Years went by, and the glory came, always like a dream. I did not enjoy it. Self-loathing and fear held me tight. I was scarred by their chains. Yet, always the Burning Lady came to me. She smiled at me from afar. I trembled at her for the gift she brought me that I was not prepared for. She continued to speak to me, but I could not hear her.
I came to recognize the fear I brought to others. Once, I followed someone who dared to come into my safe, familiar forest. They did not see me, but their terror was thick. They screamed at me as they ran, and I chased them with great joy. Like a child with a new toy. My laughter was great, for the first time I felt a purpose to this curse that was my glory. So, I did it many times, always careful enough not to be seen. To this day, they never knew it was me. But, they all loathed my familiar forest and I was glad.
The love of my life was like me. She was rejected by people. Ostracized for being different. She is beautiful, and the light within her is beautiful. But, she rarely lets the light shine because she loathes the world that rejected her. She was more like me than she knows.
I feared to tell her of my glorious curse, so I hid it from her. I would go alone into the woods and she never asked why, or wanted to go. In the trees I sat and watched the people go by. They never saw me.
One Spring day on the trail, I wallowed in my glorious curse. I saw her, my love, my mate. She was walking on the trail, looking for me, with our daughter in her arms. Years of not wanting to go into the woods was laid aside this day as she set out on an adventure to find me.
Fear, loathing, shame, nakedness, terror, trembling all seized me. The chains tightened around my throat. Maybe, like the girl in the woods long before, she would see me and accept me. Maybe she would call to me. Maybe she would recognize me and free me from my bonds of shame. I could show her my glory, and she could meet the Burning Lady. Or maybe she would run from me and I would lose my mate. I would never see the light in her eyes again.
She drew closer, clutching our child in her arms. I hesitated... I stopped breathing.
She saw me. I smelled her fear. The beast wanted to chase her and laugh, the man was locked in fear.
She turned on the trail and fled home. I remained on the trail in shame. My self-loathing was all-encompassing. It became the nail that pierced my heart. If my mother could not accept me, and my mate could not accept me, then I was unredeemable. I cursed the very day that the Burning Woman came to me. I cursed my glorious gift. I remained unprepared.
