Beautiful, people had called her from the moment she could understand they were speaking of her. They had murmured it to their friends or to her parents and often, as she grew older, they would say it to her face, never feeling they were rude, never seeing that such personal evaluations were intrusive and unwanted. They felt themselves to be applauding her, praising her for her cleverness. But she had accomplished nothing in being beautiful so why should she be awarded honour for it? If an award must be given for an innate quality, then why not an award for good health?
Ember thought of her beauty as a tawdry consolation prize given to one who missed out on the real prize. Sorry, we can’t give you health, but we do have this beauty you can have instead. The only catch is that it won’t last long, but then again, neither will you.
”- Isobelle Carmody, Darksong