The scenes continued.
After the beating, the little girl lived through long and lonely days.
This time, she no longer asked to be recognized.
She no longer imagined that goodness would be enough if only she proved it clearly enough.
She studied.
Again and again and again.
She only left the hut when hunger forced her out to search for roots, herbs, trapped animals, or anything else that could keep her body from failing before her mind finished growing.
Her smile vanished first.
Then her softness.
Then the part of her that still leaned toward the world expecting fairness.
More than once, the child sat alone under lamplight and wondered if the village had been right all along.
Perhaps there truly was something wrong with her. Perhaps the reason no one understood her was because she had already stepped outside the shape of ordinary people without realizing it.
If no one listened, then perhaps the failure was hers.
