"As I mentioned before, I learned everything on my own," Erza said, her voice distant, as if she were speaking from across a vast chasm of time.
"I was truly alone. My mother saw everything, but she did not know how to protect me. Her decision seemed right to her, the Edict of Silence, the exile within the palace walls.
But the one thing she never considered was how it would impact me. How the silence would seep into my bones. How the emptiness would become my only companion."
She paused, her fingers tracing the rim of her teacup.
"I was so lonely that I made friends with the stars." A small, bittersweet smile touched her lips. "Each star became my friend. I would look up at the night sky and talk to them, tell them about my day, about the books I had read, about the dreams I could not escape. They were the only ones who listened. The only ones who did not turn away."
