So let's go back twenty-one years, to a time when Lelelitio was a young elven girl like her future princess and Talemilia Malalalivia Grave was not called that.
Once, Lelelitio and Malalalivia lived lower down in the Nether, in a more gloomy place than the Hero has seen since his arrival. If the upper part of the Nether was a state of lawlessness left expressly so by the higher authorities of the kingdom to frighten the inhabitants of the High Place and the Sanctuary, the deeper one descended, the more the smell of decay filled one's nostrils, and the deeper one sank into the abyss of this district, the more one became aware of the darkness that had invaded it. One wondered if the corpses of the Great Feline, killed by Torn the hero, and of the Hydragon, who had been defeated by the future leader of the Queen's Saints and the future Queen herself during their youth, were not linked to it.
It was in the midst of this morass of fear and filth that the two young children of this story lived. At that time, they were not living alone - far too young -, the elf was still living with his mother - normal at his age -, a servant of Malalalivia Talemilia's mother - who was not yet called that - : Malalalivia Grave.
She was the first to have this name.
At the same time, Malalalivia, the second of the name, was not called Talemilia either, this modified name was inspired by that of her deceased mother, who died when she was five years old.
Talemililia was a gentle and loving woman with a small temperament, but she was also a generous woman who was much appreciated in the fairy community of the Nether. She was the one who most often took part in food collections for the poorest families and vehemently fought against the injustices that took place in this part of the kingdom, unfortunately having no power to improve things on a larger scale.
But despite her great goodness, she had made many enemies.
It was one evening when she was returning from the market in Upper Town - for there are no markets in the Nether, unless you are prepared to eat your own kind - with a bunch of maids with which Malalalivia the elf maid could prepare a nice little meal for her and her daughter - and maybe even her maid's son if he would come this time - she was stabbed by a stranger who was after her because of "her basket full of goodies".
An investigation was carried out and it turned out that the man found had no recollection of having done this act. Even the lie detector could not incriminate him so he was only imprisoned for eternity.
Imagine that a princess of the kingdom, exiled because of her ancestry, had just been murdered like a common dog in the middle of a bad street in the kingdom.
Was there any sense in that?
Especially as it was not over, some scoundrels had taken the opportunity to loot her home and burn it down on the same night that the mother of the last Grave princess had been murdered.
It was Lelelitio's mother who came to the rescue of her mistress' daughter and protected her from the robbers. She was a woman strong enough to face all kinds of adversaries; she was well worthy of her husband. According to Lelelitio's recollection, the future princess had not wanted to leave the house and had to mourn her mother's death for at least a month in the company of her own mother, who was very attached to Malalalivia as she had been her official servant since her puberty.
During this month of absence, Malalalivia had left her son almost alone in their dingy "house" - which was more like a shack built by a ten year old than a real dwelling for any family - having to look after himself by making food, "cleaning", doing his homework, chasing giant rats, chasing bums and squatters who tried to invade his home... hoping for the return, as soon as possible, of his loving mother.
If he had been able to do all these exploits, it was because of his elf nature which, unlike humans who are vulnerable until at least adolescence or even adulthood, made them very resourceful children at the age of four and who already reached the height of thirty meters! This was not as unusual a height as one might think among the Faerie. They were a race that, unlike humans, were not particularly sociable, so they quickly learned to get along on their own. However, this also depended on the people and sub-groups within the same race.
Then the long-awaited day finally came: Malalalivia had returned!
As he threw himself into her arms, he noticed that next to his mother was a little girl no taller than three apples - she was only a head shorter than he was - with a sulky face, swollen eyes, a swollen face and clothes that were a little neater than the rest of the Netherlanders, but just as ugly and just as dirty as their own, Her hands were covered with sores and leafy bandages, her legs were in the same state as her hands, however, they had the peculiarity of playing maracas by knocking their knees together and on her feet she had only one shoe.
The stranger was shy and fearful, hiding behind Lelelitio's mother as he approached her son and offered his hand in greeting.
- Be careful, Leli, she is still troubled, his mother warned him.
The girl was watching him out of the corner of her eye as she clung to her 'protector's' dress, and he observed her ocular peculiarity, which was her minnow eyes - one of which was definitely not brown but pink, but that was a detail - and the stars dotting her eyeballs, he had never seen such stars before.
It reminded him of someone, but he couldn't remember who.
- It's time I introduced you to my lovely little boy, Lelelitio, who I've told you about on my visits to your mother.
The little girl nodded shyly as she continued to stare at the boy behind her protector.
- And Lelelitio, this is the daughter of our mistress, the princess...
His blood ran cold as he heard this, his face faded, he became dull and sullen. He did not wait for his mother's presentation to end before leaving and slamming the door in their faces. His mother was stunned by his attitude, never having been so angry.
- I'm sorry, Your Highness. He's never usually like this, so I can't tell you what happened while I was away.
- No... no... it's nothing, Mrs Malalalivia," she assured him.
- No fuss between us, you can always call me Malali like before.
She nodded. Then after a little hesitation, she asked him, stammering:
- If I understand correctly what is going to happen, you are going to become my new mother?
- Oh no! No! No! No!" she hastened to correct, "It would be too great an honour to be the adoptive mother of one of the princesses of the kingdom of Sylvania.
"Fallen," the orphan added in thought.
- I will not allow myself to sully the memory of Lady Talemililia in this way. Please go home, Miss Avelilinélia.
She wanted to take her back but held back, she did not have the strength, nor the head to want to contradict her. After all, she was welcoming him into her home, free of charge. She did not want to impose her presence any more than necessary.
Little Leli had gone to his room, hiding behind his bed, his body all curled up, sulking at the presence of the new arrival. He had never said anything about his mother abandoning him to look after the fallen branch of the royal family, but thanks to the death of Princess Talemililia, he would have thought that his mother would finally care for him a lot more, but now he had to deal with the last descendant. And in his home! In his home!
He felt immense regret at the thought, for in a way they were cousins, even though they were elves and they were fairies. The Grave family had redeemed their ancestors from their pitiful life of slavery in exchange for serving their family as servants, and they would be called 'cousins' of the royal family.
In the end, with this story in mind, it was as if he was slightly rejoicing at the death of a family member.
However, he didn't care about all the lineage stuff; all he wanted was his mother back. Just for himself. And not to see his mother bend over backwards for the happiness of others!
Since the death of his father Lanstest, during another battle for the good of the kingdom, he already felt terribly alone. If on top of that this intruder was taking over his mother, it would be the last straw.
As it turned out, his worst fears were realized, Malalalivia was taking good care of Princess Avelilinélia, always giving her the best parts of the meat, fish and vegetables, while they ate half-rotten produce - fortunately their life in the Nether made their bodies strong enough to handle the rotten food of this place. She had the best bed in the house, didn't have to help with the chores, had the room that spared her from meeting the rats and giant cockroaches, could wash herself with hot water... and many other privileges to which Lelelitio was no longer entitled.
And yet, in spite of all her little pleasures, getting all this did not change the expression of fear and sadness that she displayed since she had arrived at their home; she still did not speak, never smiled, did not want to make the effort to play with the only toys that the elf had given her by her mother...
All this irritated the boy even more.
The only thing he noticed about her was her attachment to a very peculiar book that she carried around the house. It was half-burnt and pages seemed to be missing, but she flipped through it every day. It was the only time he saw her make a pretence of smiling.
These events were repeated until Lelelitio finally broke down and attacked her both verbally and physically. Avelilinélia could not even defend herself and she made no sound of protest, only her facial expressions expressing her disapproval. He pushed her to the ground and held her arms tightly.
- Fight back!" Lelelitio yelled at her, "fight back, do something! You're being taken in and you can't make the effort to be happy.
She struggled with muffled grunts, turning her head from side to side, twisting her arms in all directions to get out of her attacker's grip, beating her wingtips against the ground, raising dust.
- But I am!" she finally said, "I didn't deserve all this! All that has happened to me! Nor did my mother! None of us deserved this! If we were really princesses of Sylvania why would we go through all this? Why did my mother die? Why do I get special treatment when I'm as dirty as you? I wanted to stay with my mum forever and they took her away from me! And they took away my house where I lived with her! Why didn't the hero and the fairy from the legend come to save us? Why didn't they save my mother?
Lelelitio became even more enraged.
- Because the world is unfair and that's the way it is!" Lelelitio retorted, "That's the way it is and there's nothing we can do about it! We don't have the money to live in Upper Town so we live here, you were born in the wrong branch of the royal family, you live here. I could ask you questions too: "Why did my father die for a kingdom that let us starve?", "Why is my mother forced to serve people who are not even royalty and who barely paid us?", "Why can't we live on an equal footing with everyone upstairs? I ask myself all these questions, but I don't whine like the whimsical child you are. I'm content with what I have and I don't cling to stupid stories of retarded children hoping that a prince charming will come and save me and make my life better. If you can't do that, give me my mother back and get out of my house!
- But I have nowhere to go!
- So go hang yourself if you can't manage, you cheap princess!
As he spoke these words, the young elf understood the harshness of his words and instantly regretted them, he wanted to apologise but his anger was still too intense for him to do so, and without realising it, he clutched his arms tighter and tighter. Only the girl's tears allowed him to express his pain.
It was Malalalivia's intervention that put an end to this childish fight, she slapped her son's face and took Princess Avelilinélia in her arms, bombarding her with questions as to whether she was all right, whether nothing serious had happened to her wings...
It was the first time that Malalalivia put her hand on her son, and in such a violent way, with such force...
Caressing his cheek, he was revolted by his mother's priorities.
- That's it! You care about this stranger more than your own son!
Running her hand through the hair of the girl she was carrying in her arms, Malalalivia glared at her son.
- Wasn't it you who was picking on a bereaved little girl just now?" his mother asked coldly, "Besides, it's our duty to take care of the royal family who redeemed us from slavery and gave us Azadelkis elves a family name...
- A family name so that we are their exclusive property, yes," he retorted.
Malalalivia gasped, she had never seen her son so angry.
- What's the matter with you? I've never seen you like this before?
- I'm fed up, that's all! I don't want to become the dog of that girl who is younger than me.
- Leli, that's not how you should talk in front of...
The princess stopped her and got down from her protector's arms.
- I understand her bitterness towards me and I think there is no need to create so much distance between us, it will do no good if I keep this princess status when there is nothing to distinguish me so... so... would you accept... to... to... treat me as... your... your... daughter?
That's the longest request I've ever heard in my life.
- Is this really okay with you, Princess Avelilinélia?" Malalalivia asked.
- Yes," she answered shyly, "and... Eli or Aveline is more than enough.
- It's agreed," the servant yielded, "I will do my best to comply with your request.
- And forget the formalities, I want to be treated like your son..., she demanded in a small voice.
- As you... it's as you wish.
Was she doing it to appease Lelelitio's heart or simply to get rid of her title of princess?
In either case, he couldn't help but blame her for her cowardice.
Three months had passed since that argument. Three long months it had taken to ease the tension between the two children, where the fairy had gradually taken the initiative to come out of her silence, to participate in the household chores, to get rid of the rats with her new mother and her cousin-brother or whatever. The elf, for his part, had gradually begun to accept the presence of this princess in his home and allowed her to speak to him - it was Malalalivia who was forcing his hand. But in the end they got on better and better as friends, even taking baths together to enjoy the hot water, with Malalalivia washing them.
For the mother of the family, it had been a long time since she had felt such a festive atmosphere since the death of her husband. Seeing her son smile again was a great relief to her. This happy family atmosphere allowed them to forget the misery in which they lived and not to worry about tomorrow.
The years passed, ten years had gone by, and both children had grown up. First of all Lelelitio, the elf was now nineteen, he had become tall, slender and slender - as he was now but leaner -, he had found a small job that paid enough for them not to starve as a cleaner of the giant turtle that carried the kingdom on its back. Still single, he said he had nothing to offer a girl. Only his mother and Avelilinélia, newly renamed Talemilia, were important to him.
Let us turn to Princess Avelilinélia, who was no longer called Princess Avelilinélia, but just Talemilia, in honour of her mother. If she had given up her title and name, it was not only because of her own doing, but also for security reasons.
They learned that many people were satisfied with the end of the fallen branch of the royal family and thought that Avelilinélia had also succumbed to the fire, so Lelelitio and Malalalivia decided to hide the existence of the princess by renaming her and making it look like she was a new refugee in Sylvania - thanks to the incessant shifting of the kingdom. It was she who decided to take back her mother's name despite the objections of her family members, so she agreed to remove the dishonourable syllable from her mother's name and just call herself Talemilia.
She had become a pretty young girl with sublime wings, smiling, naive, jovial and who talked a lot, but a lot more, to the point where it became unpleasant. You couldn't find anyone more talkative and cheerful than her. She had come to inherit her mother's goodness and kindness, helping the needy and orphans to get by, stopping arguments between barflies or rival gangs, just like her mother. For many, she had become a saint, and no man or woman was indifferent to her - it was Lelelitio who took it upon himself to refuse the advances made to her, protecting the one he considered his little sister...
Malalalivia could not hide the great pride she had for her two children she had raised alone, proud that they had become upright and mature people, she would have so much wanted to show her husband and mistress how well they had grown up. So she began a little ritual of going to their graves every fortnight in the cemetery east of the three quarters of the kingdom - the only place where noble, ordinary, fallen citizens could go without any form of segregation or permission since we were all equal in the face of death - and telling them how their children had changed into valiant people.
She hadn't changed much in ten years. There were no wrinkles on her face, and that was normal: elves lived for three hundred years and she had not yet reached the halfway point of her life expectancy, but it was fair to say that her body had still been marked by the pangs of life - a few wounds here and there. Malalalivia was still a charming lady who was often courted, but she always refused the advances made to her, preferring to take care of her children - like her son, after all. The elf had found it difficult to accept that Princess Avelilinélia was her daughter, always favouring her over her own son, but in the end, both she and her son got used to it; Lelelitio was able to forgive her mother's deviations and she was able to consider Avelilinélia as her daughter.
A beautiful little family had been created around these three singular characters.
However, as the two Velipsé adages say: "Averig, the breath of the imperious times, is never far from the green lands" and "Do not expect the strong winds not to be preceded by the clouds of nightmares".
A great period of famine descended upon the entire kingdom. Due to unfortunate miscalculations of their trajectory, the kingdom of Sylvania had ended up in the land of Kano when they were aiming for the lands of Baleramin further east.
At that time, the kingdom did not have an advanced agriculture to manage itself as it does now and the numerous dissensions that existed because of the birth of the Fairy had disturbed the whole government which did not care about the good trajectory of the world-turtle anymore. Fortunately for them, they had large reserves thanks to the countries composed entirely of Faerie with whom they traded, unfortunately the royalty and the nobles took precedence over the rest of the kingdom - although the queen had done everything to ensure that the provisions were made fairly, she did not yet have the power of persuasion that she had in her adult years. Haute-Ville came second and then it would be the turn of the Netherland, but the greed of the nobles and the queen's meagre authority meant that the situation had degenerated far more than it should have.
And the people who suffered the most were those who lived near the corpse of the Hydragon, which the queen had defeated but which no one had bothered to dispose of - even though it was gigantic. The monster's flesh had been rotting for eleven years, stinking all over the Nether with a cadaverous pestilence, a pestilence to which the inhabitants had become accustomed over the years, but this corpse was one of the sources of all the rodents and other undesirables that fed on the pheasant meat of the giant winged lizard that had attacked the kingdom. The funny thing was that many of the Fairy rodents lived as citizens of Sylvania, so it was obvious that people, in their primal racism, would eventually confuse them with the undesirables that were spreading everywhere, even though they spoke the universal Oli'Ane.
If all strata of society were affected by this famine, it is certain that the family of our merry men had to be counted among the first to be affected among those who lived in the depths of the Nether. But Talemilia's cheerfulness counterbalanced the gloomy atmosphere of their situation.
This situation had become so uncontrollable that the controls at the border of Sylvania, the Forest of the Mist of Forgetfulness, were poorly carried out and evil people had managed to sneak inside the kingdom's walls: poachers in Faerie.
The beginning of Queen Audiselia's reign had been catastrophic: between her various fits of nerves that endangered the kingdom, her continual sadness and the fact that she was manipulated by the nobles of the kingdom like a puppet, the bright future of Sylvania did not show up on the horizon. And there is no need to remind you that it was highly inadvisable to rely on the supreme commander of the armies of Sylvania, who was an incompetent of the highest order. The only person who could move the wheels of this broken system was Sawyer, the Knight of the Queen's Saints, the one who should have been the commander of the armies of Sylvania after Caemgen if that clown Mathgen hadn't stolen his place - this information was public knowledge, but well... He was far too busy a man: he had to support the queen, prepare for the confrontation with the enemy nations who took advantage of the chaos to try and take control of Sylvania and their spies who infiltrated the government... Fortunately, he was endowed with great intelligence and thanks to the notoriety of his late father, hero of many wars, winner of the battle against the troll king and executioner of Queen Marrynélia, he was able to compensate for the shenanigans of the scavengers of the royal court while waiting for the queen to recover.
It was during this dark period that a dark event happened to the princess Avelilinélia and her servant Lelelitio with irreparable consequences.