Sythaeryn Wynvyre (Link)

Prince of Venhice

Male

23

Gray skin, long white hair, Heterochromic eyes (one gold and one brown), and is around 5’7, short for an elf of his species. He has long ears and a spray of snowy white freckles across his face and shoulders. Sythaeryn is calm, relaxed, and peaceful, though is very shy and anxious.

Like the rest of his kind, he doesn’t do well in warm weather, and prefers to stay in the snowy mountains.

He was born with the ability to control ice, like the rest of his people, but also has the strange power to grow plants, especially when scared or nervous. His people have always seen his second ability as peculiar and don’t know how or why he has it. Sythaeryn can also shift his appearence to seem more human-like.

He and Arcaena share a single “pet”, a shapeshifting deer goddess whom he's had since he was born. Her name is Sierra (Link) and she's his protector, though she is a bit violent. She has three forms, a mule deer, an anthro mule deer, and a human. She's more of their friend and companion than a pet though.

Arcaena Allison Elaven (Link)

An Adventurer Who Spends a Lot of Time in Venhice

Female

25

Long blond hair, bright green eyes, and long ears with golden earrings hanging from them. She is half-elf, half-human and stands around 6’2. Arcaena is adventurous, caring, and a bit blunt. She spends most of her time exploring uncharted areas and helping Sythaeryn out in his kingdom.

She wasn’t born with any powers or abilities, but she's skilled with a sword, bow, and other weapons.

She and Sythaeryn have been friends for years, and originally went on adventures together with two of their other friends. Sythaeryn eventually had to go home though, and Arcaena was happily able to join him, while their other two friends continued adventuring, though keep in contact.

Sythaeryn

-

It was cold and damp, the wind blowing in harsh gusts against the castle walls. Everyone inside was already getting settled for the night, though passerbys stopped by the large, grand doors of the great hall to peek in, unnoticed by the elves who stood guard.

The room was lit spectacularly by glowling, icy chandeliers, with thousands of small tables dotting the room. The walls were built of stone and the floors soft purple carpet, carefully crafted so it would not freeze due to the damp conditions and low, freezing temperatures of the mountains.

Inside were several other elves, sitting at a large wooden circle table in the middle of the dining room, where they talked in quiet whispers. Among them sat a young elf, Sythaeryn, his long white hair draped loosely over his eyes as he quietly listened to the others conversate. It would be any minute now a letter would arrive from the Kingdom of Oceana, deciding whether or not he’d be sent off to an arranged marriage.

Sythaeryn glanced over at his father, who glanced back, narrowing his eyes at the younger elf before continuing his conversation. The prince had an awful feeling that if this other kingdom said no a war would break out and he’d go back to being a lost cause, hardly worthy of having a position as prince, not that he really was to begin with. He knew it. Everyone knew it.

But with the thought clouding his mind, he hardly noticed the letter had just arrived, carried towards the table by a guard.

Sythaeryn’s eyes darted towards his father as he heard someone hush the talking elves. As the letter was set on the table, everyone leaned in closer to get a look.

“What do you think Luthais?...” one of the elves turned to Sythaeryn’s father.

Luthais picked up the letter and carefully ripped through the paper, not responding to the other elves' question. Complete silence rippled through the room as everyone waited with baited breath. Though the silence was broken when Luthais smiled and the elves all let out a cheer.

Sythaeryn though, didn’t look as happy. His already gloomy expression only refined, wishing that this all would be over already. He didn’t feel at all ready for marriage, let alone even being in love. What if she absolutely despised him? He wouldn’t be surprised. He wasn’t fit to be a king, nor a prince. He would give anything right now to just be back out in the moors and cities with his friends, exploring the world rather than cramped in this dingy castle.

There was one thing to look forward to though, and that was that Arcaena would be coming to help him with the wedding. His other friends might be there as well, but that was about the extent of his happiness.

He wasn’t even paying attention to his father as he read aloud the note, instead thinking hopelessly to himself about everything that could and probably would go wrong. It wasn’t till he could hear his father say his name that he snapped from his thoughts and back towards the others.

“The princess will likely be arriving sometime soon. Since it's likely early morning for her kingdom, and nightfall for ours, we’ll all only be getting a few hours sleep. I want everyone to be awake and ready to welcome the princess in four hours.”

And with that the elves started to get up and move towards the door. Sythaeryn was the first to leave, sluggishly walking out the door and down the hall. He climbed two flights of swirling snowy stairs before he found himself at his bedroom door, hurrying inside, though closing it gently. Sighing, he sank right into his bed, exhausted, and hoping by the time he got back up that the wedding had already been called off.

(Its Fine!)

It was only two hours later when Sythaeryn awoke abruptly to a loud bang, sitting up quickly as he glanced around the room. The door to his room was wide open, and at the entrance stood a young deer, grunting as it stared at him.

“Sierra…” Sythaeryn yawned sleepily. “Is it time to get up…?”

The deer dipped her head to him, stomping her large hoof once before turning out of the room, flicking her tail to him. Sythaeryn sighed and slipped out of bed, getting to his feet and making his way towards a small wooden table in the corner of his room, a large drawer standing next to it. A few minutes into brushing his long white hair, a few maids knocked to enter the room, asking if he needed any help preparing, but he declined their offer. He’d much rather get ready by himself, thinking about what was to come next. If the marriage went wrong, his dad would probably be very mad, though he couldn’t help but wish it would go wrong… he was too anxious to think about ruining it himself though, hoping instead Sierra or Arcaena would potentially do it instead.

After picking himself out an outfit, a knee-length light blue robe and large white winter coat, he left his room with one last longing glance and started down to the great hall. Sierra was waiting at the end of the corridor for him, though now she was standing on two legs, her gray fur replaced with pale skin. She wore a black shirt and pants with a long galaxy-patterned cloak wrapped around her. Black ink leaked from her eyes like tears, just like her deer form.

“Are you prepared? Luthais woke me up to come get you.” She grumbled. “I would say good luck with your marriage, but I know for a fact it’ll probably be shitty.”

Sythaeryn couldn’t help but chuckle, “Yeah, it probably will be. At least I’ll still have you. Is Arcaena here yet?”

“Nope. She should be here sometime in the morning though, she got a bit caught up in town.” Sierra replied, starting to walk down the stairs with Sythaeryn following her.

They walked in silence the rest of the way, quickly slipping into the great hall before the gates would be let open and the townspeople would pour in. But that would be after the princess arrived and talked with the royal family. Sythaeryn made his way across the grand hall side by side with Sierra, who led him up another staircase and towards the royal family's thrones. His father and mother, Filauria, were already there and waiting for him. His mother nodded with a smile as Sythaeryn slumped down in his throne next to her. Sierra stood to his side, glaring boredly at the doorway.

The guards had all gathered in a line from the end of the hall the whole way to the last step of the stairs at the other end. It was now complete silence as they waited for the princesses eventual arrival.