Is the rumor real? You did not know, but it was not the best time for you to think of it. Now you needed to buy rice, vegetables, and meat for today's dinner. 

        Your name was Cinder and that is how others call you, but you know you are slightly different from others. You have black hair and eyes, and have another name from the East, Ye Lan. To escape a mandatory marriage with a violent king, your mother left her hometown in the East and comes to the town you live now. She died when you were seven. Now you live with your stepmother and two stepsisters who all treated you as the housemaid. 

        You know Cinderella story. When you are a kid, mother always read beautiful fairy tales for you. You feel as if you were Cinderella -- you have a similar experience and name, but you know both of your names don't come from the antagonist. Your father named you Cinder, because he wishes that you can be a fire that won’t die inside. When you were born, it was just dawn in the winter. Father wanted to replace burned woods in the fireplace, but he found out that some of them were still combustible. That’s how your father named you.

        Your mother gave you the name "Lan". Besides fairy tales, she also told you legends from the East. She said there was a powerful and brave female general named Mu Lan, and she hoped that you can be strong and powerful as well.

        However, how to be strong and powerful? What are the definitions? You don't really know. Your mother died before she taught you life. Now you are seventeen years old. You don't have many other friends, but you made friendship with Bill and Bella, two blue birds, and Jaq and Gus, two gray rabbits.