(the spring x772)

I was playing in the front yard with some toys with my dad. My mom was doing some things around the house. I have more of mom's brown eyes and her face. While I have dad's lightly tan skin and brown hair. Mom has brown hair like dad, but he has light brown streaks amongst dark brown hair. Just like me, although I have more dark brown hair than him. The same thing goes with the eyes. Dad also has brown eyes, but mom and I both have a reflective copper tone in ours. So I am slightly different from the other kids. I just didn't know how much at the time.

I know my mom was an herbalist and a really good healer, too. I also know that dad's family had wizards in it, but he wasn't one. Yet I still love them both very much.

We live in a wooden house, near to the edge of the woods. So we don't live near to town, but I sometimes think it a good thing. We don't get treated very well by most of the people there. Even though it's a large town that pretty isolated from the world. But I think that's what you get when you have the town close to the base of a mountain range near to the borders of Fiore and Seven. Were still in Fiore, we just live in the western end of that range. Not to mention more in the forest, hidden from many. But it's my home; there isn't much that I can do about it.

But I wouldn't call that place home for long.

That's because, on that afternoon, everything changed for us.

While me and my dad were playing with some of my toy animals, we heard something in the distance. A moment later we heard it better; we could tell what it was. It was the sound of people coming up the path to our house. A lot of them.

Dad put down the toy dragon he was playing with and went to the gate that surrounded the yard. When he did, he turned back in my direction, "Go inside, quickly." I didn't notice that my mom was behind me. She quickly picked me up and hurried inside. After she put me down and ran off to somewhere in the house, I went to the window to see what was going on.

I saw the people from town coming here. There were some that carried torches, some others don't have anything on them. At least none that I could see. But they didn't look happy.

Dad meets them a few yards away. I couldn't hear much of what they said, but I could tell that dad doesn't like it. As I can hear mom run around the house, I heard dad shouted at them, "No! You can't do that!" But they weren't listening to him. Yet I could tell that my dad was trying to stop them, but he wasn't succeeding.

Then mom took me away from the window and pulled me to the back of the house. I saw her holding a bag and an arm full of stuff. After she leads me to the back of the house where she told me to stay. I saw her put in a lot of food, a large water bottle, a jacket, my journal, a pencil, and an old leather book. Mom told me to put on my jacket as she went to get one last thing.

With all that I have worn and carried in a bag, I was beginning to feel how bad the situation was.

Then my mom came back to give me my favorite stuff animal. It was a small black and white toy dragon that my mom had when she was little. After she put it into my bag and made sure that it all fits inside. She gave the bag to me, and I put it on. It was a bit heavy, but she knows that I can carry it.

Once it was on, mom bent down and hugged me in a tight embrace. Tight enough to know that something might happen to her. Then she held me at arm's length and quickly unfastened her necklace. As mom put it on me, she said with tears in her eyes, "Run and don't come back to this house or this town again. You won't be safe here anymore. So I want you to promise me that you'll be safe. But please my Little Moon, be careful. Both me and your daddy love you very much. And never forget that, please."

I could see the fear in her eyes. I was sad to see her like that. I quickly looked at the silver crescent moon ornament that has white gems encrusted in it. The one that Mom said I was going to have when I was older. The one that had been passed through her family for years. I felt that I had a pit in my stomach.

I know I was too young to know that feeling, but I tried to be brave for her. I looked up from the pendant with a determined look on my face as I said, "I promise, mommy."

She gave me a small smile while she gave me another hug, I told her with small tears, "I love you and daddy, too."

Mom quickly said to me, "I know sweety, I know." Then she let me go as she said, "Now run!"

So I did, I ran so hard into the woods that I thought I was flying out. I didn't run very far when I stopped to catch my breath; I know the house was no longer in sight. But the house was out of sight, and I could smell smoke coming from there. That gave me enough to motivate me to keep running. Then I still kept running, no matter how tired was. I didn't stop till I knew that I was far away from there, deep in the woods and to hide within mountains.

My name is Anna Wichita Moon.

I was about 5 and a half years old when all of this had happened.

This is my story, of how I came to be where I am now.