All of her siblings have wandered off and she’s the only one left
Seaburst loves her, but in her way of love, which is affectionate stares, approving nods, and faint smiles
Shadow loves to shower her in love and presents, but also loves to shelter her
Seaburst doesn’t know much about parenting and leaves it mostly to Shadow, she’s always there when it counts though
Hickory grew up to be a loving, quiet and beautiful lady
As the years passed by she discovered as each of her siblings left she wanted a taste of that outside life
Shadow was too scared for his remaining child to leave so he showered her in even more gifts, assuring her it was unsafe out there
But she was fed up
She left, determined to find her way
But as she was journeying, barely a day’s fly from her home she came across the Beyond
The Outskirts weren’t much trouble from the sky but the Beyond was more than a patch of land
She was drawn in
It was a graveyard of sorts, just rows of empty tombstones
She was a bit spooked
She couldn’t leave though, it was as if she was stuck here
Night came
And in the darkness faint shapes could be made out
Where they went in the day only they knew
One by one figures, bathed only in moonlight, appeared
Most had weary faces
They turned to Hickory with shock
No one could see her before
Another young lady came up, Lily, and touched her face to confirm she was flesh
Lily said a simple word, help
And her voice was the flutter of the wind
A family stood behind her, but they couldn’t see her it seemed
Yize came up and he too murmured the word help
Lady, Pere, Eurydise all took their turn asking for help
Hickory with horror in her eyes just shook her head
All in the graveyard stood and watched until the sun went up and they disappeared
Hickory flew back to the Forest after that
She tried to tell- warn Shadow and Seaburst about what had happened but Shadow shushed her, insisted it was a nightmare
And Seaburst, her blood and forest eyes which betrayed nothing, opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it
No one would listen
She was a child to them
No one could help
And now she bears the burden of these souls on her shoulders
And nobody can help
No one at all
Because children only dream
Their word is nothing
And a ghost can only see
Their world is void