ŦEYRNA
– Prologue
24th Justinian, 9:10 Dragon
Highever Castle
Just over nine centuries after the beginning of andrastian time, into the era of the Dragon and eight years after the end of the Fereldan Rebellion, Margaret Elissa Haelia Eleanor Cousland was born in Highever Castle, sitting on the top of the Highland cliffs, gazing out over the Highland Mountains to the northwest. Highever Castle was the stronghold and crowning glory of the Cousland family since generations dating back to before Calenhad the Great, the first Fereldan king. The Couslands were second only to the royal family in wealth and power in Ferelden and governed the first of the two remaining Teyrnirs in the newly freed Ferelden. King Maric Theirin, Maric the Saviour, ruled Ferelden with the help of his loyal general and the second Teyrn of Ferelden and the Hero of River Dane, Loghain Mac Tir. Ferelden, for the first time in almost a century, experienced peace. The occupation of Ferelden had ended in 9:2 Dragon, after over fifty years of tyrannical oppression by the sadistic usurper King Meghren from the neighbouring empire Orlais, and the Orlesian chevaliers were driven out and Ferelden once again were declared a sovereign Kingdom. Finally Fereldan culture could thrive on its own without forced influence from the Empire and with 900 years of Calenhad blood running through his veins, King Maric and his rule was the embodiment of a free Ferelden and truly the most significant symbol for the infrangible pride of the Fereldan people.
Elissa Cousland was born of Teyrna Eleanor Mac Eanraig Cousland who was a distant kin of the royal family and could trace her bloodline back to Calenhad the Great, through the blackened family Dryden. Elissa's father was Teyrn Bryce Cousland, the single male heir to the Cousland wealth and legacy, who became Teyrn of Highever in the aftermath of the Rebellion when he reclaimed his family's castle from the Empire. The bloodlines of Elissa and her older brother Fergus were second only to King Maric's own son, prince Cailan Theirin, which made them third and fourth in line for the crown, since King Maric only had produced one child with his late wife Queen Rowan Guerrin Theirin.
It had been a long night of endurance for Eleanor. She couldn't remember her first birthing being this painful or as outdrawn, but it seemed the child who was to be delivered hadn't felt like greeting the world just yet. But Eleanor kept pushing until she couldn't muster the strength to push any longer. The mage midwife was determent to deliver this child into the world and with the help of her husbands strong and determined hands, holding her own, Eleanor pushed. She remembered the trials they had been put through during the Rebellion and swore she wouldn't let those be in vain, she swore on the Maker and his bride, on King Maric himself – this child was to be born that day, on the brightest night of the year. The Justinian Solstice.
The child presented to the Teyrn and Teyrna on the morning of the 24th of Justinian was small like a little doll, with fair skin, still slightly purple but rosy. It was a little girl and Eleanor was filled with pride and happiness when she counted the small fingers, ten small fingers and ten little toes. The girl was born with a thick thatch of dark brown hair on her head and the deepest blue eyes Eleanor had ever seen and Eleanor hoped this little girl would keep her deeply blue eyes through out her life.
"Little Elissa" Eleanor sighed lovingly looking down on the girl she cradled in her arms. Her husband came to sit by her side, smiling and reaching out, gently stroking his newborn daughter with a careful hand, letting the little girl grasp one of his big fingers with her tiny little ones.
"Elissa, is it? It suits her" he smiled, "An oath to the Maker"
"Yes, I can see it in her eyes, she's got the fire and faith of Haelia burning inside her" Eleanor smiled, looking first at her daughter and then at her proud husband beside her. Bryce kissed her and then leaned down to his daughter and kissed her tiny and lightly purple forehead.
Elissa were destined for greatness. There was something about this tiny girl with the large deeply blue eyes, something different and very special. It was as if she was persistent on coming into this world in her own time, forcing Eleanor to take control of her own body in a situation where she shouldn't have been able to. There was a stubbornness to the child that was fascinating from the second she drew her first breath. Born into a free land, born of a rebellion and with the whole of Thedas at her feet.
