Phoenix

She was awakened by the sound of her own heartbeat. She didn’t know what it was, only that it meant that it was time. Time to get out. She twisted in the tiny space and strained as hard as she could against the sides of her egg. She could hear the voices as soon as she was free.

“Look, there’s the first one.” said a soft, female voice. The young hatchling turned towards where she heard the voice and staggered forward uncertainly.

“Where is she going?” said the voice again. It had moved closer to her, and she stopped, unsure of what to do.

She heard something else move close to her. This time it was a deeper, gruffer voice that spoke. “Look at her eyes.”

There was a gasp from the female. “Why, she’s blind!”

“I’m going for the healer.” said the male voice.

“Blind!” said the female voice again, seemingly talking to herself. “What good is a blind child?” The voice moved again. “I’ll call you Raca, because you’re good for nothing, do you hear me?”

Raca cringed away from the voice, and heard someone else approaching.

“Is this her?” said a smooth, silky voice.

“Yes.”

Raca felt someone lift her head and touch her eyes. “Well,” said the smooth voice, “Unfortunately, your daughter is blind. It appears that she will be blind for the rest of her life.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” said the female.

“I’m afraid not.” said the healer. “You’ll just have to keep an eye on her and see that she doesn’t hurt herself.”

The healer left, and the female spoke again with derision. “Watch her. As if I don’t have enough to do already, and now I have to watch her!”

The voices continued throughout Raca’s life, always telling her how useless she was, and how much of an inconvenience. She almost died many times because someone had forgotten to watch her and she almost wandered into something dangerous. Throughout all of this her mother’s hatred and scorn were always the strongest.

“Raca! I’m going to deliver something. Come with me.” called her mother. Raca obediently went over to her voice and felt a scarf being tied around her right leg.

“We’ll have to fly.” said her mother. “I’m taking off now, come on.”

Raca leapt into the icy air with her. She had always loved flying. Even though she could not see, she could feel the splendor of it. After they had flown for a long time she asked,“Mother, where are we going?”

There was no response. “Mother?” Raca pulled at the rope around her leg gently. Her heart started pounding. There was no one holding on to it. “Mother?” she screamed. She stopped in the air and hovered, waiting. There was no response. She was alone. She could not hear anyone near her, and she was getting tired. She could not stay in the air forever, but she could not land, she couldn’t see the ground. Raca tried to angle herself towards the ground and lower herself slowly. She fell too fast and hit the ground hard, but she still stood right away. “Hello?” she called. “Help!” There was no response, and she wandered for hours in the freezing cold calling desperately. She was so tired, so cold, and after several hours she fell to the ground in exhaustion, unable to get up.

She half awoke to the sound of voices. “Are you all right? What’s your name? How did you get here?”

She could not answer.

“She’s half dead from cold and hunger.” someone said. “You’ll have to carry her.”

Raca felt herself being lifted and she lost consciousness again. The next time she awoke she was warm.

“Hey, she’s awake!” someone called. “I’ll go get Sunn.”

Soon someone else entered the room. “Hello, my name is Sunn.” This voice was warm and kind. “Do you have a name?”

“Raca.” she whispered. “Because I’m blind.”

“Being blind doesn’t make you worthless.” said Sunn. “I think you need a new name. We’ll call you Phoenix, because you are being reborn into a new life here.”