A Newborn Mind in a Baby's Body
My body was useless.
My mind?
Sharp. Awake. Aware.
I hated how slow everything felt.
My head was heavy, my limbs weak, my voice trapped behind a mouth that could only make small sounds.
But I learned to use what I had:
Listening, even when people thought I was asleep.
Watching, even when my eyes could barely focus.
Feeling intentions, instincts sharper than they should be.
Living in the League meant danger breathed beside me every moment.
And I had to adapt.
The Sound of Blades and Training
From day one, I heard it constantly:
Steel slicing air.
Feet striking stone.
Grunts of warriors training before sunrise.
The assassins trained in the courtyard outside my room.
Even as a baby, I memorized their rhythms, their movements.
Some people think babies can't understand anything.
Wrong.
I couldn't speak, but I learned more in a month than most adults do in a year.
About three weeks after my birth, something changed.
I was lying in Talia's arms, drifting between sleep and alertness, when I felt a shift in the air.
A presence.
A cold, sharp intent creeping from the shadows.
My small body tensed instinctively.
Talia noticed it instantly.
Her voice dropped to a blade's edge:
"Show yourself."
An assassin stepped out, bowing.
"Lady Talia… I was told to observe the child."
Lie.
Even with a newborn's heartbeat, I felt the hidden hostility.
He wasn't here to observe.
He was here to evaluate.
To test.
Maybe even to eliminate a potential threat — me.
But I couldn't speak.
I couldn't point.
All I could do was tighten my grip on my mother's robe.
She responded for me.
"This child is not to be tested."
Her fingers curled around me protectively.
"Not without my command."
The assassin bowed lower, hiding his frustration.
Talia didn't blink.
She held me tighter.
And for the first time in this new life…
I felt safe
My Mother — The Unexpected Warmth
I never expected this.
Talia al Ghul — feared assassin, daughter of the Demon's Head — was gentle with me.
Not fake gentle.
Not calculated gentle.
Real.
She held me often.
Fed me herself.
Hummed ancient lullabies that made my tiny heartbeat calm.
Sometimes she whispered to me like I could understand everything:
"You are my legacy."
"You will surpass every warrior here."
"You will not be a slave to fate. Not if I can help it."
Her voice was soft, but the worry beneath it was sharp.
She didn't fear me.
She feared losing me.
And that made me want to grow faster — stronger — immediately.
It happened quietly.
Too quietly.
Talia had gone to a meeting with Ra's.
Two guards stood outside my room, but that didn't matter. Assassins moved like ghosts.
I felt the danger before I saw anything.
A shadow slipped through the window.
Silent. Deadly.
His movements were slow — not to be gentle, but to be careful. Calculating.
He stared at me like I wasn't a baby.