A/N: Hello everybody, and welcome to my newest GW2 fanfiction. As mentioned above in the description this is a backstory for Kaiana, the sylvari character in Magic and Mischief. It's not necessary to know her story to read M&M, nor do you have to read M&M to understand this. The only reason I have for writing backstories like this is because I want my characters to have lives, not just mentions what their lives were like.

Anyways, I'd appreciate any feedback you guys might have for me on my writing. I'm always searching for ways to get better at writing. Thank you :)


Silver eyes narrowing at her target, Kaiana inhaled as she pulled back on the end of the arrow so that her hand was beside her face.

One, two, three…

Letting out her breath, her hand released the arrow and it shot through the air, striking the target with deadly precision.

The young sylvari smirked and lowered her bow. "Perfect shot again," she thought out loud. "I'm getting better at this." Stepping over a large tree root, she walked over to where she'd carved targets on a wide tree. Her thin hands wrapped around the arrow and pulled it out. After making sure the arrowhead was intact, she placed it back in her quiver and moved on to a different spot.

Over the course of a week, Kaiana had ventured out of the Grove a total of six times, only staying the first day because of the rainstorm. Heavy rain was common in the jungle, but practicing archery was easier when she could clearly see her target. She'd been a part of this world for a couple weeks and already she had tired of being stuck in one place for lengthy periods of time.

After a few minutes of walking, she came across a clearing she'd never been to before. She smiled to herself and pulled the knife from her belt. There were a total of ten trees in a circle around her. Kaiana stepped over to one and jabbed the knife into the tree, moving it back and forth as she pulled it out. The bark loosened as she did so and came off easily. She repeated the process of creating targets on each of the trees.

"There we go," she mumbled. The knife was placed back onto her belt and she armed herself with her bow once more.

The arrows went soaring through the air as she fired them towards their designated targets.

Kaiana looked from tree to tree, proud of herself; each had hit the target precisely.

Her smile widened and she giggled as she pulled the arrows out. "To the Mists with the gardeners! What's wrong with going out alone? This is fun! If anyone else were here, they'd get in the way."

"Well aren't you charming?" a voice from behind her said. Kaiana spun on her heel, pulling her knife from her belt and arming herself.

"Who's there?" Kaiana demanded.

"Aw," the voice said, now at her right. "I try to talk to you and you pull a knife on me. Why are you treating me with such hostility?"

Her eyes narrowed. The voice was feminine and the accent was definitely sylvari. "I said who's there?"

"You're so tense," the voice said. The sylvari was directly behind her now, and Kaiana could feel her breathing warm air down her neck. "You shouldn't stress so much."

She swallowed and turned around again, this time slowly. Behind her was the sylvari girl. She had bright red leaves and her skin was a light green color that was almost as pale as Kaiana's. The girl's eyes were a bright gold that reminded her of a sunset.

The girl smiled sweetly. "It's not safe out here you know." She reached up and pushed Kaiana's black leaves out of her face. "A pretty little flower like you might get hurt."

Kaiana narrowed her eyes at the girl and slapped her hand away. "I'm not helpless you know."

"Oh I know! I watched you with your bow and arrows. It was amazing," she praised, taking the sapling by surprise. "I've never seen such a good shot before, and I've seen plenty of hunters and archers out here."

"Who are you?" Kaiana asked, her tone no longer threatening but curious. She placed the knife back on her belt and took a step back so she wasn't as close to the girl.

She continued to smile. "My name is Lena," she answered easily. "What about you archer?"

"Kaiana," she said. "The gardeners sometimes call me Kai or Kaia, but I don't really care what I'm called anymore."

"Kai," Lena repeated, cocking her head to the side as she tested how the name felt. Her smile softened as she spoke. "I'll call you Kai. Seems more fitting than that mouthfull."

Not sure how to react to this, Kaiana ignored her comment. "Why were you following me?"

"Because that's what I do. I follow people. Watch them. Sometimes, after I've become bored, I confront them. The reactions are never the same. Some people immediately attack me, sometimes they yell at me. I once had a girl run away when she realized I was there. You're different. You didn't attack, nor did you run away. You confronted me. You're braver than you look."

Kaiana growled at this. "I hate being underestimated."

"As do I Kai," said Lena, nodding. She eyed Kaiana as she began walking in a circle around her. "It's annoying isn't it? They think I'm a weak little girl, so I have to do something to show them that they're wrong. It never ends well for them, but the underestimation is gone afterwards."

"Do you live out here?" the silver eyed sylvari asked. "You're not like others I've met."

Gold eyes met with hers briefly before she turned around. "I live over that way." Lena turned around and pointed to northwest. "It's a very unusual place. We're all free to do as we please for a majority of the time. I think you'd fit in there, and if you stick with me you'll be fine."

It did sound tempting. No Cycle of Dusk gardeners, no mentors lecturing her about things she didn't care about…

Lena grabbed Kaiana's hands and leaned forward so that their faces were only a couple inches apart. Gold and silver met as she smiled. "Please come with me," she said. "I know we've only just met, but I like you Kai. You're different. I'm different. The people where I live are different. They might not like you immediately, but eventually they'd warm up to you."

The corners of her mouth twitched upwards until she broke into a smile. "Sure," Kaiana said. "I'll go with you."

Lena's red leaves bounced up and down as she jumped joyfully. "Yay!" She let go of one of her hands and pulled her forward between the trees. "It's not that far, but it will take some time to get there. Oh. And it might look spooky at first, but that's just the defenses. The people in charge are overly cautious."

Kaiana nodded, smiling at the girl. She'd quickly realized that once Lena started talking she wouldn't stop that easily.

"So Kai," Lena started. "How long has it been since you awakened?"

"A couple weeks," she said.

"Oh wow! You're younger than I would have thought. I've been around for a few months now. Or at least I think so."

The younger sylvari furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"Something happened to me a while back," Lena explained. She stopped walking to lift her leaves up. There was a dark spot on the back of her head where her injury had scarred over, once soft leafy skin now replaced with tree-like bark. "I suffered a blow to the head, and I can't remember much of before I was found. Not even my Dream. People always talk about Dreams, but I don't understand. It's all very…" She paused, searching for the right word. "Hazy."

Kaiana's Dream came back to her and she sighed. "I know all about hazy," she said quietly.

Lena cocked her head to the side as she continued walking. "What do you mean?"

"My Dream… It's haunting," she said, thinking back on it. "I Dreamt of normal things, the things that explain the world, but there was another part to it. There were five faces. I could hardly tell what they were supposed to be in the first place, but then it was taken over by shadows. They overwhelmed me and the faces disappeared."

"Don't worry Kai," Lena said, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "It doesn't matter what your Dream was like where we're going, so you'll be fine."

Kaiana lifted a brow at this, but didn't question it.

After some time had passed, the two finally reached the gates of where Lena lived. They were thick, thorny black vines that had been expertly positioned by a shaper, and Lena was right when she said it looked spooky. It was dark even though it was still early in the afternoon, and the people walking around looked strange.

The young sylvari furrowed her brows. There was something different about this place. Something… off. She felt lonely. Disconnected from the world. It scared her momentarily and she clung to Lena's arm in search of feeling something else.

The red leaved sylvari looked down at Kaiana. "It's okay Kai."

She swallowed down her fear, something in Lena's tone reassuring her.

"Rose!" Lena called through the gates. "It's me! Open the gate!"

A sylvari with brown skin and dark leaves came forward to the gate, looking at the girls through a space between the vines. "What have you got there Lena? Is she a Dreamer?"

"I suppose, but she's a friend. Will you let us in?"

"Friend?" Rose furrowed her brows at this. "Lena…"

"She's different," she insisted. She turned and looked at the sapling, smiling sweetly. "I can sense it."

Rose continued to give Lena a look, but the vines slowly pulled back. "Fine. But you're in charge of her, and you get to explain her presence when the Grand Duchess finds out about her."

Grand Duchess? Kaiana thought. That's a peculiar title.

"I will Rose. And Faolain won't mind. She likes it when I bring friends."

Rose visibly cringed when she heard Lena say Faolain's name, as if the mere mention of this person would hurt her. Even so, the vines pulled back carefully and allowed the girls to come in.

Kaiana held onto Lena's hand as she was guided through the town. The buildings looked like the ones in the Grove the way they had been shaped from plants. In various corners there were groups of sylvari. Some of them looked at her with curiosity, others with disgust, and a few with seductive gazes that made her uncomfortable.

There was one thing that troubled her the most: she couldn't sense anything inside of them.

"Don't worry about them," Lena told her reassuringly. "Not many people here are comfortable with newcomers. If I wasn't here, they might have done something to you by now."

"What do you mean by that?" Kaiana asked, her nervousness showing through her tone.

"Some of the people around here are evil, I suppose. They go after people they don't like and try to get rid of them, usually by killing them. But you're my friend, so they know better than to go after you."

Swallowing down her fear, she asked, "Why won't they go after you?"

"Because they already made the mistake of underestimating me."

Kaiana started to speak, but was cut off by one of Lena's child-like giggles. "Come on Kai. My home is over there," she said in a playful tone. Lena pointed at the massive structure in front of them. It had multiple levels and what looked like a tower jutting up from the middle.

"What is that?" the sapling asked.

"It's home. A few people live in there. Up in that tower is where the Grand Duchess Faolain resides. She's a very scary woman if you get on her bad side. But she likes me. She taught me how to use magic after I recovered from my injury, and I've been living here in her home ever since."

There were a couple guards at the entrance to the large building. Their plain expressions became curious when they saw Kaiana.

"You brought home a Dreamer to toy with?" the guard on the right asked, his voice sounding hostile.

"Kai isn't a toy, she's a friend," Lena said. Her eyes narrowed and her expression darkened. Swirls of pink-purple light floated around the fingers of her free hand. It captivated Kaiana, but when the guards saw this gesture they stiffened, scared of her. "Now let us through pollen for brains, before I scramble your mind like a moa egg."

"I apologize Lena. You and your… friend are free to come inside." He spoke the word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

The lights faded and Lena nodded in approval, leading Kaiana forward into the building. "Come on Kai. I'll introduce you to some of my companions before we go to my quarters."

"Oi!" a voice called. It sounded sylvari but the accent was off. "Lena! What 'ave you got there?"

"A friend, Eifelian," she called back.

A tall, slender sylvari stepped from the shadows. Her skin was pale green, but darker than both of the younger girls. She had long brown leaves that were carefully braided, a hair style Kaiana had never seen before on a sylvari. Her eyes were an enchanting ice blue color that met with Kai's and held on.

"A friend, eh? She looks like you found her in the middle of the jungle."

"Because I did find her in the middle of the jungle," Lena said. "She was practicing her aim."

"So you were spyin' on her. Hm." She nodded her head at the quiver on Kaiana's back. "How good of a shot is she?"

"Very. She's different from the others that I've followed."

Eifelian looked the sapling up and down, examining her like she was an asura going over an experiment. "She's young. Strong." The corner of her lip curled up in a smirk. "Innocent. Are you sure it was a good idea to bring her here?"

Lena cocked her head to the side, her brows furrowed in confusion. "Why would it not be a good idea?"

The taller sylvari softened her expression towards her. "Don't worry about it. I'm just thinkin' that she won't be welcome."

"She's with me, so she'll either be welcome or I'll make her welcome," said Lena, her eyes narrowing as her tone became dark and challenging.

She just laughed at her. "You're so adorable," she chortled. Eifelian ruffled Lena's leaves playfully, a smirk on her face as she did so. Lena glared daggers at her as she turned and started to walk down the hall. "I'll see you around."

Eifelian seemed to vanish into thin air and soon she was back in the shadows.

"Where did she go?" Kaiana asked. She was no longer fazed by Lena's threats and her glares, and assumed that it was simply a part of her personality.

"Stealth magic," Lena answered. "Eif is a Thief, as in the profession. They use magic to become invisible. I can do it as well, but it's different."

"How so?"

"It just is. Now. No more questions. We're almost home."

Kaiana nodded and followed the red leaved sylvari up a spiral staircase. At the top of the stairs was a door that lead to another room. It was large and had a large dresser on one side of the room, while a bed sat on the other. She knew of beds because of the Dream, but she'd never seen one before. At her home in the Grove she had a hammock that she slept on.

Lena guided her in and had her sit on the bed. "Do you like it?" she asked.

Kai nodded in response. "It's very strange but also wonderful." She looked around the room, taking in all of the unusual sights. She paused when she caught sight of a balcony. Her head cocked to the side and she stood up, walking over to the door that would lead her outside.

Her eyes widened at the sight. She could see the Grove from where she was high above the trees. It was enchanting to see the place she called home from such a distance. The afternoon sun was finally starting to set, causing the massive white leaves of the Pale Tree to glow in hues of orange and pink. In the distance she could see faint lights coming from buildings of the nearby settlement. It was a new perspective of the world she lived in, and she suddenly realized how vast and big it was.

Lena stepped beside her and leaned against the railing of the balcony. Her skin and leaves started glowing a deep red, something that happened to sylvari in the dark. Kaiana's black leaves started to glow bright green, and spots of her skin were glowing as well.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Lena said. "This room once belonged to Faolain's right hand knight. She died a long time ago and the room wasn't' being used, so she gave it to me." She sighed and shifted her weight. "So… That's the Pale Tree. I don't have any memories of it. I wish I knew. It looks lovely from here. But maybe it's for the best."

"What do you mean?"

"If I learned what it looks like up close, I wouldn't have any more questions. It would be a mystery solved. Where's the fun in that? It's like reading a book. The fun of it is never knowing what's to come. If you finish it, then what's left?"

Kaiana cocked her head to the side and thought this through. Eventually she leaned forward against the balcony next to her friend. "You're very different from other sylvari. Those of us called to Wyld Hunts are given purposes and fulfilling those purposes are what defines who we are."

"But what happens once you've fulfilled that purpose?" Lena questioned. "You no longer have anything to define you anymore. What would be the point of living once you no longer have that definition?"

Kaiana froze, staring at the Pale Tree while she thought this over.

What would be the point of living...?

Lena didn't seem to expect an answer, as she stood up straight without another word on the topic. "I'm getting hungry. Let's go get something to eat."

The black leaved sylvari looked up at her and nodded. "That sounds good."

The older girl grinned. "Wonderful. You can leave your weapon here on the bed if you wish. You won't need it."

Kaiana nodded again and pulled the bow and quiver off of her back. She left the knife on her belt however. She didn't trust the sylvari in this place yet, and if they attacked despite Lena's presence she'd need to defend herself.

Lena extended a hand out to her friend, smiling. "Come on Kai."

She took the hand before her and they ventured out into the halls. All she could think about was what Lena had said.

The point of living without a purpose… It makes sense, but it's also tragic.