The start is a little slow. Please hang in there for me. Pleeease. R&R

Prologue

"Mommy? Where is Daddy?" asked a sleepy little Mithra. Her eyes were feeling heavy and could barely stay awake, but the question had been on her mind for a while now. The five-year-old Mithra girl was lying in a small uncomfortable wooden bed with a mattress full of straw. The small lantern at her bedside flickered in the weather-worn tent. Patches of the starry sky were visible through small ripped holes in the cloth. A petite Mithra with comforting eyes stared back down at her daughter from the side of her bed. Her eyes grew wider for a moment then settled acknowledging that this question would come some day.

"Daddy is back where you were born." She pulled the raggedy, patched quilt over her daughter and tucked in the sides. She wore a sad smile as she kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"Mommy?" she mewed.

"Yes Kitten?" she affectionately replied.

"Why isn't Daddy with us?" asked the little Mithra gently.

The older Mithra grasped at her neck to find a small silver ring on a thin silver chain. Her hands were worn and withered from many battles. She sighed sadly but still looked lovingly at her daughter.

"Daddy couldn't come with Mommy. It's against our traditions for men to leave the village."

"But then why did we leave?" the little Mithra questioned with a note of sadness in her sleepy voice.

"Well, you see . . ." her voice trailed off as her gaze became more solemn. She brushed her other hand along her daughters face wiping away stray hairs. "Mommy wanted to live a different life than Daddy." She sighed. "Mommy felt that she was still needed away from the village. Mommy wants to help others." She stared off for a moment focusing on the ring held tightly in her hand. She looked back down at her daughter to see a face of concern. With an uplifting voice she told her daughter "But I couldn't leave my precious Kitten behind. I wanted you to be able to live a full life and be able to choose which type of life you want to live."

The sleepy little Mithra smiled up at her mother as she stood up from the bedside to turn down the lantern. In the dim light she could see her mother settle down on her own worn bed not too far away.

"Mommy?" the little Mithra yawned while staring at a patch of stars through the tent. "I want to be just like you when I grow up."