Alysanne met her half-brother soon after he settled in the valley. He was handsome and charming in an easygoing way and he reminded her of her father in the rare days when he actually took notice of her. Alysanne liked him instantly. And she couldn't understand that he really lived in the middle of the woods, with no roof above his head, sleeping on the ground...
Damien just laughed. "It's still a great improvement over the convent. And all this is just a beginning, I'm going to become rich, you will see."
"But still, isn't it hard...?"

When Damien came again, Alysanne had a small gift prepared for him, to make his beginnings at least a little easier. There were supplies, money, something warm to sleep on, everything she could afford and managed to put together.
After all, her life was good and secure now and she would never forgive herself if she let anyone, let alone a family member, suffer in poverty. And despite all Damien's reassurances that he didn't suffer at all and that he actually enjoyed being free - reassurances that he never failed to embellish with more descriptions of what he had and especially what he didn't have - Damien's face lit up when he saw the gift.
Alysanne smiled, happy she could help. They were family, after all.
It felt great having a real family. A real, loving husband, a healthy baby and now a brother.

And she still had friends, as well. She invited Alvin to see baby Delia and the life she had made for herself. If she couldn't share her happiness with her best and oldest friend...
Alvin held Delia, commented about her being full of life, but he mostly had eyes for Alysanne herself. Finally he put the baby back in her crib and suggested that he and Alysanne take a walk, to see what changed about the house and the grounds.

They swapped stories, which quickly turned from news and daily life to other topics and soon it was as if no time had passed and they were still only friends with big dreams. Everything fell into old patterns so seamlessly, it was too easy to forget the baby cooing in her crib back in the house.
They stopped at the woodshed, holding hands and grinning like teenagers. It was so easy, so comfortable and pleasant, Alvin wanted to tell Alysanne about the night of the strange light, his missing memories and everything else.
"Will you come with me? I want to show you something... private..." He gently caressed Alysanne's hand, searching for the right words to continue.

But before he could find them, before Alysanne could respond in any way, they were interrupted by Tomas in a fit of rage.
"Come where? For a private meeting? I have heard the rumours, but I thought... how dare you?"
Alysanne flinched at this unexpected explosion, any words of explanation frozen in her throat. Tomas looked angry and betrayed, so surely she had to be guilty?

First, Tomas turned to Alvin and threw him out of his house, at the moment completely ignoring the fact that it was Alysanne's house as well. All his life Tomas had been brought up to respect the social order and to see priests as teachers and guides to be obeyed without question. But he had also been brought with rules, all of which were now being overturned and mocked. When he saw a priest seducing his wife, it took all his restraint and respect for Alvin's robes to not launch himself at him.
Alvin took one look at the other man's face and decided to withdraw without protests. If he felt any fear or pity for Alysanne, who was watching nervously, he silenced them by what he thought was reason. There was no use in fighting, he would explain everything later when there was a better chance of being heard.

As Alvin disappeared and Tomas turned his attention to her, Alysanne cowered even before he exploded at her.
"I should have known when I heard the rumours. Or when you spent more time in church than at home, looking for "comfort". Like father, like daughter, right? Was the church not comforting enough for the two of you? How many secret private trips have you already had together?"
Alysanne was unable to speak. She only hugged herself, her lip quivering with fear. She was almost certain Tomas was going to hit her.
"Is Delia even mine? Look at me!"

It took all her courage to raise her eyes.
"Of course she is yours!" She blurted out. "We have never... never broken the marriage vows. Never." She started sobbing, still trying to get the explanation out. "I am sorry I made you angry, it will never happen again, I promise. I would never betray you. Please..."
Tomas held out a hand to stop her. His fury was slowly passing, leaving cold disappointment underneath.
"Please... nothing happened, I promise!"
Tomas turned and walked back into the house while Alysanne looked after him, the guilty look still on her face.

Tomas didn't speak with her for the rest of the day and when it was time to go to bed, one look was enough for Alysanne to not even attempt getting in next to him. Instead, she fixed herself a blanket on the floor and spent the night there, tossing and turning in guilt and fear of future.

She tried to turn for comfort to her only other friend, but Lissa wasn't really interested or at least failed to see Alysanne's desperation.
"Nothing happened, right? You didn't do anything, that's a mistake, by the way, nothing happened to you, end of story. You should just take it easy."
"But Tomas hates me now! And I..." Alysanne stopped, unable to explain the flurry of feelings fighting inside her head and heart.
She felt completely alone. Tomas still wouldn't speak to her, her newly found brother was in the woods all the time and seemed to consciously avoid her, and even seeing Alvin was impossible.

Not that Alvin didn't try, but Tomas had decided that there was a difference between respect for a priest and allowing an affair to continue. Or start. Or whatever it was, he didn't much care when he could clearly see affection between the two.
Alvin was never allowed in the house, not to give any kind of explanation and absolutely not to see Alysanne. And Alysanne was not allowed to go to the church or basically anywhere alone. Tomas was head of his household now and he discovered he enjoyed being firm, it made him feel much stronger and more important than ever before. He deserved respect as well, after all.

Alysanne tried to find comfort in the quiet domestic life that had just a few days ago seemed perfect. At least baby Delia didn't reject her, if only because she had no idea what was happening.

When the baby was safely asleep and she had a moment's rest from work, she found solace in books, learning new things or just getting lost in stories from different times and places.
Still, no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on the words on the page, she could still see how Tomas was looking at her. Sometimes she wished he had punished her somehow, his quiet anger hidden beneath the surface frightened her deeply. And his disappointment was even worse.

Time passed and eventually Delia's first birthday came. Alysanne baked a cake, even though the baby wasn't able to eat it yet. She did her best to act excited, cooing at the baby as she brought her to the cake, but she couldn't help glancing at Tomas, who just stood there, quite unlike his previous excitable self. She wanted to know what was going through his head... and at the same time was afraid to guess.

Their family life continued quietly. Alysanne found Tomas glaring at her less and less frequently now, the previous hidden hostility replaced with cold silence as he spent most days working with his back turned to her. She supposed she should be glad, only the feeling of bitter disappointment stayed the same. Sometimes she even asked herself if the new silence wasn't worse.
Their lives went on and they seemed to be doing well, at least financially and on the outside, but Tomas stopped talking about his big plans and Alysanne didn't dare to have any of her own.

She was only grateful for one thing - that Tomas eventually warmed to little Delia. As the child grew, it was becoming more and more obvious how much she resembled her father. She had the same eyes, the same unruly hair, the same smile when she was interested in something... until Tomas couldn't ignore it any longer, no matter how hurt he was or what he wanted to believe.
And while she had been mostly ignored by him during the first few months of her life, it was her father who taught Delia her first steps and first words.

Damien, meanwhile, was becoming as fed up with the convent as he could take.
He was no longer a child and he desperately wanted independence and being treated like the man he fancied himself to be. What he got instead was even more work. He didn't care that it was spring and the convent gardens needed tending. The gardens were enormous, the endless weeding tedious and exhausting and the nuns stricter than ever.

He didn't know himself what had pushed him over the edge. There was no specific argument, nothing especially terrible. He just couldn't take it anymore. After all, they couldn't force him to stay anymore, not at his age.
Leaving was easy, just a matter of sneaking out of his room and the whole convent just before sunrise, when all the nuns would be too preoccupied with their morning prayers to notice him gone. He didn't even own anything that could slow him down.

He set camp in the valley where his supposed half-sister lived. He had no money and no real friends, but he trusted that would change soon. And anything must be better than the convent.
The news around him must have spread, because he had a visitor very soon. Alvin the village priest was one of the few people he had met before and thus not the one Damien would wish to see the most. Still, he looked pleasant enough when he looked around the place, asking Damien how he was and what his plans were.

"Are you sure you want to live like this?" Alvin asked. "The nuns would take you back if you asked nicely, you don't have to..."
Damien exploded, screaming something about religious oppression and how he would never go back there. He was sick of all nuns and priests and most of all sick of praying.
Alvin managed to keep his composure throughout and when he wished Damien good luck, there was only a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Then he left the boy to his fate.

With no money and no resources, Damien knew he would have to live on what the woods would provide. He was sick of gardening anyway.
Instead, he decided to set some traps for small animals around his camp, hoping to catch something nice for dinner.

And as far as catching dinner went... Damien had never been fishing, but he had heard about the great abundance of fish in the local lake and thought it wouldn't hurt to try that as well. If nothing else, the view was much nicer than the stone walls he was mostly used to.

And the time spent at the lake even paid off. Damien was delighted when he inspected his first fish, thinking that this was only the beginning. Maybe he could be a great hunter and have meat every single day.

For now, though, his new life was still quite hard and very humble. He only had a campfire with a cooking pot and bed made up from whatever he could find. He deeply regretted not taking at least a blanket with him.
Every morning he washed in a bucket of water and then spent the day either checking his traps, fishing or gathering wood.
Still, at least he was free and he could believe it would get better.

And a chance for that came soon, in the form of a nobleman out hunting.
Despite the difference in their social standing, Damien found it easy to talk with Adrian. Maybe the man had not heard everything about Damien's background, or maybe he didn't care when they could discuss hunting and adventures.

Damien played his rough camp and lifestyle for all he could. Not that he had much experience with sports, but he could try.
"When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a soldier." He said and when Adrian challenged him to a test, he put on his most enthusiastic face, taking care to learn as many tricks as he could. It actually was fun and if Adrian were to offer him a position, he wouldn't refuse...

Before that could happen, though, he still had to eat. His simple traps had proven useful, but there were some days when he had even more luck. When he first saw a wild deer among the trees quite close to his camp, he was shocked, weaponless and ended up missing his chance.
The next time, though, he was ready. He grabbed the spear he had prepared for this chance and sneaked up behind the animal, hoping he had chosen the right side with regards to the wind. The deer was a healthy young buck and would be quite a prize...
When he threw the spear, he muttered a short prayer under his breath despite himself.

The spear struck home, Damien suspected that more by luck than any particular skill. The beautiful animal trashed for a bit on the ground and then died. Dorian couldn't suppress a happy grin, thinking about the money it was sure to bring him.

The market square was smaller than Damien had imagined when he thought about the world beyond the convent walls. The stalls were mostly food - even though some of it looked rather good - and simple cloth, but Damien noticed one more, with pink curtains, almost hidden behind the others. And inside it, seated on a rough three-legged stool, was his new best friend Adrian consulting with a ragged gypsy.
Damien stopped, trying to catch a part of the conversation. He had not though Adrian a superstitious man, or one who would need advice concerning his love life...
"...you should stop spending too much time in the woods, my lord. With deepest respect, your lady wife..." The gypsy was saying.
"Why do you think I go there in the first place? My lady wife is all well, but a man needs to relax."

"Do you need your future told?" A voice said beside him, "Or maybe guaranteed true love?"
Damien turned and saw a red-haired woman in a rather low-cut dress smiling at him. He smiled back.
"I believe in making my own future, I just wanted..." after all, why not? "...to say hello to a friend. But seeing as he's busy..."
The girl's eyebrows shot high as she glanced at Adrian. "Oh." she said. "I didn't realise you're one of the lord's friends. From the capital?" Was she impressed, or playing with him?
"Not really. I..." Damien searched for the best, the smoothest thing to say, but he didn't really need to.
"Well, let me tell your future, then. I predict you will go far." The girl smiled, her eyes shining.
"And I suspect you must have dozens of men hoping to be your true love." He returned the compliment. "So seeing that neither of us has need for the services offered here, beautiful lady, would you mind taking a walk around?"
"With pleasure."
The girl's eyes never stopped twinkling and her conversation was witty and free. Even if she was playing with him, Damien decided he didn't mind it in the least.

Anselm, lord Liam's precious heir, was still a young child when his father died.
Later they spoke of a hidden sickness, bad food or maybe just something getting stuck in the lord's throat. Anselm had no idea which of these were true, he just remembered the look of shock and agony in his father's face, the way he gasped for breath and the way all life went out of his eyes. The boy had tried to scream for help, but it was as if he was unable to breathe as well and no words would leave his mouth no matter how hard he tried.
He could only stand there, too shocked and terrified to even sob, when a dark hooded figure appeared above his father's body.

It wasn't until the funeral that he found his tears.
It seemed to the boy that his family was just a lot of cold grey gravestones. Both of his parents were gone now, leaving only his slightly older sister Ennelie and his aunt, a beautiful lady who had always been rather cold to the children. Now this lady was to be his guardian, standing behind him at the funeral, like she would until he became of age.

Anselm couldn't really imagine being a lord. He knew it had something to do with the taxes and the courts and the people in the village, but he had no idea how he was supposed to do it, either now or later.
Somehow he was sure he wouldn't be good enough.

Unlike Anselm, Ellara had no problem with being a de facto ruler of the village, even if only for a few years. She even considered herself lucky, not having expected much power for most of her life.
And as a further proof that life really was turning bright for her, she was getting married.
She had met Adrian Kallas during one of her brief visits to the capital, a young knight with golden hair and a shining smile. Adrian could ride, he could hunt, he could dance with such elegance that Ellara had seen only rarely, but at charm and flattery he was skilled even more than all of these three put together, at least in Ellara's opinion. They had fallen in love so fast Ellara nearly didn't have time to even catch her breath before the wedding.
Not that she needed to, anyway. She was sure that if needed, Adrian would do the breathing for her.

Alvin, meanwhile, was studying the stars. He had become curious when Alysanne had first told him about the stone circle and the way stars reflected in the central one, but recently they had been on his mind even more. It probably had something to do with fate, and faith, and the order of things.
Sometimes he wondered if the order was really right, really ordered, of whether it could be changed.

Then then, one night when he was looking at the charts detailing the different constellations and movements of stars, a strange light shone on him.
Alvin looked up, shielding his eyes against the glow, but he couldn't really see anything up there.

And then he was being lifted by some unseen force directly up, towards the source of the light. Whatever it was. Suddenly, Alvin didn't want to find out anymore.
He managed to get hold of the edge of the thatch roof, but the pull continued, growing ever stronger, and his fingers were slipping.
With a gasp, he lost his hold and flew upwards, too stunned to scream.

He didn't remember anything after that.
When he woke up, it was still night. He was lying on the cold hard ground, his head feeling light and his body incredibly heavy.

He slowly got up, trying to gather his uncooperative thoughts. He remembered the charts and... had he fallen asleep?
Then he looked above and froze in shock. There was something bright up there, shining with cold blue light but way brighter than the moon should be. It was beautiful, it was scary... it was unnatural. And suddenly he remembered being drawn upward, voices in the darkness...
He shook his head to stop the flood of memories. Suddenly he didn't want to know.

Most of that night stayed veiled in comfortable darkness and Alvin was grateful for that. He had heard legends about elves - the True Fae, not the pointy-eared people usually called by that word. He had heard about their beauty and their strange ways. And, most of all, he had heard that meeting them could change people forever.
He desperately prayed to the Watcher that this not be the case with him. He prayed for it even more whenever he thought of the knowledge and powers he had brought back with him, knowledge and powers he never asked for and had no recollection of ever getting.

With all his work, Tomas almost missed his eighteenth birthday. Would have missed it, in fact, had Alysanne not baked him a cake as a surprise and insisted on a modest celebration. Tomas tried to argue that he had become a proper grown man with his wedding vows, but inside he liked the gesture.
At the very least, he was not going to waste his birthday wish, even if he couldn't tell anyone he still believed in them. He wished with his whole heart for the first of the planned children, the firstborn son he planned to name Devin, to come soon.

Alysanne's own wish was already half-fulfilled. It wasn't as if she didn't wish for children or wasn't willing to work, it was just that she had not had a quiet moment when she didn't have to worry about future since forever. When she was finally offered some free time, she would be a fool to not snatch it up.
At least this is what she kept telling herself when she took up her books and her sadly interrupted studies again, getting lost in other words and times and trying not to feel too bad for it.
Alvin would surely understand...

No matter how hard she tried, no matter how comfortable she was in her new life, Alysanne couldn't get Alvin completely out of her mind. When they only saw each other in church, divided by the pulpit, it was easier to stay good and proper in their own social roles. But when they chanced to meet in the market square...
It was as if Alvin didn't realise the risks - or even that any relationship between them was impossible now. He moved to embrace her, his face friendly, but his touch spoke volumes.

She managed to break away just before they could kiss, frightened by how hard it had been.
It was as if her longing grew with the impossibility of the thing and suddenly she couldn't look at Alvin any more. Muttering something about having to go, she turned and walked... not home, but towards the empty punishment pillar, standing as a remainder of what happened to anyone breaking laws. This was the only possible result, if she and Alvin crossed the borders of proper behaviour.
She had a good husband, a good life, a baby on the way if she was right, and she could only lose it all, dragging Alvin down with her.

Winter turned into spring and changing weather brought new work with it, as well as all the expected joy. Alysanne's suspicion that she was with a child became a certainty and she was following every change in her body closely, charmed by Tomas's dreams of Devin and all the other children they would have.
Until, about halfway into her pregnancy, she was seized by a terrible pain in her belly. She had thought she was going into labour, even though it was way too early. But then she noticed all the blood and realised what really was happening.

She had heard about women losing their babies, usually framed as a tale of them being justly punished by some grave misdeed. She had always considered it a strange punishment, to kill an innocent life, but she had never even imagined it could happen to her.
She burst into tears, suddenly unable to walk, to think, the pain still present but fading from her consciousness. All she could think about was, had she killed her baby with her forbidden thoughts and fantasies?
This is how Tomas found her when he finally went looking.

At first she was unable to speak to him, only shaking her head in response to his questions. Was she all right? No. What was the matter? No.
Only after a long time Tomas managed to console her enough to say the words. "There will be no Devin. The baby is gone."
With that, she burst into tears again. She couldn't tell him it was all her fault, her punishment.

Even through her tears, Alysanne saw something something die in Tomas's eyes, but still he tried to put on a brave face for her.
"We will try again. There is still time... for Devin, Aidan... all of them. You will see."
Alysanne shook her head mutely, but she allowed Tomas to lead her back to the house and to make her change clothes.

She couldn't sleep the next night, despite everything Tomas tried to say or do. She just lay in the bed with her eyes open until darkness turned into dawn, not even feeling Tomas's arms around her.
All she could think about was, was she being punished? And would her next baby survive?

Her visits to church grew more and more frequent, all the time she did not have to spend working dedicated to prayer. She prayed for forgiveness, for advice, and for peace.

She mostly tried to choose times when Alvin was busy with other errands, not wanting to face him too soon, but it was only a matter of time before they met. By that time, Alvin had already heard.
Neither of them had to say anything. Alvin took one look at Alysanne's drawn face and pulled her into a tight embrace. She wanted to protest, to say something about Watcher's wrath and punishment, but at the same time she didn't want to let go.
It was as if Alvin could read her mind. "The Watcher doesn't kill babies." He whispered in her ear.
Alysanne decided to believe him, finally letting herself relax in his arms.

It wasn't long before Alysanne found herself pregnant again.
When she first found out she felt mostly bewildered, half expecting that it would be a mistake or that the child would die again. Despite Alvin's assurances, she still wasn't completely sure the Watcher wasn't punishing her.
But then her belly continued growing and as she inspected it every morning, she slowly begun to hope again.

Luckily, Tomas never questioned all the time she spent in church praying or all the money donated to the poor.
Her baby - Devin? - still lived and Alysanne considered it almost a miracle.

Alvin was almost as excited as Alysanne herself. When he touched her belly to bless the baby inside, his eyes were shining and he was reluctant to take his hand away.
Alysanne welcomed the reassurance. And being focused on the baby helped a lot.

As she was nearing the expected day of birth, Alysanne was beginning to think the Watcher had maybe forgiven her after all. Maybe Alvin was right from the beginning...
"Blessed baby..." She murmured as she caressed her belly, "Dearest Devin..."

And then the time actually came and suddenly she was sure this was the punishment. It hurt more than anything else she had ever experienced.
It seemed to take hours, even though in reality it was faster than most childbirths. She spent most of the time desperately biting her lip, trying not to scream.

But then it was over and Alysanne was holding a healthy baby girl.

Tomas was overjoyed. When he bent over his newborn daughter, it was as if he had completely forgotten he had wanted a son.
"She is beautiful! She's so small... and perfect."
Alysanne smiled. She felt exhausted, but also happy, reassured about their hopes for future.
"She has your eyes, too." She said.