Haven. A place of safety and assurance. It is where you feel comfortable the most. The paramount of everyone's desire within their individual haven.
A young Harvin girl, Nio, found herself a travelling bard group that would give her such sanctuary...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Harvins. A race of distinct humanoids with bizarrely short height. Known for their nick-name 'half-pints', they were a race whose prowess lied not in their physical aspects, but their intellectual characteristic. A literal case of 'brain over brawns', so to speak.
Nio, a shy and timid girl, was a part of said race. Yet her surrounding rejected her very existence. She was shunned by the world for a simple a reason. A reason that portrays irregularity, an incomprehensible entity. Simply put, she was not 'normal'.
Different, yes. She was unlike her peers and fellow brethren.
Nio was 'gifted' with the ability to hear others' moods and feelings. She was able to perceive those psychological phenomena as if she was reading a book. Or perhaps akin to hearing music would be the proper analogy. If they bore good intentions, then she'd hear gentle tune, and, conversely, if not, then the tunes would be agitating ones.
Unfortunately for Nio, this 'gift' came at a price.
She was labelled 'abnormal' by those around her. Living beings, in general, feared what they did not understand, and Nio's ability was precisely something they could not comprehend.
Her 'gift' was less of a 'blessing' and more of a 'curse'.
Yes, she was cursed.
Burdened with the ability to see through people's hearts, she was thrown into an emotional disarray. Being as young as she was, little could she control the extent of her so-called ability.
She would know things just by listening to people's thoughts. She could not bar them, the
tunes were omnipresent. Both good and the bad, they flooded her head endlessly, and she could do nothing in exchange. Slowly but surely, they overwhelmed her.
Nio's parents, of course, didn't just sit around and did nothing. They've tried taking her to as many places as they could, hoping to find a 'cure' for her 'disease'. But so much to their expectation, for their efforts were wasted. Her ability was not something that could easily be cured like a medical condition, as much as it was a curse that could easily be dispelled.
Nothing could stop Nio from hearing her 'melodies'.
With time, even her parents' affection start-ed to turn into fear. Fear of their own daughter; of the unknown. Because that was normal. It was only common sense to be afraid of some-thing that you don't understand.
Her parents, of course, still took care of Nio as their own. But their efforts were tinged with shadows of doubt. Hesitation was mirrored in their eyes, as clear as the blue sky during the day. They did not know, but Nio could see it.
She could hear 'it'. She did not want to, but her ability forced her. She could see their smile, plastered in their face as wide as they wanted to, was as fragile as glass.
It was all an act. It was nothing but a mere facade.
She did not want to admit it, but she knew everything.
