Veronica was always a special sort of child. No, I don’t mean her pale skin or hair, nor her red eyes. No, what has always been different about her was how quiet she was. She came to us when she was just three but since then she didn’t laugh, cry or even talk.

The other sisters and I often thought her silence was a result of the loss of her family. This isn’t to mark the massacre of the Curst family as a tragedy as they were among the most black-hearted people to live, but rather to recognize that to a small child watching your family die will leave terrible scars. Even if your family is full of villains.

That impression it seems wasn't wholly true though as she began to show a different side of herself to me rather unexpectedly. During the day I would often watch the children while mending old clothes and occasionally help the children make new dolls from the fabric I couldn’t use. It was as I was doing this that she tried to approach me one afternoon only to run off when we made eye contact.

This repeated for a week straight before I finally became too curious to why she was trying to approach me only to find her knocking her head against a tree. To make matters worse the tree was showing signs that this had been going on for a while. Was she actually daft?

After a strange game of yes or no I finally understood what she wanted: to learn how to sew. Ever the one to encourage the children to gain skills that could help them make a living after they leave I agreed.

And thus my trials began.

Veronica was not a skilled person when it came to sewing. If it wasn’t for watching her I’d actually assume she was making mistakes of that level on purpose but she was bafflingly innocent of mischief. No, her sewing strangely patterned lines, accidently attaching parts of her clothes to her work or somehow sewing a button to the side with the hole was pure and innocent. It was also incredibly frustrating to watch. There should be a limit to how bad you can be at something, but she amazingly proves me wrong at every turn. Especially when you make the same mistake over and over.

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She didn’t only surprise me with her inept sewing skills but with the fact she wasn't mute. Now she didn’t say much, mostly just “yes” or “ouch” but the fact that she could speak overturned every assumption I had of her. She wasn’t daft or mute but strangely shy of people. This little discovery made me a little soft on her failings and I tried to spend more time with her. With the Gods’ blessings perhaps I could open her up to being able to communicate more.

Though despite this discovery there was another one I became aware of: she’s definitely odd. Occasionally she’d zone out in thought only to start blushing while covering her face with both hands and writhing in place. She also seems to have strange taste as when I suggested that she could make a doll she wanted to make one of those cursed walking corpses. I was able to steer her away from that by suggesting a prince or princess instead but only to see her become lost in thought and start drooling.

She doesn’t think those are food does she?

Well my worries about her reaction were unfounded as she managed to somehow create a rather lovely looking princess doll. That is until she began channelling some kind of magic and it burst in a cloud of fabric scraps and black flames.

And that was when I learned that she was also a mage.

Maybe that’s why she’s so odd.

At least that’s my prayer. If mages are odd then she should be able to find a place to belong. A child as well behaved as her deserves that much at least.

Since the exploding doll incident Veronica has busied herself with working on a new doll by patching together the scraps of the old one. Though I feel as if this gentle scene won’t last as Sister Superior Diana has sent a message to our land noble to see what he wants us to do with this child mage. If he is kind to her existence she’ll gain a new home and a sponsor to attend the Royal Mage Academy. If he is a noble who hates mages her future will be bleak and short. For such an innocent child I pray it's the former outcome and not the latter. Too many innocent children die under the hands of nobles who want to repress mages outside of their own bloodlines after all.

While we await this coming judgement perhaps I can keep her from trying to use magic on this new doll too.