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Kylie is the youngest elf in a kinband of Asrai Wood Elves of the Athel Loren Forest. Her parents are originally from the Tirsyth and Wydrioth realms of the forest, and currently live in Tirsyth. In her immediate family, she has three older siblings. Kylie is of an age where she should be joining a kinband (likely the Haroith, where most young elves go), though she is still unsure if being in a kinband is what she wants to do.

As a child, Kylie experienced the destruction of a human village by greenskins. Seeing many of her friends slain this way has given her determination to fight evil wherever she might find it. Her uncle, Aesdiafin, has seen this spark and would like to push her to be a Ghost Strider like himself, as the forest could use more defenders against the rising chaos. Unfortunately, his own lack of social skills causes a misunderstanding between he and Kylie. Coupled with this and some perceived embarrassment is what finally causes Kylie to make her own way beyond the Athel Loren. This also leaves her uncle trying to figure out if going after her would only make things worse.

*Tirsyth is on the west side of the Athel Loren nearest Brettonia; Kylie would have ventured East to one of the passes through the Grey Mountains, despite the proximity to Dwarves, to reach the Reikland for work.

* K would have decided humans aren't all that bad after her friendship with the nearby village's children and some of their parents.

* Other family details:

• All of K's siblings take after their father - black hair, brown eyes with silver flecks. K takes after her mother's side of the family with lighter hair and green eyes.
• Her father would have called the other children sprouts, chips off the block, etc. except for K, who was called Little Acorn (a seed easily blown or carried far from the tree; the implications would not have been lost on her).
• Family members:
  • Eddevion: Sister who is an apprentice spellweaver and very talented at magic. She dotes on K quite a bit and is fond of her. Between Eddevion and her mother's magical skills, Kylie was also tested for the winds of magic as a child but she was found lacking in the aptitude to control magic and was sent back to her archery practice. ~ 300 years old. Twin sister of Gariodion.
  • Gadalas: Father is something of an ambassador / courier / news carrier between the realms of the forest and often not home.
    • He doesn't approve of Aesdiafin's antisocial career choices as a ghost strider (Uncle Aesdi being his brother in law, to put it in human terms)
    • He would have been the one to make Kyliethryn promise never to go beyond the waystones again (short of an oath, but equally threatening at the same time). He'd keep bringing this up well into her early 40s.
    • Would like to get the family to highborn or, at the very least, low nobility status, hence his attempts to keep his children well in line.
  • Eddevie: Mother; some magic skills; cheerfully happy to take care of and create more memorials in the Tirsyth, which is her home forest. She dotes on all of her children, but perhaps a little lacking in taking care of / indoctrinating the fourth one (which is quite a few children for any elven family). She is Aesdiafin's older sister.
  • Gadalyth: Oldest brother who has moved to his father's home forest-fortress in the Wydrioth. He was rather hoping that Kyliethryn would join him there, as she would fit in well with her distaste of greenskins. He would also be able to keep an eye on her there. ~400 years old.
  • Gariodion: Twin brother of Eddevion, so also ~300 years old. He loves to hunt, and has joined one of the Glade Rider kindreds so that he can learn to hunt more efficiently on horse back. Like most who enjoy the chase, he'd like to eventually join Lord Orion's hunters' kinband.
  • Aesdiafin: K's ghost strider uncle. He lives and hunts the dark things of the world on his own, never telling K where he'd been or where he was going. 'Uncle Aesdi' is soft spoken, stern sounding, and quite serious about his work. He is slightly taller than K, has brunette hair, and green eyes with gold flecks.

It's hard to find playmates when one is the kindred's youngest elf. While exploring the woods on her own, Kylie found a human village at the eastern edge of the woods, beyond the elven waystones. Kylie was shy at first, but she eventually made friends with the village's human children and started visiting them regularly a couple of days a week. Obviously, this was all unbeknownst to any of the other elves back home!

On one of her appointed play days, Kylie approached the village but smelled and soon saw an unusual amount of smoke in the air. Peering out from the wood line, she saw one of her friends face down on the ground and quickly realized that something wasn't right; once she ran over, she found that her friend's skin was cold and they would not respond to her. In her efforts to revive her friend, Kylie didn't notice the greenskin danger lurking behind her. She turned when she saw a shadow appear in front of her, just in time to see the goblin raise up its axe behind and above her. Without hesitation, Kylie pulled out her small elven dagger with a small roar – then watched two arrows embed themselves in the goblin's head.

As the goblin fell to the ground, a kinband moved in unison from the wood line towards the village, striking down other foes that Kylie had not seen. “Stand with us, Kyliethryn,” said a familiar voice. Her uncle, Aesdiafin, picked her up by the collar and put her on her feet. “You can't do anything further for this child, but there may be others we can save.”

The rest of that afternoon was a blur to Kylie as she stayed close to her uncle's side - most of the village's inhabitants had been slaughtered by the goblins some hours before, and the greenskins were still looting the place when she and the kinband, alerted by the smoke, had arrived. After a few other elves noted that Kylie should not be there (due more to the danger of battle than the death and destruction), Aesdiafin offered to take her home.

The forest had no care for what had just happened to the humans - birds chirped, squirrels argued and scampered about, and a gentle breeze caused a few leaves to fall in this realm of eternal autumn. Kylie was quiet as she thought about her slain friends. Her uncle was the first to break the silence as they walked. “Why did you decide to fight rather than flee, Kyliethryn?”

“That thing, it had hurt my friends, I think. So I just…” she shrugged. “I just pulled my knife without thinking about it, uncle. The greenskins are evil, aren't they?”

A thoughtful “Hm,” was all Aesdiafin offered in return. Kylie, walking nearly along side her uncle, took a moment to glance sideways and note his appearance - not quite feral, but he was somewhat unkempt, like he had not bathed in quite some time. His cloak, mottled with leaves and moss, nearly blended him into the woods even while he was walking. “Uncle, why did you come with the kinband? Mother said you roam alone and fight by yourself.”

“I saw the smoke, and where there is smoke there is fire. I would have investigated with or without the others.”

“Oh.” Kylie waited for a further explanation and, receiving none, continued her line of investigation. “What do you do if you are not in a kinband? Aren't you lonely? Or frightened?”

Aesdiafin frowned slightly, wondering why he had decided to escort a child back home. He had forgotten that they liked to talk and ask questions. “I am bound to no kinband or any of the twelve realms in particular. I am a Ghost Strider, and I fight all sorts of creatures and entities to keep the entire forest safe. One cannot have fear in this task.”

Kylie thought on this for a moment, then asked, “Why does your bow look different?”

This line of questioning went on until they reached the home of Kylie's kinband, deep in Tirsyth's forest. Kylie was nearly asleep on her feet after such a long day, but she was determined to stay awake in order to hear the adults talk about what had happened to the village and perhaps more about her uncle's way of life. To her dismay, an older elf arrived to whisk her away to dinner and bed; before she was plucked up, Aesdiafin looked at her with an uncharacteristically bemused smile. “Stay alert and keep your dagger with you, Kyliethryn. Always be ready.”

Admonished to not stray so far beyond the woods again, Kylie spent her time practicing her tracking and hunting skills. Sometimes she felt as though she were being watched, and it was on these rare occasions that she would find the odd pile of apples, arrows, or some other seeming gift stacked near her regular paths. When she was older, Kylie would occasionally find her uncle waiting near her hunting trails. Aesdiafin was not much for conversation, but they would quietly hunt together for a while before whatever dangerous quarry he was after would lead him down another path.

Some months before our full adventure begins, Kyliethryn was checking the traps she had left out over the previous night. Frustratingly, all of the bait had been taken and the traps were empty. Non-elven footprints in the area indicated poachers and interlopers in the forest. Any other elf would have returned to the kinband to rouse a hunt, but Kylie was determined to find out on her own who was stealing her game. She also had a directive from her newly chosen kinband to bring back food within her first two weeks or return to her parents. Returning to the group empty handed and needing help didn't seem like an option.

The trail of footprints became fresher as Kylie stealthily approached the location of her last snare. She had placed it at the base of a tree in a small glade surrounded by bushes. She crept to the edge of the bushes, then slowly crawled underneath so she could peer through the foliage unseen. She saw a goblin by the tree, loosing her snare to extract a trapped rabbit. Another goblin kept watch nearby. The goblin that tried to kill her as a child immediately snapped to mind, along with visions of her friends' corpses.

Without thinking, Kylie rushed from the bushes and charged the goblin keeping guard while drawing her sword. She swung a little wildly but managed to bury the sword deep in the goblin's skull before it had a chance to react. The other goblin dropped the snare and pulled out a pair of daggers, letting loose a cry of anger as he sprang from the ground. Kylie quickly moved to the side and cut towards the goblin's unprotected stomach, pulled her sword across, then stabbed once more from the backside.

Kylie relaxed for a moment, then heard movement behind her. She turned and found herself face to face with a third goblin she hadn't originally noticed. It was already swinging a heavy mace towards her head, and she barely ducked in time. The mace smashed into the tree as Kylie popped back up from the ground and tried to get her bearings. The goblin snarled and readied another blow. Kylie raised her sword defensively just as two arrows 'thunked' into the creature's head. Its eyes rolled back as the body crumpled to the ground, leaving Kylie out of breath and a little surprised.

“I think you're a little old to still need saving from greenskins,” said Aesdiafin, as he materialized almost out of thin air. “I had been trailing these for a couple of days,” kicking one of the bodies with his boot. “I certainly didn't rush them without thinking.”

“They were taking my game - I need to take it back to my kinband to prove I can help…”

Her uncle waved off her explanation. “So you have joined a kindred after all. Are you sure that's the right place for you?”

Kylie was taken aback. “Well, I need to find my own way at some point, uncle. I thought perhaps leaving my parents' band and joining another would be best.”

“You won't have to worry about finding your way for long if you fight like this. Perhaps you need a little more training.”

“I have trained for over seventy years, since I was a young elf. That should certainly be long enough.”

“Is it?”, he replied, giving her a hard stare. “I think you should certainly think about your way a little longer.” Aesdiafin slung his bow over his shoulder and made ready to leave. “Next we meet, let me know what you have decided.”

Her uncle disappeared into the woods as quickly as he had appeared, leaving Kylie alone in the glade. “Do I not get recognition for at least killing two on my own?” she thought. She then noticed the snared rabbit's head had been bitten off by one of the greenskins. “And now two days to go and I have nothing to show for my efforts.” She sighed, imagining the mocking laughter of the older, wilder elves who loosely guided the Haroith kindred as they sent her packing. She wasn't sure if that would be worse than the quiet gossip of the older elves back home if she did return, not to mention her mother fussing about her youngest child. And then there were her older siblings. But worse than all these possible scenarios was the verbal thrashing she just received from Aesdiafin.

Kylie cleaned her sword and packed her snare. Adjusting her sling bag, she first looked south towards the kindred's current camp then east towards the Grey Mountains. She had heard about passages to the Reikland and other realms through the mountains; they were quicker than taking the longer but safer route through Brettonia. Many a young elf had left Athel Loren, returning after they had sated their desire for adventure and made a name for themselves. Kylie closed her eyes, nodded to herself, and took the eastward path.

Aesdiafin visited the Heroith kindred camp a few days after he had seen Kylie. They seemed to be packing up to move to another location, and amidst the activity he could not spot his niece. “Hail, ghost strider,” called out one of the elves. “Are you not Kyliethryn's kin?”

“I am,” Aesdiafin reluctantly replied. He had hoped to quickly find Kylie for a short talk, then leave before anyone had taken notice of him.

“Have you seen her lately?,” asked the kinband elf. “She went out for her snares some days ago but never returned. I sent out a couple of scouts to search for her.”

“I saw her a few days ago. She had ran into some goblins that were poaching her game; she handily dispatched two and I took care of the third.”

Another more feral looking elf joined the conversation. “My scouts reported that she had not gone back to her home kinband, though an elf matching her description had been seen heading east.” Noting Aesdiafin's concerned look, the second elf asked if fighting the goblins was all that transpired, at which point Aesdiafin recounted his conversation with his niece.

The first elf sighed. “I know our language can be fraught with riddled dual meaning, but leave it in the tactless mouth of a ghost strider and here are the results. You meant to offer Kyliethrin training, did you not? Well, she likely didn't interpret it that way. Young elves are easily frustrated and impatient; I would wager she has left Athel Loren and gone to the Reikland to seek her fortune. Seeing as this is obviously a family matter, I will leave it to you to tell your sister where her daughter has gone and why.”

Another elf ran up and told the others that the camp was ready to move. Aesdiafin remained in the same spot while the Heroith moved on around him; in a few minutes, it was as though they had never been camped there at all. The ghost strider fingered the hilt of his sword as he looked towards the east, trying to decide what he should do.