The Birth of the Lotus Knight

-as her mother and father cried on the banks of the river, tears shed for a daughter that never existed, petals began to fall from the trees around them. A rain of soft pinks and purples that began to gather on the still surface of the lake. Their hearts were too heavy to notice the beautiful display around them until a lotus flower floated before them.

Looking at the namesake of the child they considered theirs, they began to dry their eyes and look upon it fondly.

"I will miss her." Her mother stated, and her father simply nodded with a downcast look. They leaned against each other for a moment, staring across the water. They didn't notice the lotus before them start to grow.

"We must take heart that we returned her to whence she came." He sounded like he was still trying to convince himself. "To think she would have been reduced to our mud and straw hut..."

Her mother looked now at the sizable lotus flower, but thought nothing of it. "I think I would have liked to name her."

"What would you have named her, darling?"

"Hasu, I think..."

As if responding to the name, the lotus flow undulated like it had been struck. Now it had the parents attention.

It jerked again, reminding her of watching baby move inside it's own mothers belly. It felt warm to the touch, and not at all like the petals of a flower.

Without warning, it bloomed explosively. Throwing it's petals open hard enough to make the woman pull her hand back, and her husband to pull her back. As they scrambled to stand up again, laughter filled the air. The burbling sounds and unadulterated joy that only a baby can make.

The couple crawled back to the edge of the water and peered within the oversized flower. There, dressed in smallclothes that seemed woven from gold thread, was a baby. It kicked it's little legs and waved it's little arms as the looked, cooing all the while.

— Accolades of the High Table, by Ewdin Rickman

This story, popular in the East, is an example of how many of Gowyr's knights really were unique. His penchant for finding talent, both natural and not, was perhaps his greatest strength. Ariharu was one of the fastest knights to sit the High Table, which only makes sense that her patron is and was goddess of winds and the coming rain.