(3rd Person POV)
Lily began. "Once upon a time, there was a young girl ten summers old. She lived in the Háidagon mountains of the country Sacrovinia, her village, Ochinika, near the summit of Mt. Patros. Though her village had only 30 souls within it, it was always quite cheerful and lively, even in the depths of winter. In the general, she lived a happy life, whether playing in the fields with her friends or watching over her family's herd of mountain goats.
There were seven goats in all, and as their only source of income, the girl could oftentimes be seen in the fields of tall grass, under a shady tree watching over the goats as they grazed. But in times when there was none to be found, the girl would trek about Mt. Patros with the goatherd in search of food for them. Many of the small clearings she found were perfect for grazing, so she would sleep while the goats ate to their hearts content.
But the sometimes when the girl slept, she would have unnaturally vivid dreams. They were so distinct that she could feel the exact texture of the grass, see each leaf as it fell to the forest floor, and smell the sweet fragrance of the flowers. The strangest thing yet was this; whatever she was touching in reality came with her to this dream world, and whatever was in contact with her when she left returned with her to reality.
In this way she had many fantastical adventures in her dream world, but always seemed to return to reality with some sort of souvenir from her latest trip. This got people a-bustlin' in the village when she returned with another little souvenir, but things eventually cooled down after the item seemed to disappear to who knows where.
Whether if it was a pouch of jewels stolen from a bandit's hideout, exotic spices given as a gift from some tropical island natives, or even a mysterious potion that had appeared in her pocket after an encounter with a witch. All these started some suspicions about how the girl got ahold of these items, but even when she tried to tell them what caused this to happen, no one truly listened.
So she hid her treasures in a small cave, which in time became her happy place to go to when everything seemed to be falling apart. She sometimes would steal away to her cave, if only to be able to remember her past adventures, every single item in there precious as gold to her.
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So the years passed, the girl growing into a pretty teen of 15 with her long scarlet hair and sparkling emerald green eyes, attracting the attention of every boy in Ochinika. She ignored them all, instead continuing to love and protect the her family's goatherd, always with a smile on her lips.
Then, one day her father, Ulrick Barloc the Third, died of unknown causes, as he was found in the Nyx Forest. It was all so sudden, one day he was in perfect health, the next cold as ice, not even a single spark of life left in his eyes. This was the worst time in her life, seeing her father lying there in the coffin, being slowly lowered into his grave.
She couldn't bear for much longer, so she'd stolen away to her treasure cave. When she got there, she just lay on the floor crying, letting loose all the grief she had held in for the last few days. Eventually she could cry no more, with not even one more tear to squeeze out of the corner of her puffy red eyes.
That day, she swore to herself to never cry again about anything, not even a single drop. And she didn't. In fact, she didn't even laugh anymore, nevertheless even smile. Everyone noticed the change, so much that the village boys made it a challenge to see who could get her to smile, just once. Sadly, it never worked, leaving the girl colder than ever before.
During all these events, it left her mother a widow with a 15-year-old daughter and two 8-year-old twin sons. Without her father working as a shop owner for goat products, there was no money to support her family. So her mother started taking odd jobs in other villages, leaving her daughter as a babysitter for her brothers.
