Madam Wanda

Madam Wanda is an innkeeper, and belongs to an unknown species, but she claims she is the only one that remains in this world. Her specific family line trails back to royals, so has been raised to act mature and queenly. While she can no longer do anything with what she learned long ago, as the royal family is no longer in rule here, she still uses her impeccable manners to be a great hostess.

This sorceress loves to entertain her visitors with stories of centuries long past of the royal family, as she is one of few monsters that live for so long without indulging in dark magic, such as the Grim. She also loves showing her guests her magical prowess, ranging from a grand mastery of shapeshifting or simply creating some dishes that melt the hearts and stomachs during dinnertime. Amoung the monsters, Madam Wanda is regarded as very sweet and motherly, overall a great hostess to have take care of you, and though she tries to hide it, there is definitely a smidge of childishness deep in her heart that comes to life whenever you can hear her laugh.

Within the story of Luka and the Peony Princess, during travels to find vengeance, the pair must stop to take a rest. Where better to stay than with Madam Wanda? Madam Wanda is also a character who will divulge in the lore behind the Grim.

According to her legend, the Grim species descended from the Hōseki, who were immortal beings that lived amoung mortal species. They lived in a family monarchy to maintain order within their people, and were well-known for offering their jewels to worthy mortals who came to them. While some Hōseki became fond of the mortals and treated them like pets or playthings, certain others dabbled in their limitless forms of magic. A certain individual became so obsessed with his findings on mortals' dark magic, he started a divide between the Hōseki monarchy and corrupted his side. More specifically, he turned his own eyes, and some of the eyes of his followers, a bright red from becoming so possessed by the dangerous magic, as well as turning only his own hair a striking white. In a crucial decision, leaving behind friends that followed his path (including Wanda's half-mortal daughter), the Hōseki outcasted the corrupted group and left the mortal realm, turning the remaining species into mortals with lifespans severely shortened due to their experimentation. Trying to return their immortality they once had, the banished Hōseki, choosing their new name to be the Grim, turned to absorbing living energy from other mortal species in the world to keep themselves alive, eventually evolving to contain that natural trait as a species. Wanda, after becoming the newly crowned queen of the Hōseki monarchy by her mother, decided to stay in the mortal realm in search of her daughter, if not, her direct descendant so she may pass on her duties to the next generation. It has taken her several decades to find them.

The Grim evolved to no longer have outward teeth, reformed horns that grew, more animalistic tails, the loss of their wings (which was part of their banishment), and additional traits in the gene pool. While the Hōseki have a dark or blue hair, and blue or yellow eyes, the Grim added white hair and red eyes as recessive traits that further associate them with the ancestor that made them mortal in the first place. While the newly born Grim have no clue of the legend, there is a common myth that Grim individuals with both white hair and red eyes, similar to the look of that old ancestor, are bound to follow the path of a criminal. The Grim are also not a very sparse species, as many Grim are unfortunate to die or have health complications before starting a family of their own.

Now having found the descendant she long hoped to find, Wanda is excited to bring Bobbye, the lady butler working under her inn, back to the godly realm to join her royal family.