The queen nodded at his question about the Sundering, clearing her throat a little at his hint that he would like to know more of what happened during that cataclysm. She tilted her head a little as she considered it, but decided that it could do no harm in telling him what she knew of the tragedy that had befallen her realm. Her arms were folded loosely at her ribs as she took his offered bow and stepped past him into the ruined city proper as she started to speak, her boots bringing up small clouds of dust as they took a once well-paved brick street between the crumbled buildings.<br/><br/>"The Sundering was long enough ago that there's debate over what really caused it, but not so long ago that we didn't gain our lesson from it. How you see us now, creatures who need fresh blood to survive and stay sane was not always our form. Before the Sundering, we were not so different from mortals, living and dying, wielding magic... surviving in our realm. The land was lush, fertile... not the barren rock it mostly is now unless tended to near constantly by someone with earth magic and coaxed to bear seed." She kicked the ground beneath them to emphasize her point, her slow, steady gait leading them towards the city center. "Like many civilizations, our arrogance was our downfall. The mages back then had almost limitless power, able to use any branch of their gift they chose, bond or no bond and then they got greedy. They decided they wanted to toy with the very fabric of existence itself and cross into other realms."<br/><br/>She paused and turned to look at him knowingly. "Realms like yours, for instance. But this crossing was not your realm, no, of course not. Why cross over into another mortal plane of existence when your power should be used to cross into the celestial planes, to gain more power... why not try to cheat death?" Elara started walking again, running her fingers through her dark messy hair as she swallowed and continued speaking. "I'm sure you can put the rest of the story together. Despite many failed experiments which resulted in creatures worse than even ourselves, the mages built several portals to try and cross into the realm beyond death. What they did was bleed our sky..." She pointed up at the red cloud expanse above them. "And cause every child born after to be this. Cheating death, but at a cost that eventually had us clawing at each other for life. They did however activate the one portal, to your realm, which seemed opportune as mortal blood sustains our immortal existence."<br/><br/>She paused before a crumbled tower-like building and turned to look at Cyne expectantly. "And now you know your enemy's secrets, why Ava was so desperate to take land in your realm." Her head tilted a little to the side as she studied the fire-gifted Prince, her captive, and yet... not so much captive as guest in her eyes. He hand not once given her a reason to think him a flight risk, but that was part of the agreement to keep his people safe.