THE DARK SHADOWS OF NEARBY TREES cast down onto fifteen year old Amaranth and Kamra Morgan as they follow their mother out of the cemetery. Sadness and despair latch onto them as they walk. It’s difficult losing a loved one, and the sisters now know this. For a week ago, they were living life normally with their eldest triplet, Cherokee. But a tragedy happened. Now Cherokee lay five feet under the ground. May she rest peacefully for eternity. Oh how her sisters wish for that.
Amaranth’s ratted jet black hair hangs around her face, in a complex web, hiding her misery. Was it murder? Was it an accident? Questions that will forever haunt her, nagging her for the truth on Cherokee’s departure. Her mother won’t talk, she never does, and Kamra is
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Her chest falls and rises as her breath vaporizes above her. A wisp of poison. What is the point of living if we all die? So many questions with no answers, and poor Amaranth, too human, too fragile, to even understand. Leave that to the Goddesses. For if Amaranth were to try, the result would be tragic. But it’s not as if Amaranth isn’t used to tragedy.
She dusts off her clothes as she gets up and continues through the forest, heading for her Ró-Naofa. Since she has nothing better to do at home, what could be more appropriate than a forest cave? She follows a path only she knows until she finds the cavern. Underneath its protective shield, with only natural light, she settles for a while. Grief takes time. She was just at last recovering from Father’s death by belladonna. She knows that the emotions are consuming, and that forgetting is hard.
The damp rock wets her back as she leans against it. The sun is still high, but it is cold. Amaranth has never minded it though, considering she spends most of her time in dark, unheated places. They’re her favorite, but she isn’t limited to them. She spends the majority of her off time in nature, only spending time in the house when she must. Even before, when their family was whole, she wasn’t around much. Now she wishes she had spent more time with her eldest