The setting of the Edge and Yael’s easy manner help soothe the nerves that were threatening to rise and make Alysanne uncomfortable. It’s been awhile since she’s told anyone her history - and she’s thankful for the simple prompts that Yael shares to encourage her onward. “Okay, that sounds easy enough.” And it did - starting at the beginning seemed pretty logical.

“Well, I wasn’t born here in Helovia - as you know. I was born in a place called Nocturne, a land where magic and the supernatural were more prevalent even than they are here in Helovia. My father was a nymph, an earth spirit, and my mother a pegasus - sort of your everyday unlikely lovers story. My mother’s herd wasn’t accepting of their love because my father didn’t have wings, and so she left them to raise my twin sister, Iona, and I with my father. Iona was close with our mother and I with our father, I spent my foalhood learning about plants and everything he could teach me about the forests of our home.” Alysanne’s smile is fond, wishing that her father was here so she could show him the wonderful plants she had discovered in Helovia. “Our early years were pretty uneventful, spent mostly with our parents and not feeling the need for friends outside our family group.”

“The thing about Nocturne was the lines between Heaven and Hell and the earth were blurry - so there were angels and demons both among us. Iona and I travelled among the herds when we were younger, meeting new friends. I was fond of being a mother right from the beginning, it was always my dream to have a large family, and I adopted a few foals before becoming pregnant myself. I was only about three years old, and I was overjoyed upon discovering the news.” The joy of that memory is chased quickly by the thoughts of what happened right after - and a large unspoken ‘but’ hung around her as she paused for a moment. “Although I was aware of the demons that lived in Nocturne, I never gave them much thought until one day… Iona and I were attacked, we had wandered into a dangerous land and paid the price.” Memories threatened to suffocate her and Alysanne shook her head quickly, in an attempt to shake them away and in a gesture to explain that she wouldn’t go into any more detail about what had happened to them that day.

“It was the first time anything terrible had ever happened to me - I was so young and naive, having been so well projected - and it rather crumbled my world. Not only was I hurt but I feared for the life of my unborn child. Thankfully, through the wonders of magic, I was healed - we both were.” Her voice faltered a little as she spoke there, but she isn’t sure whether she’s ready to share the story of how she was healed - of the memories that were robbed of her and the betrayal of her first true friend. “I gave birth a little while later to my first child, a gorgeous boy named Artorius. Before his first birthday, I was out travelling in the mountains and got lost during a snowstorm - and found myself in the Threshold in Helovia.”

“A mare named Kahlua from the Edge was one of the ones that greeted me there and I went with her. The others that greeted me were kind, but Kahlua had been temporarily cursed - to have mushrooms growing on her back, of all things - and her distress wouldn’t allow me to part from her company. I didn’t think I’d be staying in Helovia very long - especially with my sister and my son back in Nocturne - but I ended up reuniting with the father of my son here, Miykael had followed me, and before very long I had fallen in love with the Edge.” Her green eyes travelled upward to the trees that surrounded them, letting the bliss that she associated with their presence travel over her.

She falls silent there - it seeming to be a good point to do so before moving onto the life that she lived in Helovia. And if Yael had questions, Alysanne would welcome them.