she politely bowed to the loon and headed back to her village ready to declare her name and be considered a true member of the village and given a job. Lily only returned to the smoldering remains of her village with the bloodied and mangled corpses of the elderly and the ones clearly who decided to fight. In a blind pain at her loss she picked up a dagger from a nearby corpse and repeatedly plunged it into what was left of a slaver.

Then there was the call of the loon. Lily turned, and ran into the forest covered in blood and mud, just needing to escape. She made it back to the lake, then darkness. that is all she could ever remeber.

The joy of her being named, the pain and loss, then the warm embrace that eased her into darkness and pushed away the pain long enough for her to make herself forget.

The pain was in the past, gone with everything she used to be. She was reborn the next say sleeping on a bed of gently placed lilys by the lake. skin as fair as their petals, hair black as the night before, lips a delicate pouty pink. with a glance anyone could see this little girl seemingly born of the lilys was going to grow into a woman beautiful enough to rival that of even the goddess.