The Beginning

My father retired after surviving twenty years in the service of some mighty Lord in the far Northern reaches of the Land of Never Winter. Be became disillusioned with the petty fighting between the Lords of that land. He could no longer watch as the young fought and died that the royalty might be amused. He was what you might call a Top-Kick for the last five years of his service.

After seeing his young'uns sent into battle not yet fully trained and then inevitably dying because of it, he vowed to leave that life as soon as his tour of duty was at an end. He was pensioned off after twenty years and left, never looking back. At that time he returned to his wife's side, vowing never to leave it again.

Me mother was the kind ya wouldn't look twice at, but if ya did, you'da seen a most brave, loving, and handsome woman ever ta walk this world. She stuck by her man even though he was gone to one war or another for months or years at a time. She knew that Tyr willing, one day he would return and they would be able to have a normal life. The day he walked into their meager home not wearing a uniform for the first time since they wed, he found she had packed their belongings. They were going home.

Home was a mountain community at the far reaches of the world, or at least as far as my mother was concerned. She cared not, for they were far away from the Lord's of the world. The land was barren but livable. It was here that my life began.

My mother thrived here even with the lack of color and flowers which she so dearly loved. My father had felt this in her, though she never voiced any complaint. He had begun in secret to build her a garden, though I've tried, I have not been able to duplicate this garden, the amount of love put into it is beyond my few years to understand.

After work each day, he would spend a couple hours working on the spot he'd chosen. My mother never asked where he went, she knew when he was ready, and he would tell her. The crowning glory of the garden was a seat in the middle that had been carved lovingly out of the huge boulder which sat in the clearing. It had taken him many months to ready the garden for the flowers, which he had not at that time.

My mother had been holding me within herself for seven full moons at the point where my father told her he needed to go down the mountain for some tools. Both knew this would break the promise he had made, but she knew for him to break a promise, it must be something of great import. She just smiled and gave him a hug ta last a lifetime and shooed him out the door.

He boarded his wagon and headed down the mountain, head turned towards her till he lost sight. He spent the next five weeks traveling the land gathering the flowers which would complete his gift. The majority of the time was spent looking for a rose which would survive the harsh winters of the mountain, Finally, he found what he searched for at the manor of a Lord he once saved in battle. He was away, but his wife remembered him and gladly emptied her own garden. As they uprooted the roses, the woman told of the changes that had occurred since her husband had been saved in that battle those many years ago. She had never known such happiness and she wished and hoped these flowers might give his wife the same.

He thanked her for her gift and vowed to bring my mother to visit one day. Once again he was shooed away as he told her of my mothers condition. He leapt in the wagon and headed straight for home. He was but a half league from home when he spotted some folks on the side of the trail, they appeared in need. He stopped.

I was born that very night. My mother said she knew something had befallen my father as she held me for the first time. The next morn, the wagon was found. The folks he'd stopped for got nothing but a gold coin he carried, the coin signifying his twenty years of service. The robbers were found some time later, they still had the coin, as no one would take it in trade.