❛ Did someone hurt you? ❜
FOR THE PRINCESS, ANYTHING.
She allows the question to sink into her mind, each word becoming a distinctive shape behind the lids of her eyes in the comforting darkness. A moment to herself, granted not so often, was the perfect time to let such questions in - even if they might be intrusive, even if they might be questionable…
Even if they conjure up memories best forgotten, left behind. And yet, it was not that she did not wish to answer - it was that there was simply so much to say. So much to be said. So much to remember, process, into an amalgam of misery and trauma that could just as easily be left to the imagination.
She looks at some of the scratches on her arm left behind by an unruly Tektite, the result of an ambush on the mountain where the Gorons lived - some act of diplomacy that had been done days ago, though she could not remember the context. Always forgotten, always buried…
“Physical wounds will heal. Even if they leave behind scars, they serve as reminders on where I can improve, and where my weaknesses lie. But I believe you mean “emotional hurt”, which in it of itself is an entirely different sort of conversation…”
“Everyone has. Why am I any different? People like us always hurt one another. What matters more is that I push forward, and take any criticism constructively. This is all I can do. There is no other choice.”
So curt. So blunt. Yet, not the truth. How she would have longed to break down in someone’s arms, and admit that every night she lay awake hoping that the next day would be different, that Father would return and Mother would awaken from that shock-induced coma and give her smiles of support and adoration.
That plastic, noble smile she now bears hides the truth. I appreciate your concern, but do not worry about me, it says. How she practices it in front of the mirror, never to be penetrated.