Summary: Ashunera and the Zuanma; they came from the muck of the universe, but in the beginning she didn't care.
Notes: The lotus represents spiritual beauty rising from sludge.
Lotus
In the beginning, Ashunera created the world. She molded it from the muck of the universe, her perfect hands becoming stained from her long, loving work. When she had finished molding her world, she washed her hands to clean them of the sludge that had become her world. She washed her hands for so long that excess water began to cover her world.
When she was done washing the dirt from her hands, the fire-haired goddess looked around at her world and realized that nothing on it could communicate with her. Ashunera was an immortal goddess, but she longed for company. She searched her world for many years, but she could not find anything or anyone with whom she could share her time. She wept for many years, and her tears joined the water from her washing, covering much of her world with water.
However, Ashunera's patience was rewarded when, one day, creatures approached her and spoke. The goddess was astounded. Where had these beings come from? What were they doing on her world? Why had they sought her out? And, most importantly, were they there to keep her company?
They had willed themselves into existence from the muck of the universe. They didn't know why they had willed themselves into existence on her world. They had come to her because they had heard her crying. And of course they would keep her company; anything to see her smiles rather than her tears.
Ashunera was delighted with that last answer. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. She didn't care where they had come from or what they called themselves; they were there for her.
Who cared if they came from the sludge of the universe? That was where her beautiful world had originated, after all.