I concentrated harder. My flashback begins.

Many years ago.......

Wagon wheels turn quickly and then slowly, until they come to a grinding halt. A driver is told to stop and his two hands tug on the reigns. From the sides of a wooden wagon exit two armed soldiers. Their emotion and mouths hidden behind their bandannas. Official bandannas of midnight blue tell others they serve Lam Lathi. They have relinquished their family. It was the reason why they were chosen for such a heartless task.

The soldiers walk confidently up the gravel road. Stones crunch beneath them and wind stings against their faces and helms. A storm forms in the distance. Rolling hills line the horizon of the Ryoken landscape. The two soldiers walk in unison to a door that rests on a small porch with chipped paint. In fact, the whole house was discolored from age. It was a miracle anyone even lived there. Only the sprouting vegetable plants being tossed by the wind gave any sense of life to the structure.

The soldiers look at each other before one of them raises his fist to see if anyone is home.

He knocks loudly on the door and no one comes to answer. Yet, movement is heard inside.

A second knock comes, stronger than the first, and this time a woman comes out to the doorway. The door is barely opened and the woman takes a peak at the intruders. At the sight of them, her eyes rapidly begin to water, and the woman runs back into her home. She attempts to close the door, but one of the soldier's boots stop the door from shutting.

“She's running around back.”

The other soldier nods and jumps the porch railing to head around the house……

Some time later, the two soldiers find themselves sitting in a room across from the woman. She ruffles her blanketed sofa, while the soldier closest to her sits in a matching armchair. The second soldier brings a chair inside from the porch, making himself more at home that he should have been. The soldiers stare at the woman, who was the mother of a little girl named Lani. Her daughter was the topic of interest for everyone in the room. They already knew she would grow up to be attractive. Her possessor being would grow to give her a stunning appearance and power. For a moment, the soldiers look at the table in front of them before eyeing the little girl's mother.

Warm drinks sit in front of the three that no one wanted to touch. The smell of jasmine permeates the room and the first soldier readies his throat, wanting to get the motions over with.

“Listen, don't make this any harder on us than it already is. This is just how things work. Our tempests observe every child and some are just better. They have more potential.”

The soldier leans forward resting his hand on a cup handle without drinking.

“Mother!” I think.

My mother looks up at the soldier and tries to hold her composure. She remains silent and the lonely winds could be heard wrestling with some chimes outside.

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“Will she be all right?” My mother finally asks. The second soldier pushes her drink closer to her and it is immediately pushed away.

“Lam Lathi messenger schools are the best. She will be taken care of very well. She will learn every language you can imagine. You have a special daughter, with potential not seen in years. We even think she has a special kind of possessor being – one known as a dreamer! All we ask is that you sever connections with her permanently. It’s for the greater good. It's for everyone and for the stages. We know it’s not easy, but you will be compensated well. The Lam Lathi council knows what it is doing.”

The first soldier looks at my mother, waiting for her response. He watches her hide her face with her palms against her forehead. A few moments later, he gets a response from her.

“Our bloodline has had enough of Lam Lathi and enough of their tempests. They can't just force their way into everything they want and call it compensation.”

“The Neandelerians would like to think otherwise,” mutters the second soldier.

“We're not Neandelerians,” responds my mom. “We're Ryoken”

“Those invaders from across the ocean made the game and we must all play by the rules. They do what they want, with who they want. They have the means and you'd better be thankful we have the tempests of Lam Lathi to protect us from those foreigners and their machines! The whole western shoreline and the Felokyle are under Neandelerian control. One day so might Lapona and Enani.”

“Not before the “Y” River flows with every drop of Ryoken blood. They say it once did long ago, even changing the river's course. It will happen again, before we......” replies my mother.

Before another word is said, the first soldier interrupts her.

“Listen. I didn't come for a debate. We're taking your daughter. You'll just have to manage.” The soldier slams his fist on the table. He gives her a stare down. I watch my mother avoid eye contact before speaking. The soldier's stare drives her into submission and nearly into silence.

“I can’t,” interrupts my mother. “What if I can’t?” she begs with watery eyes.

The first soldier reties his bandanna across his mouth and is imitated by his fellow. The two soldiers get up from their seats to leave, leaving my mom sitting quietly in the room. She didn't want to live through what would happen next.

Seconds later, the soldiers barge into a small room. They find a little girl named Lani singing to herself next to some thick furs on the ground. Immediately, she looks up in embarrassment.

“Grab her and let’s go.”

One of the soldiers picks up the little girl dragging her by the arm. I watch myself start to cry from being handled so roughly.

The other soldier stands in the doorway. A hard shove gives his neck whiplash from behind. The shove was from my mom. It doesn't take him by surprise for long. He reacts instantly, grabbing hold of her, as she tries frantically to push her way through him to her daughter. He pins my mother against the wall, before giving a command.

“I got this one. She’s not going anywhere. Go put the little girl in the cart. Tie her feet down.”

The other soldier nods and picks up the crying girl, as she struggles against him.

Finally, the first soldier shoves my mother harder into the wall. “If I let you go, you’re staying put, understood?”

No response comes, but not because my mother was resisting.

Beneath his chin the soldier feels the slight movement of a nodding head; a mother who was too much in tears to even mutter a single word.

Outside, the driver lashes his whip in the air. Wheels turn slowly and then quickly, until they move a large distance away from the house among the rolling hills. Two little hands reach over the back part of a wagon and two dark brown eyes peer up over them. A little girl named Lani watches as she moves away from the one person she knew. She waits forever, wondering if she would see her mother one last time. After a few minutes, there was still no one in sight and she gives a frown. Moments later, she turns, and drowns herself in the sound of wagon wheels grinding against the stone road.

“Next stop, Corsana” yells one of the soldiers. “Head us there.”

My flashback stops and my possessor being snaps back into my soul.

I look down the stairwell and head downstairs. I was hungry and didn't know if I felt like eating. I wipe my eyes and the silver tears onto my scarf. They stick to my fingers. I control my emotions like I was taught and let my possessor being align with my body again. Moments later, I stumble down the stairs for some food.