Winterfrost

Sylvia was born unto a somewhat strange family – her mother was a snow elf, her father a wood elf. It wasn’t common for a family like theirs to exist – snow elves rarely trusted elves of other kinds – but they were happy living as they did. They visited her mother’s family often, but never discussed her father’s; Sylvia never questioned why. They lived within Fenn, and Sylvia adored the snow and ice. From a young age, she was fascinated by healing and magic. Her mother had once been a mage, but had given it up to come to Caras Eldar for some time for Sylvia’s father. Since then, she’d become a physician. Every night, after coming home from working, she’d read to Sylvia about medicine and magic. Sylvia loved the idea of preserving life and healing, but she also loved the tales of the people who controlled the world of nature around them. She knew, though, that she never would be able to be one of them – she saw the way her father glared disapprovingly at her every time she would read a book about magic. When Sylvia was eight, she began to notice that her mother didn’t look as happy as she usually did. Her purplish blue eyes, almost identical to Sylvia’s, were constantly full of fear and worry; her silvery white hair hung limply against her head instead of its usual cascading waves. Then, one day, when Sylvia was nine, her mother went to visit a patient. Sylvia waited excitedly, wanting to show her the new book she’d found, but her mother never came. She stayed up most of the night, waiting expectantly, but still her mother never appeared. Finally, at dawn, her father went out to search. He returned looking miserable, carrying something large wrapped inside a white cloth. A splotch of red was visible in the center. ”What happened, Dada?” Sylvia whimpered, afraid that she already knew what was inside the bundle. “I – I...” Her father started crying, and she had no idea what to do. She started to wail as well, hiding her face in her father’s shoulder. Her mother had been murdered by her paternal grandfather. She knew now why they never discussed her father’s family – they’d despised him and her mother for marrying. Sylvia’s father decided to move his family to Caras Eldar, hoping the city of his childhood would distract him from the memories of his wife’s dead face. Before they left, Sylvia took only one thing – her mother’s necklace, which she on her mother’s dresser alongside a small note that detailed her mother’s fear of her father’s family. Sylvia didn’t like Caras Eldar – she despised the strange looks that everyone gave her when they saw the small golden streaks in her hair or her purplish blue eyes. She missed the feeling of snow crumbling beneath her feet, and most of all missed her mother’s laughter. When Sylvia was eighteen, her paternal grandfather came into her home, sneaking into her father’s room and killing him in the dead of night. She heard shouting coming from his room and ran towards it, finding her father covered in blood and her grandfather clutching a knife, dripping with the red liquid. “D-don’t hurt – her, please!” Her father pleaded desperately, his voice weak and raspy. Sylvia ran to her father’s side, knowing it wasn’t safe but unable to control herself. “Dada – I love you, you know, right?” He smiled slightly. “I love you too, Sylvia.” His smile faded as the life rushed out of him, spilling away as fast as the blood from his wound. She heard her grandfather approaching her from behind and looked around desperately, seeing only one exit – a small glass window next to her father’s bed. She stood up and rushed at it as fast as she could, tumbling out of it while crying both from the pain of glass cutting into her skin and her father’s death. Her grandfather was arrested, of course, but Sylvia hated Caras Eldar. She hated it because the rest of her father’s family was allowed to live freely with no punishment, even though they’d all been a part of the plan to kill her family. She hated it because of the looks people gave her, the horrid system of one person being better than another that completely defied what she’d learned as a child. Sylvia didn’t want to be near Caras Eldar anymore – they reminded her too much of her parents’ deaths. She didn’t want to return to Fenn; there was nothing there for her anymore. Most of her mother’s family had either aged and died or had left for other cities and towns. She finished her schooling as a physician after having run to Carolustadt, hiding her ears and pretending to be human. She currently lives there, still hiding her ears, pretending to be human, and working as a physician.