Strobe Light, Chapter Three

by Marie Lynn in the little place that exists over the rainbow

“Once, before the beginning of time, before Kascadia, a great Queen plucked a flaming flower off of the mountain of the shining star Sirius. The flower was the deepest blue, and had the purest glass seeds. It was aflame with cerulean fire.
“Queen Golranum traveled over the vast universe and stopped in subdued area of space and released the flower. There it hung, suspended in the air, until it exploded, sending a fiery wave through the universe and knocking aside planets. Each burning petal met as they floated gently down, and created the wondrous land of Kascadia.
“The Queen snapped the stem in two. The broken halves shot up and grew limbs and hair and real skin, until they were Qynns. Queen Golranum named them Riggidale and Yeanni. The nectar, which was the hottest lava, of the flower the Queen breathed on, and it grew into more than a million magical creatures. Gradually Kacadia was filled with Qynns and animals.
“But she could not be happy of her work, because the defenses were low, and other realms could easily attack and wipe out the entire population. Queen Golranum then took a single seed from the remains of the flower and put all of Kascadia into it.
“She knew that only her descendents would have blood pure enough, and be worthy to carry the glass seed that held all of the precious world.
"The seed was passed down to her descendents, until finally it rested with the evil Queen Parcelle. Parcelle was a horrible and cruel person who enjoyed having the entire kingdom under her tyranny. She locked up the Pevrills that carried the goods -"
"Excuse me," said Maria, "but what is a Pevrill?"
"It is a deer with pure golden wings and golden hooves. It pure white and back in the glory days we had millions of them running around," said Holf patiently. "Now back to the story.
"She locked up the Pevrills that carried the goods and later killed them, for she had no use for them. The Kascadians and Siliens (the natives of Kascadia) alike were forced to wear stiff black clothing and kiss the hem of her robes evey morning at the Glory Rose -"
"Glory rose?" Maria said quickly. "What's that?"
"It's the very earliest time in the morning," said Holf, this time with a little impatience in his voice. "Even a youngling should know that. There are four times - the Glory Rose (early morning) the Rustling Leaves (late morning, what one would call noon) the Pale Stone (twilight) and the Treading Shadows (deep of the night).
"Anyway...Queen Parcelle had a daughter named Zaunia, who kne that her mother was evil. Tears streaming down her face in the time of the Pale Stone, she stabbed her mother, stole the orb, and fled from Kascadia, dropping the seed down onto the earth, the only place where life was left.
"She tied it round her newborn baby's neck and set her on the ground, naming her Rosalia. But eventually she was found by a couple who renamed her Maria Gossamer and took her in as their own."
There was a silence. Only the sound of Maria's quick breathing could be heard.