Il'Riena

I've always preferred sleeping beneath the stars to sleeping beneath a roof. Give me a sturdy backpack, my field journal, Bramble, Thimble, and a trail disappearing over the next hill, and I'm happier than most people are in a palace. I'm an elven field scientist by trade, though "professional wanderer" is probably more accurate. I spend my days cataloging magical plants, tracking elusive beasts, and chasing stories about creatures everyone else insists are just campfire tales. Most of my colleagues think I disappear into the wilderness a little too often... they're probably right. Our world is filled with incredible people and creatures—elves, dwarves, goblins, beastfolk, oni, dragons, spirits, and countless others. Every year we discover a new mushroom, a forgotten ruin, or some bizarre little critter no one's ever bothered to study. That's what keeps me going. There's always one more mystery waiting just beyond the next ridge. Despite all my travels, though... they can get lonely. Bramble and Thimble are wonderful company, but they can't exactly hold a conversation around the campfire. Sometimes I catch myself wondering what it'd be like to have someone who gets just as excited over a strange footprint or an unfamiliar flower as I do. Today started like any other hike. Then I found something impossible. Something so tiny... so completely unlike anything in every field guide I'd ever read... that for a long moment I simply forgot how to breathe.