Blood Vines

All that was certain was that they aid the People and maintained the Balance.

Folding their wings behind their backs, the Tarathems' light extinguished as they landed. They greeted the People who scrambled out of their homes and out from the fields, abandoning their crops and their tasks to witness who the Tarathems would choose.

They spotted Lynet among the anxious crowd and walked directly to her with open arms and entrancing smiles. "You, child, are the One," their voices rippled in unison, sounding like rustling leaves. And like that, her sister's fate was sealed.

"They should have picked me!" Mi'an exclaimed. "Everyone loves you! You bring light to our village, and surely you were to Union with To'man. He's of fine breed. You were to make such lovely offsprings with him! Oh, Lynette! I was going to dance at your Union and make you the most beautiful garland. I had already chosen the flowers that would match your skin, and your Union was going to be the most memorable, the most memorable--"

"Mi'an," Lynet smiled, which made Mi'an forget her next words, "this is what I want."

Mi'an had seen the look in her sister's eyes when the Tarathems chose her, filled with shock and honor. If there was anything more that Lynet could do for the People, this was it.

Lynet handed the dagger back to younger sister and indicated the setting sun. "The time is near. I will feel no pain." Lynet drunk the flelion juice from a bowl, which anesthetized her, and then began her speech. "My blood will quench the thirst of these vines and for the next five cycles there will be Balance."

Mi'an had heard the ceremonial words time and again while growing up, but Lynet said the words as if it were an unseasoned song.

"My blood will quench these vines' thirst and for another five cycles there will be serenity.

My blood will quench these vines' thirst and for another five cycles there will be hope. There will be dreams. There will be life."

Lynet looked at her sister and it appeared to Mi'an that she was looking down, as if she were floating in the air. As the sun sat on the horizon, Lynet's smile had become radiant. The vines spat and hissed on the ground, a lush green carpet of writhing tendrils. Their twining speed increased with anticipation of what was to come.

Lynet lowered her hands and placed them on her sister's; her eyes seemed to say, "let me help you," and before Mi'an could shake herself from the daze of her sister's beauty, before she could realize what was happening, Lynet tugged at her sister's hands and plunged the dagger deep into her chest.

Mi'an did not have the voice to cry out, did not feel the shock as her eyes witnessed the blood spurting from her sister's heart and flowing down to the sprawling vines that lunged up. Mi'an fell backwards as one of the vines tripped her as it sprung toward Lynet. The younger sister scrambled out of harm's way as she watched the vines whip around Lynet and pull her down into the swarming mass. Her beloved kin continued to smile her farewell.

"Lynet!" Mi'an screamed, finding her voice. She lurched forward, trying to reach her sister, but a vine lashed out in the space between them, and Mi'an snatched her hand back. "Lynet . . .."

Where her sister once stood was now a mound of twisting vines whose voices sung with crackling and snapping tones.

"Lynet. . .."

Close to her foot, vines fought for something on the ground, distracting Mi'an from her gaze. Mi'an slowly turned to see the bloody dagger on the ground amidst a tug-of-war of vines.