... and overcome adversity.
The words that her mother had uttered telepathically to her the day before, the words that had rang like chorus bells of salvation in the Dusk Kuhna's deaf ears, were now but another painful reminder of the predicament that she was in, the predicament she'd been in since the day she was born. Even as she walked blindly--literally--into the caverns of crystal, Nochina could hear the shadow of these words, echoing in her mind's ear as she carefully moved her cane from side to side, making sure not to step blindly into a rock.
Her cane bumped into a small shard of crystal as she continued to walk, her tattered black hair tied into a messy ponytail, and the knee-length dress she wore was black and covered in glitter, to look like the night sky. Her eyes, which were a soft silver, were dull and blank--like they'd been since the day she was born. She could feel herself bump into someone, but she did not hear their infuriated response. It was days like this, where she ventured out of the safety of her trainer's home, that she was oddly grateful for being deaf.
She couldn't hear when people were angry with her.
[1.1]