The Cindered Sister

Prologue

The kingdom of Gardenia, adequately named for it's famously breathtaking hills of flora, was the picture of stereotypical perfection. In the light of day, life surged through the streets. The town square filled with children playing while their mothers stood a few feet away, purchasing food for that evening's meal. Girls sat in circles in the sun, sewing and laughing with each other. And men worked hard, catching fish down at the harbor, building places for new families to live, and tending to crops.

But on this particular night, at the time that the tables were normally being set, faces and hands were being washed, or work was being called for the day, things were very different. Villagers came out of their homes to gossip over the news, work had ended early, and dinner would be late.

Everything seemed minute in comparison to what had occurred just hours earlier in the little house just down the street.