With her father's memory failing and her mother gone, Soraya Thenayu enrolls in distant Darkwood Academy and immediately becomes enemies with the richest kid at school. Between hiding her father's gift of illegally harvested magic, befriending socia...
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Soraya loved watching the sunrise with her mother.
When the warm rays of light rose from the east, they breathed life into Etheria. Birds burst into songs, the rainbow colored mountains towering over them danced before their eyes, the flowers and trees stretching out for miles around them bloomed, and the babbling brook near their home gently flowed downstream. Rivingale Falls was a remote, backwater part of Azakua, and it happened to be the most beautiful place the young girl had ever seen.
"Isn't it so peaceful?" Adonia murmured, as if she were afraid speaking too loudly would disturb the enchanting orchestration around them.
"Yes, mama," Soraya replied, equally quiet. They sat together on the stoop of their front porch, taking in the scenery around them. A light breeze rusted through the grass, kicking up loose leaves from the ground so they spun around slowly in the air.
The young girl watched them land next to two dandelions rocking back and forth in the wind. She hopped up and skipped over to the two tiny plants, where she knelt down to pluck them.
"No!"
Adonia's voice cut through the air like a sharp knife. Soraya paused, turning to see her mother covering her ears. She stared at her daughter with large, ruby eyes filled with horror and dread.
"Don't hurt them!"
"I'm sorry!" Soraya's sky-blue eyes filled with tears as she backed away from the dandelions. The young girl didn't like seeing her mother upset, especially at her. "Don't be mad, I'm sorry!" she cried, then ran to her mother and threw her arms around her. Adonia froze in her daughter's embrace, as if she didn't want to be touched.
"Plants have feelings too," Adonia stated in a serious tone. "We only take a life for survival, not for fun or pleasure," she pointed at the dandelions. "They're defenseless. We can't eat or use them, so let them be."
"Okay..." her daughter sniffled. "I-I just wanna make a wish with you," Soraya sobbed, burying her face into the hem of her mother's blue dress.
Adonia patted her daughter's back. "We can still do that, just in a different way."
The young girl observed her mother blow away the seeds on one without touching it. They watched in silence as the white fuzz at the tops caught the wind and were carried further into the forest surrounding their cabin.
"See? We can still help them without taking away their lives. Spreading their seeds allows new plants to grow in other places. And we get to make our wishes. Everybody wins."
"Everybody wins..." Soraya echoed. Before she blew on the other tiny plant, she paused and looked up at her mother curiously. "What did you wish for?"
"My wish has already come true," her mother pat Soraya's shoulder. "I'm finally free to live how I want to, and that's all thanks to your father and all of his friends. They saved me."
