Alyse Egris was born to an unknown male suitor and Evelyn Egris, the prior matriarch of the Egris family, almost five millennia ago. She was Evelyn's first high elf daughter. At the time, the Egris family was still old-fashioned enough that it was assumed she'd be the next matriarch. So needless to say, she was the pride of her mother.
Evelyn doted on her endlessly during Alyse's childhood. Her mother personally taught her to read and write, regaled her with the histories of the elves and their own family, and even oversaw her magic education. Alyse didn't resent her lack of a father figure, but it did make her value her mother's attention that much more.
At the age of six, Alyse had her first magic assessment at her mother's insistence. It's well established among elven scholars that magic assessments in children are unreliable with respect to spell class, and they will commonly produce false no-class results. So, assessments are normally carried out later.
However, Alyse was not only identified as alteration class, but she already presented with all sub-class affinities except item enchanting. Moreover, she had the highest magic power level in the Egris family history, rivaling those in the royal family.
Alteration class magic users are extremely rare in the elven population, and they are prized for their exceptional combat prowess. But the Egris house has long been an exception – its matriarchs have all been alteration class for generations, as have most of their children. Consequently, the Egris house has a proud history of contributing to the royal guard and military.
Evelyn rejoiced at Alyse's abilities and potential, and Alyse delighted in the extra attention her mother subsequently devoted to her magic and combat training. Over the next few years, her training progressed at a dizzying pace. She not only achieved mastery over her magic and sword skills, but she also developed high proficiency in archery.
Her skills only continued to grow, and by the age of twelve, Alyse could defeat every guard in the Egris's service and every member of the family except her own mother. She was hailed as a prodigy, and the pride of the Egris household.
Alyse's combat prowess grew more widely known, and she became the subject of lavish praise everywhere she accompanied her mother. Alyse found others' attention in this regard somewhat off-putting, but she treasured seeing her mother beam with pride when it happened, so she was largely happy for the spotlight.
It was around this time that Evelyn began more actively including Alyse in noble affairs, so she could gain firsthand experience with her mother's responsibilities as matriarch. Admiring her mother immensely, and wanting to live up to Evelyn's expectations, Alyse approached those matters studiously.
Though subjects such as diplomacy, economics, and law did not come naturally to Alyse, her hard work and motivation yielded results that even the others in the family took notice of. At age thirteen, talk of her prodigious abilities was already mixed with optimistic discussion of her future as matriarch.
As Alyse became more involved in her mother's affairs as matriarch, several other key family members – most of whom served as Prima for Egris territory cities – became prone to discussing Alyse's future in front of her. On a couple of occasions, this included discussion of her finding a suitable husband.
The first time it was brought up, Alyse – age 13 – was quick to declare that she didn't want a husband. She saw no issue with such a statement. After all, her mother was unmarried, and she didn't even know her own father.
Assuming that she merely wished to follow in her mother's footsteps, the Egris family and Evelyn were unperturbed. They simply responded that it was something she could decide when she was older. It's not unheard of for high elves to wait several millennia before taking a husband, or even only have discrete lovers, so they didn't consider it a pressing issue.
The next time, Alyse was 16. A Prima made a remark that, given her maturing physique, she should start dressing in a way that flattered her more feminine figure – she had a rather tomboyish style. The Prima intended it as good-faith advice, saying Alyse would be thankful for it later when boys began showing her more attention. However, Alyse insisted that she had no interest in boys' affections.
Evelyn and the others of the Egris family took more notice of Alyse's rebuttal on this occasion, but they merely chuckled and made comments like 'you'll change your mind when you're older', or 'you're only saying that because you've never experienced it'. None of them thought her disinterest in boys was anything more than a phase of her youth.
However, Alyse knew better, and she had for years. She'd sometimes hear the other elven girls her age around the city discussing specific boys, but she never shared their interest. Instead, she was more excited to discuss First Princess Elira Ophelle.
Ever since seeing Princess Elira during a trip to Avalon with her mother, Alyse had found the Princess incomparably enchanting – the platinum hair, dazzling smile, confident stride, regal poise, and exceptional combat reputation. Her feelings weren't those of a girl consumed with envy or reverence; it was like the elven girls when they gossiped about local boys – Alyse's first crush.
Several years passed for Alyse with the others' dismissals of her feelings remaining infrequent, subtle, and unmalicious, but she never forgot any of them. All the while, her frustration was building. Before she knew it, she'd begun to feel like she couldn't be herself around other people.
When she could no longer stomach the discrepancy between the person she was and the person she thought that others perceived her as, Alyse, then a young woman of twenty, finally decided to have a long talk with her mother about herself.
After years of thinking over and over about the little dismissals that had led her to feel so misunderstood, she had also begun to form her own conclusions about how her mother would react to such a confession. Thus, Alyse lamented about the looming disappointment of the person whose approval she cherished above all else.
Though she'd never been dishonest with her mother, Alyse couldn't help but feel like she was living a lie that kept them apart on some level. So, despite her apprehension, she was resolved to be forthcoming with Evelyn about her feelings over the past few years. For the first time, she was going to be explicit – she wanted to pursue other women romantically.
When she finally spoke those words aloud to Evelyn, she grimaced in anticipation, but her mother only looked back at her in surprise. After several moments, her mother's face transitioned into a warm smile, and Evelyn pulled her into a tight embrace. Her mother just gently whispered, 'then do so', without a trace of judgement or disappointment.
Hearing those words, Alyse felt immense relief wash over her. It was as though the emotion itself, which had eluded her the past several years, had simply been accumulating behind a dam that broke at that very moment. She leaned into her mother's warm embrace, and her heart soared like it never had before – she felt the deepest acceptance in her adult life.
Looking back, Alyse identifies the unexpectedly soothing nature of their talk as the reason why she didn't contemplate the situation further. Perhaps she assumed that her and her mother were on the same page because she couldn't have tolerated any other outcome – she needed a happy ending to their discussion.
However, life is rarely so fair. Unbeknownst to Alyse, Evelyn had somewhat misjudged her daughter's nature.
As it happens, Alyse still viewed sexuality as somewhat binary, and on several occasions over the years she'd voiced her disinterest in boys when they were brought up. So, when she told her mother that she wanted to pursue women, she assumed it was clear that she wanted to only pursue women.
By contrast, Evelyn had taken her daughter's statement at face value. The elves have long had very open views on intimacy – such relationships aren't something that's frowned upon. So, when Alyse expressed a romantic interest in women, Evelyn felt that she had no reason to be anything except supportive.
Though she'd never mentioned it to her daughter, Evelyn went through her own process of self-discovery in her youth. She'd felt a strong inclination towards women as she matured, and eventually explored it firsthand. Through those experiences, she'd concluded that, while intimacy with other women wasn't without its appeal, she preferred men in that regard.
It's perhaps the bias of any parent to think that they can relate to their child's dilemmas and offer advice according to their own experiences. In this case, that led Evelyn to project her own history onto her daughter and assume that Alyse was merely experiencing a similar curiosity. She thought that, if Alyse was encouraged to explore it herself, she'd likely reach the same conclusion as Evelyn had.
Alas, this was not a case of 'like mother, like daughter'. By Alyse's age, Evelyn had long been interested in men, and it was just mixed with a strong curiosity about women. Conversely, Alyse had never felt the faintest interest in men. They were not the same, and Alyse had no desire to explore intimacy with men.
Regardless, both Alyse and Evelyn left their discussion – unaware of the misunderstanding – feeling deeply content, optimistic about the future, and closer than ever as mother and daughter.
Feeling the matter was settled, Alyse did not rehash the subject with her mother, and Evelyn, reflecting on her own centuries-long journey of sexuality, considered further discussion to be wholly premature. Furthermore, Alyse would not need an heir for millennia – high elves don't feel the passage of time like humans. Thus, a decade passed without notable developments.
It was at this time that a merchant's daughter, Roselia, was visiting Wellick with her father to apprentice in the family business. Alyse met her by chance at their local shop, where Roselia was tending the store counter.
To Alyse's surprise, Roselia recognized her from a sword competition she'd won in Avalon several years ago. Roselia gushed about the beauty of Alyse's swordsmanship during the matches, and she confessed that she'd been somewhat of a fan ever since.
Being uncharacteristically flattered, Alyse inquired about Roselia's life, and she learned that Roselia desired to open her own bakery one day. As the two chatted more, they were quickly enamored with one another's company. When the time came to part ways, they made plans for Roselia to learn basic swordsmanship from Alyse, and Alyse to taste test Roselia's baking recipes.
Over the next several weeks, the two made many such plans. As they did, the frequency of the plans increased, as did their mutual enjoyment of the time they spent together. Before they knew it, the two were close friends.
For Alyse, however, it did not stop there. The more time they spent together, the more she took notice of Roselia's beauty, and the more charming she found Roselia's little quirks. The way her cheeks flushed anytime she laughed too hard, how she'd bite her lip when she was deep in thought, or the exasperated sigh she'd make if Alyse was silent for too long after tasting her new baking recipes.
Alyse was falling for her first love.