My name is Laana and where it is a beautiful word to utter and easy on the tongue, it is what my people know as a curse. I am the cursed one. I was born on a stormy night at the exact time that thunder struck and the moon was right above the singing forest. Everyone knows not to utter a sound when it pours but I came into the world screaming at the moon.

My people cannot begin to understand where I draw my powers from and so they would rather call me cursed than stand in judgment of their secrets revealed. My home serves as the boundary between our people and the people of Jirani. They too have someone whom they look up to like we do; their source can make the sun stand still or send the rain away, I wouldn’t know because I have never met their source- these are the stories I hear in the market or in the dance arena when I sneak quietly to attend events, or watch the dance of the maidens every year as hosted by the royal family.

An excerpt from the book, Laana: Daughter of the Middle World