20th of Fall, 507 AV
Aveira was sitting against the wall of the castle, crying her eyes out. She was five years old, or ten in human years. Unfortunately, she wasn't human, as everyone was clearly aware. Although she'd never lived anywhere else or even seen another of her kind, Aveira was treated like an outcast.
A few hours prior her parents had dyed her fur for the first time. The silken gray strands were now a bright white. She had been dunked in a small tub of ammonia-based dye that her parents had bought from a local store. The dye was supposed to be used only for dying cloths, but Aveira's adoptive parents had told her it would work on fur too. What they hadn't mentioned was the fact that ammonia burned. The young zith was now covered in chemical burns. Her face had taken the worst of it, though she had been very careful not to get any near her eyes.
Though the pain was excruciating, Aveira had been willing to deal with it if it meant fitting in more. Her parents were hoping that she'd look less menacing with lighter fur. Unfortunately, they were right. The other children were less afraid of Aveira when they saw her, and therefore had no need to hold back. The human children, keen to pick on anyone different, had spent the last hour chasing Aveira around, throwing sticks and rocks at her.
It was ten minutes ago that she'd managed to escape. Now she couldn't hold back the flood of tears. Whether it was from the red-hot burns or the memory of the hatred the others had shown her, Aveira had finally broken down. She cried desperately, wrapping her wings around herself in an attempt to hide from the world.
