Catskin

Have you ever paid the price for someone else? Did you do it willingly, or were you forced, or somewhere in between? Was the price so big it cost you everything?

Catskin sat in the heart of the forest, in the hollow of a tree. The darkness fell over her; she was hardly visible. Though if she stood in the brightness of day, her own father would be unable to recognize her. She had grabbed everything she could carry in one hand: her gold ring, a small spinning wheel, a reel, and a tree nut that carried the universe inside. With the other hand she drug the heavy fur coat over her. It swallowed her whole, before her father could devour her. She had run from his castle, grabbing ashes from the furnace on her way out, blackened her face and hands, and disappeared into the dark.

It was in her hollow tree that she was found. At first she was mistaken for a wild animal. The neighboring king was out hunting, and his hounds found her deep in the woods. I'm not sure you could call what happened next a rescue. He took her back to his kingdom, but her new position was in the belly of it, down in the kitchen, shoveling ashes. That's where she lay, day and night. Safe from her father's house, but at the lowest station from what she'd previously held.

She made her descent into hell. Stripped of her name and replaced by a description: Catskin. It's all anyone on the outside could see. It's all she wanted them to see. The ring is still in her pocket. So is the seed.