Aletta was born to a mare who was well past her best childbearing years, almost two decades old and her body had been ravaged by pregnancies the mare couldn’t keep. The almost black filly had been born when the crisp air of Autumn was just starting to blow and many assumed that she wouldn’t survive the winter. She was too petite, too small to survive the winters on the mountaintops. But with Starlet’s determined mothering and Aletta’s stubborn nature, the filly clung to life and managed to thrive by the time the following spring came. Aletta was free-spirited and strong-willed. Starlet had a hard time trying to keep her daughter out of trouble and out of her father’s glowering eye. And it didn’t help that Aletta was the type of child to glower right back at her father. Starlet became almost exasperated with trying to explain to her daughter why she couldn’t race with her brothers or go off exploring as she wished. Aletta would simply look at her, her head raising ever so slightly and a glint of defiance echoing in those dark eyes.

While Starlet might have struggled with the raising of her last born, she found one way to keep her daughter still. She told Aletta stories. The child would become enraptured with the stories that Starlet shared with her and would ask for them over and over again. Aletta’s mother was only too happy to indulge. It kept her away from her father’s disapproving glances and kept the grey filly out of trouble.

Life couldn’t continue that way forever.

As soon as Aletta passed her first year, she began to think of places on the other side of the mountains. She dreamed of places she could take her mother where they would be free, where they could do as they pleased and Starlet wouldn’t have to endure any more of Trystane’s “visits”. She knew that if she remained in Craignairr, she would be sent to one of the herds loyal to her sorrel sire. She would be sent to some remote herd to secure her father’s place in power and she would spend her days producing children until her body eventually failed it. It infuriated her and Aletta became more irritable as time passed. She became so consumed with how she and her mother would escape that she missed the weight her mother was losing and how stiff her walk had become. Aletta had become blind to everything except the plan she was concocting in her head. If she could get herself and her mother away, all other problems would solve themselves.

Time went on and Aletta passed her second birthday. A bitterly cold night had come so mother and daughter had laid down and huddled together against the cold of a winter night. Starlet had told Aletta stories until the gray girl had fallen asleep, feeling her mother’s breath warm against her tipped ears and the December stars glittering down upon them. It was the chill of the morning that woke Aletta, feeling the freeze within her bones and the cold breeze whipping her dark tendrils about like banners. It was only then that Aletta realized that there was no warmth coming from the form that rested against her, no movement or any stirring of life. Aletta was quick to get to her feet and was quick to plead with the pale figure nestled in the winter frost. Please, she said, please get up. But Starlet never stirred and Aletta was left alone to grieve the loss of her mother.

That was a turning point in the young mare’s life. Aletta felt her heart freeze and an anger stir within her, raging in her life wildfire. Her father thought that perhaps the death would subdue her but it did the opposite. Aletta raged against her father and brothers that tried to keep within Craignairr, that tried to make her see reason and do her duty by the family. Trystane even tried to “knock” some sense into his daughter and was infuriated to find that Aletta fought back, her grief funneling a rage she never knew existed. She fought back, she yelled, and she screamed. And when she saw an opportunity (a brother who turned his head for only a second), Aletta ran. She ran and ran, never looking back to the land she had been born too. She kept running until the steep ledges turned into rolling hills and the sound of impending hoof beats disappeared.

During the next year of her life, Aletta would wander from wilderness to wilderness, seeking the land of her ancestors. Her mother had filled her head full of legends of Amazon queens and fierce warriors, of chivalrous knights from the Light kingdoms and deceitful spirits from the Evil Mythics. But when she arrived there, the land had shifted and changed. The kingdoms were long gone. And all that was left were those who squabbled over what small borders were left. Disappointed and aching, Aletta kept moving through other lands where she encountered others – both good and bad – and the gray mare started to grasp the forces of both in the world around her. Aletta would continue to wander from land to land, coast to coast, mountain to mountain, until the fateful day she stumbled into Beyond the Mountains and a stallion with a coat of brandished gold and blue eyes extended an invitation to his home, Paraiso.

Aletta would meet others along with her journey to ancient valley who told her of the Falls medicinal powers, of Ichiro’s goodness, and of the beauty of Paraiso. The explorer in her was intrigued just enough to go though she had planned to tell the young stallion she wouldn’t stay long, she had just wanted to see the waterfall. How the fates must have laughed at her. It had taken one look from Valerio and Aletta knew that she wasn’t going anywhere. The courtship between the pair had been fast and swift, with Aletta standing in a glistening cavern one day when the heir to Paraiso had uttered words she couldn’t believe she was hearing. She had stood in silence, letting the darkness and false starlight envelop her, as she tried to breathe. Was this real? Could someone like Valerio, someone who had been granted every privilege in life and who had known nothing but love and kindness, really love someone like her? A nobody from some small mountain kingdom, someone who was desperately trying to escape their past. ”I love you, Aletta.” Her fate had been tied to his the moment their gaze had locked.. but that moment forever imprinted on her heart and Aletta would never stop loving Valerio. She would spend her next year within Paraiso exploring the territory and getting to know it’s residents. And when she could, she would steal away with Valerio. They would escape whenever they could and Aletta felt herself come alive again. The grief of losing her mother seemed to ease and Aletta started to allow herself to grow within her new home, forging relationships and trying to break down the walls she built up around herself.

It was during this time that she found easy companionship with Cherish, Penryn, and other of Legacy clan. Aletta began to feel accepted and her love for Paraiso seemed to grow with each day. Her adopted home seemed to come alive beneath her hooves, the Falls always echoing in her ears and the best parts of her days were stolen away with Valerio. There was no other time in her life that she was happier. For the first time in her short life, she had everything she needed and the gray mare couldn’t have asked for more. She basked in her happiness and in her love.

Paradise was only interrupted when Aletta caught glimpse of a golden child with blue eyes, following her beautiful mother, Cress. It was the first time that doubt was allowed to creep into Aletta’s mind and she wondered what she was doing. How could she have competed with a mare like Cress? And why should she have to compete for Valerio’s love? It was the first time that doubts crept into her heart and she wondered why she wasn’t enough for the golden stallion. So Aletta avoided Valerio for a time, letting him spend time with his new family and she let herself become hollow with misgivings and suspicion. Maybe he didn’t love her after all. Maybe she had imagined it all. Maybe she was simply a way for Valerio to pass his free time. She never got a chance to ask those questions. It seemed that when Valerio finally did come, his blue eyes were tinged with worries and all Aletta could do was make him laugh. The way his eyes would light at her laughter and would warm with her love pushed away any doubts she had. Whatever this was, whatever their bond was, it was something real. And Aletta kept those thoughts close to her heart, always. And whenever Aletta was plagued with self-doubts, she would remember that day in the cavern with Valerio. Whatever came between them, he had loved her that day.

Time would pass again and Aletta would remain aloof with her worries. She couldn’t quite bring herself to ask Valerio where she stood with him. She was afraid of the answer she might receive and for the first time in her life, she contented herself to ignorance. It was much easier than the truth. Her first son was born that spring, Malachi. He was a boisterous spirit with his mother’s gray coat and dark eyes and his father’s build. He was her source of pride and a bedrock on which she built her life around. And Aletta busied herself with the raising of her son while Valerio saw to the ruling of Paraiso. There was further heartbreak during this time with the murder of Valerio’s brother, Zameir, and the passing of Ichiro and Carwen. Valerio became a ghost in his own home and Aletta became a wisp of what she had been. She had tried everything to call the golden stallion back to life but he seemed void of all emotion and Aletta let herself plunge further into worry. She conceived and gave birth to twins shortly after, a strenuous birth that almost killed the mother and one of the foals, a frail daughter. But Aletta and her children survived only to be dealt another blow.

A mysterious stallion came calling Valerio to ancient lands that needed the help of the Legacy clan. Any that could go was called on to help. And so Valerio and Aletta were left with the impossible choice. Valerio had to go. He couldn’t ignore the cry of those in need. And Aletta had to stay, her twins were too frail to make such a journey. Those days are tinged with disbelief for the gray mare. She didn’t really believe that Valerio could leave her. She expected to see him break through the trees, coming striding over a hill, coming from somewhere to say that he had changed his mind. But he never came and Aletta kept seeing ghosts. Paraiso faded to a wasteland. She lost her love, her home and was bereft with the loss of them both. She functioned only to find her children a home. They remained in the Meadow for a time while Aletta tried to locate others from Paraiso, afraid that some would fall into disreputable hands like that of her dear friend, Brynn. It was only when stumbled upon Ori and her older brother, Marcelo that the pair revealed a new home for those who had stayed behind.

Marcelo abandoned his youth for a moment and looked every inch a young king when he told her about Murmuring Rivers. The excitement seemed to buoy him against so much loss and Aletta let herself feel hope for the first time in months. Those who wished relocated to Murmuring Rivers with an agreement that Aletta would hold the realm for Marcelo and her son, Malachi when they both came of age.

If you've actually read this much, I'm sorry.