[Holli]

Backstory
Dawn Hinode, a little Mesalian girl born into the world from two Mesalian parents. Both of which fell victim to the Civil War caused by the Xitians.

One night in far off wood, in one of the few areas undisturbed in the Middle Realm there was a small settlement. It was composed of no more than 5 houses, an Inn and a farm. In the biggest house of the five there was a slender blonde woman with brown eyes, sitting by a fire in a rocking chair humming a tune to a baby with the same color hair as her. The baby giggled and glanced to its side, there stood a man with short brown hair and pale blue eyes. He walked over to his child and ruffled her hair, then turned to the window of his house and walked to the front door, opened it then turned back to his wife and child.

‘I am going to the Inn, I will be back in a few minutes, and I need to see if Alphonse has learnt anything new.’

The wife nodded to the Husband and resumed humming to her child.

The Man now left the house and stepped into the Inn and walked up to the bar and leaned on it, looking at the blonde bartender opposite him who now smiled and spoke to him.

‘Evening Laurence how’s the new baby, decided on a name yet?’

Laurence shook his head and sighed ‘I like the name Melinda but Heather disagrees with me, says she wants the babies name to mean something.'

Alphonse laughed and went to pour his friend a pint, though Laurence stopped him.

‘I’m not staying; I just came to ask if there has been any news on the Civil War?’

The bartenders face now turned serious, leaning in and whispering to him ‘It’s only a rumor but I heard that a few settlements have fallen to it now, some mobs of men are going around looting and killing everything and everyone they find, my guess is, we can only stay here a little while longer before they find this place, and there’s not enough of us to stand a chance against them.'

Laurence looked highly concerned, his wife had not long come out of labor and had a new-born child. Now faced the threat of being slaughtered by a rogue mob of men. The odds didn’t look good.

Laurence looked back at his friend 'What are you and little Katie going to do?’

Alphonse now sighed and looked over at a nearby table which sat a small girl, no older than 4, brunette hair tied back into a ponytail, contently busy playing with a small stuffed doll.

‘I’m thinking of heading to the Forbidden Lands.. .’

Laurence’s face was now struck with horror ‘You can’t be serious!?’

Alphonse nodded at him ‘It’s the only safe place left to go, that or stay here and await our impending doom… You and your family should come with us, there’s strength in numbers and you know it’

Laurence shook his head and stood up, ‘I will talk to Heather about it.'

With that Laurence was gone.

----

That night the family was fast asleep as was the baby in her cot. Though as they slept the mobs of men had appeared, there was a vicious bang at the front door of Laurence and Heathers home.

The bang came once again and this time the door contributed to the loud sounds, hitting the floor as it was booted off of its very hinges. Laurence dived out of his bed and grabbed a nearby dagger and stood defensively by the bedroom door.

The men charged into the house, several grabbing valuables, two of the men storming into the bedroom, one plunged his sword straight into Laurence’s gut in the blink of an eye. He slowly gazed down and he watched the blood slowly spill from his gut. His body went cold and he then flopped to the floor.

Heather was now quivering in fear by the corner of the room, the other bedroom invader stepped towards her and roughly grabbed her wrist dragged her out of her house and away from her baby and now dying husband. Amongst her screams the men gagged her and disappeared into the forest, the last remaining man retrieving his sword and walking off from Laurence and the baby… along with what valuables they had.

At the Inn a group of four men walked into the bar equipped with bloody weaponry. Luckily Alphonse was in the cellar, the door to which was hidden and could not easily be seen by those who did not know of it's location.

'That guy was a joke!' One of the larger men boasted.

His subordinates agreed with him, 'Yeah and that blonde one will provide us with some fun for a while'

The men nodded in unison and quit their banter, noticing they had an Inn around them that was supposedly empty.

'Don't you think we need some Ale men?' The larger one pointed to the stairs to where Katie was, two of the men nodded and ran upstairs.

The large man and his minor stayed in the bar and began to ransack to place, taking everything they could find. The two men that ran upstairs soon returned with a bag full of goods. The men looked through their goods, then took off into the woods. Alphonse shakily rose from his hiding place, looking in disbelief at his now trailed and robbed Inn. He then snapped out of his trance and ran upstairs to find Katie, hiding under her bed with her stuffed doll. He reassured her that everything was going to be okay, but he wasn't sure he could say the same about Laurence's family. Besides himself, Heather was the only other blonde in their settlement. Alphonse told Katie to hide in the cellar and he took off for Laurence's Home.

Alphonse came rushing into the house to find Laurence’s blood painting the floor leading back to his corpse. The baby began to struggle and cry alerting Alphonse of her presence. Alphonse stepped over to the baby and wrapped her in her blankets carrying her out of her house and away from what was her father. He stepped out of the house and looked at the sunrise then down to the baby.

‘I think your mother would’ve liked it if your name was Dawn..’

The Innkeeper then went to get Katie, a bag of supplies and set on his way for the Forbidden Lands, in fear of the men returning for his Inn.

----10 Years later----

‘Katie you run too fast!’

Dawn was now a young little girl full of energy, life, and great curiosity. The girls were playing around chasing one another. Alphonse had cared for both of the girls as if Dawn was also his daughter. He had traveled to the land close to the Forbidden Lands fearing the actual place itself. He would live on the border with the girls, waiting until they could at least defend themselves, along with his help of course. Dawn showed a promising talent with herbs and brewing.

‘With that skill of yours, you will always be safe.’ Dawn looked up curiously at her guardian.

‘I will?’

He nodded to her, ‘Yes, plants can actually feed you, defend you and cure you, providing you know how to of course’

Dawn beamed at him, ‘Can you show me how?’

He shook his head ‘No, but I know of a library in a village nearby that probably has the stuff to teach you it’

Dawn twiddled her thumbs nervously and looked at the floor ‘Maybe.. We could go visit it?’

Al laughed and ruffled her hair ‘of course we can Katie can probably learn a thing or too as well’

His daughter scoffed at him ‘No way! Swords and Bows are my way! Not some silly flowers!’

Dawn lowered her head further in shame, thinking of herself as being so weak for having an affinity for plants.

----5 years later----

Katie was now 19 and very full of herself.

Dawn had become a very withdrawn teenager, still thinking rather low of herself even though she could concoct pretty harmful substances; poisons that could paralyze someone; poisons that could kill.. But she had forbid herself to ever actually make the concoction itself and just learnt the recipe. Katie was now extremely skilled with a Sword and A Bow and every now and then tried to teach Dawn how to use a Bow effectively.

‘You need to lift the bow higher’ Dawn raised her arms higher as her sister had instructed.

Though as she did her gripped slipped and she ended up firing the arrow into a nearby tree, just narrowly missing Alphonse as he was coming back with logs for a fire.

He instantly dropped the logs in fear and raised his hands as a joke.

‘Please miss, don’t hurt me’

Dawn gasped and ran over and hugged him apologetically, ‘Sorry! Sorry!’

Katie huffed at this and rolled her eyes, walking back into their home and kicking the door shut, making Dawn turn and lower her head and mumble.

‘She’s angry at me again isn’t she…’

Al ruffled her hair like he always does, ‘She just being moody, she’ll be fine and you did fine with the bow, perhaps instead, you should use that poison of yours on weapons, it makes them deadlier and Katie would finally have to learn something from you’

Dawn looked up at him and smiled ‘Okay.’

With that she ran into the house, Al contently picked up the logs and proceeded back into the house.

----Yet another 5 years on----

Dawn was now 20 and now an expert with poisons. Able to defend herself, now being more proficient with a bow and using poison tipped arrows and daggers. Though she only defended herself when she was truly in a dire situation, she preferred to use her skills for healing people.

She also admired the way Lucin people would use Aether to heal themselves and others, she aspired to develop healing remedies as strong as the Lucins powers, she knew this would be far out of her reach but it was an ambition and something to strive for.

----

‘Dawn, come on, we’re leaving now!’

Dawn was now far too familiar with Katie’s yelling but obeyed her and packed her things. They were now headed for the Forbidden Lands, but their path required them to walk through an extremely dense forest.

Dawn was trailing behind Katie and Al, taking in the sights an enjoying the nature. She looked around and saw a Bluebell flower and ran over forgetting about the others and starting collecting the flowers. Amongst collecting the flowers she picked a blade of grass and began to grass whistle. Something she had learnt from Al when she was younger.

She remained like this until she had what she deemed a satisfactory amount of the bluebells. When she looked up Katie and Al were long gone… She dropped some of the flowers and began to panic looking around the trees, but the pure density of the forest severely obstructed her sight.

‘Katie! Al! Where are you?!’ she beckoned.

She heard a rustle in the bushes behind her and she quickly jumped, bumping into a tree.

‘Wh-who’s there?!’ She demanded.

A pair of red eyes, followed by two more sets of the same eyes came out of the trees..

‘Xitians….’ She whispered to herself.

She watched them and then backed up and around the tree, watching them as they approached her.

They taunted her, ‘what’s wrong little Lucin, lost your Mummy?’

She thought to herself, Lucin.. They think I’m a Lucin... Why?
‘Grab her!’ one of them yelled.

Dawn screamed and dropped her belongings except her short bow and quiver and ran through the forest as fast as she could until she could run no more, she looked around...

‘Where am I…’