Fragrant Fields of Lotus

Description

She woke to a wall of faces leaning over her. Her parents, etched with the hardship of honest toil; her younger siblings, gaunt shadows clinging to the edge of starvation; and her elder brother, his body bearing the silent testimony of abuse. A sea of eyes fixed upon her, each pair alight with desperate hope. And yet, she was only a seven-year-old dumpling of a girl. .................... Very well. Let the games of a seven-year-old rising star commence in the dust and splendor of ages past.