The rain beat down on the umbrella above the woman's head as she stood motionless on the bridge. Strands of loose hair stuck to her face, and tears mixed in with the droplets that were making tracks as they ran down reddened cheeks. 

The surface of the lake below was broken by the droplets and created ripples that spread throughout and were the only thing that seemed alive at this moment; the woman moved her eyes downwards and focused them on the water; they appeared still and like she had died on the inside a long time ago.

Long, dark hair fell down her back and mixed in with the cloak wrapped around her shoulders. The fabric moved like someone had placed their hands there and was trying to comfort the weeping woman, but in reality, it was nothing more than a ghost of the past, and the man that would be by her side would no longer show himself to her ever again - and just the thought of that was enough to make the woman almost buckle and collapse where she stood.

"Sister, we should return." A warm voice entered the woman's ears and the owner of the voice stepped forward but didn't dare to go too close to her. The teen girl looked at the older woman and her heart broke at seeing the strong woman breaking down on the secluded bridge.

The girl had been the only one that the woman had brought with her when she left the house earlier that evening. At first, the woman had wanted to be alone and go for a walk to clear her head, but her parents had insisted that she bring someone with her: even if they couldn't be with her then having her sister, who she had been close with since they were young, would be better. At least she wouldn't be alone.

Yet, it had been like the girl wasn't there - the woman was immersed in memories of the man that had passed away months ago, and hadn't been able to focus on anything else.

No matter how much her sister tried to talk to her and get through to her, nothing worked. So she stayed off to the side and waited for her sister to speak first. She had been there from the start of her sister's relationship and had been there when the man lost his life in a fight between the dark and light paths. 

It had been the beginning of the end, and soon after the fight cooled down and a pact was made. As long as the two paths never met again and stayed in their own territories then nothing like this would happen again. And that was how peace came over the land, but it had cost the life of Reia's lover and birthed resentment in her heart. 

Months later she couldn't let it go, and her family, who were the most righteous of them all thought she was overreacting. They hoped that now she could focus on finding a good man, better than the one before and focus on her studies so she could take over from her father in the future. There were no sons in the family, so as the eldest the responsibility fell on her and in this society it wasn't frowned upon for a woman to head a family. With no outside resistance, the position would be hers sooner or later. 

Refocusing her mind, and reigning in the sadness still floating in her chest, Reia turned to her sister and said softly, "let's go back." 

Her sister was relieved that Reia had spoken to her after a long time of silence, bounced happily to her side, and chattered all the way back to the house. Reia looked down at her sister and a small smile graced her lips.