When Leona was born, the midwife had to check she was alive. She made no sound.. she had her mouth open, tiny face scrunched up.. air came out, but no sound. The fourth child to a prominent family, and the first girl she came as a disappointment. She was about 4 when she realised that her family thought she was stupid. Her mother spoke to her in simple terms, but spoke to her brothers differently. At 8 her eldest brother Peter helped her develop her own language. A series of hand-signals.. though only he knew it. Her mother and father saw it as stupid, saying things like "Why should we learn how to move our hands to talk to her, she can hear us and she can write."

That seemed like an age ago now. Her hand-maiden had learnt the language.. and acted at times as a translator of sorts for her. Though often they would just talk with it, if they came across a word that did not have a symbol, they would make a new one.. Kyla was her only friend. Her brother had duties to attend to and while he would sometimes offer her a smile, he grew more and more distant. Her mother did not hide her, she was a beautiful girl, and at 13 began blooming into a beautiful woman. However once word got around that she was not just shy, that she could not speak, no man wanted her.

She was petite, shorter than her brothers, standing at only 5'5, she had a slender frame that had a curve to the hips and waist, but on a whole was nothing too exotic or interesting to look at (or at least that is what her father told her). She was the perfect lady, she could read and write, play instruments, stitch, create beautiful art, and knew how to be quiet.. in fact she had mastered that.

What her family didn't know is that one of the old guards had lost his daughter when Leona was about 8.. he often spoke with her, telling her of the world, of the politics. He had told her to listen, watch, to be sneaky.. he had taught her how to hide a blade, how to use it.. even the basics of a bow. She had cried when illness took him... it only made her family think she was strange.