GARDENYA:

Swishing sounds of water resound in the air almost as if I stand beside a river. I pinch a leaf between my fingers, it’s yellowing in color with shriveling lines at the tip. With a sigh I shake my head and make a note in the books. More nutrients needed in vegetable bed #32. Suggest morj influx. Continuing my inspection, I tap on the blues tower deep in thought. A cylinder rises above my head with leafy blue vegetables sprouting from the openings. The leaves are wide and thick, I nod with approval, healthy.

Moving on in my inspection, everything seems to be in order. We’re on track and meeting the rising demand of food in stride. My steps bring me to the beautiful pond in the middle of this great complex. The water swirls with thick green algae clumping around stalks of water plants. A petite woman with violet hair tucked into a bun stands beside me, Orlu.

“Orlu, what is the current morj population?” I ruffle my brow in thought as numbers run through my mind.

She flips the pages of a book and scrunches her nose examining numbers. “In this pond our last census counted 236.”

I turn to her. “That’s down isn’t it?”

She nods while keeping her eyes on the book. “Yes. The previous count was 542.”

I shake my head. “It’s been a hard lune and appears we’ve been over fishing. The algae’s too thick and the lack of manure is affecting some of the plants. I’m ordering a fishing ban on this facility until the numbers are back up.”

She nods. “Yes sir. I’ll put up a notice and note it in the books.” She pauses and then grins while standing on her tip toes to plant a kiss on my cheek. “See you at home honey.”

I return a kiss to her forehead. “I’m going to be late. I need to deliver my reports to the director.”

Orlu nods and scurries off to tend to her plants, her beloved plants. They’re her life’s work. Her dream has been to feed the world ever since she was a child. She poured herself into botany books, agriculture, memorizing every plant species we know of. For me, I never even noticed plants. My mind always drifts away with numbers running through it. I see shapes in my mind, structures, precision. Together we designed this enormous facility, and three others. Our minds work in opposite ways, but when they come together, we can accomplish so much.

This place is life-saving during lune, usually a tragic time of loss and starvation while no food can be grown. Orlu lost her mother that way. But this place, protected from the storms and cold, allows us to grow food even while the world freezes outside. We’ve been working together for thirty-one years and this has been our best year yet, despite the harsh weather.

I collect my books and reports into my satchel and climb onto the saddle of my fand. I pat the graceful thin neck and stroke the long upright ears. His name is Jurn, a strong animal that’s far less skittish than a typical fand. I bought him as a tiny blue colt, though the unusual gradient of light blue to black along his body caught my attention, I chose him for his temperament.

Jurn’s hooves click against the cobblestone as we make our way into town. The stones are varied shades of pink and orange, bright white hardstone binds them together. The sky grows pink with only a smattering of thin wispy clouds, what a beautiful sunset. I didn’t used to look at sunsets, I didn’t notice them. Until that day when I bumped into a violet haired woman standing in the middle of the road.

I smile, she was so overcome by the beauty of the sunset it compelled her to stop right there and be in awe of it. Meanwhile I had been so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t see her. I still remember what she said to me when I tried to slink away. “Please, enjoy this moment with me.” She held out her hand and took a deep breath, I felt like for the first time in my life the world went still.

To this day, whenever we can we watch the sunset from the porch of our cottage. Life has by no means been easy, we’ve hurdled over our fair share of challenges. Obstacles that tried their hardest to devastate our relationship. But we always found our way back to our porch watching the sunset together.

After a peaceful ride I come to the town entrance. An extravagant white arch swoops like two rivers bursting from the ground. A wasteful use of white hardstone, but Gardenya is big on flashy shows of extravagance. I sigh, some days it feels like people are forgetting our purpose. We’re not Safehaven, a bustling city with the brightest and newest, with the wealthy elite and most brilliant scholars. We’re farmers. Father Sky gave us this protected peninsula of fertile land to feed his people. That is our given purpose, it’s what we’ve always done, but lately it feels like the people want more. Dangerous thinking.

The cobblestone road continues under the arch until it reaches a large round raised pond. Intricate carved benches form the circumference. In season the pond is abloom with vibrant colors, right now it’s grim and bare. The pond is the focal point of town, from it, roads break away in dozens of directions leading to all manner of buildings across Mior. I’ve lived in this town my entire life, as has Orlu, it used to be much smaller. I miss those days.

Since the building of our green house complex our town been growing at a rapid pace. First, people came here because of the access to food during lune. As we expanded in our dream to feed the world, more people came. With more people comes more business. Blacksmiths, herbalists, shopkeepers and crafters, and eventually we even had government buildings and a director. The director reports to the chancellor of Gardenya to keep them up to date on what’s happening in their districts. I guess when we were a small farming village, we weren’t important enough to pay attention to. To me, that’s a good thing.

A child stands on the steps of the director’s building. His hair is choppy and sage colored, like mine. I imagine if Orlu and I had a son he would look like that.

The boy runs up to me with a face smiling from ear to ear. “Darren! You brought Jurn!” Cal, my closest friend in town and he’s six years old.

I smile and command the fand to a halt. “Of course. He’s been so anxious cooped up all lune. I thought he’d enjoy seeing you. You know how he loves people.”

Cal pats Jurn on the nose with a smile. “How did you know I’d be here?”

I tousle his messy hair. “Because, I know everything. Now could you walk Jurn over to the stables down the street? It’s still too cold for him to stay out here.”

He nods with wide eyed enthusiasm and takes the lead with eager fingers. Jurn follows with trusting ease in a slow trot down the clicking lane. Along the road I see other bundled up children skipping along the road, happy to be outside playing. The poor things have been bound up inside the children’s home for months. I chuckle at their excited little faces, their headmistress stomps into the street with red cheeks and wild gestures. She points around the corner summoning them to all come inside. The elated little people ignore her and instead run in circles.

“You’re still riding that animal? We gave you a carriage you know.”

I turn. “Director Hirn. It’s a pleasure to see you.”

The director lets out a great belly laugh. His round form jiggles with every lark as he reaches out his arm to pat me on the shoulder. He’s a stout man, much shorter than I. “Darren, I gave you the position of agricultural overseer to bring you a little stature in our booming town. I intended the same with the carriage. It doesn’t help if you keep riding into town on a fand.”

I shake my head. “Director, prestige is unnecessary.”

He frowns. “Ever the pragmatist. As much as I was against it, that whole feeding the world nonsense has been good for our town.”

“Nonsense?” My eyes widen and my mouth drops open. “Sir this is Gardenya, feeding the world is our job.”

“Yes, yes, assignment from Father Sky and all that. Well, altruism doesn’t make our town grow.” He rubs his hands together with a smile. “I have signed four new contracts this morning. We’re beginning another round of expansion as soon as lune is over. The word is out on those new plants of yours. The uh-”

“Hybrids sir?”

He snaps his fingers. “Yes! The hybrids.”

I frown. “But that was only recently successful. We didn’t release any information to the public.”

“No, you didn’t. Darren you’re a brilliant person but you’ve no vision.” He leads me inside the building gesturing with wide reaching hands. “Imagine the potential here. Your new hybrid plant, what’s it called?”

“We don’t have a name for it yet. It’s a combination of two seed bearing plants commonly used to make flour. By breeding them together and using a selective process-”

The director cuts me off. “Blah, blah blah. I don’t need the science; the point is you made a plant that grows more food faster. More flour means more food, and food makes our world go around. Two of those contracts are for new bakeries.” He snaps his fingers again. “I got it. We’ll name the plant Mior. As you increase production, we can export it all over Gardenya, at a price of course, and our town name will spread with the seeds. I tell you Darren, Mior will be as big as the capital one day!”

The director waves me through the pristine halls, banya bulbs nestle inside beautiful sconces lining the walls. Artful mosaics form flowing pictures of beautiful flowers and swirling clouds. A heavy wooden door opens to reveal the luxurious director’s office. Dark green curtains drape over large windows. Long green vines hang from boxes bracketed to the walls with paintings filling the rest of the space. An over-sized dark brown desk spreads out in front of the squat man struggling into a chair too tall for him.

After settling, the director gestures to a small chair sitting opposite him against the desk. I oblige and take my seat and spread my reports out along the desk top. “You’ll notice our production peaked this year. It’s the highest it’s ever been. The facilities have been performing spectacularly, they’ve exceeded our estimates.”

Director Hirn smiles and claps his hands together. “That’s fantastic!” He rubs his hands together with growing excitement.

I nod in agreement. “Yes. With these figures we can triple our exports to the ports.”

His grin drops with scorn. “Suns no! Why would we do that?”

I raise my eyebrows. “To feed the people sir.”

The director shakes his head. “My good man that’s ridiculous. No, we’ll keep our exports the same. I’ll commission a workforce to harvest and preserve our excess.”

I shift with discomfort in my seat. “Sir, it’s been a hard lune for everyone. I know that Thraz in particular is in urgent need of food. We should send as much as we can to the ports so they can ship-”

He cuts me off by hitting the tabletop. “No!” With a pause he takes a breath and flexes his stubby fingers. “Darren, I know you spend most of your time on that farm. But look around, Mior is growing at an unprecedented pace. It grows because of the access to food. Now you want to ship it away to some slum dwellers?”

I shake my head and breathe out sharp from my nose. “You want to horde the food.” He nods with a greedy grin. “Sir, you can’t. You’ll see in my reports that the food demand outside of Gardenya has doubled. The people need food. With all that’s happening-”

“With all that’s happening out there it’s of the utmost priority that Gardenya seeks its own interests. Terra Guard has been crippled. Arinos has been destroyed. There are riots in Thraz. Not to mention the sickness in Evos.” He stares me down with glaring eyes.

I grit my teeth. “All the more reason to get as much food to the people as possible.”

Director Hirn shakes his head. “All the more reason to protect Gardenya. While the world wilts around us, Mior will grow. It’s clear that complete collapse is upon the collective, but nightstalkers can’t breach our shores. The trouble will not come here. We will preserve the food for our people, wait out the storm.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You’re sentencing hundreds of thousands of people to die.” He shrugs. I stand up from my chair shaking my head. “No. I’m going to the chancellor. We-”

“The chancellor and I are agreed on this.” He leans forward onto his desk lacing his fingers together. “Times are changing Darren. An opportunity has come to us, we will no longer be slaves to the collective.”

The chancellor? I shake my head; no, it can’t be. Chancellors are supposed to be logical and selfless, putting the needs of the collective ahead of their own. It’s their entire job, to work with the council and other chancellors to keep our people going, together.

The Director chuckles. “You’re as naïve as a child. Wake up. The dream of unity is a myth, in this world we have to look out for us and our own.” I shoot him a hateful glare. “Don’t be so dramatic. The nightstaklers are doing the killing. All I’m doing is protecting our people.”

I lean forward and slam my hands onto his desk. “They are our people! If you can’t see that you’re no better than the nightstalkers!”

Hirn’s voice gains an angry edge. “You will bite your tongue Darren. You may be married to my niece but don’t think I’ll hesitate on banishing you if you push this. I’m issuing the command. Along with it we will no longer be accepting refugees of any age. We have enough orphans to feed.”

I kick the chair across the room, it slams into a wall and cracks. Leaving my reports on his desk I turn to storm out. Hirn sneers. “Be grateful you live here and not there. You have position. Prestige. A wife, although barren, that worships the ground you walk on-”

I snap into the air. “At the expense of my soul.”

“Bah! You’ll be singing a different tune when it gets dire out there. When you and your family are happy and eating well while the world dies.” Silence. I refuse to turn around, I can’t look at him. “I’ll tell you what. You and my niece have such big hearts. I’ll extend an exemption. You two may adopt as many little orphans under the age of three that you like. Maybe saving a litter of Thraz street children will redeem your souls.”

I shake my head and stomp away from his office. He calls to me with one last statement. “Darren, your only reports, to anyone, will say our food production is the same as last year. You will not contact the council with this privileged information. If you betray me in this, I will banish you for treason before you can kiss your sweetheart goodbye.”

✽✽✽

EVOS:

I’m sorry sir. But we cannot allow it.” I refuse with an adamant stance.

Counselor Rylinkt clenches his fists. “I am a counselor! What right do you have to refuse me?” His bronze cheeks redden.

I keep a calm face and shake my head. “I’m sorry sir. But Evos is under quarantine. Passage of Security Lake has been forbidden. It’s my orders from the Chancellor.”

Counselor Rylinkt glares with a fury, his knuckles turn white as he tries to keep himself calm. “In what world does a Chancellor override the command of a Counselor? Now allow me passage!”

I shake my head and pull at the ferry rope; the barge starts drifting away from the shore and back towards Evos.

The counselor bellows. “Then why come to meet us in the first place?!”

I purse my lips with sad eyes and a heavy heart. “Because Evos needs help. You don’t want to help us; you want to use us. I am under strict orders to only allow entry of medical aid.”

He roars. “We have field medics! This is an army after all!”

I shake my head again. “We don’t need field medics. We need doctors. This sickness has claimed many.” There’s a pause. The pink haired woman seems to sympathize, as does her lover. They hold hands. “You will need to go around the lake. That is my final word.”

The angry counselor shouts stubborn words. “That will double our travel time!”

I refuse to answer. Instead, I turn my back to the army at our shores and face my home of Evos. I was born here, as was my grandmother and great grandmother. All the way along my lineage to my twelfth progenitor who founded this place. It is why I am the chancellor, as my mother was, why all the women in my family are. To honor our founding ancestor Naylan.

After the academy on Capital Island was built it became adopted into our tradition to send the eldest daughter. The council passed a law requiring all chancellors at least ten years of academy training. For the counselors themselves, it is a lifelong process. I look back fondly on my days at the academy on Capital Island, though at first, I didn’t want to go. My mother had told me “Evos is a place of order and beauty. So long as it does not bring our people harm, we will follow any law we must.”

I know that the law requires me to obey the command of a counselor. But I didn’t like the look in his eyes, the way they seethe with anger and madness. How can he be a counselor? My days of training were short compared to his and even I was taught to be the master of my emotions. Let the consequences come, but I don’t trust that man for a second among my people. We are strained to the breaking point as it is without an entire army of Legionnaires abusing us.

I even my breathing to calm the turmoil inside me. The waves beat against the sides of the barge as I pull on the rope over and over, pulling us towards the other shore. I had taken the smallest ferry as I was not optimistic in help arriving. Shaking negativity from my mind I focus on the stories of our people. Naylan the Great, so long ago, sought out a place where others could live in peace and harmony. A place where the fear of nightstalkers does not exist, where their presence can be ignored. After The Poisoning, when monsters lurked about, up rose the wall of Terra Guard. But Terra Guard was not enough, its citizens live utilitarian lives centered around war.

Personally, I have never seen a nightstalker, aside from their dark renditions in artwork. I know they’re out there though; I can hear their calls faint in the night air. Naylan sought out a new settlement, a place secure like Terra Guard but peaceful and beautiful. A garden home of bliss, a utopia among the badlands.

She found this place. Looking to my left I see the sharp eastern maroon mountains stretching into the coloring sky. They are impassible, even for nightstalkers, no one can breach them. Those mountains form a circle shielding an enormous area in a large crescent moon shape. Opposite the mountains is a bountiful lake full of life. The monsters drown. To create trade, a tunnel was bored through the mountains towards Terra Guard with a multi-layered gate system. The highest of fortification. No one enters Evos without expressed permission.

Our home is named after Naylan’s daughter, who though lovely and kind was too weak to survive in that monstrous time. She decided people shouldn’t have to be as hard as stone to survive, they shouldn’t have to become cold beings of war. She wanted to preserve the soul of who we are, and thus she built us Evos. A place set aside in this dark world for beauty and light.

My smile fades from my face. It’s a story my mother told me before bedtime as a child, recalling it still brings back warm feelings. But those feelings are fleeting now. It’s a beautiful chilly day, I would almost think Father Sky was smiling on us were it not for those dying in my streets. The suns will set in an hour, a pang of guilt pulls at my stomach. I turned those people away and now they will be exposed to the monsters of night. They’re an army, they should be alright. I hope.

Only four weeks ago Evos was healthy, it was the same paradisiac emblem of peace it has always been. Evos, the streets are lined with flowers and the houses are built above ground. Even the under system is striking, the market centers, temples, libraries, schools, are underground. Down where the hardstone is white and blue skies are painted on every ceiling. The problems of the world are distant and exterior, at least they were, until all the dying.

We’ve never suffered an attack, most of us have never even seen a nightstalker. We are the only beacon of peace and beauty in this troubled world.

I lash the ferry to the white hardstone dock and step back onto our shores. Children used to laugh while they played on the docks. They would look for shellfish under rocks on the shore or go shell fishing in row boats. Of course, there isn’t much activity during lune out on the cold waters. But Gresoch will begin again, I smile, on hot days the lake is full of life. Full of swimmers, collectors, and boaters, the heart of Evos is in Security Lake.

But now the docks are desolate, the only person in sight is my attendant and sister, Kalu. Teal and blue wispy curls tuck around her face. Her ears poke out of her short hair covered in colorful earrings.

Her voice is soft and high pitched. “Goddess be praised! You’re alright!”

I force a smile and grasp Kalu’s forearms, our foreheads tap together. “Peace to you.” I perform the greeting without any feeling, my mind is adrift.

Kalu responds with soft happiness. “And peace to you Chancellor.”

We part and I feel Kalu fall into step beside me while I walk home, exhausted. My feet lag along the hardstone walkway. It’s been a long day with a hard end. The sky is now darkening and soon the stars will come out. Beautiful stars, I wonder if they look the same from other cities. Though, in the outlands they don’t get to see them. I’m too tired to summon pity.

Myrl staggers up to me out of breath. His chest huffs and his pale blue and gray hair is an incredible mess. His eyes are wide and wild with panic. I hold out my arms to him and he smacks them away. “No time for that!”

I slump with exhaustion. “What is it?”

He takes a deep breath. “They did it. The source of the sickness was in fact our water supply. The healers found evidence of contamination.”

I rub my temples. “Contamination?”

He nods in rapid movements. “They found a correlation to the location of deaths and their local water sources. As you know-”

“Myrl, please. Sum up.” I feel a headache forming.

He nods again. “They noticed some getting sick, and others not. After thorough observations they narrowed it down to the drinking water. Upon closer inspection they found, um, contaminants.”

I frown. “What kind of contaminants?”

He slows down and looks away. “Remains.”

I shake my head. “Remains of what?”

“Remains of, dead bodies.” He pauses and rubs the back of his neck.

I rub my forehead. “How is that possible? We compost our dead and return them to the gardens. How could that contaminate the water?”

Myrl bites his lip again. “It can’t. That’s why we do it. But as you know our water comes from subterranean rivers in the mountains. Being that this has never happened before-”

I cut him off with a gasp. “It’s an attack.”

He nods. “Our saving grace is that our water comes from several mountain rivers, and only three of them merge. So not all of our water supply was contaminated.”

My shoulders droop, I swallow hard and prepare myself. “What is the total?”

Myrl flinches and clutches his notes to his chest. “Keep in mind Chancellor, we managed to save most. In fact, without your tireless efforts many more lives would have been lost.”

I grit my teeth. “Myrl. The total.”

He takes a step back. “You need to remember how many recovered. How many lived, thanks to you.”

My eyes darken and my voice booms. “The total!”

He swallows hard, his voice is soft and sheepish. “120,000. Thirty percent of the population.”

I freeze. My eyes go blank, my heart feels like it will stop at any moment. 120,000 people. A catastrophe of this magnitude has never happened here. How do we recover? I try to clear my mind, think of a plan of action. Where do we go from here? How do we even proceed? I never realized how unprepared for an emergency we are. Like a veil has been lifted I can now see how naive we were to think nothing bad could happen here.

I shake my head and rub my temples. “How are the rest of the citizens?”

Myrl flips through some pages in his notes. “The sickness affected roughly seventy percent of the population. Of those who lived, which is a great deal, they are still very weak. Some are beginning to walk again; it’s theorized they’ll make a full recovery. But the Goddess and Father only know how long it will take.”

I nod trying to see the positive side of it, and failing. “What does this mean for Evos?”

He takes another deep breath. “it means we only have 80,000 citizens left in Evos that are able bodied. “His lips pucker as he lets out the breath. “We don’t have enough workers to grow crops. At least, not enough to feed everyone.”

I clench my hands into fists and slam them against the solid door of my home. My hands open and press flat against the wood grain of the dark brown oval. How can this be happening to us? I shove the door open and stomp into the house. The white hardstone curves and flows like it was formed to resemble water. The floors are a polished dark wood that always shines, at least they used to. When people are dying shining floors don’t take priority.

The massive round skylights let in the full moon’s blue-hued light. Pink sconces shaped like flowers hold glowing banya bulbs. A painting hangs above the fireplace, it depicts five women of five generations in my family standing with me four years ago. My mother commissioned it in celebration of my taking the reins in Evos. It was my first day as Chancellor. The sickness took her, it took all of them.

Tears form in my eyes, all because of water? I was busy running Evos, burying myself in work, finding solutions, not to mention my staff locking me away here at the first sign of disease. But those women, my brave mother and grandmothers back, they tended to the people. They stayed with them and supported, fed them, lived with them. Drank water with them.

I should have seen it sooner. I should have seen, something. I stare into the painting, into the eyes of my ancestors. How could I let them down so much? How could I let down everyone? Will I be the last chancellor? The one that lets Evos fall?

I whisper to Myrl. “Have you sent word to Gardenya? Safehaven? Gerafar?”

His breathing becomes uneven. “Um, uh, yes Chancellor.”

I lean over the molding above the fireplace and clutch it with my tense hands. “You’ve heard back?”

“Um, yes. I sent word two weeks ago when the sickness was strong. Your father personally delivered the news hoping to persuade them to our aid. He asked for food, medical supplies, and any hands of help they could send.”

I grip the molding harder. “I swear by the Goddess Myrl, if you evade one more question, I will throw you in the lake myself.”

Myrl’s voice is quiet and weak but audible. “They’re not coming.”

With one fell swoop I shove the fireplace clean of decorations. Pictures, sculptures, potted plants, fling across the room in one bout of anger. “Nothing?!”

Myrl nods. “Safehaven says it needs its resources to firm up its defenses in light of Arinos’ attack. Gardenya says since our usual orders from them are luxury crops that’s all they can send. Gerafar of course has nothing and Terra Guard is still recovering.”

“What about if instead of luxury items Gardenya sends us basic food stuffs? The quantity of our shipment doesn’t change, just the contents.” I ask with a glimmer of hope.

Myrl shakes his head. “They’re unwilling to change any shipment due to their growing systems setup. At least, that’s their response.”

I turn and roar to no one. “We’re dying!”

Soft hands rest on my arms and I hear Kalu’s voice. “It’ll be alright. We can figure this out.”

I nod taking in another deep breath to calm myself. “We will. We’ll work.”

Myrl furrows his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

I place my hands on my hips. “We still have 80,000 able bodied citizens. Now everyone works. Every single person, no excuses.”

Myrl purses his lips as if holding something back, but then speaks up remembering my threat. “One problem Chancellor.”

I roll my eyes with a whine. “What now?”

Myrl takes a step back to give me room. “They’re children. That was one of the confusing factors of this sickness. Though, of course, many children were, um, affected. For some reason, the older children had a much higher survival rate than adults. Not to mention their ability to recover at an extraordinary rate.

My heart sinks. I didn’t even think of how many children have died. How many orphans we may now have in Evos. How many grieving parents? “What age group do we have the most of?”

The poor man looks even more stressed than I am. “Five to ten years. They make up half of the healthy, either unaffected or recovered. The next largest age group are between ages eleven and fifteen. Citizens above age sixteen make up twenty percent of the healthy.”

I take a step towards Myrl and lay a gentle hand on his shoulder. My voice loses its edge, now I’m just tired. “Then we make the children work.”

Kalu gasps. “They’re children! Farm work is hard, many of them have lost their entire families, they-”

I cut off my dear sister with venomous ire. “They will all die from starvation if they don’t. We all will. This is the only option. If they can walk, they can work. No exemptions. The smaller ones will be put on fishing duty. There are hundreds of shellfish under the rocks and fish swimming in the waters. That’s food, I want it gathered. Meanwhile the bigger, stronger, ones will do the farmwork. Gather the adults and split them into groups, one adult for three to five children depending.”

Myrl scribbles furious notes in his books while nodding in agreement. I walk over to the window overlooking Security Lake. It has saved us for generations from the monsters. Now it may save us once more from starvation. One can only hope.

I keep my eyes transfixed on the view before me. “What is our current food stock?”

He shakes his head. “Low. We gave the sick extra food to keep their bodies strong and help them survive. They needed it.”

I stare out the window, heavy with weariness, twinkling stars blink at me. “Then we don’t have time to wait until the new crops grow or for the orchards to produce. We need food now. I want volunteers to form a party to go hunting. There is plenty to eat on the plains.”

Myrl shrinks back in terror. “But Chancellor! You can’t-”

I turn around to face him with stony eyes. “I can’t let my people starve. We need food, now. Get a party together. My father trained our soldiers, he can lead the hunting party.”

“It’s a dangerous task you ask of your father.” Meryl’s voice is thick with sadness.

I sigh. “These are dangerous times. Send word to him.”

He nods with a shrug. “Yes, but our remaining army of trained fighters is small.”

I cross my arms. “Then he will train recruits. It’s his specialty anyway. Evosians learn quickly.”

Kalu’s soft voice speaks words none of us want to face. “We’re timid people. What if there’s no volunteers?”

I let out a breath of stress and tension. “Then there will be conscriptions. My father has the spine to enforce that.” I turn away from Myrl and Kalu.

My body shivers from anxiety and strain, I glance at the painting once more. What would my progenitors think? My mother? My grandmothers? As it is, since their death my father can’t look me in the eye. I remind him too much of them. So, I will do this alone. Gut wrenching decisions lie ahead and I fear the worst is yet to come. What’s more, I’ll make them alone.

I leave the room and my fingers grace the banister with a gentle touch. “The people will not starve Myrl. Promise me that.”

He repeats the words, though he sounds unconvinced. “The people will not starve Chancellor.”

Under my breath I sing the words so familiar and comforting. They almost haunt me as I climb the stairs to my bedchamber.

“Evos, Evos, the beacon of light.

Evos, Evos, the torch in the night.

We are the hope and we are the way.

We are the ones that rise from dark days.”