Prologue
From the moment my mother was killed, the moment I was stolen, the moment I was bought, I've been nothing but a mere side glance. I am pretty, but no one has taken interest. I am small, but no one cares. I am a slave. I used to work under a prince, but he gave me away. His wife, his only one, protested, but the prince said that he had no choice; the emperor needed more slaves. And now I work at the palace. I am almost always busy, even if some work is entirely different from others I do. I am a substitute for working bodies gone. But I have never cared. There is nothing I care about.
I walk down the hall to the library carrying scrolls that a servant has asked me to return. I try to keep on the edge of vision- slaves are not preferred in the inner-wall. Turning the corner, I see a dark mass on the ground. I approach it quietly and see that it is a young man. What is he doing? I think. He is supposed to be in bed. I crouch down, and very hesitantly, reach out and touch his shoulder.
He jerks up and swings his head to look at me, his ponytail stinging my face. "Aiya, what are you-" He suddenly looks at my clothes and slaps me. I stumble back against the wall and he follows, ready to strike again. "How dare you touch me! How dare you touch those scrolls!" He slaps me and knocks the scrolls out of my hands. I press myself closer to the wall and brace myself for another hit, but instead he grabs my hair and drags my body to him, forcing me to look up at his face. He gasps sharply. "You're a girl!?"
Using this distraction, I duck under his arm and run into the garden. I run and run until I finally reach it- a small pond in the shadows of a large tree near a shrine. I touch the shrine first with my hand and then collapse on the edge of the pond, my fingers resting in the water.