Anna stood atop the mountain, staring down at the valley that stretched for miles and miles. The lake looked as if it were made out of molten metal, a gaping crack in the earth, through which spilled the hopes and dreams of all the people slumbering next to it. Yes, she was home. And though she loved this land and often felt as though she belonged to it as much to it as to her own family, she felt no joy in returning. What’s the use? she thought. They didn’t want me a year ago, why should they have changed just because I have?
She sat down on the lush green slope, bending her head to meet her knee. She knew she had to go on, to go into her house and try to explain to her family what had happened to her. To try to make them understand this new person standing before them. But how could she, when she hardly knew that person herself. Well, I must go, she thought, but not yet. I don’t have the strength yet. Not without him here beside me.