They were crying. Lillian did not know why. Her grandparents, Sir Galdwin and Lady Basilea Martel, were just pouring her some milk before bedtime when there was a knock at the door. Everything was fine before that happened. They were happy. They had been for months, even with her parents gone. She remembered the day they left perfectly…..

"Don't cry, my darling." Lillian's mother was trying to console her. Her parents had just given Lillian the news. War had broken over the land, and her parents were going to join the battle…the battle of Mora, they called it.

"But…I don't want you to leave! I'll miss you too much." Lillian held onto her mother, wiling her to stay.

Lillian's father knelt down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be back as soon as we can, Lillian. I promise. Your grandparents are going to look after you, okay? Just think of it as a sleepover."

Lillian wiped her tears away. "A sleepover?" She repeated.

"Yes, you like sleeping over at your grandparents' house, remember?" Lillian's father asked.

Her mother agreed. "Yes! You'll have so much fun! We'll be back before you even begin to miss us."

Lillian was still sad, but her parents were right. She loved spending time with her grandparents. She liked baking with her grandmother and playing games with her grandfather. "Okay..." Lillian agreed. "…as long as you come back soon."

"That's my brave girl." Her father gave her a hug. "We love you so much, Lillian. Do you know that?"

Lillian hugged her father back and nodded. "Yes."

"Good." Her father said. "Never forget that, okay?"

"Yes." Her mother agreed, joining in the hug. "We'll always love you, sweetheart…."

Lillian's parents were heroes. That's what her grandmother said. Her parents were fighting in a war because they wanted to keep the land of Mercia safe from the bad people. Lillian's grandmother was smiling when she said it. She always smiled…until now. Until the knight knocked at the door. Lillian knew it was a knight, because he was dressed just like her father did, and her father was a knight. The knight was acting strange, though. He looked sad and never looked at Lillian. He left as quickly as he came.

"Oh, Lillian…I'm so sorry…so sorry." Basilea ran to hug Lillian, trying to control her tears.

Lillian didn't understand. How could she? She was only 7 at the time. "Why are you sorry, Grandma?" Lillian felt herself getting more upset with every breath, tears starting to run down her face. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Galdwin put a hand on his wife's shoulder and whispered something in her ear. Basilea nodded and stepped back.

"Lilly…." Her grandpa always called her that. It was his special name for her. He knelt beside his granddaughter and put his hand on her shoulder. "Remember when we said that your mother and father are going to be away for a while?"

His voice helped Lilly calm down. She nodded. "Yes, they're fighting in a war."

"That's right. Well…sometimes bad things happen to people in the war."

Lilly wiped a tear from her eye. "Like what?"

"Well, some people who fight in wars never come back home."

Never come back home? Her heart began to beat faster. "Why, Grandpa? Why don't they come back?"

Galdwin looked down at his feet, a tear running down his face. "Because, Lilly, sometimes they…they die."

There was a long pause. Galdwin looked up to see if Lilly understood. That's when it began to hit the young child. She didn't want to ask, but she had to know.

"Did my mother and father die? Is that why you're crying?" The very thought of the possibility made Lilly cry harder than she ever remembered crying before.

Galdwin looked deep into his granddaughter's eyes. When Lilly looked back into his, she saw a world of sadness there that she was sure matched her own. "Yes, Lilly. They're not coming home."

Lilly felt her heart break. "No! They can't leave me! They have to come back home! They said they would!"

Both Galdwin and Basilea hugged her, trying to calm her down. "It's okay, Lilly. We'll be okay. We still have each other. We'll get through this together, I promise."