Severa's mother was one of the most beloved heroes in a kingdom full of them. Everyone knew how the brave knight Cordelia had journeyed far and fought hard to save the prince, only to turn down his hand in favor of her partner and fellow knight. There were dozens of stories about the time she'd saved a village from a rogue wyvern without using a single weapon. And it was rare for bards to go a night without getting requests to sing of one of her battles against the Risen.
Frankly, Severa hated it. So her mother was disgustingly wonderful and talented and perfect. That was all very well if you didn't have to live with her, didn't have to eat her perfectly cooked food and wear her perfectly maintained clothes. Severa was constantly surrounded by reminders that she'd never be able to live up to her mother in anything.
Her family was no help, of course. Her mom was still infatuated, replying to Severa's complaints with a dreamy "I know." She'd snapped out of it and tried to comfort Severa with some sort of vague platitude, but by that point Severa had stopped paying attention because ew. She did not want to think about her parents' love life, thank you.
Cynthia had been less gross but no more helpful; she took the stories as a challenge to live up to. Her advice was to follow in their footsteps and become a heroic pegasus knight herself. As far as Severa was concerned, that was missing the point entirely. She didn't want to be compared to her mother even if she did somehow live up to those standards.
She didn't bother talking to her mother about it. Gawds, could you imagine? Even if she managed not to die of embarrassment, her mother would just say something stupid about her being perfect in her own way. Severa wasn't an idiot. She knew that just meant being less good.
There was only one way to get people to see her as a disappointing substitute for her mother. She would have to undertake a quest, something big enough to make her famous in her own right. Something that would overshadow anything her mother had done, while being different enough to avoid any comparisons. It wasn't like that was a huge loss; the pegasi didn't like her, and frankly the feeling was mutual.
Instead, she worked on her swordsmanship. She had to teach herself, but she thought she was getting pretty good. She wasn't hero level yet, but she could hold her own. The songs could always exaggerate her skill after the fact.
When she wasn't training, she was planning. She'd heard stories about a forest that people went into and never returned from, and that sounded like a good place to start. The trees would be too dense to let a pegasus through, but they'd be perfect for a swordswoman on foot. All she had to do was find a mysterious evil and get rid of it, then make people understand that she was the one who'd done it. How hard could it be?
When she felt she was as ready as she was going to be, she brought the idea up with her parents. Surprisingly, they didn't try to stop her. They just made sure that she understood what she was doing, and that she had enough supplies. She couldn't blame them for wanting to get rid of her, honestly.
It was agreed that she'd set out the day after her sixteenth birthday. Sixteen was an auspicious age for questing, and this way she would get a day of people doting on her before she left. In practice, it meant that her birthday presents were mostly questing supplies, but whatever. At least she was guaranteed to use those, as opposed to whatever hideous clothing Lucina would send this year.
The day of her departure, Severa left with her head held high and her sword strapped to her waist. She didn't expect any trouble until she got closer to the forest, but it would just be pathetic to die less than a mile from her parents' house. Her family gathered to see her off, her sister waving until she was out of sight.
Severa kept walking until she was sure her house was out of eyeshot, then stopped under the nearest tree. Drama was one thing, and she knew very well the impact of a good exit, but she had no idea where she was going. She'd meant to check yesterday, but people kept distracting her to say goodbye. The whole thing had felt disturbingly final, which had not helped her preparations.
Once she'd finally gotten her bearings, no thanks to her stupid confusing map, she set out in earnest. As she'd hoped, the forest wasn't too far from her house. There was a road that lead straight to it, in fact. The hardest part of the trip was putting up with the tedium of walking in a straight line for hours. Finally she had a use for all the time spent listening to Cynthia's ridiculous speeches: she was able to tune out of her surroundings fairly easily.
She made it to the forest's edge just before sunset. It was remarkably pretty for a death trap, she thought. Then again, after hours on the road she was thankful for anything other than flat dirt. She wouldn't be able to go in until the morning, but at least she was right there.
She made her camp a few yards away from the forest. No point in tempting fate, after all. It wasn't like she was scared or anything; it was strictly a logical decision. She ate her supper quickly, careful not to waste too much food, and then went straight to bed. She was tired from all the walking, and had absolutely no time to think about how alone she was before she fell asleep. She didn't think about the fact that this was her first night away from her parents at all.
The next morning came far too quickly, despite her early bedtime. Severa had never been a huge fan of mornings even when she had a comfortable bed to sleep on. She ate breakfast and broke camp mechanically, and entered the forest still yawning. Her lingering grogginess meant that she almost didn't notice the Risen until she walked into them.
The first one lunged at her from the front, and she didn't have time to think before she was halfway through cutting off its head. It was messier than she'd expected, and she had to pause to let her brain catch up with her surroundings. A hand grabbed her from behind, and she was whirling to face it when -
"Blood and thunder!" a voice yelled. The Risen holding her topped over, apparently from an arrow to its forehead.
"Ugh, I totally had that, you know," Severa said, dropping out of her combat stance. "You didn't have to interfere."
She turned to where the voice seemed to have come from. Standing a few feet away was a girl with dark grey eyes. She wore a headband with a single feather, and Severa could see right through her.
Despite what a certain someone might say, Severa definitely did not scream.
