Alexendrei 'Sno' Ferredin (Modern AU)

This AU solely revolves around the relationship between Alexendrei in Maria and how it developed. The story is set in the modern age in Eraden, few thousand years post-canon.

Alexendrei
Location
Unlike in canon, he remained in his homeland Tarrterra. He's spent most of his life in a small community north of the capital Barren Gates called Kyelre'hen. Kyelre'hen is a small village-like settlement of scattered semi-underground houses, all of which are connected to the Rexaria-held fort in the middle. It's been dubbed "the settlement in the least habitable part of Eraden" due to the year-round winter-like weather and very rare safe surface areas. Within Kyelre'hen, Alexendrei has found himself living in near isolation on a ranch on the outskirts of the settlement. 

The ranch
He is unsure whether the owners of his ranch are his biological parents,  foster parents, or just people who needed free labor. A silent  agreement between him and them arose at one point: every two months or  so they would supply him with enough food and other necessities and he'd take care of the ranch. "Ranch" isn't exactly a proper word for it as the point of it is not to raise cattle for slaughter/milk/etc. While there are a few animals such as a single dermar, a single herja, three ervas, three tetenkas, and a few mannas, the ranch's main function is to be a hub for syllks to target instead of bothering the rest of Kyelre'hen. Alexendrei takes great pleasure in looking after syllks who find themselves on the ranch for one reason or another. Rarely any of them stay for long, as eventually they yearn to return to their colonies. The only one that stayed is a killer syllk cub, whom Alexendrei dubbed "Olive"(he is not good at naming things).
Despite the comfortable size of the house he inhabits on the ranch,  Alexendrei barely owns anything of note. For one reason or another, he  dislikes clutter and opts to only have things that serve some purpose on  the ranch. From some old books he's learned how to cook for himself and  how to fix up his clothes. Long-sleeve sweaters are the best choice for  long work days on the ranch, though the material irritates hiss skin.  The only thing that breaks his rules on possessions is a weathered  plush, whose species has been long lost to time. He keeps it on his bed  at all times and makes sure that it is fixed up as soon as any of the  stitches start faltering.

Personality
Years of living in isolation have shaped Alexendrei into a quiet and practical man. He can go weeks without speaking a word to anything or anyone(besides, the manna and ervas do all the talking). Despite the hard work and lack of other ghalla, he doesn't seem to mind living and working on the ranch. In his own words: "As long as I have a place to sleep, it's fine". Since Syllkherets aren't obliged by Arabelean law to pursuit education higher than the elementary level, the owners of the ranch never bothered enrolling him into any school. While not formally educated, Alexendrei does enjoy reading and during his very are outings into Kyelre'hen with his herja Tetya he often visits the local library and bookshop to update the ranch's library. The librarians and bookshop keepers know him well and are happy to see him live another year, though the same can't be said for all residents of Kyelre'hen. Anti-Syllkheret superstition still runs rampant in less urbanized areas, leading to many people of Kyelre'hen being uneasy around Syllkherets, especially those as large and "strange" as Alexendrei.
Alexendrei has barely spent any time around ghalla of his own age and as a result his social skills are in the negatives. He has a hard time relating to the usual struggles of Arabeleans in their early 20s and prefers to stay away from conversation and engagement with others. He might've wanted to learn how to form connections with other ghalla, but has learned to accept his apparent place in the world.

Relationship with the Stigmata
At one point or another somebody from Kyelre'hen finally reported Alexendrei's existence to the authorities. The Stigmata sent out two officials to scout out the situation, since keeping track of Titans and Syllkherets in Arabey is among their greatest interests. They were shocked to see in what degree of isolation he was living. Soon they forced him to get up to date with all appropriate vaccination, thought there wasn't much else they could do. Stigmata's policy on enlisting Syllkheret soldiers isn't clear-cut, and soon Alexendrei was deemed "too socially incompetent" to be integrated into the infrastructure of the Stigmata. In order to still keep an eye on him, they decided to make him assist bi-monthly tourist visits to the greater Kyelre'hen area. These tours are organized hikes for groups of tourists up to 15 people at a time, with one armed guard and one armed tourist guide. Alexendrei's job would be to follow along and ensure that the group didn't venture into a "syllk or jerda infested" areas of the surface by mistake. He isn't too fond of this new responsibility, as the tourists tend to treat him like one of the mystical animals of the North. If anything, it's an opportunity for Tetya to stretch her legs and bite a few tourists.

Maria Auren
Moving to Arabey
Maria was born in greater Auritas region to a wealthy Hezonite family as the youngest of three siblings. She spent her early years in absolute devotion to her family and community, like a proper Hezonite girl should. Despite her best efforts, her fears and anxieties showed themselves in the form of long periods of time Maria'd spend bedridden, or bent over the toilet throwing up. Her zealot mother didn't help much as she staunchly believed that Maria was paying the price for "not being pious enough". Desperate to appease her family and the Lord Father, she enthusiastically accepted being married to a stranger from a neighboring Hezonite community. This deal would turn out to be catastrophic for her, as her "curse" kept getting worse and worse while she spent her days as essentially a live-in maid for the man and his family. The man whom she married demanded a divorce the moment he realized that she cannot have children without medical intervention, due to her family's history of questionable marriages. Ashamed and now divorced, her family sent her to a Hezonite colony in the Arabelean North, "to regain her purity somewhere else". 

Life in Tarrterra
Surprisingly enough, the Hezonite colony she was sent to in Tarrterra was much more lax than its Auritas counterpart, and Maria found herself slowly drifting away from the community. She enrolled in university to pursuit Arabelean language studies in hopes of securing a humanities/culture related job in the future. Maria quickly found work as a kindergarten teacher's assistant, a position that allowed her loving personality to shine. Slowly but surely her "curse" miraculously disappeared from her life and Maria found herself enjoying life more and more. She would join book clubs, go to workshops and even began forming friendships with Ceruleans and Arabeleans alike.

Personality
After she moved to Tarrterra Maria's personality finally had a chance to shine. Maria is a joyful and bubbly girl who is capable of talking nonstop until the day she drops(and then some more). She is extroverted and could be around people at all times. Despite her liberation, she still has some deeply ingrained Hezonite beliefs, making her have a complex relationship with herself and life in the North in general(for example, she is happy to talk to anyone despite the Hezonite life cycle beliefs, but will immediately run to pray the sin away if a man touches her). Maria does her best to break free of these fears and has found a group of friends who make the struggle easier.
Even after a few years of living alone in Barren Gates, Tarrterra, she still dearly misses her family but recognizes that there is no place for her in it. To cope, she volunteers in both Hezonite organized events as well as those organized by Arabeleans.
Maria's upbringing has shaped into a very empathetic person. She could spend a lifetime listening to people's problems and doing her best to aid them in their emotional troubles. Sometimes it's almost as if she can smell the feelings of others. This deep understanding of other's emotions usually means that her own emotions are seldom addressed.

Kyelre'hen hikes
Maria decided to apply for one of these famed hiking tours after a friend convinced her to go along. She was in awe of sights and all the animals they saw along the way, and made sure to take as many pictures as her phone can handle. After some time she noticed that Alexendrei had silently joined the group as he usually does. She immediately took an interest in him and went back to say hi. Soon enough Alexendrei found himself in a one-sided conversation with Maria, a conversation which he didn't mind at all, surprisingly enough. Tour after tour, the routine was the same: Maria would approach him as soon as he'd join the group, she'd start chatting at him rather than with him, and would return to her friend group after a while. Alexendrei slowly warmed up to her presence and even began looking forward to the tour days just so he could see her. Maria's constant chatter even slowly made him speak more as time went on.
At one point Maria's friends had enough of the hikes and decided to take up some other weekend hobby, but Maria chose to stay. From her perspective, Alexendrei was the only person she's spoken to that truly listened to her. Despite long periods of silence from his side, he'd still ask questions and even remember conversation details days after they'd happened. She was in awe of just how limitless his patience for her is. Alexendrei caught himself not only enjoying her presence, but also craving it. She might talk a lot, but at no point did he feel like she was uncomfortable around him, or too scared to say whatever crossed her mind in that moment.
Maria's friends noticed this newly formed friendship and began teasing her for her "sinful" ways. Maria was quick to deny any allegations, though she couldn't really disagree with her friends' conclusions. During one of their usual hike outings, her friends all decided to catch a bad case of "oooh my tummy hurts, I can't go today", leaving Maria and Alexendrei alone on the trail.  Maria saw through their thin facade and decided to use this moment to ask him out....if only she could muster up the courage to do so. Even after a dozen pep talks directed at herself, she was too nervous to make a move. Out of nowhere Alexendrei proposed a new arrangement: since he's been showing her around the area, it would only be fair for her to show him around Barren Gates, a place she is more familiar with.
While in Barren Gates, Maria could see that he was all but comfortable in a bustling city, but did his best to hide it for her sake.

+
It took Alexendrei significantly more time to recognize that his feelings towards Maria were more than just "not minding her presence". With nobody to turn to for advice, he decided to approach her with all of his questions. Maria interpreted his direct approach as a romantic advancement instead of a genuine question. Looking back, Maria can't exactly say when exactly they began dating. Her extensive experience with romantic movies taught her to expect a big first proclamation of love before the official start of a relationship, a proclamation which never really happened. From time to time she still asks him if he "likes" her, just to be sure. And each time Alexendrei responds with a precise "yes". On the other hand, Alexendrei will occasionally ask her if she's sure of her choice to be with him, in case someone much better comes along.
Now that she has him all to herself, Maria realized just how much he cares about her and how ready he is to fulfill her every whim and desire. She is enthusiastic to reciprocate, and enjoys watching him slowly get used to everyday affection. One downside of this is that Alexendrei is at least 200kg too heavy and a meter too tall to be as cuddly as he is. "I guess he's trying to make up for 20-something years of not crushing someone with his whole body weight."
As he usually does, Alexendrei dove deep into research to make sure Maria is as happy as she can be around him. This research also included reading holy Hezonite texts to make sure he wasn't doing anything sacrilegious. He's quickly learned where to find Hezonite-friendly ingredients and how to incorporate them into his usual cooking routine, just to be sure.