Hey! This is wonderful. LOVE: the title! hah. thats what caught my attention in the first place. love also: how she wants to learn words, and how you draw that through the story. dont know if that was intentional or not, but yeah. it was... artistic.

you've created a very believable character here and i loved the historical tie-ins (i had a fealing you were talking about a real artist fairly early on, but wasn't sure until the author's note). nice, and origional.

Wow this is really interesting and very original. I love your characterisation here, such as the fear of men, and the way that you are able to tell such a detailed story in so few words. How did you come up with the idea, by the way, if you don't mind me asking? The way that fact and fiction mix together is really well done, as is the first person narration--a very believable character. Good job!