apolline lyn ; d4 cb

They assume that because she is gentle she must also be kind. Which is not to say she's incapable of such a thing, but it's interesting that so many feel entitled to it. It must be a great disappointment when they realize that does not come easy to her. No, Lin is more familiar with the burn of jealousy and ache of greed - with the pride earned by her upbringing in One and the bitter shame which accompanied her fall.

She barely remembers her childhood home, unfortunate but inevitable now that she's spent more than half her life apart from it. Interdistrict travel was not so common when she was eight, her parents pulled quite a few strings to make sure they'd be rid of her. Not that she could blame them, considering what she'd done.

Still, there's little prestige in being sent to a career academy so far off Four's coast that they've got to sail two hours back to the mainland on weekends. Sometimes if she's feeling a bit too full of pride she'll ask the Ferryman if there's any letters for her. There never is. Her humility is a knot of scar tissue.

There's beauty in her silence. Grace in her subtle smiles. Considered unremarkable in every aspect of her education, she's found survival as easy as blending in to the upholstery. She does her best not to think about all the ways in which that hurts.

She survives because it's her only choice.

And she asks no other questions.