There was an image already posted on the mernac website for this story and it is beautiful - this was my version, so I thought I would post it. *Princess Katarina Calis* King Aaron and Queen Diana Calis of Solaris had six sons: Ryan, Cade, Mark, Evan, Collin, and Dayton, but what they really wanted was a baby girl to take the place of the female child they’d lost during the harsh winter of 546. Desperate to know what would happen, they questioned hundreds of Sages, sorcerers, and prophets. Finally, Arkad the Wise of Hob gave them this prophecy: “It is said, great King and noble Queen, that there are no finer rulers to be found in all of Mernac. That shall soon be tested. Within a season, the Great Mother Siberlee will grant thee the desire of thine heart. However, the Ledrath, the life-drainers, the Great Fathers Bu, Werk, and Tellen, stand ready to besiege this kingdom with chaos. You have a choice: twenty seasons of personal pain, seven seasons of widespread disease, five seasons of unprecedented natural disasters, or four seasons of war which will leave no two stones upon each other here in Morningsong.” With broken hearts, the King and Queen agreed to the twenty years of personal pain for at least that would spare their people. http://www.mernac.com/modules/mernac/story.php?id=895&aid=1042