LOCATION: Winter Fete
Fate. Truth be told, Lana didn’t believe in fate. Or rather, she didn’t want to believe in fate; she didn’t want to live in a world where things were meant to be, and she certainly didn’t want to be a part of some grand, predestined plan designed by supernatural powers beyond her control. It was a thought that gave many people comfort, the idea that things happened for a reason, and perhaps once upon a time, it had given her comfort, too. But nowadays, it simply felt like yet another aspect of her own life that was out of her hands.
All the youngest of the syren princesses had ever wanted was the right to choose her own destiny. To have just the tiniest, littlest measure of control over her own life, unbound to the customs of her kind and unburdened by the duty that came with being a part of her family. And yet with that thought came a deep-seated, crushing sense of guilt, because she loved her parents dearly, and she had never once wanted to hurt them or disappoint them. Lana was incredibly grateful for the life she had been given. She wanted to be happy with it. She wanted it to be enough for her, but it wasn’t; and while the years had taught her how to dream smaller and settle for less, she had yet to learn how to stop yearning for more.
It was this inherent contradiction, of wanting to be excited about the Harvest and yet failing to even feel present in it (or to feel anything at all about it), that occupied the brunette’s mind as she sat perched on a small rock, picking at a cupcake with the crowd milling around her. Seriously, what was wrong with her? The most sacred and significant night of their kind was upon them and all she wanted to do was go home and take a nap. “Hey,” she greeted a passerby, offering them a small smile along with the baked good. “Do you want this?”
