Exile, Prologue

The woman was beautiful. Her face was dotted with laugh lines and crow's feet. Her dress was tattered and torn some. Her feet were bruised. Her hands were covered in splotches of color from markers. She was not young anymore, but still her deep brown eyes shone brightly and sparkled when she laughed. The memories flooded back to Thessa, but then stopped abruptly. What had happened to this beautiful woman whose positivity was all you needed to light up a room, and whose house was always filled with the sweet aroma of chocolate chip cookies?
She would never know.
She would never see any of her old life again.