[hr][center][h2]I M A L E S S A  S H A R I S [/h2][/center][hr]
Imalessa stood near the doors, staring out at those who remained from beneath the safety of her hood. She felt caged here - wrong - without the clack of ancient branches and the open air of the forest. Her sisters thought she was setting traps, waiting for dinner to fall into her lap. They didn't understand the struggle of hunting, how hard she had to work to bring home the most meager of scraps.

She looked at the King. This man could make all her troubles go away. If only she could find his son. She knew the forest was dangerous. Gods, she had grown up in it, lived off it, survived it, but now with the Fog . . . She shook her head. They couldn't go on like this. With game becoming harder to find and three mouths to feed, they wouldn't last much longer. If she didn't find her way into some money soon they would be dead in a matter of months, maybe a year, Fog or no Fog.

A woman stepped before the King. At first Imalessa thought her to be human, but she started at the fine elven features and delicately pointed ears, same as her own. The woman knelt and pledged her allegiance to the King and to the quest. Imalessa looked around at the others before pushing off the wall.

She pulled off her hood, not caring too much if her ears poked out of her sheath of honey-gold hair. "I am Imalessa Sharis, Your Majesties," she said. Her voice faltered before steadying and growing in strength and volume. "The forest birthed me, shaped me into its huntress. If your son has found himself in its heart, I will do everything in my power to return him to you." As the woman before her had done, she kneeled and lowered her head. "I offer you my bow and a willing heart." With that, she rose and walked to the entrance, ignoring the burning in her cheeks.