Kia's Lament

[PaulAVincent]

Just wanted to let ya know, these posts are great, keep em up.

[kiakblackthorne]

GoldenMyst is a strange place these days, for that reason Kia wondered why she spent so much time inside the walls. Well her friends were their, the only people she considered family and when one really thought about it the foundations of who she had become were set in the stone walls. To cast off a bit of the strangeness from the night before Kia was already in the graveyard.

The sun was just begining to rise and she was working on her fifth grave. There were alot of these small graves, most had toppled over or the stones were cut so poorly that they cleaved in half with the pressures of weathering. Setting the stone back up she had managed to cement the two halves together. These were the poorest of graves in her mind. The stone cutters hadn't even cared to give the families a good cut. All their were on these 6 by 4 inch graves were a name and dates. This part of the cemetary was much like the rest though, an abundance of children were buried here in intervals of 25 years per clumps or so. Sometimes they were earlier sometimes later but it always came.

"I will have to talk to Nicho about this...," Kia could only conclude one thing, epidemics. Looking through the town records there was no real records of proper sewers or sanitation. Through local letters and just lurking in the shadows and alleys she had heard rumors of Cholora, diptheria and even something far different that caused tremors before killing ( Malaria). It really could have been worse, there could be rats. Rats bring the black death all Kia had found were fixable reasons for the epidemics. Although something had to be done soon. In the past week three more children had been laid in the ground.

There was also the concern that it could spread to the castle. Goldenmyst had always been a haven for lost and abandoned children and even the King was still technically a child. Another concern came to mind, could them possibly blame her for the deaths. Lurking in the shadows she had been called the worst of things, whore, demon and she had even been accused of hexing the King, of using her daughter to seduce him. All Kia could think about that was, " No... she did a good job of seducing him without me... ," Then she would smack herself and walk on.

[kiakblackthorne]

Crumbling in her fingers, the limestone left a white powder over her dark skin and tattoos. A little frustrated, Kia kicked one of the empty pails she had up at the cemetary. Sighing she knelt back down, smoothing out the repair work on the stone, the last in the long line she had been working on. There were over 30 stones in this line, some had sunken into the ground. But the cemetary looked great lately. When the weather grew warm she had spread grass seed over barren areas and planted flowers next to some of the graves. Even the trees and shrubs had been pruned and made to look friendly and peaceful rather then twisted and creepy as before. Kia still enjoyed it when children from the village would come up to her as she worked and sing silly songs about, "The ghost of the Graves" or the "Drow Digger". Apparently they had a dozen or so of these things. Some of the children knew her as Kia though, the braver ones that had actually stopped to asked why and what she was doing. A few of the towns folk would leave surprises for her at the shed she had set up in the corner with her rakes and things.

Walking back to the shed she leaned against the side of it, wiping her hand on her brown apron. The sea wind blew off the cliff catching her cloak as she spotted a few kids coming to see what she was doing today. A squel came from the picinic blanket that Gret had Siri laid on. " Come on... you can laugh harder then that," Gret was tickling Siri who was about two now. A grin formed on Kia's face watching the two of them.

Really... it was just a good day.

[kiakblackthorne]

Kia was in the cemetary instructing the two young men she had trained to replace her. The rain began to fall gently over Kia's white hair. That had never bothered her. A Paige ran quickly from the castle towards the graveyard. Something had been off all day, Kia just hadn't been sure what was wrong. Seeing the Paige her face paled, one of the young men thought she was going to faint and moved behind her. Crossing her arms she steadied herself, hardening her face.

" Lady Kia! Lady Kia," the Paige called.

" What can I help you with," Kia asked in a serious manner. The young Paige handed her a sheet of paper with a shaky hand. Starring at the slip, Kia recognized it as a grave order. Clenching her jaw tightly she took the slip in her heavily tattooed fingers. Lifting it she really didn't read the words. Starring at it blankley. She passed the paper to the boy on her right. Kia's chest lifted slowly as she took a deep breath, cheeks turning slowly red as the color filtered back into the.

" Over there... by the ... willow trees. Request the headstone design from..., " Kia couldn't talk for a moment holding everything inside quietly. All those she had burried here seemed to come to her mind. Cyan, Dyren, Valin, Mika... Caelum... and many more. Two children... lost on these grounds, wiping off her cheek. She composed herself once more and looked between the boys, "The headstone will be ... Nicho."

Kia was too broken up to say anymore. Looking to the Paige she started to walk towards the opening of the cemetary. Why were there so many children buried here? Kia crossed her arms after pulling her hood up, placing the cowl over her lips. Half hunched over as she headed out of Goldenmyst, not for good but until the funeral.