Valecta

Seventeen years ago, a child wrapped in a cloth, soft and from pure silk was found in front of the orphanage. Her mother never told her the name of the orphanage with an excuse of 'What if you had some horrible forgotten memory'. It was true, Valecta was adopted from the orphanage when she was four years old. Although she doesn't have any memory of the day she was adopted.

It was odd, the feeling of oddness always lurked in Val's heart. How could it have been that she only had recollection of the day when she was adopted. The precisiveness was oddly eerie. She believed her mother's words as any child would've. Being said that she was abandoned by awful parents, Valecta was grateful for Greya.

Greya was a kind woman who was always loyal to her promises. She worked for a small noble house who had just started to make it's name and rise up in fame. The noble house had been rebuilt after the great rebellion seventeen years ago. It was unnoticed as the head of the house wanted to stay clear of the royals if possible. They hated the Abigails, who ruled over the throne now. They had pledged their loyalty to Tada once, the deposed king's brother. Many believed that Tada had deserved the throne more than his brother but majority didn't complain much.

Tada loved the deposed king's wife and the rightful queen, Firola. She was abused and neglected but loved by the one man she couldn't love. Tada was afraid that if anyone was to find his love that he held in his heart for the queen, the queen would be punished as she was a woman. He abandoned his duties, resulting in his exile. He was never seen again.

Since the man owed Tada a favor he pledged his loyalty to the Drakosi family and kept his loyalty a secret after their extermination. Their villagers didn't turn out to be as loyal as they had expected and they were caught by the Abigail guards while visiting the shrine of the dragon gods near their village. The village was burnt and the maid that worked with them too. But there was something wrong here. All of the Drakosi rebels were given a chance to bend the knee and work for the king but not this village. Why?

Valecta was a beautiful woman, she stood out anywhere she went if she had dressed better than what she wore veryday. She had milk like pale white skin. Deep black eyes, long black hair, a thin body from malnourishment. Her appearance was almost similar to a witch's. A kind girl though she always hated to speak, considered it a bit of a work.

Once when Valecta was six, she had been playing in the backyard of her house with a couple of peasant boys. The boys wore rags and so did Val, she wasn't any special but neither was she weird. The kids pushed the girl while playing. Nudging at her at every step, giggling at her stumbling, humiliation and angered filled the child's little body. When the boy of the same age as Val approached her to take a look at her crying face with anticipation. He saw it. He had seen her eye colour changing. The pupils had changed it's shape to a snake's.

By the grace of the heavens Greya happened to be present there.She rushed to the child and hugged her in an attempt to hide the child's face especially her eyes. But what the strangest thing of most was that Greya had never seen the little girl's eye color change and yet she wasn't surprised. What could it have been?