LARA’S POV We have to stop her now, we all have to do it. She must not be allowed to do something crazy. What does she mean by she is ready to sacrifice her unborn child, isn’t that too extreme a sacrifice? But Scarlet is just too stubborn, she would not listen to any of us. She is bent on going ahead with this barbaric act. What is she even thinking? I am her friend, I have always been with her and so she must realize that I am not going to deceive her. I will always do that which is for her good. She should just listen to me, she must listen to everyone. I waited patiently for her to reply. Who knows, maybe she might just decide to change her mind. Maybe she would finally decide to listen to me. We all looked at her helplessly. I, Dawn, my mother, Rich, Landon, and Lord Nathan. We waited impatiently for her response. What if she still insists on her will, what if she continues to be stubborn? Has she even considered what might be the necessary repercussion of her act, has she given it a second thought, or even any thought at all? “The preparation is in progress. By tomorrow Eval will be ready to go on with the sacrifice. All of you must be calm, this will be over soon and we would all have our Chamlee with us once again. And he will be as good as new” she said. She smiled dreamily as she spoke, lost in some unknown fantasy. “You are never going to change your mind, dear, are you?” my mother asked in a hoarse voice. “Mama Ruth, even you want to see my husband well again, don’t you?” Scarlet asked with a calm smile. She is strangely calm as if she has found a new peace since after the war. I can see that she only wants us to be happy for her and participate in her unusual joy. It hurts me to see her this way. Even we that are close pals could not give her the sort of support that she desires at this lowest point in her life. I couldn’t help but feel like we have all failed her, and woefully too. She relies so much on us and counts on our support. “Of course, yes I want to. I desire that more than anything else. But then...” my mother hesitated to go on. It was obvious that she was about to say something that might not sound very pleasing to Scarlet. “What but again, mama Ruth? We should all remain positive, be optimistic” Scarlet asked. “The sacrifice. It is your unborn child. What if it is your only child? Even you must desire to hold your own child” my mother asked quietly. “Hmm... I am already a mother don’t forget that. I have Lalic with me, and will always do. He is enough for Fernanda and me” Scarlet smiled as she said this. Hearing Scarlet’s response, I could not help but feel all guilty inside. Maybe we are all just being selfish, thinking only about ourselves and our beliefs. No matter what, we are already biased towards the arrival of the witch, Eval, and thus, it is not very unusual that we are outrightly against her demands. Now I fear that even if she had demanded a rabbit to be sacrificed we might still have kicked against that too. In all of this, where have we placed Scarlet? Do we even consider her utmost desire to be with the one she loves once again? Why do we choose to believe that a child is more important than the life of her lover? Who are we to make such a decision for her, what right do we have to decide for her? “See we are with you in this, my lady. We give you our full support” lord Nathan spoke. “Thank you, lord Nathan, thank you for thinking about me in a time as this” Scarlet responded. “But that witch, she must guarantee that this sacrifice would be effective. She should not even think of pulling up a fast one on us. If anything goes wrong in this, she should not ever think that she would be spared. I will behead her with my own hands” lord Nathan threatened. Scarlet moved closer to him and placed her hand on his shoulders. “That is why I need you all to remain positive. Nothing will go wrong. We will have our Chamlee well again, isn’t that what we all wish for?” she said. “We would give you our full support in this, Chamlar, and we are sorry for being selfish all along. To heal the Chamlee, we are prepared to do whatever you want” Rich assured her. “Thanks, Rich, I know that I will always count on you” Scarlet replied cheerfully. Life has returned to her face since the witch, Eval got here. She is now almost her former self and is no longer all moody. Why did we fail to see that? Our Chamlar is gradually coming back and that should be enough to make us happy. I moved over to her and held her hands. “I support you, Chamlar, I will always do. I am not just your servant and friend, but I am also your sister and have always been so. I will do all I can to give you my full support” I said.Dawn came close too and placed her right hand on ours. “I am not happy with the way things turned out, but I am glad that I am opportune to be a part of all of it. I will give you my full support, my sister and my queen. I will do even more for you, I will do everything within my power to lessen your burden. For all those years that I ignored my duties as family, I will do times ten to make up for them” she pledged. “Being by my side is even much more than I can ask for, Dawn. Thank you for thinking of me as family” Scarlet replied. “It will all be good, my dear daughter. I have just one daughter, Lara, but all through this life, you are that daughter that I have always held close to my bosom in the closet and wished that the moon goddess had given to me. Scarlet, you are the daughter that life itself gave to me. All I want is for you to be happy and so, I will support you in whatever that would bring that happiness” my mother said. Landon moved closer to us, taking one step at a time. Looking at his face, I could see just hard it is for him to accept and come to terms with all of this. I understand him, we all felt the same way too. When he got to us, he stopped and looked straight into scarlet’s face. Scarlet looked fiercely at him too. “I am sorry, my luna, you know me. Deep down I sincerely wish that I could be like the others and give my full support but I cannot lie to you, of course, you know me better than that and I hope that you understand me. You already have their full support, what does my opinion matter at this point in time? They all wish you well, and I am not wishing you anything less than that” Landon said and turned to leave. “Hey, Landon, stop now” Scarlet ordered. Landon stopped in his track and Scarlet walked over to him. Standing in front of Landon, she growled quietly and took hold of his hand. “Thanks, Landon” she murmured. Landon was stunned and so was every one of us. We thought she was about to take it out on him. “For... for... w... what?” Landon stammered as his eyes flickered at Scarlet. “For being true to yourself. I would have been angry if you tried to flatter me” Scarlet replied. She let go of his hand and turned her back to him. “I can only see you after tomorrow when the sacrifice is done. Leave now” she said coldly. Landon was confused. Her disposition changed drastically from cool one minute to extremely cold the next. Scarlet is asking him away from her presence, in fact, to put it more accurately, he must not allow himself to be seen by her for any reason until after the sacrifice is completed. He looked around the room, his look a mixture of terror and annoyance. And then he turned and dashed out.