#vilje

The first story I can remember being told is how you came to the village and how it was a symbol of good fortune. Perhaps you were the daughter of the saviors of Asvorandi- your skin as dark as the trees they turned into in the legend. Maybe you carried a guardian's soul or their memories inside you. Maybe one day you'd save our village just as they had.

Other children and even adults behaved as though you were a celebrity. Even though you lived among us, some thought of you as something more than us. Not just a sister in the tribe but a hero. No. Not a hero. Possibility. To their starstruck minds you were evidence of Asvorandi's potential. Proof we were on the right track.

Of course not everyone behaved like absolute fools in your presence. Plenty understood you were just a child. Nothing supernatural. One day you weren't here. Then you were. And that was that. A daughter of Asvorandi and loved simply for the virtue of that. But, oh… oh you were loved, weren't you. I scarce can think of a person who didn't love you and who wouldn't make excuses for you when you stepped out of line.

And step out of line you did! While I tried to be the dutiful, hard working, dedicated daughter of the forest, you questioned everything. The sign of your ultimate betrayal was there from the start but there was no one to believe me when I dared say we should be wary.

You know what fairytales are, don't you?

Manipulation. To make us value athleticism we're told a story about racing the wind. To inspire us to protect the forest we're told the trees are our ancestors. We mustn't leave or we will melt like snow. We must accept without question the strange child this village was given by a tongue-tied Viera male… so we must make her mystery an important story somehow.

A cruel joke then that my name, Saga, implies a legend of its own but that I do not have one. I worked so hard to be worthy of the name. Training, fighting, studying, everything. I swore I'd give up the last breath in my lungs just to win the race against a wind elemental. But if the chance arose there'd be no one to notice me do it.

Your radiant smile lit up the village, and its light cast shadows wherever I stood.

I thought in your absence that would change. You proved yourself mortal when you disappeared. No hero. No promise. No daughter of the forest guardians at all. At last! I thought, The others will see I was right to exercise caution. I'll be rewarded for my loyalty. They'll see how much I care. How hard I strive.

My reward for telling them of your rejection of the Green Word and your disappearance is exile.

They say it's a hero's journey. It's a chance to save a daughter of the forest and to save Asvorandi. It's a chance to earn my name as Saga. All my hard work has come to this they say.

My story, my name, has all come to this? To you!? When I find you I'm to fight you if I must, but help you if I can. But as we cannot return to our home due to the Green Word I have decided that I will take control of my own narrative. I will find you, yes. I'll keep that promise. But when I do I will help you if I must. But I will fight you if I can.

Elder Selka told me before I left that when I find you I should offer support. I should be the bigger person.

Vilje, I don't want to be the bigger person between us.

I want to be the better one.

And I will bring you to justice and defend Asvorandi my own way.