Tim’s arms had mostly avoided the wrath of that long ago blood curse, merely lined with scars from the times they had burst open. They worked pretty well most of the time, although he couldn’t always account for two of his fingers doing what he asked of them.

  The problem was his face of course. His entire head really. He had shattered, jagged cracks running up his jaw, along his forehead and across his head. He had not often looked in the mirror since his 18th birthday.

  This was Prince Timothy’s situation when a strange woman came to his house one day. Bright and early, just as the sun crested the horizon he heard a knock on the door.

  “Hello! Good morning!” The voice that spoke was high and cheery, though Tim thought he hears squeaking.

  “Good morning! To what do I owe the pleasure!” Tim yelled through the door to his visitor, wary since he had never had a visitor before. He did have manners however.

  “I am looking for Prince Timothy! I have something for him.” The voice was still cheerful sounding.

  Tim had been worried about this. The only reason anyone would want to be in the presence of someone like him was to try to cull favor with his parents…or take revenge for who they were.

  “That is me, although I would tell anyone who asked to just call me Tim please.” He approached the door and opened it a sliver, peeking out at his first visitor.

  The woman outside the door looked like a local. This close to the castle the King and Queen allowed their serfs a reasonable standard of living. They were evil, but also very smart. The woman had on a green dress with a brown top. A small raven feather in her hair and her nice shoes made Tim realize it was the Festival of Air.

  “Hello.” Tim opened the door and looked at her expectantly. He had no idea what she wanted or if she “Prince Tim!” Her face didn’t slip when she saw him, she touched the feather on her head and said.

  “With the Breeze.”

  “The Breeze.” He replied and touched the same spot on his head. He had never actually participated in any holidays before so he wasn’t sure if he was doing it right.

  The visitor smiled and offered him a basket of apples he hadn’t noticed her carrying. Tim took it and stood there, not ready for the next words the woman spoke.

  “I can make you look normal. I can’t cure you. No one can.” Her expression didn’t change as she spoke, vaguely cheery. “I have a potion that will make you appear normal to everyone else.”

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  Tim’s heart leapt, completely unprepared to hear this. His dream spoken out loud. He would love to just seem normal. He felt normal. He didn’t feel any different then anyone else, but they all treated him like he was. For his deformities. Reasons completely out of his control.

  Tim tried to be cautious but could not. The woman told him the price for a potion. And it was a terrible price indeed. Tim paid it.

  “You drink the potion at sunrise and you will look normal until sunset. When the sun goes down, you are you.” She told him this with the same detached cheer she had shown the entire time.

  Tim shut the door right behind her and stared at the potion she had left. Any previous attempts to hide his curse had failed. The way the woman had spoke though, Tim knew this was real. It would work this time.

  After his visitor departed Tim laid out his clothes for the next day. He picked out green breeches he had only worn to the Midnight Dinner he had been obligated to attend. Matched to them was a brown tunic he had never worn, too proud of its looks to ruin it with his own. As always he would wear his exploring shoes, supple leather footwear that had carried him around much of this area. He decided against a hat or any other sort of obscuring accessories, he needed to know if the price he had paid was worth it. Tim lay awake in bed long into the night, dreaming of a sun that would rise on a version of him that could blend in with everyone else.

  When the sun did wake Tim with its very first rays he wasted no time. Tim washed and dressed in the near darkness. The potion stood on the table just in front of the window, drawing Tim’s attention every few seconds.

  Tim wasn’t sure exactly when sunrise began so he had decided to drink the potion when the sun had pulled itself halfway from the earth and into the sky. While the sun struggled slowly up Tim strapped his two blades to his body. A small dagger good for work and hunting, and a longer blade, sharpened to a edge that only had one use.

  While the King and Queen protected their borders fiercely from other kingdoms, if a brigand started preying on innocent folk or an Empty escaped from The Darkness and made its home near a village the citizens were on their own. So Tim always traveled armed, and knew well how to use them.

  The sun had reached its place, Tim drank the potion. He grimaced in anticipation but the taste was not what he had anticipated. It was sweet and thick, like the dark honey of the bees from the mountains. It went down smoothly and lay with a pleasant warmth in his stomach.

  The deed was done and Tim had not immediately perished, which pleased him. He walked over to the lone mirror perched above the washing basin. He looked at himself through its grimy surface…and could see that he was not cracked.

  With wonder Tim raised his hands to his face, fingertips tracing the cracks the curse was driving into his head. He could feel them under his touch, but in the mirror his fingers ran across smooth skin. It had worked.

  A surge went through Tim, a feeling he had not had before, one he could not recognize or put a name to. But it felt good. Tim then became very nervous, an anxiety that had not plagued him until now. It was working! He had to make the most of this. He had a plan in his mind…one he had played over and over in his mind last night and all this morning.

  Now that the moment had actually come Tim felt overwhelmed with doubt. He may look normal now but he didn’t have the social skills to pull this off. What if the potion wore off early? The only worse thought then the potion not working was it working for just long enough for Tim to start to talk to people before it wore off and left Tim unmasked and cracked in front of people who thought him normal.