TW: Ableism

There once was a great, prosperous kingdom, which carried itself on the broken backs of its citizens.

The rulers of this kingdom had many children. The eldest was a girl named Alyson; she had gone deaf when she was young, and that was all that most people bothered to learn about her.

Her mother treated her like she was made of glass, and her father treated her like an embarrassment. Her siblings avoided her, and she avoided them in turn- not even her many tutors seemed to understand her.

This girl had other troubles with her family. She did not want to be a proper lady, nor did she care for the game of politics. She would have rather gardened or studied bugs or wrote poetry, but her parents would not have this. And so, she grew to resent them.

Alyson took to sneaking out into the wilderness and the town. It was difficult, but she had never let that stop her. She learned of the oppression of the people, how much they hated her family; she learned how to fight and forage for food; she learned how to read lips and pretend to be able to hear.

After a while, she had become apathetic to the world. One day, though, she saw something odd while she was in the forest.

There was a person standing on the path she had grown used to walking. This person had a kimono on; it was covered in strange, swirling patterns, and the sleeves were much too big for them. They were holding a lit candle, but it didn't seem to be melting, and the wick wasn't burning up. The flame swayed and bent in a wind that wasn't there.

Most oddly, though, was the person's mask. It was a round, smooth porcelain thing, with a curved smile and two dotted eyes painted onto it. Alyson was worried the person might say something that she wouldn't understand, for how could she read lips when their face was covered?

Instead of speaking, and before she could leave, another pair of hands appeared from the large sleeves. She jumped away in fright, but soon, she realized that the person was speaking in sign language. <What are you doing here?> they were asking her.

<Exploring,> she responded after a moment.

And so, a great friendship began.