I needed a moment of quiet. So much had happened over the last week; it was enough to spin head in woven circles that seemed to have no end. Dizzy, I felt dizzy. A lesson had been hard learned yet again, a lesson with a meaning so common that I wondered, “Why must I keep learning to value the time spent with family and friends?” It was easy to take the normal humdrum of everyday life and maintain a quant existence—without giving second glance toward the things that really mattered. First it had been mother and father, then Norse. Now….Cera was almost wrenched from this world.

Guilt was like an endless river without bottom, simple to drown in. Currently the game was to tread water and keep head above long enough for ample breath. I made a vow on the day that my child’s life was put into question that I would never again take what was held most valuable for granted. Eyes empty of light and life drifted up, failure was perhaps the greatest fear of all and it was the one thing that could destroy my existence. A cool breeze welcomed approach into a clearing unlike any I had witnessed before now.

Moonless waters glimmered under the protection of whipping willows; a mist swirled playfully with each tugging breath of air. Even the heavens seemed to play their part in the atmosphere created tonight; stars glistened with a likeness to diamonds, shinning down with enough light to brighten this glade in tranquil softness. A nightingale sung its territorial chirps, and a chorus of crickets sang harmoniously in the background.

Had this been just another evening, I might have stopped to kneel and pray. Thanking our lord for all the blessings of this world. Instead I stared into this beautiful place with vacant expression, grieved; heart already across the ground. Walking slowly along the bank my eyes caught sight of something, a flower…broken and bent—its petals lay scattered where little forest animals had stepped upon them until only a handful remained. Muzzle lowered, sniffing its faint fragrance before catching sight of its sister.

The broken flower had been a pale rose, creamy peach in color. Its bush stood alongside a soft bank, hidden among brambleweeds and little evergreens. The buds were small and tightly sealed shut to protect themselves from the coolness of night, save for one. I stood by, studying this unusual flower. It was a blossom dipped in the deepest of crimson, blackened at the ends and held up by a lengthened stem full of nasty looking thorns.

My heart lurched inside throat, eyes narrowing into slits, “Ktulu…” She came into my mind, similar to this powerful flora in many different ways. Hadn’t I just made a vow to avoid the waste of life? By holding onto emotions like an unsteady colt I was only hurting myself. “Would you come to me empress of night?” This land was old and full of magic, I felt that if I called now, she would come—but that may have been the longings of a tired fool, “I have words to share.”