Chapter Text
On the day Squiddo was born, a storm rolled in to town.
It tossed the seas, it shook the lighthouse. Shuddered windows rattled and locked doors struggled to stay closed. The air itself, even indoors was damp.
The usual joy that would’ve been present in the village after the birth of a new child was snuffed out by the loss of her parents. Her mother died in childbirth and her father died at sea, trying to get home. Deaths at sea weren’t uncommon. Sirens singing sailors to their deaths and Krakens destroying ships, that wasn’t even accounting for storms and tidal waves, or even just simple fishing accidents. Once there was a Guardian who controlled the waves, an old woman at the fish market once told Squiddo. They calmed the sea and kept the horrors and terrors away, but that was long ago, before the corruption came and the Fourfold Guard fell, before The Star mage joined the constellations and all blessings left the capitol, before everything went wrong.
Squiddo was a curious child, and she knew that when adults said that they truly just meant she was nosy. She crept behind doorways and eavesdropped on the conversations that took place after dark. Sometimes she hid under the dock and listened to the sailors talk, though she was caught more often then not, curse her rotten luck!
The villagers knew all too well about the strange orphan girl. She couldnt help but feel resentful towards some of them, ok? It wasnt her fault that her mother died! It wasnt her fault that she had bad luck either! She couldn’t control that she would trip on her own shoes or manage to cut herself on stray pieces of wood. Still, it meant she was restricted to the simpler tasks. She wanted adventure, freedom, action!
And then the fire happened.
Maybe fire wasn’t the right word for what happened. No, it was a full on inferno.
She was only eight, crouched behind a bookshelf during a game of hide and seek, when she heard the roar. She tried to get out, to call for help, but in her panic she managed to pin herself under the shelf. She looked around in panic- all she could see was red and orange all mixing together in a white hot blaze. The flames bit at her skin, breath, just breath- and god, all she could smell was smoke.
She felt loopy, she tried to scream, the sound died in her throat as ashes clogged her lungs.
It hit her in that moment that she could die there, alone and on fire. The idea of dying oddly never scared her. A part of her mind deep down told her she had died before, yes, she had died before and come back, and she still would have nine hearts after this, right?
She let her eyelids relax, stopped thrashing against the flames that crawled up her arms. She couldn’t breathe, couldn't think, all she could taste was sulfur. Who was that stranger on the ground?
She let her mind fade into oblivion, and no she didnt hear the footsteps or the other child calling her name, and no, she didnt feel it when she died, if only for a moment.
The fire blinded her, left her a burden for the rest of the village. At least she wasnt alone in the aftermath, burn scars were common after the fire, at least that was what 4C told her.
One day, years later, a knight from the capital came, and said they would train anyone willing to be trained. The capital needed fighters, the village needed protection. She tried to ignore the snickers she heard from one of the sailors when she enrolled herself, she was just as capable as anyone else! (The meaner part of her brain told her that the knight would never train a blind girl, she couldn’t even see attacks! She stuffed that part of her brain under the hope that she could help people.)
The knight was a patient person, the training was grueling but they let her take breaks, understood that her lungs were weak from all the smoke she breathed in that day, but they didn’t go easy on her either. She learned to tell where attacks came from by the sound of wind resistance and the light clanging of armor or the quiet noise of a footstep.
She was inducted into the knights of the capital as an apprentice. She lived in a church in a town miles away from her own in a crowded room with five other apprentices. It was a religion she hadn't heard of, some old saint of farming and war. She woke up before the sun and went to bed after dark, and with her bad luck, she also ended up getting the worst of the chores. It was worth it in the end, she told herself. It would be worth it even when she overheard the other apprentices giggle after she walked into a doorway or hit her shin on a rock. Yes, she would be a knight, and she would help people. She would be just and kind and serve the gods above.
She didn’t let it get to her when she missed 4CVIT, she didn't let it get to her when her arms ached from training, she didn’t let it get to her when it turned winter and she would chop firewood until her fingers felt like they would fall off, she didn't let it get to her when she messed up and the knights teaching her scolded her with venom in their mouths for the smallest of mistakes. She had to prove that she could be strong even though she was blind, and if she ever failed at that she would sit in the church and pray until her throat was raw.
Eventually, the day that she would be sworn in came. She felt the queens blade softly make contact with each of her shoulders, she heard the queen’s strong voice declaring her a knight.
A knight.
Squiddo was a knight.
If she had eyes, she would cry.
After the ceremony, amongst the congratulations she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. Ah yes, The knight who trained her. Elexia was their name, they had told her at one point. To Squiddo though, they were The Knight. The person who made her who she was.
“Squiddo.” They said, a foot or so behind her.
“El!” She exclaimed, a grin clear on her face. “Im a knight now-I-I cant believe it!”
Elexia chuckled warmly, and Squiddo wondered momentarily if they were smiling as well. “Congratulations. You’ve come a long way, im proud of you.”
Joy bloomed in Squiddo’s chest. Proud. El was proud of her.
“I have a gift for you, Squiddo.” Their voice kept the same even tone as always, but there was a sense of anticipation that was instilled into it.
“For real?”
El simply pushed a box into her hands. “For real.”
Squiddo opened it quickly, inside was some kind of woven fabric. “A new blindfold?” She was somewhat confused. She always wore blindfolds to cover up the ugly holes where her eyes were meant to be, but a new one didnt do much for her, especially cause she couldn’t see whatever design was on it.
“Just…try it on.” El said gently.
Squiddo shrugged. “Ok! Brb!” She grinned, going to the bathrooms. There were likely to be less people in there, so she could take her blindfold off with-
Without scaring anyone.
(4CVIT threw up the first time he saw her without the bandages covering her eyes)
Or so she didn’t get laughed at.
(sometimes the other apprentices would shift around all the furniture in the room just to watch her struggle.)
She shook her head subconsciously. Today was a good day, and she had bigger priorities than sulking. For example: trying on this blindfold!
After waiting a moment to make sure the room was empty, she removed her standard blindfold and put on the new one.
For the first time in ten years, she could see. She stared at the mirror in front of her, rather blankly. The blindfold was her favorite colors, pink and yellow, colors she hadn't seen in years. She looked at herself. She looked- well, different didnt even begin to describe it, saying as the last time she saw herself she was eight. She was taller and more muscular, she was an adult. No, more than that, she was a knight . Her hair was shorter, her face was longer and scars trailed down from the bottom of the woven cloth. She was someone new.
Huh. Maybe her luck had finally turned around.