S | Aelonwyn

Aelonwyn awoke to a sun rising above the horizon, on the day of 21 Season of the Colossus in 1320 AE. The sky between the Pale Tree’s branches was bathed in gold and orange from the rising sun as much of the nature around was waking up with it. Birds chirped and fluttered by, a few fern hounds chased each other about in playfulness, and it was overall just another wonderful day in the Grove.

But Aelonwyn couldn’t see any of it.

She came out of her pod unable to see anything, and even in her Dream she hadn’t been able to see the sounds all around her. When she came out of her pod, she was frightened, having no idea of where she was or what was going on and immediately tried to hide away from where she could hear others gathering around. She could almost feel those voices looking at her, whispering amongst themselves about what was wrong with her. Why was she so frightened?

After a long moment, she heard someone approach, and could feel their empathy as a calm and soothing warmth. She felt a steady hand on her shoulder as the other sylvari murmured to her that she was alright, that she was in the Grove amongst friends, the home of the sylvari race. She had Awakened from the Dream, which was apparently all of what she’d heard and smelled and felt before this moment. The sylvari introduced himself as Derrien.

Derrien would go on to be her teacher and guide. Aelonwyn was awful, at first; everything was difficult to do and she had no idea how to navigate well. She got frustrated far too easily and hated herself for it...which usually just allowed her negative feelings to build up even more than what they were. It was mostly a never ending cycle with her until Derrien stepped in to calm her down and make her see reason.

The one thing she admired most about the other sylvari was that he was so persistent and confident, determined that Aelonwyn could do it even when she felt she was at her lowest points. Today, she thinks only fondly of him...and thinks that she probably dragged him through hell and back with her attitude and behavior. How he put up with her will always be a mystery.

Derrien taught her a lot. Anything she wanted and needed to know. What she most appreciated him for was him teaching her how to feel the earth and environment around her to know how to move around it. It was much like how she felt the empathy of her fellow sylvari around her, but just with nature instead. Through this, she learned a lot about how to weave the world around her into the shape she requested of it, helping to make pretty structures throughout the Grove and within Caledon. Over her first couple of years, Aelonwyn simply spent all of her time here, enjoying the company of Derrien and those sylvari that didn’t immediately act weird around her or just always ask about her eyes.

Aelonwyn would have been content with that. Happy, even. It was a simple life and she quite enjoyed the Grove. And when she ventured out into Caledon, she was always careful of where she went, never venturing too far from Astorea for fear of running into something she wouldn’t be able to protect herself from. But maybe she wandered a little too far off the beaten path one day. She’s still not entirely sure. Whatever the case, she soon found herself in the clutches of some Nightmare Courtiers looking to cause trouble.

Luckily for her, a warden patrol passed by before the courtiers could kill her or take her back to their camp or anything. She was brought to the village and had her wounded looked at by one of the menders there. After that encounter she felt...weak. Vulnerable. She had never realized before just how defenseless she was. Then again, she’d never run into a situation like that. But it made Aelonwyn realize she was no longer content to just sit around the Grove and Caledon living out the life of a peaceful blind sylvari. The seed of her hatred for the Court, and the hatred of her blindness, was planted. And she would then soon go to seek someone willing to teach her how to fight.

Derrien was her first choice, of course, having been the one to teach her in the first place how to maneuver on her own using magic. However, he seemed very unwilling to teach her how to fight, and refused to do so no matter how nicely she attempted to ask. He just didn’t want to do it. It hurt her heart, but it didn’t come close to breaking her spirit. So she went out around the Grove, looking to the combat trainers in an attempt to find anyone that would teach her. Finally she found her salvation in a sylvari by the name of Cillian, a night cycle mentor that focused mostly on training saplings to defend themselves.

After speaking with him, he seemed very interested in her situation and seemed more than willing to help her. Though he himself wasn’t that well-versed in magic, he knew a lot about it, and was able to guide Aelonwyn as she’d go on to learn how to utilize the world around her to defend herself. She was able to connect easiest with the earth and air, and Cillian’s guidance helped her to understand how to bend the elements to defend herself.

She spent a number of years under his tutelage and grew to be a skilled fighter. She put herself to use by helping out around Caledon, protecting sylvari from any sort of threats, including the Nightmare Court. She thought a lot about joining the wardens, but...something always kept her from doing so. Perhaps because she was always so wary of being around others from the early isolation she endured. She was afraid they’d just isolate her again because of her blindness, even though she proved to be a force to be reckoned with. So she pretty much kept her distance from everyone, acting as a lone vigilante more than anything--Cillian was really the only one she kept in-touch with on a regular basis.

With her nearing the age of six...she found herself desiring more. Sure, it was fulfilling to know she was looking out for her fellow brothers and sisters, but it wasn’t completely satisfying her need to prove herself. It’s not that she wanted to show off to anyone, but she wanted to prove to even herself that she was capable of taking on any challenge Tyria had to throw at her.

In the Grove, Aelonwyn often heard a lot about the Orders of Tyria. The brave Vigil, the smart Priory, and the secretive Whispers, but...none of that completely appealed to her. She liked many things about each of them, but she just didn’t know how comfortable she’d be around other people all the time. Especially non-sylvari. It’s not as if she’d had problems before them with the other races, but she also hadn’t interacted with them all that much, either. And some of the stories she heard, especially of the asura…

It wasn’t until she heard of the Mists that she felt truly interested about. A couple of warriors were passing through the Grove, looking for recruits, and Aelonwyn questioned them a lot about it. From how it sounded, it seemed like something right up her ally--even if it wasn’t just some all-sylvari thing, it didn’t seem as structured as the Orders and wasn’t always about fighting as a group. She liked the sound of that.

So, at just about the age of six, Aelonwyn set out for the Mists. And that’s where she stayed and thrived. Honing her skills and challenging anything that tried getting in her way. As much as, for her, it was a good part of her life for development, it’s also a time she feels weird talking about. It wasn’t really all that eventful, anyways.

During the roughly two years she spent out there, she went in as an elemental-controlling magic-user and came out as a magic-user channelling the Mists and using the power of legends rather than that of the world around her. Quite the change.

Whatever the case, she ended up returning to Tyria after running into a fellow sylvari out in the Mists and suffering some heavy wounds--had the other not come along, she probably would have been dead. She convinced Aelonwyn to come back to Tyria and take a break for a while as if she knew Aelonwyn had been out in the Mists for a while now without much of any breaks. It was a good time for it, at least; Aelonwyn no longer felt that burning in her soul to push herself to keep doing better and working harder.

She stayed with her sylvari friend--named Bhreanainn--for a while and even returned to Caledon, where they stayed at the Weeping Isle for the most part due to Bhrea being Soundless. However, with the events of the Maguuma jungle taking place, Aelonwyn felt herself pulled there, needing to help; not like the call of a Wyld Hunt, more just her gut telling her it was the right thing to do. She had the ability to help. Why not do so?

So now she’s spent a lot of her recent time in the jungle fighting the Mordrem rather than fighting...other things out in the Mists. She felt a lot of joy in it after realizing the extent of how much the sylvari were being ostracized by many among the other races.

It was out here in the jungle that she eventually ran into Leith at a makeshift camp that had been overrun with Mordrem. After helping to clear the camp out and speaking to him for a bit, he told her of Havenwood, a place being built as a sanctuary for sylvari. While she's been here, a lot has happened, between conflicts within the haven and between its members, dealing with court activity in Caledon after Havenwood attempted to establish an outpost in Cathal, dealing with the Court of Entropy out in Maguuma in a hollow not far from the canyon they resided in...it's been a lot. But Aelonwyn has enjoyed being with them, for the most part.

After the large bloodstone exploded in Bloodstone Fen, Aelonwyn and a couple of other members went out to investigate what was out there. While there, they're kidnapped by wandering Inquest, and are put through awful experiments for the day they're kept there until some courtiers from Entropy rescue them while there to search for their missing Duke. Aelonwyn doesn't take well to the experimentation, and it began to rile up one of the spirits she communes with. Moryn was, thankfully, able to calm her down, but soon after she disappeared from the haven and everyone lost contact with her. For the weeks she was gone, she was in the Mists, learning how to be a better revenant.

Just about everyone knows she communes with Glint; that wasn't any sort of secret. The real problem lied within the other spirit she communes with. Or perhaps it's one that has posessed her and she just hasn't realized it yet. Either way, the spirit's--or demon's, would be more appropriate--name is Rual, a margonite that once served under Mallyx that has now taken a liking to Aelonwyn. The two didn't get along well at first due to the sylvari attempting to always push the demon away, but have learned over the recent weeks to better work and cooperate. It was no accident that Aelonwyn and Rual ended up together as they did--even if Aelonwyn will attempt to say it so--but the sylvari was too scared to work with the demon when it all began. Now, though, perhaps she's started to rely a little too much on Rual and her powers.