The Kingdom of Broken Glass

Powerless

(Liza's Point of View)

Liza was one of the first people to go running into the forest. She was vibrating with pride as she now had a leg up on everyone else. After this, she would be able to brag that she had been one of the first people to dive in.

These past couple of weeks had been good to her. They had changed her into something that she hadn't been before. Now, she was proud of who she had become. She spoke up for herself, something that she never would have done before.

Liza also liked who Julian was becoming. Not that she didn't like him before, she has always had a soft spot for him, but now he was morphing into someone new. This new side of him was confident. Instead of hiding in the shadows, he was finally presenting himself. It was nice to see for a change.

Liza continued forward through the forest, too lost in her own thoughts to really track where she was going. Everything is so amazing right now. Raysa liked her, Nathaniel liked her, and she felt like she was making good friends. This was so different then being at the village, everyone here was so outgoing. It felt like once you found that spark of power inside, it lit a match inside of you that could not be put out, and everyone had this same flash of fire in them.

She almost couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the small bush on the ground, home to the biggest blueberries she has ever seen. Liza gasped, running forward and dropping to her knees next to the bush. She leaned forward to sniff in, the action bringing tears to her eyes.

Yes, to most this would seem like a bit of an overreaction to some berries, but Liza had not seen blueberries in years. Her mother used to make the most exquisite blueberry muffins. There was always one day a week that Liza would come home from school to fresh blueberry muffins, made fresh just for her. This brought her mother happiness, she loved baking for her daughter. It would take her all day to make these muffins and yet, she always made sure she did.

Liza plucks a berry from the bush, picking the biggest one that she could find. She lifts the berry to her mouth and pauses. Sitting back on her heels, she contemplates how this berry would taste in comparison to the ones her mother used to use. Liza had not touched a blueberry since her mother died, and it seemed only right to keep it that way. She lightly sat the fat berry back on the bush before moving past it.

The memory of her mother was now fresh in her mind as Liza continued through the trees. Her mother pushing her in a swing, teaching her how to play cards, and choking on air as her lungs closed from the plague that took her life.

"Ouch," Liza nicked her ankle on a branch that sat apart from the others. She hadn't been paying attention to where she was walking. Really, she had not been paying attention to anything since she broke that line of trees.

Looking forward, she noticed a couple of paths presenting themselves to her. Through one of them was a field of daisies, which she debated for a minute before holding back. She did not want to come off too soft.

Where were you, Liza? She thought to herself, Oh, you know. Just off playing in the little field of flowers. Yes, because that made her sound tough. So instead, she decided to follow the path to the right of her. It kept going for a while, making Liza almost regret her decision. She wanted to see something interesting.

Eventually, the path opened up to a field of green. The grass was up to her knees and it went on for miles. She could barely see anything other than grass.  The field was slightly damp, but Liza figured that was just from the dew. She debated turning back before deciding to plunge forward. Raysa had not brought them here for nothing, and Liza could not fathom the idea of going back just to say that she had not discovered anything.