Author's Note: Well, I have Writer's Block, and since I wanted to write something, I wrote this instead of working on my other fics. I hope to continue it regularly, at least, and I hope you like it. I'm really sorry about not being able to update the other ones. Please review this, and I'll try to keep writing it at least until I'm able to continue the other ones.
Lioness
By Ice-otter
Prologue-
"Red hair. Bad luck."
"And look at her eyes." The eyes, at least, were nothing unnatural. A color that could have been described as golden brown, even reddish, like the bark on a pine tree. Nothing unnatural at all.
"There's nothing wrong with her eyes," Marsa couldn't help saying. Her husband had always said she was too kind, and maybe this was proof. But she didn't mind. It couldn't be a bad thing, to defend a homeless child. And this village needed more kindness. She couldn't be more than four years old, and a skinny, very small four at that. Cruel of them to torment her about the color of her hair and eyes, when she was old enough to understand them and young enough to believe them. She pushed her way through the crowed that had gathered. "Here, what's your name, child?"
"Um." The girl kicked the dirt with her bare foot, and shrugged. "Don't know. Don't got one."
"Well you can't go around without a name. You're parents- where are they?"
"Don't know. Dead, I s'pose. They didn't come home one day, so I left."
"And what did they call you?" Marsa asked, surprised at the way the girl spoke so casually of her parents' death.
"They didn't- well, they called me 'Girl' sometimes, but that's not my name. They didn't give me one. They thought I was bad luck, cause of my hair…"
Marsa glanced meaningfully at the crowd who had been watching the conversation in mixed curiosity and scorn. "Red hair's not bad luck at all," she told the girl. "Just a superstition- don't mind anyone who tells you it is. You have beautiful hair. What are you doing, wandering around here? Do you expect to survive on your own? Winter's coming, you know… Why don't you stay with my husband and me?"
"Um- thank you, um-"
"My name is Marsa."
"Thank you, Marsa. I'd be happy to stay with you." Taking the girl by the hand, Marsa led her away from the crowd.
"Now, we have to see about getting you a name. I don't know about your parents, but I'm certainly not going to call you 'girl' all the time. Now- my sister had red hair, and her name was Alythe. How about if we call you that? She's dead, so there won't be any mixing the two of you up." The child- Alythe- nodded, and for the first time in her life, she was happy.