Tanya heard, albeit faintly, someone crying in the distance. Being the kind person she always was, she walked in the direction the cries were coming from, watching the ground to make sure she didn’t step on anyone.
After a few yards, to her at least, Tanya found who was crying. Sitting on a fallen tree in a small clearing, with her face in her hands, was Izlu the chief’s daughter. “Izlu, what’s wrong?” Tanya asked stepping into the clearing and kneeling beside the crying girl.
Izlu looked up. “What do you want?!” She demanded angrily. “I mean: what do you want, Goddess?” She amended, speaking as though choking on each word, particularly goddess.
It became clear to Tanya now why Izlu was crying. She was upset that she had been pushed aside and been forced to take a backseat by an outsider for a chance at being a goddess. “Izlu, I’m sorry the spirits choose me instead of you. Before my… transformation, I was jealous of you. Your body is naturally so beautiful and alluring; you already have the build of a goddess. Many girls on the mainland would kill to have a body like yours.” Tanya said trying to comfort Izlu.
“It… it’s not your fault.” Izlu sniffed, “the spirits just saw something in you I didn’t have… Like my father always does.”
“What do you mean?” Tanya asked.
Izlu took a deep breath to steady herself before staring, “I’m actually the fourth daughter my father had, and I was the only one he never noticed or acknowledged. Sula, my oldest sister, was a fierce and powerful warrior and now is the queen of another nearby island. Liil was the second oldest, she could communicate with the spirits and is the priestess of the Great Temple, the point where our world connects with the world of the gods. And then there was Awlu, so gifted with herbs and medicines she cured the island of a plague that threatened to wipe us out. And finally there was me, sweet little Izlu, whose only purpose was to marry some prince of another tribe to increase my father’s influence on the island. My father showered praise on my sisters throughout their lives, but there was never enough left for me. It was only a year ago, when the spirits seemed to choose me to become a goddess did he even acknowledge that I was his daughter.” Izlu burst into tears again. It was several minutes before she could speak again, “But when you came and the spirits chose you… *sniff* the spirits choose a woman to become a goddess once every thousand years. And since they choose you, I’ll be my father’s pawn again.”
Tanya couldn’t help but feel sorry for the crying girl; she too had been overlooked by her father back home. She had to do something to comfort Izlu, but what?
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