"Welcome back to Unda, brother-in-law."

   A young girl with green eyes stared at Zhen and Jei with a wide grin plastered on her face. She pulled their boat and tied it down.

   Jei could barely click her tongue as the girl repeated herself.

   "Our beloved Seed, brother-in-law, we welcome you."

   "It's alright, Jei." 

   Zhen tried to calm the woman he'd betrothed with for the last four years. He had always liked the sound of those words, though it was also a reminder of how he could never be that.

   "What's wrong with calling him brother-in-law? Sister?" Wing caught up, lifting himself onto the long dock.

   Juniel pulled him aside as Jei led Zhen through the floating city to light the lanterns around.

   "Did you not know? From now until the seventh day will be the last will see of Zhen. Even Jei will not return."

   Wing snapped his arm away. His mouth was wide open. He hadn't known. He hadn't been told by anyone, not even Zhen.

   "No. We're supposed to go hunting tomorrow."

   "You were... until Black Day arrived. That's today."

   He shook his head and said, "I don't understand."

   “Becoming the Seed is both a blessing and a curse,” Juniel's voice fell into a whisper, barely audible, “but brother Zhen has six days after today before departure and 72 before the actual burying.”

   “Burying!” Wing shouted.

   Juniel cupped his mouth when onlookers turned their way.

   “A Seed is buried, so that it can grow into a tree, so to speak.”

   "Which means?"

   "He must return his life for the life of the Lighting Tree depends on it."

   "No, that can't be." Wing fell to the ground clutching his head. "It's not possible. They wouldn't. He's all I have left."

   He repeated the words to himself like a mantra to keep him calm. If he repeated it enough, maybe he could will all of this to stop, but he was only a ten-year-old boy. How could he stop something that was foretold long ago?

   "Magic," he whispered. "If I had just enough. I could kill it."

   Juniel's eyes grew wide upon what she'd heard.

   "You shouldn't speak such dark words. The Lighting Tree gives us life. It is only right to return it."

   Wing would not have it, couldn't listen any longer. He shot up and ran off somewhere Juniel could not follow.

   She too had seen things, things to happen in the future, and things she could tell no soul because, like Wing, she hated the ritual. 

   "It is such a privilege to return to our roots," an elder spoke to Jei as they passed.

   Jei had always been a stickler for tradition. Any whisper of defiance would've irked her, even if it came from Wing.

   Juniel didn't follow when Zhen and Jei with Cini and Pola traversed the other side of the river to arrive at the towering city of Ignis.

   "Will you not go?" A boy asked as he boarded one of the empty boats.

   "No, Your Highness," Juniel replied.

   She curtsied to the young prince Sun before turning around to look for Wing amidst the growing crowd.

   "Come on, Sun." His sister beckoned. "Let's follow Mama."

   Sun did as his sister asked and rowed them off to land.

   When they arrived, half the city had been lit, glowing red like a large burning fire. Far off, they could hear the leader making a speech for the Seed.

   He watched as the people docked and headed toward the center. They were all in different colors greens, whites, blues, and reds. He seldom saw these colors mixed. The last he saw them was when he was five.

   He and Juniel had bid the Seed and her gärds that time too. Two five-year-olds waving goodbye to people they'd call family. His gaze turned back to where Juniel last stood. This time, Juniel would have to say goodbye to the last of her family, as would Wing.

   "Mama will come back, right?" Nou tugged her brother's sleeve.

   "That's—"

   "This is bullshit," Cini muttered, smashing the torch to the ground.

   Fire blazed then died just as quickly. All the lanterns had been lit and so, the magic of the Seed disappeared.

   "Cini!" Jei chastised in a whispery voice.

   "So you won't marry anymore?" Cini stared at her.

   Sun pulled his sister away to a corner.

   "Our engagement has been annulled."

   Again, Cini cursed under his breath. "You've planned this for so long. You've been together since we were children! They can't take this away!"

   "They didn't."

   Zhen and Jei were supposed to be the second mixed couple, to welcome in a new age.

   "The only reason Zhen and I are even together now is because of the Lighting Tree. We owe it and it is our privilege to return it."

   "But why can't you wed? You don't plan to return anyway."

   Jei clasped a hand to his mouth.

   "I haven't told the elders."

   "That you plan to die there with him."

   "That is not the complete truth and you know it. Out there, where creatures we've never seen, never fought, do you expect to come back alive without him? Without the power of light? How could we survive the night? They don't know that the reason the gärds never return is because they die out there." She was erratic.

   "Does Zhen know?"

   Jei shook her head.

   Busy conversing with each other, Jei had forgotten to return to Zhen's side.

   Zhen looked around for his Jei when he realized she was no longer by his side. Then he turned and turned to look for Wing, but he too was not there. His heart sank, finally realizing the gravity of becoming a Seed. His true sacrifice was in giving up everything that came with his life.

   He placed a hand over the giant lantern of Ignis at the center of the city. A deep sigh released from the belly of his doubts. The lantern blazed, renewed by him. Yet, he felt more tired than when he fought the giant beast.