Hmm...where shall I start? Give me a moment to revive my memories...I am quite aged you know. Ah yes...

Chapter 1: A world of darkness

There was a young couple who lived in the archer village. While the father was a skilled hunter, his wife was even more skilled than he! I still think it was very honorable of him to humbly accept that a woman could out shoot him, in fact he claims that this is what caused his love for her to blossom. But their fairytale is another tale for another rainy night.

The protagonist of this story is their daughter. You could imagine the shock of the young couple, especially her mother at having an offspring who could not see. Why, there would be no one to carry on the legacy of the females in their family! Since archery requires keen vision, it is not surprising that the few blind children born to their parents are abandoned, being considered "undesirable" spawns...but you must not think them cruel. They only wanted what was best for their children, and did not wish them to be ridiculed for not being able to hit a target. Archers are the pride of Payon, after all.

But this couple was different. They rebelled against the advice of their elders to ask a priest or such to take the sightless baby off their hands. Instead they named her Tourmaline Jessle and reared her as they would any normal child. With the care of her parents and her older brother Jadeite, she grew to be a very lovely young child.

One day, however, young Malene was mystified as to why the other children always beat her in their games, especially hide-and-seek. After much pestering and aggravation from the little girl, her brother was annoyed to the point of suddenly shouting at his young sister.

"For crying out loud Sel, you're bloody blind as a familiar!"

This shocked young Malene to the point of tears. Needless to say, Jadeite was reprimanded for his harsh outburst against his sibling.

But this made young Malene even more curious of this "blindness." Since the day she was born, she was engulfed in a world of darkness. Wasn't it like this for everyone?

But her parents would hear nothing of it. They changed the subject of the conversation each time it even threatened to flow in that direction.

Until the day of her 12th birthday, for this was the day she would, as with tradition, be given her first bow.

And her test to see if she was worthy.