Remembrance Day

Josiella felt herself sinking into a deep dark pit of sadness and despair. Each year in the month of May, thoughts of her parents' untimely demise dragged her spirits down and down. She threw on an old cloak, mounted her faithful steed, and rode until both she and her mount were exhausted. Overhead, the sky was bedimmed by a lowering cloud layer. A lonely falcon circled listlessly in the sky. Somewhere in the distance, an animal snarled in disappointment as it lost it's prey. She dismounted from her palfrey, and began to roam aimlessly on foot. She could not break out of the cycle of grief. Round and round her mind went, centered only on loss, futility and despair. Her parents had died so young, taken from the family when the girls were all so little. She began to cry. "Oh, how I miss you, Lady Matildia and Lord Guy," she moaned. How alone she felt. Her face wet with tears, she stumbled into the KORT posting board. "Remembrance," she mused, and began to read. As she read, she felt a strange loosening in her breast, a complete change in her attitude. "My parents died in a noble battle, fighting for their land, their family, their freedom," she thought. She whistled for her palfry, who came at once. Quickly she gathered an armload of fragrant flowers. She mounted up, rode to her homestead, and placed the floral tribute on her parents' graves. And her spirits began to rise, and soar -- and she smiled.