Nisha Roy

In a settlement too small to even have a name, somewhere in the agrarian fields surrounding Honeyfields, there was once a husband and wife who wanted a child, but were unable to conceive. They were good people, kind to each other and their neighbours, and devout to their gods.

One day, the wife was driving her carriage home from a trip to the nearest settlements when she saw a poor vagrant injured on the side of the road. She stopped the wagon, and went to tend to him, giving him food and offering him shelter until he recovered. She loaded him in to the wagon, and brought him to her home.

The couple were wealthy enough to be landowners, but had fallen upon hard times in the past several years, and only had one bed in their home, which they gladly gave up for the injured man. The husband, who had some knowledge of healing, nursed him through fever and infection back to health. When he was fully recovered, the couple offered him work at the small meadery they operated.

However, the vagrant merely smiled and told them they had done enough for him. Then, he stood, and assumed his true form - a celestial spirit, who had been injured in holy battle and fallen to the mortal world. Endlessly grateful for the aid of this couple, as they nursed him to health so he could use his powers again, he gave them a gift as he ascended.

He told the pair of them to pick a coal from their fire pit and grasp it between them, and then bring it into their home and keep it safe for ten months, then it would turn into a worthy reward.

The couple were dutiful in their care for the coal, and even when they faced hardship, they made the coal their priority because they trusted in the words of the divine servant. Their patience was rewarded. After ten months, the coal burst in to flames, and when the fire died down, there was not a coal there, but a small child, born of the flames. They named her Nisha, after the wife's beloved grandmother.

Nisha, born from a piece of coal animated with life by a divine spirit, was always the pride and joy of her parents. She was a smart, happy child who excelled academically, and more importantly, was a living symbol of the favour of their god. While she didn’t grow up in a large community, it was close knit and quite devout. In their small church, her origin was often a point of interest and discussion, and most people seemed to expect great things from her.

Her father, Kalyan, ran a meadery alongside his wife, Lila, and they were the picture of a happy family. While Nisha sometimes struggled with the expectations people had of her, she found a lot of joy in working with the church. As she reached adulthood, she got a few marriage proposals. The one that was the most surprising was from a rich apiary owner named Casimir Roy, who was about six years older than her, but a very good business partner for her parents. Besides that, he was handsome and charming, and Nisha and he married happily when she was twenty years old.

Becoming the lady of the house was a big change for Nisha, but she took up her domestic duties happily. Wealthy as he was, there was a lot of management for Nisha to deal with, such as gardening and groundskeeping, cleaning, cooking, even managing the finances. While Casimir did employ a few employees to help with this work, it was primarily Nisha’s responsibility. Regardless, she stepped up to the plate.

In her marriage, she also had two children with Casimir. The first, Piers, was born when she was 22, and his younger sister, Alida, was born 5 years later when Nisha was 27. And she loved her children with all her heart, but her marriage with Casimir was slowly degrading. The pair of them drifted apart, and Casimir was having an affair with another woman.

Frustrated, overworked, and underappreciated, Nisha began to consider leaving her husband. While her parents were supportive, even though it meant alienating one of their largest honey suppliers, the clergy would not allow a divorce so easily. But she didn’t want her children to continue to grow up in the volatile environment.

When Nisha proposed splitting from her husband, it did not go over well. Casimir was loathe to end their marriage, and even more loathe to give her anything - not the return of her dowry, not any of his profits from his apiary, and absolutely not the children. It broke her heart to leave them behind, but staying with Casimir was untenable. She was set on finding a way to convince someone to allow her a divorce from Casimir and give her custody of the children. Casimir was rich enough and well-connected enough that most people in the surrounding Honeyfields were unwilling to cross such a prominent community member.

Leaving her home was a difficult ordeal for Nisha, although she considered herself lucky to be able to stay with her childhood friend, Meena. She had not been an adventurous child, and when she was married, she spent most of her time consumed with the upkeep of the home. It was even harder to tell her young children that she would not be allowed to see them anymore, though she did her best not to demonize their father in this matter, as much as she wanted to. Alida, being only five, barely understood what was happening, and gave her mother her prized toy, an enchanted talking doll, so that Nisha wouldn’t forget Alida.