But this one did, despite the numerous warnings that echoed in her ears. In fact, it was the only way she could think of to shut up those warnings. Tyen. Bandits. Slave traders. Pfft. Let them come. She'd take care of herself.
Really, what it boiled down to was that she couldn't stand to be confined to one place for so long. It wasn't her fault her mother's pregnancy was difficult and they'd been forced to take up residence in the city, after all. Nobody asked her if she wanted a brat of a sibling to care for. Her mother was old. Too old to be thinking about breeding. It was disgusting to even think about. And what if she died? What then? The girl was NOT going to be stuck raising a child, of all things!
And so, with her bedridden mother yelling behind her, she wandered off that sunny, summer morning, ostensibly to gather berries on the hillsides just beyond the gates. She never returned.
*****
It wasn't the typical horror stories of young girls kidnapped and sold off as slaves, whores, or worse. No. This child simply was tired of the life she'd been forced to live, so she decided to change it. At ten years old, she took her fate into her own hands, kissed her mother goodbye, laughed away her warnings, stepped outside, and... disappeared. She knew that her mother would worry, her tribe would scour the area for her. She might even get the humans involved, if she cared all that much.
She didn't care. It was a challenge. Let them try to track her down; let them try to force her back into the life she'd once lived. They'd never find her.
She was wrong. They did. Ten years later.
