"All that surrounds us is the foundation of life, the birthplace of what your science calls midi-chlorians, the foundation of what connects the Living Force and the Cosmic Force. When a living thing dies, all is renewed. Life passes away from the Living Force into the Cosmic Force and becomes one with it. One powers the other. One is renewed by the other."―Serenity[src]
I don't even know for sure whether I was born or made. I simply existed for as long as I can remember. There were no parents to take care of me, but I wasn't homeless. Most people referred to my living accommodations as an orphanage. Most of those who lived there did have parents, knew they had parents but had been abandoned. I was not like them. There was no record of my having parents. There wasn't even a record of my arriving at the orphanage. I simply existed there.
For this, I was often treated poorly. When people knew that there wasn't anyone out there that had ever cared for you, they tended not to care for you either. At least, this was the case for me. Presumably, it isn't the case for everyone.
The worst jobs were left to me: cleaning toilets, taking care of the sick, cleaning up vomit and feces from other children. At the time I found it terrible, demeaning, and heartless work. I can remember many nights of crying myself to sleep in a corner of a closet where I would be left alone by the other children simply because I had mops and cleaning supplies I could defend myself with. For a long time, I hated my life. There were days I wished death would take me. There were days I wished I could do unspeakable things to the people who hurt me. I couldn't, though. I never was able to willingly harm someone for being mean to me.
Despite people saying I was beautiful, or maybe because of it, I was never adopted. I reached the age of seventeen still sleeping in a closet at night. Of course, by then I'd realized I had abilities that other people didn't. I believe it was my exhibiting those abilities that kept the monsters at bay until they kicked me out on my own. I don't see what else it could have been since I never fought back.
Outside the orphanage, I realized there was a whole other breed of monster to contend with. There was no daily food allowance. There was no clothing allowance. There was no shelter unless I provided it myself. I was not equipped for survival. I spent days begging for food or work. I did things that I wish I never had to just to be able to afford a bit of bread and meat. Nights I spent huddled under pieces of scrap tin in alleys, or beneath benches, and sometimes even in trees because it was safer than being caught on the ground. More than once I was run off by the authorities for being vagrant. I was constantly hungry, malnourished, and dirt laded. My clothes were tattered ribbons of their former selves.
And that was when he found me.
