One evening in early winter, after a day of schooling, chores, and working with Tante Bettina, Katja was exhausted and couldn't wait to scrub the dirt and metal fragments from herself before climbing into bed. Hurrying towards the dormitory, she stepped aside just in time to avoid being hit by the door as it swung open, revealing Elise, trailed, as always, by Mila and Rosamund.

Katja tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, not wanting to draw attention to herself and hoping Elise would simply ignore her and continue on to wherever she was going.

To her surprise, though, Elise stopped and smiled at her.

"Sorry about that!" she said, gesturing with her head towards the door, causing her twin blond braids to glint in the hallway lights.

"It's fine," replied Katja, fixing her gaze firmly on the stone floor.

"We were just headed to the steam room," offered Elise. "You should come with us."

Katja's head jerked up in surprise. Elise had never invited her anywhere, to do anything, before. A part of her wondered why she was being so nice now, but another part, the part that was lonely and eager for a friend, couldn't help but feel hopeful and perhaps even a little excited.

"Really?" she finally asked when it was clear Elise was waiting for an answer.

"Really!" replied Elise with a laugh. "Go get your robe, and we'll meet you there." She smiled again, then took off down the hall, head held high even as her friends glanced back, clearly uncertain as to what had just happened.

Katja watched the girls go. Normally, she preferred to bathe when there was no one else around, and the same went for using the steam room, as she didn't relish others staring at her scarred arms. She'd been undressed among her peers before, of course, but it had always been for a very short amount of time, typically just long enough to change clothes.

Then again, no one had teased her about her scars for a while now. Not to mention, Elise had seemed sincere, and while it was certainly new behavior from her, perhaps she'd decided there was no point in being mean since they all had to live with one another. Perhaps this was her way of apologizing for how she'd treated Katja in the past.

A very small voice warned Katja this might be some sort of trick, but she quickly silenced the voice and hurried into the dormitory, her mind made up.

Changing out of her dirty clothes, Katja hurriedly pulled on her robe, shivering both from the cool night air and the excitement of finally being invited to something. So, this was what it felt like to be included...it was wonderful!

Today she would finally become friends with Elise, and then she wouldn't feel so alone all the time, so different from the other girls who eyed her with suspicion and not a small amount of disdain. Elise was pretty and popular, and if she thought Katja was good enough to share the steam room with, Katja had no doubt other children would follow.

A smile tugged the corners of her mouth upwards, and she practically ran down the hall, giddy as her slippers struck the flagstone floor.

Elise and her friends were already in the steam room, and Katja hung her robe on a hook next to theirs, then pulled back the door and stepped into the thick, heated air, her skin prickling at the sudden change in temperature. As the steam dissipated, she could make out Elise and the other girls perched on the teak benches.

"Come sit up here!" Elise called, getting to her feet and holding out her hand, ready to help Katja up. Katja eagerly clasped Elise's hand and was about to step onto the raised bench when her gaze landed on the other girl's arm.

Katja blinked, not understanding why Elise's arm was covered in bright, shiny silver lines...both of Elise's arms, she realized, looking from one to the other, her confusion growing.

"What's on your—" she started to ask, but looking up at Elise's face, the words died on Katja's tongue, and she froze, unable to speak, move, or even breathe.

Running down Elise's left cheek was a bright silver line, tracing the exact path as Katja's scar. Katja jerked her hand from Elise's and clutched it to her chest, taking a step back.

The spelled lighting overhead increased, and Katja's eyes widened in horror as she looked at Rosamund and Mila. They, too, had silver streaks running down their left cheeks and swirling around their arms.

She tried to tell herself this was merely a dream, just a terrible nightmare she'd eventually wake up from, but to her horror, she didn't.

"We just wanted you to feel like you fit in," Elise explained with a far too-bright smile. "You know, since you look so different from the rest of us. We thought it might make you feel normal."

She snickered, and Katja's heart dropped to her feet, where she would have sworn it shattered into a thousand pieces.

"I never asked to have scars," she managed to say, her voice catching on the sobs trapped in her throat. "I don't even know how I got them." She couldn't tell if she was trying to defend herself by offering an explanation or subtly begging Elise to overlook her disfigurement, but neither option appeared to deter the other girl.

"Maybe you were born with them," Elise said, arching one eyebrow. "Maybe there was something so wrong with you, you were born covered in scars."

"No," croaked Katja. "That's not—"

"—Oh, it doesn't matter," interrupted Elise, shaking her head and sitting back down. "However you got them, you're still ugly. You think you're so much better than the rest of us, selling your jewelry, but no one is ever going to be your friend." She smirked at Katja. "At least you're used to not having things...after all, you don't even have a mother."

The dam Katja had desperately been trying to hold up suddenly burst, too many painful emotions surging forward at once, and she lowered her head as tears began to fall, much to the delight of Elise and the other girls.

She wrapped her arms around herself, attempting to cover as many scars with her hands as she could, then rushed out of the steam room, letting the door slam behind her as she tugged on her robe and ran out of the bathroom. The girls' laughter seemed to float behind her, and she feared it would somehow catch her if she wasn't fast enough.

Collapsing onto her bed, Katja pressed her face into her pillow, sobbing so hard her entire body shook.

It wasn't fair!

She'd never done anything mean to Elise; she'd only tried to sit with her or talk to her. What was so wrong with Katja that made Elise hate her so much? Was this just how people who looked different were treated? Her scars were no more than marks on her skin—they didn't have anything to do with who she was as a person or as a witch.

Katja sobbed as much from not understanding as from the pain inflicted by Elise's cruel teasing. It was bad enough being different in a way that could never be healed, but it would have been tolerable if she'd at least had a mother to comfort her. Being reminded just how alone she was made Katja feel almost as bad as being teased about her scars.

Disfigured and an orphan—it was too horrible, and Katja alternated between wishing she'd never been born and that she could somehow wake up with a new body, in a new life, where labels like ugly and different would never apply to her.

Eventually, she cried herself to sleep.

In the weeks after the steam room incident, Katja did her best to avoid Elise, keeping her focus on her classes and her metal work, and for a while it seemed as if things might be getting better. Perhaps Elise had decided she'd won whatever war she'd been fighting, and now she would finally leave Katja alone.

But the reprieve turned out to be short-lived, for all Elise had really decided was that Katja made for easy prey.

One day as Katja was walking through the castle hallways and turned a corner, taking the shortest route to her lesson with Tante Bettina, she suddenly gasped—Elise, Rosamund, and Mila were standing up ahead, talking in the shadows of an alcove.

They grinned at her, as if they'd been waiting for just such an opportunity...which, Katja realized, they likely had. She seldom varied from her weekly routines, so it wouldn't be difficult to learn where she might be at any given time.

She immediately spun around and began walking faster as she retraced her steps, hoping she could reach a busier passageway in time, but the slapping of shoes against stone told her the girls were getting closer. Just before she burst into a sprint herself, someone grabbed her arm and jerked her to a stop.

"Where are you going?" asked Elise, a cruel smile on her face. "We were hoping to find you. We thought you might want to play a game with us."

"I don't," Katja shook her head, her heart thumping wildly. "Please, I was just trying to—"

"—It's an easy game," interrupted Elise as she and the other girls formed a circle around Katja. "All you have to do is look at yourself in a mirror, admit how ugly you are, and we'll let you go."

She and the other girls proceeded to pull small mirrors out of their pockets, holding them towards Katja, and trying to force her to look at her reflection. Katja darted forward, but Elise and Rosamund moved so they were standing shoulder to shoulder, blocking her exit and forcing her backwards.

Katja looked wildly around, desperate for an escape, but every way she turned, two of the girls moved to stand together, forming a seemingly impenetrable barrier.

"Just look at yourself and say, 'I'm ugly,'" taunted Elise, waving her mirror at Katja. "We all know it's the truth."

Katja tried to break free again, but Mila and Rosamund shoved her back into the center, holding up their mirrors and taunting her.

Tears began to stream down Katja's face, and she did the only thing she could think of—she sank to the floor, put her head between her knees, and pressed her hands against her ears, her body shaking as she tried to block out the girls' taunts.

It seemed as if it would never end, but suddenly she heard Elise say, "Wait...someone's coming."

The girls hurried off down the hallway without another word, leaving Katja alone, and she'd just removed her hands from her ears when another witch—the one Elise had foreseen—stepped around the corner. Tante Eva came to a quick stop at the sight of Katja on the floor, then stepped forward to help her up.

"What happened?" she asked. "Are you alright?"

Katja remembered what had happened the last time she'd gone to an adult for help, and, just wanting to be alone, she quickly stood up and brushed off her dress.

"I'm fine," she lied, keeping her eyes downcast. "I just tripped and was upset."

Katja wasn't actually clumsy, but Tante Eva didn't know her well enough to realize the falsehood. As everyone else in the castle tended to do, the older witch assumed Katja had friends or loved ones to go to for further comforting and, seeing as how the girl wasn't in immediate danger, she simply smiled and nodded understandingly before continuing on her way.

Stepping into the nearest bathroom, Katja washed her hands before splashing cold water on her face, careful to avoid looking at herself in the oversized mirror above the sink. Her hands were shaking, and she jumped at a sudden creaking noise, afraid Elise and the other girls had returned; thankfully, it was just the usual groaning of the ancient castle.

After a few moments, she forced herself to return to the hallway, then ran as fast as she could to the smithy, apologizing profusely to Tante Bettina while silently berating herself for causing the blacksmith to scowl over her tardiness.

She would simply have to start leaving for classes earlier and taking different routes to get there; that way, even if Elise found her and tormented her again, at least she wouldn't be late to her lessons and viewed as someone who didn't care about learning.

Gathering pieces of steel in preparation for the lesson, Katja's heart was heavy. It seemed that, even with a useful affinity, life wasn't destined to become easier for her anytime soon.

(Artwork by Free-Photos from Pixabay)