n't stop for

ned that th

. The sun rose with its usual golden arrogance, birds chirped as though the earth hadn't just fallen from

hadn't crumbled

ds hadn't shattered it into a thousand jagged pie

hs, head held high out of habit, not prid

ought she coul

er good enou

ts, no power-what

thought her blind to their

d like a stone

aid n

neve

wed girls like her. She'd grown up in this village, raised by the quiet strength of her mother and the unwavering dis

und by fire but through some help she was able to revive the house to be suitable enough for her

r. No home that tr

surv

what

cly, and cruelly-she didn't scream. She didn't

her parents had left her. The place that still smelled faintly of her mother's herbs

as q

qu

image, smiling with the same pride they always wore when they looked at her. Her mother's hair was braided down her ba

n her cheek before

to the silence. Her voice cracked. "I wi

e hearth and let the me

re, humming old songs from her tribe. How her father taught he

often when he looked at her mother. The way her

at love was suppo

he remembe

is hands. H

. All

ng of the bond-it was the theft of

. Her nails bit into her palm

n't cry

nough of tha

-

y, stitched together

to check on her. No one brought food or even a word of comfort

orest nearby-the only place

on. The wind didn't mock her. The e

e could

he coul

s used to train. The worn stones still bore the dents from her father's blade

r those cuts, her heart

taught he

in her, even whe

said to her: "You are more than what they se

t believe

ure she beli

hing was

-

rrounded by her father's old journals. Most of them were filled with m

ir family history-tales

t ran in

herited from a long-

when she was young but warned

elyn. They fear what they don't understand. Y

ought harder than necessary. She dulled her s

en as strong cou

d

ayed small

lowed her po

re that had

-

ething inside h

reflection stared back-pale skin, dark circles, amber

aling faint white scars on her

rom b

digging in when the

falling. From training

r fingers

was a r

ad su

e had

s stil

uld not st

or Ma

the vi

on of herself that had

-

g, she packed a

er with her father's initials etched

un rose, the light gilding t

time in days

use she

se she fe

leave th

spoke of in hushed stories. The one where power didn't have to

returned-it would not be as

e as somet

ing st

ing da

-

ok at the cottage, her

he whispered to her pare

she t

d into th

on

not

-