I used to have wings like a swan- I was very vain about my wings. They were soft as May breezes and as light as moonbeams, but the were better than anyone’s because I could fly the longest, and they were the biggest, brightest, and simply the best. My wings were beautiful. I was beautiful then. I was nicely thin, I had long, lithe limbs, and I shaved my hair so that it was a dark prickly cap over my skull. I was untouchable and appealing. I wore beautiful silks and laces and no one was as fine as me.

But then I my world melted like wax and pooled around me in nothing but memories. I think it was your fault, but I wouldn’t remember. However it happened, that doesn’t matter, because now I am reduced to the lowly Court of Governless. I am not beautiful in a pure, untainted way, but I am beautiful in a twisted, perverse, warped way that eats at my mind. I am small and sickly thin and my hair is tangled and wild but still beautiful like a cloud of ravens. My skin is like ivory, starlit ivory, but tainted with something vicious. I wear leather corsets with dragon bone instead of whale bone and different length skirts made of thin, rough fabrics in creams, dark reds and greens, and black. Sometimes I wear dragon tooth necklaces or take pretty threads and sew them into the top layers of my skin. And my wings- my beautiful wings are now a tangle of dry, thorny vines that scratch my back raw and catch my clothes. They are hateful. I am hateful.

I that used to know your love and the love of everyone but now I only know the love of ten silvers and a gold piece a night and an empty feeling when the customer has left. Sex with you was great because you loved me I think (I know I loved you) and nothing mattered. But somehow, I find myself sleeping with strangers I’ll never see again or even recognize because the darkness of Governless hides they’re faces. I don’t think about it that much anymore. It’s just this wrecked/wretched body I’m selling. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I can’t care.

But if you’re ever in this life-forsaken land, and you still think about me like you used to, stop by the shop. Otherwise, don’t ever come near at all. Good-bye.