Mantle: The Return of the Sha Read Free

handsome bachelors in all of Terra, and her sister Bella was also beautiful, with the same bright blue eyes as Lizabet. It was likely that she, too, would marry soon, although she had been overly particular about her suitors, and seemed set to hold out on the idea of marriage until the perfect husband came along.
    Yes, Lizabet would be cared for and loved. She was very close with her siblings, especially Bella, who she looked up to as a kind and caring mother figure. But most comforting was that she had Carlotta. Carlotta, although only a chicken, had become Lizabet’s closest friend. They went everywhere together. At first, when Carlotta was just a chick, Lizabet would carry her in a small basket, but now that Carlotta had grown, she would tie a string around Carlotta’s breast so that she would walk alongside Lizabet wherever she went.
    She had her friend Dorian also, of course, but even he knew that he couldn’t gain the affection that Lizabet had for that chicken. It was an odd friendship that no one quite understood, but it didn’t matter to Lizabet. She already considered herself an outcast and the fact that her two best friends were a boy and a chicken didn’t seem to make any difference to her in the least.
    Once the difficult talk with her aunt was finished, she ran to Carlotta to confess what was happening—that Aunt Roni would die and that they would remain on the farm with Jonattan and Bella. And although Lizabet wasn’t gifted with Animal-speak, Carlotta always understood Lizabet perfectly. No one was ever quite sure just how they communicated. It was a special bond that seemed to allow them to understand the thoughts of the other. Carlotta, on understanding the news of Roni’s impending expiration, quickly told the other chickens and they in turn told every other animal on the Abbot farm, so that by the end of the day, everyone knew what was to come.
     
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    In Terra, the grief experienced by the animals who lived there could be a wild and chaotic event. Throughout the day, the animals on the Abbot farm wailed loudly and carried on running about, seemingly in a state of panic. Although they were animals, they loved Roni as much as any person could. She had been their caretaker and their friend, so to the animals the loss of Roni was tragic. None of the animals on the farm had ever known a time when Roni hadn’t been their keeper, and it was an unbearable prospect that she would no longer be there to care for them and provide company.
    Roni had gone out among the animals to explain what was to happen. This calmed them a little, but two days later, when Roni passed away, they were filled with grief, just as Lizabet, Jonattan, and Bella were.
     
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    The day after Roni’s passing, the entire village of Terra showed up for her burial. It was a short ceremony, as was the custom in Terra—a simple burial on the Abbot farm. Lizabet had insisted that she be buried under the young apple tree that her aunt had talked of, so that she could be in clear view of the tree as it grew and produced apples as she had predicted. Jonattan and Bella quickly agreed and so Roni was laid to rest under the apple tree, facing east so that the glowing sunrise would cover the grave each morning.
    During the ceremony, many people spoke of Roni, and her kind and charitable nature. One man spoke of a time when Roni had helped with the cost of flour for making bread during a particularly poor crop season.
    Another spoke of her bright demeanor each time she went into town to sell goods and how she always had a smile waiting for everyone who passed.
    These were the memories, Lizabet knew, that would keep her aunt alive, just as she had said. She would be alive in the memories of others. It gave Lizabet peace to finally understand this and she smiled as she always did, even as they covered the grave of her beloved aunt. The others present at the funeral had been carrying looks of sadness and grief during the service. But