"I didn't try to kill him!" Mira shrieks at the crowd of people surrounding her shouting accusations. She spots her mother, a look of disbelief plastered across her face. "Mom, I didn't - I would never-." Someone's rough calloused hand grabs her wrist and shoves her to the ground. She gets up and twists and shoves through the crowd, retching her arms out of countless people's hands. She passes the edge of town and runs to the beach. She walks into the water staring at her feet as they kick up. Mira finally lets her tears fall. She stares down, vision blurred by the tears. She reaches a large rock she sits on every day. She climbs on top of it and her silent tears turn into sobs. She wishes he and his battalion of soldiers had never come, but so did everyone. No one wanted them there but Mira was the one who had seen them first.

Mira was a pretty ordinary girl, her only rare trait was her proficiency in potion brewing. It was rare to have potion brewers in the Water Province. They lived in a coastal area lacking herbs cooler locations like the Land Province had. Mira was strong in all three magics and was skilled in potion brewing so she made up for the lack of ingredients. Mira had been on her way to the rock she was currently sitting on. She had climbed onto the rock and entered the spiritual world like she did every day. The three gods, who her people called Divines, had been sitting there. "Hello, Mira" Armeria, the Water Divine had greeted. "How are you doing today?" Zulu, the Land Divine, said cheerfully. "Average day, nothing special happened." She shrugged. Anil, the Sky Divine smiles "Better than bad I guess" he comments. "How have your magic skills been developing?" Armeria tilts her head. "Good, I discovered a new potion earlier actually." She thinks back to earlier that day. Anil gasps "What does it do?" He says a mischievous glint in his eye. "It helps sore feet." Anil deflates "I was hoping for something actually interesting." "That is interesting, it unlocks a ton of different potions!" She begins rambling about all the different ingredients she used. "Okay, Okay enough." Anil groans. "Okay then, if there's nothing bothering you we'll give you magic now." Armeria clasps her hands together. Mira nods and closes her eyes.

She opens them to the physical world. The sun is just beginning to set. She walks into the tropical forest behind her to look for ingredients. While grabbing blueberries like she had promised Lily, her younger sister, she sees a group of wild pigs. She thinks of how great it would be to have pork for dinner and how happy Hali, her older brother, would be. She follows the pigs deeper into the forest waiting for the right moment. They lead her to a large pond surrounded by large rocks, tropical flowers and fruits. As the pigs take a drink of water from the tropical pond Mira hides behind a larger rock. She creeps around the large rock and using air magic she lifts up a small sharp rock. With a swipe of her hand she plunges the rock deeply into the pig's fatty skin. It squeals and Mira hurries to plunge the stone deeper to put it out of its pain. The pig collapses, eyes dimming.

A tall man with broad shoulders wearing the Water Province's armor walks out from behind the shrubbery, slow clapping. "Well done peasant girl." He shoots her a smile full of malice. "Who are you?" Mira asks, batting the empty compliment away. "I am just one of the army's greatest commanders." He says, flicking his dark hair. "Right, and I'm her highness, you shall bow down to me." She says sarcastically. " Believe it or not. I am your superior " He shoots back. "Ok then, why don't we fight. I want to see how great you really are" She smirks. He yells as he charges at her sword in hand. She spins out of the way, hands behind her back. He turns around faster than she expected and nearly slashes her throat, but she is quick and nimble. She laughs "You say you're the army's greatest commander but I, the lowly peasant girl, seem to be a better fighter." "Oh, but you've only dodged so far you must fight back to be a fighter." A small smile breaks through his mask of superiority. He stops and stares her down, now it's her turn to attack. She's weaponless so she picks up a long stick near her foot and runs towards him. She allows him to dodge and catches him from behind. She whacks the back of his knee with all her might and he almost falls. He catches his balance but it's too late and she's already got the stick against his throat. "I win." She smiles playfully.

A young soldier comes charging out of the forest and tries to stab her. "Hey what are you-" she dodges. This soldier is truly trying to kill her. She gasps " Stop I'm not trying to ki-" his blade slits the back of her calf. She hisses the rest of her humor from earlier dissolving. She leaps up onto a low branch of a tree with round leaves. "Stop your soldier, commander. I beat you and now he's trying to kill me" She shouts to the commander. "Soldier, I command you to stop at once." He yells with an air of authority. The young soldier ignores him. She climbs to a higher branch as the soldier barely misses her. "If you can't stop your soldier I'll have to fight back, for real this time" She threatens. The commander keeps shouting at the soldier but he refuses to stop. She figures she'll just knock him out and then the commander can punish him how he wants.

She leaps down and with a twist of her hands uses her water magic to slap him with the water of the pond. It was just the right amount to knock him out, but as he falls to the ground unconscious his head lands on a rock protruding from the ground. Blood pools around his head. Mira widens her eyes and gasps "I didn't- I mean I only meant to- I just tried to knock him out." She struggles to find the words. "I understand. He brought it upon himself he just wouldn't listen." the commander calms her with a look of sympathy in his eyes. Another young soldier with the same button nose and blonde hair as the soldier lying on the ground in the small pool of blood stumbles out of the bushes.

"Y-you killed him! You k-killed my brother." He stutters with a look of shock setting across his face. "You'll be killed for this!" "He was attacking me, I had to defend myself." Mira tries to be sympathetic with the boy who looked to be her no older than she is. He starts breathing heavily, his lower lip shivering. He runs back into the shrubbery. "I'm sorry I have to leave." She croaks the sadness in the brothers eyes burned into her memory.

She runs out of the forest without looking back. She doesn't go home, not yet. She has to get her emotions under control first. She looks at her feet, they are barefoot and muddy. Scrunching her nose she strips down into only her under garments. She walks deeper into the ocean's water and submerges herself completely. The water had always made her feel better; it was relaxing to just float and think. Her heart sinks as she floats there thinking about the murder she had accidentally committed. She wishes she had never gone into the forest and found the pigs and fought the commander. She finishes scrubbing the mud and dirt clinging to her skin. She walks into town and sees a crowd of people surrounding someone shouting.

"She was fighting the commander so my brother went to defend him like the faithful soldier he was and she took her anger out on him instead and killed him." He shouted to the crowd. Mira could hear the people murmuring "Mira? Why, she would never." "There's no way, Mira would never hurt a fly." "What a shame, and I thought she had such a bright future." "I never did like that family." Mira heard them say. She walked the center and pointed at the boy

"You twist the story, the commander had challenged me to a duel with sticks, after I beat him your brother came charging at me from the forest with a sword. The commander tried to tell your brother to stand down, but he wouldn't listen. I warned the boy to stop and when he didn't I knocked him out. When he fell he fell onto a rock protruding from the ground, his head landed on the rock and he died. You can ask the commander what happened if you don't believe me." The crowd continues accusing her still.

"I didn't try to kill him!" Mira shrieks at the crowd of people surrounding her shouting accusations. She spots her mother, a look of disbelief plastered across her face. "Mom, I didn't - I would never-." Someone's rough calloused hand grabs her wrist and shoves her to the ground. She gets up and twists and shoves through the crowd, retching her arms out of countless people's hands. She passes the edge of town and runs back to the beach. She walks into the water staring at her feet as they kick up. Mira finally lets her tears fall. She stares down, vision blurred by the tears. She reaches a large rock she sits on every day. She climbs on top of it and her silent tears turn into sobs. She wishes he and his battalion of soldiers had never come, but so did everyone. No one wanted them there but Mira was the one who had seen them first. Whenever the army came it meant they were going to take boys from their homes to join them. She hears someone's footsteps behind her.