The Necessity of Rain

Copyright © 2023 by Sarah Chorn All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover art by Pen Astride Edited by Nathan Hall Proofread by Isabelle Wagner Chapter headers by Allegra Pescatore CONTENTS Author’s Note 1. Isra 2. Rosemary 3. Belladonna 4. Isra 5. Rosemary 6. Rosemary 7. Belladonna 8. Isra 9. Rosemary 10. Rosemary 11. Belladonna 12. Isra 13. Rosemary 14. Rosemary 15. Belladonna 16. Isra 17. Rosemary 18. Rosemary 19. Belladonna 20. Isra 21. Rosemary 22. Rosemary 23. Belladonna 24. Isra 25. Rosemary 26. Rosemary 27. Belladonna 28. Isra 29. Rosemary 30. Rosemary 31. Belladonna 32. Isra 33. Rosemary 34. Rosemary 35. Belladonna 36. Isra 37. Rosemary 38. Rosemary 39. Belladonna 40. Isra 41. Rosemary 42. Rosemary 43. Rosemary Author’s Note Glossary Credits Thank you for reading. About the Author Also by Sarah Chorn If you liked The Necessity of Rain then… To everyone Who has Loved and lost. There will be better days than this. DIVINE AETHER, GOD OF CREATION AUTHOR’S NOTE “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” - Ernest Hemingway I am the youngest of six kids, born to parents who were older when they had me. The age gap between me and my siblings ranges from eight to seventeen years. I have always been at a different cycle of life than the rest of my family. My parents have always been older. So have my brothers and sisters. None of that mattered until recently. I think it happened both slowly and all at once. The first time I showed up at my parents’ house and realized my mom had stopped dying her hair and it was white now. Or when my niece had her first child. Or when my dad’s twin brother died. Or… And then there are moments that happen like a flash in the pan and suddenly I realize everything is different now, and yet it still feels the same. The discord is… acute. Part of me is still young and just learning the pain and pleasure of the world. The other part is listening to my sister talk about retirement. I have a locked room in my soul, a place where I keep moments in amber. I will always be holding my kids for the first time, new and pink and full of life. I will always be watching them explore all those first experiences. I will always remember when that was me. I will always savor my own firsts, each one sweeter than the last. Time Isra - Three Years Ago Everything is burning. A bomb explodes. Too close. The halls of the World Tree tremble and groan. It is just the three of us now: me and my two brothers, Manab and Atheed. We are all that is left of our monarch swarm. The war is picking us off one by one and I cannot help but feel I am next. Before me, the goddess we serve sleeps, the life leaving her a bit more with each breath. I feel the loss of her Divinity like the severing of a limb. Where she once filled so much of me, now only emptiness remains. Suddenly, I am hollow. I lack purpose. I am alone within the ocean of myself. “The age of the Divine ends,” Atheed says. His wings are closed tight, his body clenched, a bowstring the moment before an arrow is loosed. “She is mortal.” I wonder what it costs him to give voice to our new reality. Divine Falcon lays before us on a bed we crafted of her favorite flowers, gathered fresh from the verdant forest of her Creation. A day ago, she settled herself upon them, her old crone’s body rattling with every movement. The feathers around her face have fallen out and what wisps of hair remained were gray as storm clouds. We have borne painful witness as the World Tree grew around her, first like a hug, and then a coffin. All I can see now are her eyes through the branches holding her close. They are closed and lined with