Anna laughs at Ven's comments. Then she turns to the wizard, her icy blue eyes full of sadness and pain. "I want to be able to heal my older brother's spine so that he can run and hunt again, because maybe then my brothers will find me of more use to them than they... currently do. Maybe then they'll let me have some freedom." Her mouth trembles, and she crosses her arms around her waist and bows her head so no one can see the tears sliding down her cheeks. Her fifteenth brother, Alexander, was the only one who was ever nice to her. He had tried to teach her crossbow and longbow and javelin, and had helped her make her sling and taught her how to make the ammunition. But their lessons had to stop when the boys were out hunting and they came rushing home carrying a grievously injured Alex. They claimed it was an accident, that he had been thrown from his horse and trampled, but the bruises were all in the shape of her brothers' bootprints. And then, without Alex to protect her, the other boys had... [i]No. Better not to think about it. Better not to think about it or you'll panic the next time Ven touches you. Better not to think about it or you'll wake up screaming in the middle of the night and you'll have to explain to everyone.[/i]