Margery was born to Erys and Kathryn Felk in the forests of Arcas. She’s the youngest of four siblings. There’s a large age gap between them. The eldest is almost three hundred years older than her, the second is two-hundred and fifty years older, and the youngest is about a hundred years older. This age gap wasn’t only pertinent to her family either. It seemed everyone in the tribe was centuries her elder. And because of the curse, it was likely things would stay that way.
Since she was so much younger, she was also so much worse at everything. While the others had lifetimes of experience underneath their belts, she’d only just begun putting her toes in the water. Instead of this motivating her to work harder, she felt discouraged. What was the point in trying to get better if no matter how hard you worked everyone around you would always be a step ahead?
She spent a lot of time reading. The pages contained images of gorgeous cities with towers and lights. She decided she wanted to see this crazy world for herself. One day, she strayed to the outskirts of the forest and entered a small town. It wasn’t quite a city but it was unique to any sight she had ever seen before. A festival was going on, and there was more noise and colors than she ever thought possible. A boy- no older than her at the time- dressed in red and gold was being praised by the people as he passed atop a carriage led by white horses. She was in awe of him. He was so young yet respected. She wondered what he had done to earn their praise, but she didn’t have to ponder this long as a golden coin was thrust in her hand as an answer. Dozens more came from his hand, tossing them from the people. The coin in her hand was shiny. The only thing she’d ever seen that bright was a star. She was instantly enticed by its gleam.
That night she looked into the significance of the coin and she found stories of people who acquired something called wealth. And once they acquired this wealth, all their problems seemed to go away- no matter how young or dumb or stupid or terrible they were. Wealth could solve it all. Her parents reassured her that after a few centuries of time and experience, she’d be just as good as anyone, but that would take forever. She wished she could just sleep for a century and wake up with all of life’s strength, wisdom, and experience she’s lacking. She’s not patient enough to let time go by as it will, but that’s impossible so this thing called wealth seemed like the ticket out.
Wealth also forced her to question her people's loyalty to the Wildgods. The woodelves were more dedicated than any human yet it was them who had to work hard toiling the land, while the humans got their pampered lives and luxurious cities.
She took the coin and exchanged it for passage on a ship that would take her to the city. She vowed to return home one day when she acquired wealth. She even got a cool tattoo to establish her independence, but every time she comes across a monster, she starts crying, while wishing her family was there to protect her. Things aren’t going according to plan yet. But they will. One day.
