Honored

Chapter 1: Knocking on Death's Door

AN: Thank you to WrittenInMyHeart for the beautiful cover image and image to the right. They are both so gorgeous. 

The morning light struggled to take shape through my window as it filtered through the clouds above turning them the red of Autumn leaves. It was Autumn again.

"Hack! Hack!" I coughed into my hand, drops of blood flecking my hand; a much darker shade than the red of the clouds this morning. My cough had never quite gone away, and recently it had become this nasty blood filled thing.

Sunrise was the term for the beautiful skyline as the sun peeked over the edge to let everyone know it was time to begin work. I loved the sunrise, the beautiful blue sky that was unmatched in the quality of its blue by even the prettiest light blue eyes, and sunset when the sky streamed its most brilliant yellow, orange, red, and purple banners across the sky. I never tired of these views that the people here took for granted.

It was when I was telling Dan about how much I loved the sky that he told me about the names for the time when the sun rose and when it set. He then told me that this village was named sunrise for the fact that it was on the eastern edge of settable land. The idea of places having names other than what they were seemed strange. He told me that there were many villages and cities, and naming them helped people navigate to them. Dan had taught me so many things about this place.

Things such as seasons. I admired how beautifully the red and yellow leaves looked with the sun slowly sparkling its golden rays onto them to bring out the luster in their dying gasps.

I had come here in late summer, right before the beginning of Autumn. The first snow hit early, and I had no idea how to survive. No one had told me about snow or ice. I was cold and the only one who lived with me was Jade, who tried to explain to me that I needed to build a fire, but my mind had been preoccupied with the white stuff lying outside my window and just how cold I was. Dan had come tramping in carrying an armload of wood.

"Your chimney isn't going!" He'd proclaimed like I was somehow supposed to understand that. Then he seemed to notice me standing there looking completely lost, grabbed a blanket and draped it over my shoulders, and proceeded to start a fire all before I could get my mind wrapped around the fact that he had even entered the small cottage Jade and I lived in. That day he taught me what winter was. That winter Dan had stayed with me whenever it was cold insisting that I would die if he didn't help me.

The second winter had gone much better. I'd known to prepare and I stocked jackets and wood. Jade was getting older and was able to help monitor the fire better, but Dan had still come and lived part time in the cottage as if he still didn't trust me to keep us alive through the winter and into that beautifully brief season of spring when the world turned pastel with blossoms.

"Hack! Hack!" I wiped the blood splattering my hand onto the black handkerchief I made for myself. People couldn't see the blood on it. I probably wouldn't live to see another spring. Winter was hard, and I felt so tired already. I was losing weight, and I knew I needed to eat more, but every bite I was reminded of the taste of blood in my mouth, and I really didn't feel like eating.

But Jade still needed to eat. I climbed down the ladder out of the loft where I slept and put the tea kettle over the stove that already had a fire going. Dan started the fire in the stove for me every morning before I was up so that it was easy for me to prepare oatmeal for breakfast. Oatmeal was always a good hearty breakfast, and was easy for me to make.

Jade descended the ladder. "Good morning Liiiiiiivv," she yawned through my name, stretching at the end of it. She said this to me every morning, and it lit up the dim cottage with her little morning greeting.