This is not the prompt.

I never had the desire to be a hero, you see. I'd rather take a step back and let someone else take the spotlight unless it concerned my family. The Fairlights were known for loving rarely, but we loved for a lifetime when we did. That day, I woke up to a cobalt blue sky and my mother's whistling. The brisk knock on our door interrupted our breakfast. My father stood up to answer it. A tall, burly army officer was standing at our doorstep.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fairlight?" he asked.

"That's us," my father's voice cracked.

"In a recent degree, the king has ordered one tribute from each family." The word "tribute" sent shivers down my spine. A tribute was supposed to be a gift to show respect, but in reality, it was just another way to throw more humans into the infected maw of war.

"I will go," my brother, my beloved Jeremiah, spoke up. Part of me wanted to shrink away and let Jere be the hero. This was the part I had always led with, the blind part.

"No, I will," I spoke up, my voice barely above a whisper. My family gave me a hard look.

"But you're a girl," the soldier's scornful voice lit a spark in me. Deep inside my heart, something ignited. Maybe I had always been the gentle girl, the kind one, but I also pushed Lucie Clave into the river for breaking my brother's heart.

"The degree only states tribute. Boy or girl," I looked him in the eyes, challenging him.

"Fine, show up at the town square tomorrow. Why should I care?" he finished his sentence with a careless shrug as if it didn't matter whether a silly girl lived or died. He turned and walked out without another word.

"Beatrice, what in the blazes were you thinking?" Jere rushed up to me.

"I-I..." My thoughts started to spiral. I breathed in and out rapidly, and the edges of my vision started to fade to black. I ran and ran, needing to escape. My skirts flew behind me in a cloud and I raced to the only place I had ever felt safe.

The tree was just as I remembered it, with thick, mossy branches and a root rising from the ground. I sat down next to the root and breathed in its earthy scent. I closed my eyes and let sleep whisk me away. When I woke up, the sun was high in the sky. I blinked and stretched. I brushed off my skirts and started to wander. I wound through willows and oaks, the dappled sunlight playing on my arms. I stepped out of the woods and looked at my family's farm. The valleys were full of wheat and corn, and the small garden was full of colorful fruits and vegetables, a rainbow of produce. Panic flooded through me, I would never retread this path, for all, I knew in a few days I would be dead.

“Bea,” I whirled around to see my mother, clutching a parcel in her grasp. Her hair was a messy tumble wavy auburn locks. I raced to her and hugged her. She smelt like lavender and I squeezed her tight. “Bea, my darling-”

I cut her off, “Jeremiah, just couldn’t go to the war, he’s too kind and gentle. But, I can’t kill people Mama, I can’t. All I could think about was Jere’s body dead and it just made me volunteer. But Mama I’m too weak to do this, I don’t know what I was thinking, ” My voice wobbled and I clung tighter to her.

“Oh, it ok, it ok.” Mama rubbed my back. “I have something for you, I hope it will help you be brave, my darling.” She pressed the long package into my hands, then turned. I peeled away the layers of fabric, to reveal a sword. It was beyond gorgeous, there was no word for it, the blade was dark silver, and encrusted into the blade were 4 miniature stones, the color of the heather that blanketed the moor. The hilt was silver as well and had a small design, of a wildflower. It wasn’t just the craftsmanship of the blade, that awed me, it was the power that seemed to whisper through the air and, it soothed me. The pain that had filled me just moments before evaporated