and sorry I could not travel both
and be one traveler, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, and just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
Phoenix's mother possessed a secret, one she kept from everyone and in the end would take it to her grave. Phoenix's father was a dark fae, whom she had fallen deeply in love with and could never be involved with. He had loved her as well, and though he could not free her and not stay by her side, he granted her the only gift he could. Thus, she became pregnant with Phoenix. He told her the child will be different, that she would have certain powers, but what he would not say...it is not certain he knew all.
So, she raised her little child in the harem of the slaver who owned her and kept Phoenix from prying eyes. She was able to keep the truth from her till she went thru puberty. The hormone change in her brought out the magick within her that has long lain dormant and could no longer be denied. Finally, she confronted her mother and her mother told her that she was different than most and that her father had been a magickal creature.
On that day, her mother made her swear to never reveal to anyone the secret of her history. If she was to use her magick, then it was to be made to look like she was casting magic, like normal magic users. Phoenix made her promise and at the age of 14 was placed in the pens for rent. The slaver was quite pleased, for she had grown lovely and knew she would make him lots of money.