This is a sad poem about the death of a princess, a nation, and a general hope. For an explanation of the plot, see the bottom of the page.

Disclaimer: I own no people, places, things, or ideas belonging to Tamora Pierce.

For Carthak

She walked the path
That few did walk
At this time of night,
Treading lightly
Thinking as she walked
The silent steps,
Speaking her name
That would die
As she died,
For none would dare
To speak it.

Not ever
After this moment.

She had been
The one they loved,
The empress they wanted
But couldn't rescue.

She would never,
In all time,
Be called upon again,
To help her country
Or her husband.

She thought,
While gazing
At pink roses
Blooming healthy
In the moon's glow,
That she was sad,
Not just for her,
But for Carthak,
Her Carthak,
The Carthak that would die
As she died,
Though they knew it not.

Across the sea
Would come the knights,
Tortallans
Every one;
Kaddar would pay
For killing her,
For taking away
The last person
Who could stop him
As he tried to…

She shuddered;
No,
She would not think
About the dead,
About the future,
About her Carthak.

When had he,
In all the years,
Gone insane?
When had he
Become an Ozorne,
A replica of the one,
Who by his own will
Destroyed Carthak in one hand
While cherishing it in the other?

There would be
No more
For her;
It was all over.

Kaddar would send her
To the block
And blood would rain
Upon the shoulders
Of the princess
That the whole world loved,
Their most beautiful and beloved,
Their ever-faithful…
Their Kalasin

AN: This poem was meant to be Kalasin's last thoughts before Kaddar orders her execution the next morning. Basically, Kaddar went insane (I'm sure there was a very good reason for that, although I haven't thought of one yet) and started killing off a bunch of people (probably peasants and nobles… there might even have been mass killings that he ordered be done by his army). Kalasin tried to speak to him as he got more and more brutal, but eventually she pushed him too far while trying to help her people. Now, he thinks she is a threat to his rule and plans to kill her.

I am thinking of a chapter 2, but only if people like this and if some other plot comes to me out of the blue, like this one.