Zephyra was sixteen this day. It was her name day. While other girls might need pampered parties (not that she had not had one) for their name days, she knew that her mother knew that all she wanted to do was go on some grand adventure. Her father she never saw or knew much about, only that her mother commented often that she had his beautiful dark hair. She had many siblings around her ranging from tiny tykes to grown adults in their own right. Though she loved these siblings, the person dearest to her heart was Nyssa.
 
When she halted in her running, Zephyra turned her head just in time to see the thrashing of dirty blonde hair flailing in attempts not to run into her but to no avail. They tumbled to the ground and the two girls laughed the true, hearty laughs of children. When she looked at Nyssa she saw pure innocence and goodness. Nyssa did not necessarily want to go on some mischievous grand adventure like Zephyra, rather she had a bubbly-hearted wish of seeing mysterious fae people and the towering wildlife of bison and deer. Zephyra saw potential castles and dragons and ugly ogres. They were somehow opposites but so close to one another that Zephyra’s powers had planted a mental link between the two.
 
“Come on Zephyra! I want to see our first beautiful fae by nightfall!” Nyssa swirled her peasant dress around like a ball gown when she mentioned the beautiful fae. Zephyra snorted, very unladylike, towards her friend and her dramatic dreams. “How do you know they’ll be pretty? You know there are strange and evil fae too and well… the books say they aren’t very pretty!” Dusting off her own peasant dress, she took the lead once more and broke the line of trees and felt even the air seeming to change. “Oh come off it! How could something so bad live in a place… like this?” Her voice trailed as she looked around at the beautiful canopy and all of these plants she did not know the name of.
 
Shaking her, her dark hair glinting oddly in the sun that trickled through the canopy, she turned her head just in time to avoid walking straight into a bush of brambles. One caught her dress and made a small tear, but she just rolled her eyes and kept going. They each had small packs with rations and blankets and water and they both had long daggers for hunting and protection if needed. The two likely did not think that two young girls with long daggers did not frighten the more ugly of the creatures.
 
When the sun started to get low, they began looking for an open enough space to make a small camp. When they found a very small clearing, Zephyra looked up to see Nyssa coming back with an armful of wood and  shadow looming behind her. Before even her lips could part to scream, the ogre grabbed her skull with one hand and crushed it. Through their mental link Zephyra was overwhelmed with a sense of fear and pain and the finality of death. It was more painful than anything she had ever experienced in her life. Her knees gave way, dropping her to the ground, he arms by her side.
 

Behind her she could sense another stench-ridden ogre and thought she heard at least one more in the brush. It was then that her psychic and chaotic powers she had always possessed took control to protect their host. Around her ruptured a huge wave of red light. What living creature it touched you would expect to be blown to spatters of blood and bits of meat. Instead their forms were quite literally vaporized into red dust that blew away until it was unrecognizable from the dirt. Zephyra slammed her fists on the ground and curled up, tears staining her cheeks and watering the ground. “Mother, please help me.”

Angela found herself in her private study. This was the one time that Iva wasn't by her side. Instead Iva was playing with the children of her clergy. Her fingers moved fast as she wrote words into what appeared to be a health manual of some sort. She didn't always like to rely on her godly powers for healing and maybe that was the smart thing to do if the Voice ever decided she wasn't fit for her position any more.

It was one of her children's name days and she knew that it would do them good to get out and about. She gave her daughter a blessing at least in a motherly way. Though as day turned to night she heard a prayer from Pravpora. One that she could simply ignore until another time. She pushed herself up and walked out to Iva. Getting down on one knee she stroked back the girl's hair. “I'll be back alright. You have to stay here.” Iva nodded seen that serious look in her mother's eyes. Something had happened and it wasn't good.

Appearing along side her other daughter she felt her goddess powers almost sucked out of her by the lands. She was significantly weaker here on the other continent but still strong. Her green eyes looked around and she found herself with a disturbing site. “Oh my child..” She took Zephyra into her arms and placed her palm over the child's red eyes. She sensed more movement near them and kissed her daughter's head.

“You should not have come to this place.” It was a light scolding. “I can do nothing for your friend.” A large ogre came from the trees. Its stench reached Angela's nose but she gave a gentle sigh. Trandafir appeared in her hands as a magnificent obsidian sword. “You have made precious tears fall from the eyes of an innocent. I suppose that is reason enough for death.” She got up and whipped the sword around. The ground and trees reacted like a vortex of earthly magic. The trees jutted out and skewered the ogres. Their blood like waterfalls to the ground.

“Get up Zephyra. This is one of the many lessons that life has for you.” Trandafir warped into an obsidian staff with gold designs down it. She picked up her friend's body and looked towards her daughter. “We'll bury her here. This is your first lesson of adulthood I'm afraid.” She gave her daughter a sad look. “We will search for a good area.”

Why?
 
Why would it happen to them in this giant forest? How did they wander upon a pack of ogres when they had only barely begun to explore? Nyssa was innocent. She had no powers like Zephyra and she barely use a dagger without cutting her own self. Why is it that she deserved to die and in such a gruesome way? Why had they not gone for Zephyra? For a moment she wished she were dead instead of Nyssa and that Nyssa was the one running away from the forest. Nyssa was innocent and she died because her friend had drug her here. She felt the pit of guilt in her stomach.
 
Her psionic senses quivered as the magical air around her shifted. Surely her mother had heard her prayer and that was what was coming. Zephyra felt weak and light-headed now. She could not take defending herself against something greater than ogres. When her mother appeared, she felt herself relax. She buried her face in her mother’s breast who was holding her and kissing her head. She winced when she was scolded, though it was far from the worst scolding she had ever received from her mother.
 
Tears welled in her eyes when her mother said she could do nothing for her friend. She was a Goddess and it had been her hope that her mother could reverse death, though she had never seen such a thing occur at the Red Court. When the rustling of another large body or more came from the bushes, Zephyra shrunk behind her mother. She opened her red eyes and they glimmered with hatred at the disgusting creatures that had crushed her friend like a simple bug. With her weapon that Zephyra knew as Trandafir, her mother caused the very earth to turn against the ogres and skewer them.
 

Then her mother called to her to get up. With confusion clouding her eyes, she stood up, her dark hair partially clouding the view of her face. Her red eyes looked at the headless body of her friend. It was nearly unrecognizable without her face and her soft blonde hair. When Angela mentioned burying her friend she nodded her head. She paused and tugged at her mother’s hand. “We passed a small clearing a little ways back full of blooming bushes and a bed of wildflowers. I think she would… like it there.” She turned and stepped around brambles and thick brush until she came upon the wild garden they had passed. She looked back at her mother holding Nyssa's body and tears streamed down her face. "It's not fair. Nyssa. She was innocent. She could not even defend herself."

Angela nodded towards her weeping daughter. It pained her to see her child in such pain but there was simply nothing she could do. That was the problem with mortal life. That was the problem with wanting someone whole. “That sounds very lovely child.” The Mother let Zephyra lead her to the wild garden. When they had got there Angela took a moment to set the girl's body down.

“Let me tell you a story before I tell you what I think.” She sat down on the ground and patted next to her. “Lay down like you use to when you were a child. Put your head on my lap. Close your eyes and imagine this in your head.” She waited until Zephyra was ready before petting her soft raven hair.

“There was once a time when I was mortal. I lived on Lake Kirika in Sularia, our homeland. I was married very young, maybe only a year older than you are now. I married a human who did not want to become a rosenite and that was our deal even if he were to be on death's doorstep. I loved him very, very much. His name was Wyatt. I carried our first child, a sister you never knew you had just like you don't know this story. I found out just how fragile being mortal is. When your sister was a year old I ascended and I was having a nightmare. My powers were not in control and brought the entire house down. It killed everyone in it but myself.” She stopped petting for a moment. Her voice was filled with sadness.

“I was a goddess who looked over death and decay for a long time before I got over it. My heart is still very much wounded. I could not save them then and I can't save your friend now. Even if I could when you bring a soul back they are so traumatized by what they've seen often they just end up killing themselves or worse.” Her lip quivered for a moment. “Those who are helpless and don't know how to defend themselves are the first ones killed. It has always been like that. You need to be ready to take on the world in your mind as well as with your body. If you cannot there are those that are for hire to help keep you safe. There's no shame in saying you are weak but to do something as foolish as come into a forest that's dangerous with no protection.. Child I am disappointed. What if you had gotten killed? What if I hadn't heard you? I would be heart broken. I want you to promise me you won't do something so stupid again. Do not gamble the precious life you have been given."

How could her mother even look at her now? It was Zephyra’s fault for wanting to go out on some grand adventure. It was her fault that Nyssa was dead. It was her fault that an innocent girl who wanted nothing more than to just live her life had gotten her head crushed by ogres. What would she tell her friend’s family? Would they hate her, as they likely probably should have, for putting her daughter in a dangerous situation? These questions burned like fire in her mind and swam around until she felt sick at the stomach just thinking of them.
 
When they got to the wild and untamed garden her mother gently set down Nyssa’s headless body. It didn’t even seem right that she should have to suffer being buried in such a way. But her mother pat the empty ground next to her and said she wanted to share with her a story. So, Zephyra obediently went and sat next to her mother. Before she might have tried to get out of it or avoid the topic all together to avoid any ‘lesson’, but right now she felt too shamed to say no to her mother, especially regarding this.
 
Her mother asked that she lay like she once laid as a young girl when she would put her head in her mother’s lap and listen to her talk or let her play with her dark hair. With a weak, half smile she turned over on her back and let her head rest in Angela’s lap. Immediately she began to stroke at her raven hair, and Zephyra enjoyed the feeling of her mother’s hand against her head and hair. Angela told her of being mortal and how she had married a mortal man and they had born a child. It was strange to her because she did not know her mother was ever anything but immortal. But she listened as the story took its sad turn. Her powers were not in control and destroyed the house and all and everything within it. She could tell her mother was sad when she spoke of this.
 
Her mother continued on to tell about her time as a Goddess of Death and Decay before she became what she was now. She said she could not save her husband and daughter then just as she could not save her friend now. She went on to mention the trauma souls went through when brought back and many longed for death after being resurrected. Zephyra could easily see why that might be the case, even if she thought it would not be the case for Nyssa.
 
Then her mother did what Zephyra feared. In lecturing her on how to stay safe- that she needed to be ready to take on these things or hire someone- she said she was disappointed in her. Her dark eyes looked away from her mother and she could feel the very hot flush rising in her cheeks. “I promise, mother,” she sputtered out hurriedly, nearly in tears when she did. While the opinions of most people did not matter to her, the opinion of her mother mattered greatly. It nearly wounded her already broken heart to hear the word ‘disappointed’. Though what could she expect? She had gone into a dangerous forest and gotten her friend killed. “I thought I could protect us both with my mental magic. I thought… I don’t know what I thought. I’m sorry mother, truly I am. And I’m sorry to Nyssa.” Hot tears rolled down her cheeks and into her dark hair.

Angela stared at her for a moment and could hardly contain herself. She felt her heart sink at how her words broke the girl. She smiled when Zephyra promised but she tapped her cheek. "My mother told me she was disappointed in me at your age. I rushed into a battle with a bunch of novice healers. Most of us died but we were only trying to protect those who helped us so much. We couldn't stand watching many of our warriors hurt."

She stroked Zephyra's black hair and thought for a moment. "And when that mental magic gets reflected and is no use Zephyra what then? You need to be able to fight on two paths. Many people are well versed in Psionic magic. My dear there will always be someone better than you that is why you must aim to be stronger."

A gentle sigh left her lips as she watched the dark haired girl cry. She brought Zephyra into a hug and smiled. "Learn another way and I am sure you will do just fine. For now take your wounds and learn from them. You will be able to get stronger from this moment. Just like I've gotten stronger from all that's been taken from me. Use that hatred, hurt, and anger on your opponent. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, or so they say." She winked at Zephyra.

It was hard not to be heartbroken that her mother expressed disappointment in her. After all, she did not have a father to look up to and never had. Angela had luckily been a good enough mother that Zephyra hardly ever missed not having a father. But it was because of this that her mother was her idol in many ways and would have been a Goddess in her eyes even if she were not actually one at all. She aimed to please her mother and always wanted her to be proud of her. She thought she would go on this little adventure and come back with a great story and triumphant and her mother would be proud.
 
She felt a tap on her tear-stained cheek and Zephyra was gifted with another story she had yet to hear from her mother. It seemed Angela also had her mother once tell her that she was disappointed in her, and it was around the same age as she was now. She told of how she and her friends ran off, much like she and Nyssa had, though they had gone into a battle in an attempt to help the warriors. At least hers was with purpose and not frivolous as Zephyra’s had been. “I think it was awfully brave of you. At least you running off had a good purpose and it wasn’t just frivolous adventure like mine.” Clearly the girl was now just as disappointed in herself.
 
Her mother brought up a good point. Mental magic did not always work. Sometimes people had towering mental defenses and sometimes people could reflect spells before they even got to them at all. If that happened she did not have a back up plan. Of course she knew there were always people out there better than her, for they were at least older and more practiced, she didn’t really ever consider that to be a problem.
 
She would do what her mother said, though. Zephyra would learn from this moment and this memory and become all the stronger for it. Certainly she would not let the death of her friend be in vain or break her. She sat up from her mother’s lap where she was having her hair stroked and brushed through and looked at her. Then she glanced down to the small little dagger on her belt. “Could you hire someone to teach me? How to use a blade that is. If I am to learn another path of fighting I would want to work with someone who is an expert in using the blade. I want to learn the right way and I want to be as good at it as I am with my magic.”