Following a knock on my prison door. My parents entered, along with Ceri.
"How are you feeling?" Mother asked.
I was weak and losing weight. I felt like ending it all, but the thought of Finn kept me going.
I said, "it's been nearly a fortnight since I have seen a face."
"Your birthday has passed, but we come with a gift."
"Is it the man you want me to marry?"
"Your father and I have come up with a new present for you."
I feared what it might be. I had never known my family to convey their care for me in any way or form. Yet I chose to indulge them, maybe out of desperation for a lifeline that might save me from the turmoils I was going through. "What is it?"
"We will let you choose the man you marry."
My heart stopped, but only for a moment. I wanted to smile, but somehow, something didn't seem right. "You will allow me to choose Finn?"
"If that's who you want, then you have our blessing."
I stood up to make my decision known. "That's who I want, that's the man I want to marry."
"Very well, you can be with him. On one condition. Now that you're an adult, you meet the requirements for competing in the Battle. The next one is in ten months. If you win, we will honour your choice of mate."
Ceri wore a smirk on her face. Father and Mother stood emotionless as usual.
"The Battle? I can't compete in the Battle! I'll lose. I've never won a fight. How could I possibly compete in this? It's suicide!"
Ceri stepped forward. "I'll train you."
"You'll train me?"
"My birthday present to you, is that I teach you my skills, and train you. And if you win, perhaps we'll again be able to call each other sisters."
The very nature of her offer was mired in violence, flustering my frayed nerves. I tried debating the decision, I tried pleading. That was their final offer. The Battle for Finn, or marry the advisor's son. If there was one lesson I'd learned in my short time here, it was that life was never fair. And if this was the obstacle I needed to overcome to be with Finn, then it was an obstacle I would tackle. Unfair indeed, but it was the life I was born into.