Flaye grew up knowing she was different. For the first, it was fairly unusual to only have one parent. Which didn't mean that her mother had died or abandoned her. The latter could be true, but whenever she tried to bring it up to her father he simply said that he was her parent, and that it was enough.
The second, the more obvious one, would probably be her skin and the birthmarks trailing around her body. If she covered the marks, she could maybe pass as a normal person that had just spent too much time indoors, but Flaye was too proud of the blue swirls and lines around her shoulders and arms to cover them up. And besides, how could she even begin to explain away the blue hue of her skin, anyway? And her light blue hair? No, she was different, that she knew. She was special, meant to do something great one day, she was certain of.
However, not everyone shared her positive view on her difference. Mainly, the other villagers. The adult villagers, to be specific. The other children weren't too fazed with her difference, and some were even curious about her birthmarks. Their parents, however, believing that Flaye was the result of some dark magic, tried to keep their children away from her. But that never discouraged Flaye from seeking out and playing with the other children her age.
During her childhood, she had a particular close friendship with another of the village girls, Prisca. Her parents weren't around for most of the time, only her caretaker, making her one of the children that Flaye could more easily spend time with. They would do all sorts of things, like playing various games, watching the clouds by an old oak near the village, or playing instruments. As she discovered from a young age, Flaye had almost an affinity with the musical side of life, being able to play most instruments with relative ease. Prisca wasn't half bad either, and her singing voice was something that, as Flaye would describe it, "something out of this world". For Flaye, no one could ever replace Prisca, and the times they were apart felt like missing another part of herself.
Some of the times that the two would play together, a boy just a year younger than them would be joining them, named Godric, as he was a family friend of Prisca that she had to take care of. The boy never seemed to approve of the friendship between Flaye and Prisca, but whether that was because of Flaye's appearance, or because Prisca was a part of the aristocracy and Flaye was a commoner, or because he was jealous of how close the two were, Flaye never learned. Shortly after first meeting him though, his parents sent him out of the village to learn more of the life of aristocracy, and how to properly lead the village when he one day would become the village's leader.
From the age of 13 and as they grew older, Prisca's parents began involving themselves more and more in the life of their daughter as they wanted to make sure she grew up into a proper lady, sparing less and less time for the two friends to meet each other, much to Flaye's sorrow. When Flaye got old enough to take up work, no one in the village wanted to employ her, not wanting her to "curse" their businesses, much to the dismay of her father, but Flaye didn't really mind. It just meant more time for her to do whatever she wanted, like practising on her music, and being around Prisca, those precious few times. She would, the days that she couldn't spend time with Prisca, hang around in the village's market area, playing on her flutes for the passers-by and the children with too much time on their hands.
As she neared 20 years old, on a normal summer day, Flaye was once again in the village's market, impressing the children by playing on two flutes at the same time. This day, however, Godric returned to the village, and had decided to take a stroll through the village. Upon nearing the market, he saw Flaye playing on her instruments. Growing more irritated by the seconds of seeing her, he called the guards, and told them to arrest Flaye on grounds of scamming and thievery. The guards took Flaye away, and, much to Flaye's protest, took her to the prison cells.
How long she was down in the cells, Flaye didn't know. While there, she kept yelling for the guards to let her out, trying to explain that she had done nothing wrong. After a long time, one of the guards came to her cell, to get her to shut up (apparently, her voice was fairly loud and could be heard from quite the distance), and finally explained that it was the village's leader's son that had her arrested. When pressed for why, the guard simply shrugged, and told her that it wasn't the first time someone had been arrested without a proper/legit reason. Being satisfied that she didn't yell, the guard went back to the other guards, while Flaye's blood boiled with anger at the newly discovered information.
A while later, some days having passed, footsteps neared Flaye's cell. As she glanced up, she saw the face of Godric, smiling smugly. At first, she was confused, as she didn't know he had returned to town, let alone why he'd visit her when they had never really gotten along. However, seeing him smiling, Flaye got suspicious, and asked if he was there to let her out, to which he replied with a simple no. He then told a story of what he had learned while away from the village, which included how dangerous wild magic could be for the general people if left unchecked. Then he told her that the reason he returned, was because it was his time to take up rule of the village, which would be marked with a wedding designated oh so many years ago between his and Prisca's parents. Hearing that her friend would be married off, Flaye's anger rose to her face, and she bolted towards the bars, causing Godric to stumble onto the floor in surprise. As he got onto his feet, he brushed off the dust from his clothes, and looked over at where Flaye was shaking the bars, shouting in anger towards him. Giving her one last laught, he walked away, leaving Flaye to shout to the void, and the unlucky guards on duty.
Eventually, Flaye stopped shouting, and began walking around in circles in her cell, trying to think of some solution to the whole situation. As nighttime neared, she could hear sounds of bells, merriment and laughter on the outside. She couldn't really see anything happening, but she could see fireworks in the sky. For the first time in a long time, Flaye crawled into a small ball, and cried, regretting not having told Prisca of her feelings for her.
The time after this all felt like a blur to Flaye. The light from outside changed with the days, her foodtray held enough food and water to keep her alive, and guards would pass outside of her cell like clockwork. It was when something disrupted this repeating circle that caused Flaye to look up, eyes tired. However, when she noticed who had come to visit, most of her energy returned. Standing in front of her, hiding herself with a cloak, was Prisca. Scrambling to her feet, Flaye hurriedly walked over to Prisca. Prisca smiled at seeing her friend, but she couldn't manage to hide a more concerned face. Prisca asked Flaye what happened to her, how she ended up in the cells, to which Flaye recounted the tale as she had understood it herself. Prisca, horrified, told Flaye that she'd try to find a way out for her, though Flaye couldn't stay in the village. Flaye tried to protest, but Prisca told her that if she was a fugitive, she shouldn't be too close to those wishing to imprison her again. Besides, Prisca continued, ever since Godric had taken up leadership of the village, people had been growing more and more disgruntled by him. It was only a matter of time before a catalyst ignited the situation.
True to her word, Prisca returned a while later, and unlocked the celldoor. The two friends hugged, before Prisca took one of Flaye's hands, leading her towards the exit. The two barely managed to get to the exit, where they had to split up. As Prisca was telling Flaye that this might be the last time the two would be able to see each other, Flaye couldn't keep her feelings bottled, and kissed Prisca. The latter was standing dumbfounded, looking at Flaye, who was blushing profusedly. Before Prisca had the opportunity to say anything more, Flaye ran away, shouting that she was sorry.
Flaye didn't stop running until she was almost back at her home. Stopping to catch her breath, she could hear the voices of more people than usual on the road only leading to her home. As she walked in, she saw several of the villagers, one of them standing on a chair, and her father gathered in the living room. Before she could prosess what was going on, Flaye's father hurried up to her, embracing his daughter.
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