While Alyse was sorting out her inner turmoil, temporarily oblivious to the conversation, Evelyn managed to resolve the discussion. Though the Prima were left apprehensive and disgruntled, Evelyn had taken a stern enough approach to quiet their dissent short-term.
As the meeting of the Egris house ended, and the two were left alone, an unexpected comment from Evelyn shook Alyse from her reverie.
"I've seen how hard you've worked all these years to live up to the dream I had for you, Alyse. So, I know you wouldn't make such a declaration lightly. I've realized, thinking back…I was so caught up in the pride that I had in you as my successor that I never asked what you wanted for your future. I didn't even recognize your disinterest in men until a few centuries ago. I'm sorry that I haven't been a very attentive mother." (Evelyn)
She knew her mother's words should have brought her relief, but all Alyse felt was more anguish and guilt. She couldn't bear that her mother thought of herself as the problem – the very idea wrenched her heart. In Alyse's eyes, her mother had been the picture of a devoted parent.
Alyse, fumbling with her words, had tried to express this to her mother at the time, but she feels in retrospect that her words must not have rung true enough to her mother's ears. Evelyn had just maintained her sad smile and thanked Alyse for her kind reassurances.
In the years following that meeting, Alyse's and her mother's lives didn't seem much different on the surface. Evelyn still adored her daughter and spent time training with her, and Alyse still admired her mother and shadowed her during her duties as matriarch.
However, these events transitioned to being primarily driven by Alyse – her mother didn't solicit her participation anymore. Similarly, the frequency with which Evelyn would request Alyse's input on matters of their territory and family slowly dwindled. It was clear to Alyse that her mother was trying to give her the space to direct her own future, but these subtle changes in their historically shared activities still saddened her.
In parallel, Alyse began to wonder about her future more. What was her purpose if she was no longer the matriarch in waiting? What goal should she work towards?
She had gained incredible physical prowess, to the point of dominating her mother in sparring matches for centuries now, and Alyse took great pride in that. Though she knew she'd never be given the opportunity, she felt confident that she could even overwhelm the new Queen, Elira Ophelle, whose combat abilities were rumored to be unmatched. So, joining the military or royal guard was always an option.
However, that didn't really interest Alyse. The Elven Kingdom was a very peaceful nation, and there would be few opportunities for her to hone or implement her skills seriously in such a position. Also, her primary loyalty was to her mother, and only by extension those her mother felt obligated to protect. She didn't want to spend her days as an ornament of the royal family.
Despite lacking a natural aptitude for the relevant subjects, she'd been studious in preparing for the more civil responsibilities of matriarch. So, she was also qualified to occupy a position as Prima. While Alyse wasn't filled with anticipation over such a role, she wasn't opposed to accepting it either.
However, doing so would drastically reduce the amount of time she spent with her mother, the only person she was close to, so she dismissed it for the foreseeable future. Then, she wondered, what was she to do with herself?
Alyse had no specific answer to the question, she just knew that she wanted to show her mother as much support as she'd been given. She was unsure what form that would take, but it seemed reasonable to her that the skills she'd been honing until then would be useful to that end. With that in mind, she merely resolved to continue throwing herself, body and soul, into her training and studies.
Thus, several more centuries passed with this simple goal driving Alyse. During this time, her interactions with the Prima and other family members soured gradually. They became more inclined to make derogatory remarks about her abandoning her obligations to the family, but they were careful to never do so in front of Evelyn. Being content with her mother's support, Alyse ignored their rude comments without incident.
When she was over seven millennia old, Evelyn became pregnant with another child. Some had wondered if she was even able to become pregnant at her age, and Evelyn had no especially public romances over the prior years, so the family was relieved at the development.
Still, a nervous anticipation gripped everyone as well – it was plausible that would be the last child Evelyn had, and they needed it to be a female high elf. Yet, the odds didn't seem in favor of that outcome.
Alyse, for her part, was especially tense. She already knew what would happen if the child born was not a suitable heir – Evelyn would insist that she could have yet another child. Having already noticed how the pressures of producing another heir were straining her mother, Alyse dreaded the possibility.
As the end of Evelyn's pregnancy neared, the speculation among the family only intensified. What would they do if another heir was not born? Would Alyse 'come to her senses' and 'do her duty'? Alyse heard such comments, which grated on her nerves for the usual reasons, but she also saw how much pressure the expectation put on her mother. That made her feel guilty and resent the Prima's comments even more.
Eventually, the day came, and Evelyn gave birth…to a high elf and baby boy – Reynard Egris. The members of the Egris house only had polite congratulations for Evelyn over the healthy birth, but the disappointment within the family was palpable.
After a brief respite, out of respect for Evelyn's recovery, the family inquired once again about the future of the Egris house. As Alyse expected, her mother just smiled wearily and reiterated that she'd have another child that could take over as heir.
Though the Prima were dismayed, they knew that what Evelyn proposed was still technically possible, and they had no better recourse without Evelyn's and Alyse's support. In the years that followed, things continued with their normal routine. However, the family's anxiety and private animosity towards Alyse was greater than before, and only grew with the passage of time.
As for Reynard, he was somewhat overlooked. Of course, Evelyn was kind to him, they spent time together, and she made sure his needs and wants were met. However, it is also fair to say that Reynard didn't receive the same devotion that Alyse had in her childhood. While others in the family never expressed that he was a disappointment, the contextual letdown of his birth led them to treat him as a largely inconsequential child.
Thankfully, this never seemed to sour the mood of young Reynard. He was a boy in perpetually high spirits, and he adored his older sister Alyse above everyone. In truth, Alyse found her little brother's affinity for her inexplicable, but she felt somewhat responsible for any neglect he suffered. Thus, she welcomed his affection and tried to dote on him in return, as her mother did when she was a child.
When he was old enough to hold a sword, Reynard began joining Alyse and Evelyn for their sparring sessions. Their training routine became a combination of teaching Reynard sword basics, then letting him watch the mother-daughter pair spar while he practiced.
Reynard had heard before that his mother and sister were both powerful warriors, but he'd never seen them spar before or heard them compared. Naturally, he assumed that his mother, having taught Alyse the sword and possessing more battle experience, would be the stronger one.
To his shock, however, Evelyn was clearly and hopelessly outmatched by her daughter when they sparred. He also saw Alyse easily dispatch over a dozen of the family guards as part of a larger-scale training session. If he could be said to adore his big sister beforehand, his behavior after he witnessed her combat prowess would best be described as outright reverence. To Reynard, Alyse became an ideal to strive towards.
Though Alyse noted her brother's peculiar obsession with her training him with a sword afterwards, she just wrote it off as boyish excitement over swordplay itself. In fact, she was happy with the arrangement – she found an unexpected joy in teaching her brother everything she'd learned and seeing him grow. With time, she began to look forward to her training sessions with Reynard as much as those with her mother.
A few years later, as her and Reynard were approaching the kitchen for a snack after their training, they'd overhead a couple of the service staff gossiping.
"…so sad for Lady Evelyn, to have her daughter go from the pride of the family to an outright failure as future matriarch-"
Alyse had become accustomed to such comments, and she merely gritted her teeth as normal. She was prepared to ignore the gossiping workers to avoid embarrassing her mother with incivility in the household. However, young Reynard became outraged on her behalf, and he was quick to make their presence known and interject his thoughts.
"Shut up! How dare you say that about big sis! You have no idea what you're talking about...she's the most amazing person in the world!"
At the time, Alyse was dumbstruck by the uncharacteristically hostile outburst from her little brother, and at the same time, she was surprised to find that his actions nearly brought her to tears.
The comment from the servants hadn't particularly wounded her, and she knew Reynard's inflated opinion of her was the consequence of his childish frame of reference. Plus, she doubted that he truly understood why she was being called a failure. Despite all that, she was deeply moved by how staunchly he defended her. Even her mother never did so with such brazen admonishment.
Following that event, what started as a maternal obligation borne of Alyse's guilt became genuine fondness for Reynard. For the first time, there was someone other than her mother whose expectations she genuinely wanted to live up to. Alyse's happiest days were soon those that revolved around her little brother – that was when she felt the safest and most accepted. In the years that followed, Evelyn noticed the change in the siblings' dynamic, and she derived a quiet relief from knowing that both had the other for support.
Reynard continued training with his mother and sister as he matured, but he eventually became aware of a critical difference between them that no amount of training could fix – magic affinity. Evelyn and Alyse could use physical enhancement, but due to his age and station, Reynard hadn't even been tested for magic affinity yet.
After making that realization, Reynard became adamant about getting tested. Evelyn and Alyse were surprised by his sudden insistence, but since Alyse had been tested at an even younger age, they relented. They expressed words of caution that an affinity might not present at his age, but they scheduled a private magic assessment for him.
As it happened, Reynard – age ten – did exhibit a magic affinity. Surprisingly, however, he had a dark class affinity, not the alteration class that was common for the Egris family. Such a magic class deviation was not inherently shameful within the Egris family, but Reynard was deeply upset by the news that he'd be unable to mimic his sister's combat style.
Alyse, to her credit, was quick to reassure Reynard that a dark class affinity could be useful for combat in its own way. He didn't seem convinced at first, but once she mentioned rare invisibility and lightning spells, his spirits were immediately lifted.
Thereafter, Reynard spent a significant portion of his days buried in the family library with Alyse, searching for dark class spells to try out. Invisibility, lightning, alchemy, item box, sound manipulation, temperature manipulation...they exhausted all the dark class spells recorded in the Egris family library. Alyse even arranged periodic visits to the grand library at the Elven Magic Academy.
Unfortunately, Reynard didn't exhibit an affinity for any of the dark class spells they found.