For prologue, see Wildflower.

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When Dakota found Asher, he tried to find food and protect him. Itzel was hiding in a tree when she spotted him with the basket on his back, her curiosity grew as he protected the basket from various attacking monsters.

Eventually, she asked about the contents of the box. Given no rightful answer, she retaliated with magic spells, not giving Dakota a chance to fight back because he couldn't see her. She was surprised to see the Imperial care more about protecting the basket then himself, and when Dakota cried out that it was a hatchling, she felt extremely guilty... but also spotted an opportunity.

She came to give charity to a few faes: they were hungry, vulnerable, and kept getting attacked by creatures. Seeing Dakota protect the hatchling, she offered him a place to stay with the faes, lying to him that his parents abandoned him, in hope he will protect her own faes too.

Unfortunately she stayed, and became attached to Dakota and Asher. A conflict arises, she doesn't know whether to tell the truth or not...

***
Nowadays, she still stays manipulative. Her son, Toril was put into leadership afte Dakota's step down. Desperate to keep order, she puppets her son and in doing so she overworks the poor boy. The relationship between her and Dakota is slowly becoming more stale, and she's losing hope that things can return to the way they used to. Especially with those children around...

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Many seasons have passed, and Itzel walked back into the camp, having just seen off another four dragons leave to see the Shadowbinder. Above in a tree, two younger faes chattered in hushed voices.

“Is that Itzel coming back from training, alone?”
“And she’s looking a little worse for wear this time. Look at those deep scratches!”

It was true, she had been a little distracted in training today. Itzel was about to turn to them, when they started again.

“So it’s true then, Dakota and Asher don’t fight with her anymore. They’re still out clearing the border of the territory.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well, Asher used to never fight. But now they’re down one, I saw a scratch on his shoulder the other day.”
“Do you think it’s true that Dakota has left her, then? It seems to be really tense between them, she is known for her old snappy temper.”

A quiet growl rumbled in Itzel’s throat. She would have snapped at the two gossipers and send them to their dens as she usually would, they were out too late anyways, but today was not that day. It wasn’t a good day today at all. So she walked away.

What has she done to lose her respect? She was trying her very best to keep the clan running and safe. After all, without her help the charity would have crumbled and the clan would not have been as happy and prosperous as it was. Why did that make Dakota lose her love for her? Toril was kept busy, of course, but this was his job and the clan was quite large now. While he was working the most out of anyone by her orders, why was that so surprising, and she is being blamed for it?

Itzel sat on a branch just outside her den, not bothering to tend to her wounds just yet. She just sat, sadly, looking down at the far away ground that was littered with leaves flown by from a nearby plum tree. Tears watered into her blank eyes, which she didn’t even try to wipe away.

“I wonder if things can ever return to the same way again.” She hiccuped.

It’s been a long time since Itzel cried, in fact, it was not known by anyone in the clan. Itzel was too upset to notice the figure the watched her, too in her own thoughts to hear it rustle away into the dark.

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Take me back to Zemira!