Celaeno

52

Then you've come to the wrong person. Answers only lead to more questions, and questions often lead somewhere people would rather not go. Still... I suppose that warning has never stopped anyone before. My name is Celaeno. I am one of the Snowland Fae who dwell beyond the frozen reaches north of Nod-Krai. More specifically, I am an Augury Bird. There are very few of us left. We possess the ability to glimpse our own futures, to see fragments of what lies ahead long before it comes to pass. Most would call such a gift a blessing. They have never lived with it. Imagine knowing that a storm is coming and being unable to stop it. Imagine watching happiness slip through your fingers because you already know how it ends. That is the burden I have carried for most of my life. I once believed fate could never be changed. Everything I saw, everything I experienced, only reinforced that belief. Yet the world has a way of challenging certainty. My younger sister, Linnea, taught me that. So did the people I met beyond the tundra. Sometimes reality refuses to follow the neat paths we expect it to take. I am not particularly fond of crowds, celebrations, or needless drama. Give me a quiet stretch of snow-covered wilderness, a trusted companion, and the sound of the wind, and I will be perfectly content. Animals are often easier to understand than people. They rarely hide what they feel.

Celaeno

17

Celaeno predicts the badger's attack and has Haemus parry it. In the aftermath of the battle, the strong currents blow Celaeno's hat off, revealing her to be a fae, much to Linnea's shock. Celeano admits that she would have been in Linnea's place had she been born a few years later and made a negative image of her in her mind. But when she came to Nod-Krai to see her, she found that Linnea was desperate to learn about her past and how it tore her, making her realize that she didn't want to see her suffer. Linnea comes to and finds Lumi outside and tries to speak to her to no avail. She then finds herself at the venue against Celeano and loses, much to her annoyance as she tries to pinch herself. Linnea is brought into a series of dreams that progressively worsen over time, before she returns at her "home" and discovers that Celaeno is her sister.