Phaedra's history as told by Phila, a House Fortuna servant

If you're hoping for some grand omens or glorious happenings around Phaedra's birth, I fear you'll be greatly disappointed, for her birth was so ordinary, I'm certain you've heard such things told many times over, so I shall not bore you with the details. She was born, grew up happy, played a lot and got into trouble even more, though if you were to ask her when she was only six or seven she would equate play with trouble. Nothing malicious, mind you, but, by the lares, that girl could not keep her head out of the clouds. Caused no end of problems for the teachers her parents would lead in, hoping that *this* time one might find some trick, some ability to spark her interest enough to bring her back to reality. They even had to teach her in a closed room, no other students and certainly no windows. Might as well open the door and let her go free if you tried to teach her when she could look out on the Hermopolis countryside where we lived.

I cannot begin to tell you how many time I would turn my back, only for a second and she'd be gone. Gods that girl could run, that mop of copper curls bouncing around her shoulder as she skipped out into the tall grass of the far fields. Of course, that is whenever she wasn't flying, for once she was taught you couldn't keep that child out of the air. I just thank Tyche that the estate had low ceilings of I dare say she would likely have flown inside.

Did I mention she liked to sing? Oh gods yes, that child always seemed in the mood to sing, happy constantly she was. Luckily Tyche had granted her with some gifts, but to her parents' dismay none of them flourished in the classroom. When we could settle her down enough to learn something she only seemed happy about it if it was something artistic. Singing and dancing seemed to go hand in hand, though it's not surprising. The girl looked like she was dancing when she walked. None of that highly graceful dancing you see the higher nobles doing. There was nothing regal in her, but there was a love of it in her, as if the dance blossomed inside her with some unheard melody and she moved to what no one else could hear. She danced for the love of it, not to impress anyone and you should have heard the curses coming from her instructor's mouth when she attempted to teach her properly. Ahh, but what could you do with that one? I think she made an attempt to please her parents, for they were rather vocal in their disappointment of her marks from her teachers. Even then they were worried about what might become of their daughter when she was of a marriageable age. Who would want some girl who was more of a playful nymph than a proper noblewoman?

I think her parents hoped that she would settle as she grew older, but the opposite was true. She was never really that bad, exactly, but she didn't seem to follow most of the family. You might say that she was a lot like Tyche herself. Not that I would know, of course, I'm not that old, but she is of that bloodline and she certainly seems to behave like the fickle goddess, though I've yet to see her angry. Willful, oh gods yes, she knows what she wants and works to get it, even it's just chasing after a butterfly, but rarely did I see her get truly angry. She loved to be alive, she seemed to revel in experiencing everything and anything. I think that is why she had such a difficult time with her lessons. She was only reading about what other people did, but didn't have the opportunity to try it herself. When she was around 12 or 13 her parents though that perhaps as well as singing and dancing she might have other artistic abilities. She really took to the craft of jewelry making and surprisingly sat down for those lessons and threw herself into her work. Painting was a disaster, for she could not contain her youthful energy and many times ended up painting herself as often as she painted the canvas. You should have seen the rage her mother went into when she found young Phae sitting in the garden painting her feathers. You would have thought she'd discovered her daughter was a darkling or some such nonsense, but no, she was simply painting a rainbow across her feathers. "Tyche's symbol is a rainbow!" she protested as her mother dragged her to the baths, and that's when it happened.

I'm certain Phae never realized the magic she possessed even when it happened, she was so focused on her pretty wings and the fact that her mother was going to ruin her work. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I didn't see it, but there it was. It started small, a tickling of the grass, like a light breeze, but suddenly, faster than any natural breeze, it seemed to explode. Sophea, the house cook, says I exaggerate when I tell stories, but not about this, not when it's important. It was like a small whirlwind, or at least felt like it. Feathers were ruffled and hair was flying everywhere and it strengthened the more Phae resisted her mother. Nothing damaging of course, but it was noticeable and it was not natural. Her mother dropped her arm as if burned and stared at Phaedra, who had falling right on her backside while the winds slowly settled. "Do that again," her mother breathed, looking both frightened and delighted. The child stared blankly at her mother for a while, paint dotting her cheeks and her hair a complete mess. That is where her mother left Phae when she went running into the house, screaming for her husband that "Zeus has blessed us!" Phae looked to me, dazed, and slowly got to her feet. We didn't say anything for a while, but when I did offer to take her to the baths, she didn't object.

Past disappointments went out the window that day. You would have thought that Phae could do no wrong in that house, that her marks didn't matter. She was blessed and that meant a prosperous marriage when she was older. Her mother was relentless, already sending for genealogy of some of the best families in the Empyre to determine which they should approach about a marriage to their gifted daughter. I am so glad that Phae didn't witness most of that or she might have run away sooner than she did. Her father found a teacher for her, a wind teacher and she spent most of her time with him. I don't know if was simply a natural ability or because the lessons were finally in a location she enjoyed, but Phaedra was simply enamoured with her newfound talent, she reveled in it. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she loved to fly, to be out dancing with the winds as she called it. She could do more than dance with them, she could make them dance with her. So while her parents plotted, she learned and blossomed into a promising young mage, ignorant to the plans her parents had in store.

She was 17 when everything seemed to fall apart. I don't know if Phae accidentally came across her mother's correspondence with someone from House Tritonis or if her mother outright told her, but she learned her parents had found a possible match for her and the details were being worked out. Most of the Empyreans that lived near us knew of Phae, of her magic, but also of her rather peculiar behavior and I think that might have given some of the young men pause, or at least their parents thought better of it. She was never without friends simply because she was so full of life and was so different from how they were supposed to be. I mean, how many Empyrean women would you see handing by her knees from a tree, swinging back and forth? If you find another, introduce her to Phae, I bet they'd get along great.

But she couldn't handle the life that was scripted for her. She couldn't stand what she was finding her family to be. They were descendants of Tyche, but they certainly didn't act like it. Where was their faith in her, where was their free spirited nature? She would ask me this, realizing that she was not like her family and she couldn't stay with them, not if they had abandoned Tyche this way. She begged for my silence and I gave it to her, but only because I wasn't pleased about the man she was supposed to marry. He was as old as her father for Zeus' sake! What kind of life was that for my little air-bound nymph? I helped her pack a few things, nothing too heavy that couldn't be carried by herself, and enough coin to get her started. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, but in my heart I knew it was right. She left at night with a small storm brewing over the household. Nothing too large, but enough to signal a farewell, and an angry one at that. I know I said that I had never seen her truly angry, but I think on that day and that night, she found anger in her heart and it manifested itself in her magic.

I was able to pretend to know nothing and they believed me when they came to look for her next morning. The tears I shed were real, but I handed over her good-bye note as if I had just found it that morning and not had been the one to help her write it. She's happier now, this I know. She writes to me, when she can, and always has someone else address it so her parents won't recognize her handwriting. I guess she learned more than she let on. She's been travelling all over the Empyre it seems, even to the glorious city of Civitas Dei. She sent me a lovely clip for my hair that she said she made while living with an artist in Stygios and I wear it all the time, though I can't tell her that. The last letter said she was heading for Haven, out of curiosity more than anything else. Why she would want to go there I'll never know, but I expect a letter from her any day now.