It was the darkest point of the night and for the first time in a decade a storm was raging over the Capital, it was so loud and unruly that many children found themselves in their parents beds, it was so loud that you couldn't hear yourself think, the thunder was almost unrivaled.

The only thing that gave the storm a run for it's money was the screams that came from a Sun Elf that was in forced labor.

Her screams came from a small room tucked away in the back of the royal palace, at first she had tried to keep quiet for if anyone but her family heard her it would spell trouble for them all, but as the pain grew, her whimpers had turned into wails, her long white hair stuck to her naked form that was covered in sweat, even the storm couldn't cool her skin.

One of her dainty hands curled into the once pristine satin sheets while the other had her her sister's hand in an unforgivable vice grip, she could feel her muscles stretching to their limit and then it was as if all the pressure, had been released and she let out one last strangled cry before collapsing back on the bed, she felt a strange pit in her stomach when the cry of the child was not heard.

The mid wife looked over at the Princes when she felt her eyes on her, she could see a worried look in her tired golden eyes which was gone in a second, the mid wife felt a spike of anger in her at the girls reaction but instead refocused on the child in her arms.

He was very small and it felt as if she was holding a small pillow because of how light he was, she didn't panic when the child made no sound because he soon blinked open large green eyes, she could see the fleck of gold in it that seemed to swirl as he stared at her, she cooed at him when he gave a tiny yawn and then closed his eyes, he was not the first child she had helped bring into this world that did not cry but she hoped that it wasn't because he wouldn't be able to speak a word for the rest of his life.

She made her way over to the tub filled with warmed water and took a cloth to quickly wipe him off and then swaddle him in a soft white cloth which she had been given for him, she turned around with a smile on her face to greet the young mother who had already been cleaned off and garbed in a golden robe as her white hair was being braided by one of the maids that had been witness to the young prince's birth.

She moved to the side of the bed and held the child out "Princess Areum, would you like to hold your new son?" her voice was soft and kind but all she got in return was a glower tat spoiled the young princess's refined features, she immediately pulled the child back to her chest.

"Keep that filthy creature away from me, I want nothing to do with it!" the Princess mercilessly spat at the mid wife before turning to the voluptuous tree elf that had been quietly sitting in the corner through the whole birth "Cho-A, take that thing from the mid wife and let her be on her way!" her words were cruel beyond compare but the tree elf just held a straight face and got up to do as she was told.

All the mid wife could do was hand the child over and prepare her things to leave, not much time had passed before she was out of the room, she felt scared for the innocent child's future, with a mother a cruel as her, his fate was sure to be far from peaceful.

*

The Princess stared at the slave who sat in the corner quietly nursing the child, from whet she could see he was barely drinking anything and the slave had to be squeezing her breast so the milk would flow into the child's mouth and he would automatically swallow it. She was disgusted at the sight it was weak and small, she expected that a child born from from a horrible act would at least be strong as the monster that hurt her but she was poorly mistaken.

She wished it had died before it had even take a breath of air, if that was the case she could have just cut it out and throw it in the trash where it belonged, it made her sick to be in the same room as it so with a flick of her hand the slave stood and left the room still feeding the child with two of the maids trailing behind her, she took a deep breath and rested back on the soft pillow that had been placed behind her after she came out of labor and had cleaned herself.

She felt she could finally relax but it was interrupted when the door slammed open and her father entered, he was garbed in one golden robe after the other, his long white hair almost touching the floor as it hung behind him, his white eyes pierced hers as he went around the bed and placed a kiss on her older sister's head before whispering something in her air, with that she stood up and left the room taking the rest of the maids behind her.

When the door closed her father took a seat at the end of the bed and stared at her with a deep frown marring his features "you look well." she nodded and he sighed "good, I've seen the child, he doesn't look as if he will survive the night and even if he does by the light of morning he will be gone, I hope you didn't form a bond with him because it means nothing" she once again nodded when her father's eyes pierced hers "good as for you, I'm sending you to the Elven Temple and you will not be permitted to return until the High Priestess ensures me that you have been properly cleansed."

The princess opened her mouth to protest but quickly shut it along with her eyes as she held her head when her father's gaze had sharpened, it lasted for a second but she felt as if her skull had been cracked open before the pain seeped away "good, you leave for the port when the sun rises." with that he father got up and left the room pulling the door in behind him, she could hear the bolt on the outside being shut and all she wished is that she had never met that filthy beast.

_______

The sounds of tiny feet hitting dirt could be heard as a small child ran towards a large house carrying sticks, behind him he could hear other footsteps pounding the earth and ran as fast as he could to get into the house before the much bigger children caught up to him, he scampered up the steps and dusted his bare feet as best as he could on the porch outside before running into the home, he headed straight for the kitchen and stopped at the doorway and stomped his feet.

A woman who was stirring a large iron pot stopped what she was doing and came over snatching the sticks from his hand, she unloaded all of them in a large opening in the iron stove and poked it with an iron stick before shutting the opening and going back to the child who was starring at her expectantly, she scowled at the tiny half breed, who stared at her with his large green eyes, she smiled at the pain that flashed in them when she slapped him.

He whimpered and stepped back she leaned down so she was looking at him directly "you brought too little and you took too long, if you expect to eat tonight you will go and get more, do you understand me?" she growled deeply and heard a small whimper then the child was running down the hall and out the front entrance she huffed and returned to her pot.

*

The child sat behind a tree whimpering with tears running down his face as he held his now swollen jaw, in a normal circumstances it wouldn't have hurt as much as it did but the child was way smaller than he was supposed to be for someone who had lived through five summers also taking into account that the woman was large and had hands that were bigger than his face, he sniffed again and slowly stood up.

Even if he was in pain he needed to find more sticks to keep the stove going or the house mother would starve him and beat hit him before handing him over to the much bigger children, he may have been small and couldn't read or write to save his life but he had enough common sense to see that he was the only one being treated so poorly, the other children were given things he wasn't.

Sweets that came to the house every time twelve suns had passed for the children he had never received any, and the desert the house mother would make all he ever tasted was the crumbs, the clothes he was wearing were worn and barely keeping in tact while the other children ran around in fresh washed clothes, that looked as if they had just been purchased.

He only eat once a day and that was if the house mother felt like feeding him while the other children would eat three large meals and he was given what could only be called scraps, he knew the other children could read and write and a few even went off to school, while he could not and worst of all he wasn't allowed to sleep in the house, he slept in the pen in the back with the chickens on a thin layer f hay and that was only if the night was cold, other wise he would sleep under a think layer of steel that was being held up by two logs, that's right he had to crawl to get under it to sleep on cold dirt.

And then when he thought things couldn't get worse the older children like to gang up on him and kick him around or if he just happened to be fast enough to get away they would throw sharp rocks and sticks at him to injure him as best as they could, just like they were doing right now, as he ran with a large log in his arms, it was heavy and it hurt to carry it but he kept running to get away from the other children and eventually reached the house running inside and stopping at the door.

The house mother was stirring another large pot when she heard the child stomp the floor, she was ready to hit him again for wasting her time with small sticks when she turned around and was surprised by the large log he was holding, the thing was twice his size and most likely weighed more than him so she gave a sharp nod and marched over collecting the log, she grabbed her iron chopper from the side of the wall and cut the log in to four putting two of the pieces in the stove.

She looked back to see the child leaning against the door frame and scowled, she went to the table picking up a fish she had fried for the children and handed it to him, his green eyes seemed to shine before he ran off going back outside to probably hide under his shed so he could eat in piece, it was disgusting to see him behaving worse than a dog.