The Huntress

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About the Image

In this image, elven huntress Elaria Rowanveil is dressed for her journey into the mountains in Ekine, a beautiful new design by Belle Epoque for the August round of We <3 Role-Play.

The outfit is available in twelve colors, ranging from rich jewel tones to soft pastels, with a fatpack also available. Whether you’re tracking a mysterious beast through an enchanted forest or simply looking for something a little more adventurous for your wardrobe, Ekine is a gorgeous choice. Stop by We <3 Role-Play to pick up a demo before the event closes on August 28, or look for Ekine in the Belle Epoque mainstore afterward.

Complete credits are below the story. Store and event SLurls are available on the Store & Event Links page.

The Story

Among the woodland elves of Aelriven, there were trackers, archers, scouts, and wardens.

And then there was Elaria Rowanveil.

When footprints vanished on bare stone, Elaria could still follow them. When a frightened deer crashed through the underbrush hours before, she could tell which direction it had gone by the bend of a fern. She could loose an arrow through a falling leaf at fifty paces, although she rarely bothered proving it anymore.

Everyone already knew.

That was why, when the white stag disappeared from the sacred grove, the elders sent for her.

The stag was no ordinary animal. For generations, one had wandered the northern forests, appearing each autumn when the leaves turned gold. The elves believed its presence meant the woodland was healthy and the old magic remained strong.

But for seven nights, no one had seen it.

Instead, hunters had found enormous tracks near the grove. Trees had been scarred by claws. Something had been heard moving through the forest after sunset—something large enough to send even the wolves running.

The elders believed a beast had killed the stag.

“Find it,” they told Elaria. They did not need to add what should happen afterward.

So before sunrise, Elaria braided her flowing red hair, fastened her bow across her shoulder, and walked alone into the mountains.

By afternoon, she found the first tracks. They were enormous.

Whatever had made them walked on four feet, but no creature Elaria knew left prints quite like these. Bears stepped heavily. Wolves moved lightly. These impressions seemed to do both, appearing deep in the earth in one place and barely disturbing the moss in another.

Stranger still, Elaria found no signs of a struggle. No blood. No broken antler. Not even a patch of white fur.

She crouched beside one of the tracks and frowned. “You are making this unnecessarily difficult,” she muttered.

A raven croaked somewhere overhead.

“Yes, thank you. Very helpful.”

She continued climbing.

Near sunset, the trail led her to an abandoned stone bridge high in the hills. Beyond it stood a valley the elves rarely visited, sheltered by mountains and thick with ancient trees.

Elaria stopped. There, caught on the branch of a thornbush, was a strand of white hair.

The stag.

She drew her bow.

The enormous tracks disappeared into the valley. Elaria followed.

The forest grew strangely quiet as evening settled around her. Golden leaves drifted through the air. Somewhere ahead came a low rumbling sound. She slipped an arrow from her quiver.

Another rumble.

Then a crack.

Elaria moved behind an oak and peered around the trunk. And lowered her bow.

In a clearing stood the missing white stag. Very much alive.

Beside it was the largest bear Elaria had ever seen.

The stag had become trapped beneath a fallen tree. One hind leg was pinned beneath the trunk, and every time it struggled, the bear growled.

But the bear was not attacking. It was digging.

With enormous paws, the creature scraped furiously at the earth beneath the fallen tree, trying to make enough space for the stag to pull its leg free.

Elaria stared.

For seven days, the forest had whispered about a monster.

For seven days, that monster had apparently been trying to save the very creature everyone believed it had killed.

The bear suddenly froze. Its head turned toward Elaria.

Elaria slowly lowered her arrow. “I suppose this is the part where we decide whether we are enemies.”

The bear stood. It was enormous. Elaria reconsidered several of her recent life choices.

Then the stag cried out. The bear looked toward it, then back at Elaria.

“Oh.” She returned the arrow to her quiver. “You need help.”

The bear huffed.

“Fine. But if you eat me afterward, I am going to be extremely annoyed.”

Working together was not particularly graceful. Elaria found a long fallen branch and wedged it beneath the tree while the bear dug away more earth. Twice the branch slipped. Once Elaria fell backward into a bush and said several things that would have horrified the elders. The bear, she was certain, looked amused.

“Not one word.”

At last, the trunk lifted just enough. The stag pulled free.

For several moments it stood trembling. Then it stepped toward the bear and gently touched its nose against the creature’s massive shoulder.

Elaria smiled. “Well. That answers that.”

The stag turned toward her next. As it approached, Elaria saw something tangled around one antler: a thin flowering vine covered in tiny golden blossoms. She reached up and freed it. The moment her fingers touched the vine, warmth spread through her hand.

The valley seemed to sigh. Leaves rustled despite the absence of wind. Flowers opened among the grass. And somewhere far below, the bells of the sacred grove began ringing.

Elaria stared toward the distant mountains.

So did the bear.

“That,” she said, “is going to require an explanation.”

By the time Elaria returned home the following morning, the entire village was waiting.

The elders stepped forward eagerly. “Did you find the beast?”

“I did.”

“And the stag?”

“Also found.”

A murmur passed through the crowd.

The eldest of the council looked at the bow over Elaria’s shoulder. “Then the creature is dead?”

Elaria glanced toward the edge of the forest. Between the golden trees stood the white stag. Beside it sat an enormous bear.

Several elves screamed.

Elaria sighed. “No.”

She turned back toward the elders. “And before anyone reaches for an arrow, you might want to hear the story.”

Years later, songs would be sung about the Huntress of Aelriven and the day she returned the white stag to the sacred grove.

The songs would claim that Elaria had fearlessly faced a monstrous beast. That part, she supposed, was true.

They would also claim she had immediately recognized the bear’s noble heart. That part was complete nonsense.

But Elaria never corrected them.

She had learned something far more important in the mountains that day: a huntress needed sharp eyes, a steady hand, and an arrow that flew true.

But sometimes the greatest danger was deciding what the monster was before you actually found it.

CREDITS

Elaria Rowanveil

WINGS EF0403 Hair
LODE Gladiolus Birds
Angel Eyes Updo 6 Hairbase
Glam Affair Livvy (NEW @ Equal10)
Ikon Ingenue Eyes
EarthStones Dena Earrings Prehnite
ONYX Lunar Tattoo Rose (group gift)
Belle Epoque Ekine (NEW @ We <3 RolePlay)
UNA Pasheen Sandals