Dawn wasn’t a morning person.<br/><br/>How she found herself up with the sunrise every day, she didn’t know. It was pretty, watching the sun break through the canopy at the forest’s edge, and there was a kind of delicate peace to the still morning air that didn’t come back until evening. But no matter how pretty or peaceful it was, Dawn wasn’t a morning person. It was quiet. The quiet was boring, and being bored made her think.<br/><br/>She looked back at her lonely little cabin and sighed. Thinking back, she’d never imagined ending up back at Vale, of all places. She still remembered being locked in her basement as the Kaiser’s shadows devoured the townspeople. She could still remember the screams and, worse, the terrible silence that followed.<br/><br/>But the Kaiser was gone forever, at great cost. Her only friends were gone. The mysterious elf she’d named Muse had disappeared without a trace, no matter how hard she’d searched. Verita had used up all of her magic in the fight against the Kaiser and fallen into a deep, deathlike slumber. Reluctantly, she’d left her in the care of the lake elves who had helped her heal once before. Dawn had stayed there for many moons, but there were no signs that she’d ever wake. As for the others… those that had survived had scattered to the winds.<br/><br/>So she’d gone back to the only place she’d ever really called home. With the Kaiser’s shadow vanishing, the world was finally starting to heal. People were flocking back to places that had once been called cursed, and Vale was no exception. By the time she’d made it back, the reconstruction effort had already been well underway. Even though hadn’t told them who she really was, the villagers had welcomed her help. She didn’t want to be a hero. She didn’t even want to be the village  witch, really, although she didn’t mind that so much. She just wanted to be Dawn. Even so, she was sure that some had guessed at the truth, even if they didn’t show it.<br/><br/>She did a little spin as she walked, simple dark robes billowing around her. It wasn’t the end of the world, anyway. Really, it was the opposite: a new beginning, a fresh start. Things were safer, quieter. After decades in shadow, people were free to rebuild. Even creatures like pixies had been less aggressive lately, though they were still dangerous.<br/><br/>Dawn hummed softly to herself, a tune she’d heard somewhere before but couldn’t quite place. She couldn’t help feeling like she didn’t really<i>fit</i>anymore. She was used to darkness and excitement, not peace and tedium. Was she just a relic of that darker world? Being carefree in the face of horrors had a lot more weight to it than being carefree in a carefree world. The Kaiser’s world had made her who she was, but now…<br/><br/>Who was she?<br/><br/>New Vale was still only a village, not quite yet the town Old Vale had been. Even so early in the morning, the villagers were already busying themselves with hundreds of little things she’d never have thought of. It was all she could do to prepare herbs for the sick or scare off a bandit or two. One of Mr. Smythe’s pigs needed moonroot for a hurt leg, and Mrs. Kels would want her weekly sleeping draught, of course. It wasn’t like she didn’t<i>want</i>to help, but…<br/><br/>She glanced up at the sun, shielding her grey eyes with a hand. She remembered following the sun east for weeks at a time, passing through untouched glades and hiding in hollows. She’d danced in the moonlight and swam naked in crystal clear lakes, never knowing or caring if her power would be enough to protect her.<i>It’s not like anything is stopping me.</i>But they<i>needed</i>her, didn’t they?<br/><br/>“...and skin like ash! Sounds more demon than elf, if you ask me.”<br/><br/>It was like she’d been plunged headfirst into ice-cold water. A caravan trader and one of the inn’s stablehands were grinning like schoolgirls sharing a secret. The herbs, the potions, the village - suddenly, none of it really seemed to matter.<br/><br/>“What are you talking about?” she asked. How could she sound so calm when everything was blurring together in her head?<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>