"You're such a colossal disappointment, an unprecedented burden on your sweet mother. Can you not see what you're doing to her? The stress of your selfishness will inevitably send her to an early grave. Can you live with her death on your shoulders?"
Alyse nearly murdered the man then and there. The only reason she didn't was the crippling guilt she felt as the comment exploited her deepest insecurities. Nevertheless, her gaze and voice turned cold as ice, and any motivation she had left to be respectful towards them evaporated forever.
"All this talk about self-sacrifice and the greater good of the family…it's easy when it's just words. But, you're not the ones sacrificing, you hypocritical assholes. Until you are, quit suggesting that I let men fuck me against my will, or else I'm going to give you the same treatment with my sword." (Alyse)
The effect on the Prima was jarring. All of them were stunned speechless by her sudden hostility. As her words sank in, a couple of them seemed to realize how they'd erred, and fear and uncertainty crept into their expressions. However, the other two just looked angry, and made their resentment known.
"So, you're finally showing your true colors. Threatening violence, and your crass attitude, it just shows that you don't care about other elves, your family, or your people at all." (Prima 1)
"You're as impudent as you are entitled. We'd all sacrifice for the good of the family if we could, but you're the only one in a position to remedy this issue and you know it. You're just using our relative distance from the situation as an excuse to justify your selfishness." (Prima 2)
Alyse merely snorted at the two Prima that responded, both of whom where men, but there wasn't a trace of amusement in her expression.
"You're all so full of shit, but fine, I'll make you a deal. I'll take over as matriarch, and I'll take as many men into my bed as I need to until I produce an heir…on one condition. Every single time I have to hold back the bile in my throat as I force myself to do so, I want you two to fuck one another. Prove to me that you're as committed to the family as you claim. That I'm not bearing this burden alone for the sake of a bunch of bigoted hypocrites. Do that, and you'll get what you've been asking for." (Alyse)
The Prima's faces had twisted in disgust and horror, and they stuttered in shock at her suggestion. It was several moments before one of them could form a comprehensible response.
"Y-you…can't be serious? That's completely unreasonable!"
Alyse kept her menacing gaze directed at them, unwavering.
"I'm completely serious. Take turns fucking each other, before each of my nights with a man, and I give you my word I'll hold up my end of the deal. Now, I agree that such a request is completely unreasonable, of course. Yet, you're making the exact same one. You're asking me to submit to similar intimacy with a man, even though the thought turns my stomach. Can either of you give me a valid reason why my request is more unreasonable than yours?" (Alyse)
Though their eyes were full of resentment and dissent, neither of the Prima spoke up. Alyse just watched them with disdain for several moments as they avoided her gaze.
"Tch…figured as much. In that case, we're done here, and don't even think about suggesting this to me again until you're literally willing to put your asses on the line." (Alyse)
With that, Alyse had turned on her heels and departed without a second thought, leaving the Prima in a stupor. In the decades that followed, the first few meetings continued as before, but with those four Prima who'd confronted her remaining unusually quiet. However, Alyse no longer maintained her façade of respect towards the Prima.
As soon as someone suggested gritting her teeth through the necessities of producing an heir, she'd make them the same deal, offer them some choice expletives when they refused, then leave. After a couple of discussions like that, the Prima stopped making such suggestions, and the meetings' frequency slowly declined.
It was in this time that Alyse's dynamic with her extended family transitioned into the state it remains today. Ultimately, the Prima's children and successors were passively trained to share their hostility towards and disdain for Alyse, as those Prima had learned to a lesser extent from their own parents. Of course, it did not help that she no longer invested any effort in earning their favor – she was tired of it.
As for her relationship with her mother, Evelyn was dismayed by the further breakdown in civility within the family. However, she did not condemn her daughter, nor did she love her any less. She just apologized to Alyse for not doing more to support her. Yet, that somehow broke Alyse's heart more than if her mother had yelled at her and labeled her a failure and burden.
As the dynamic within the Egris family became increasingly tense, unexpected news pushed their prior disagreements to the back of everyone's mind – at almost 9,300 years old, Evelyn was pregnant. From that time until her delivery, there was an unspoken truce among the family that all hostile attitudes were to be set aside for the sake of Evelyn, the pregnancy, and the family's future.
Though nobody dared voice the fact, they all knew that this was going to be Evelyn's last pregnancy. They'd never expected it to happen in the first place. If the child born was a high elf daughter, all their problems would be solved almost miraculously. But, if it was not, the conflict within the family threatened to enter its final and most hostile stages.
At last, the day of reckoning came, and Evelyn gave birth. Of course, the child was a female high elf – Cara Egris, the current matriarch of the Egris house, and the last hope for the family's future. The immense and understandable relief of the family was marred by only one thing – Cara's features.
Her amber eyes and red hair, detectable even at birth, are virtually unheard of in the elven community. Many interpreted them as a bad omen. They worried that she'd be sickly, destined to die along with the Egris house. However, their worries proved unfounded as Cara developed into a healthy young girl.
While those first few years of Cara's life were characterized by a sort of hesitant relief among the family members, the mood became one of outright excitement as it became clear that she was an otherwise normal child. Evelyn, for her part, smiled almost constantly by this point.
Though she'd never wanted to burden Alyse with it, Evelyn placed the blame for all the animosity within the family firmly on her own shoulders. She couldn't help but imagine how things would be different if she'd just taken her daughter's nature more seriously when Alyse first expressed a disinterest in men. Moreover, she felt her own sense of guilt over Reynard, and how Alyse had largely taken responsibility for his well-being.
With Cara's birth and affirmed health, however, Evelyn finally felt like she'd rectified what she viewed as her mistakes. She thought that Alyse would finally be free of the burdens that her shortcomings as a mother had placed on her daughter, and that brought her no small amount of relief.
The mother's and daughter's difference of opinion on who was to blame for the situation was finally laid bare when Evelyn called Alyse to her room one day for a private meeting. The discussion started with Evelyn inquiring about her daughter's happiness in the years since Cara had been born, and Alyse had taken the opportunity to express her immense gratitude to her mother, as well as her guilt over how much of a burden she'd been.
When Evelyn expressed shock and reciprocal guilt over Alyse's characterization of herself, it became clear to both mother and daughter that each had been carrying guilt over the other's struggles for centuries to millennia. Naturally, this realization first sparked alarm and greater remorse on both sides, but further discussion brought a kind of dark amusement over the irony of their situations.
The conversation eventually turned to reminiscing over the millennia they'd spent together, their favorite memories, and sentiments they wished they'd expressed to one another at times past. This carried on for hours, late into the night, and it ended with the two being closer than ever. They'd resolved to make the most of the centuries they had left together, and to be more forthcoming with one another.
Regarding the young hope of the family, a then 3 years old Cara Egris, Alyse felt an intense debt to her little sister after her and her mother's heart-to-heart. She thought Cara had reinvigorated her bond with her mother and saved her from the seemingly endless harassment of the other family members. Consequently, she decided that she'd do whatever she could to aid and protect her little sister.