Her earliest memories are that of a ship packed with all sorts of people, but none she can remember as close family. She would later learn that this was a group of refugees fleeing the invasion of Garlemald, although to this day she doesn't know for sure if they came from Doma or another province.
The group would find its way to Coerthas, and make camp in Boulder Downs. Schwarzwaelder was part of a small group sent to collect kindling, when an Ishgardian patrol spotted the camp from afar. It was their first time encountering Au Ras, and they mistook them as a new sort of Dravanian mixing with the local heretics.
Whitebrim and Camp Dragonhead were immediately alerted, but Whitebrim started action before word reached Camp Dragonhead. Count Edmont de Fortemps, who was at that time overseeing the Camp, rightfully interpreted the report as some disastrous misunderstanding, and swiftly rode for Boulder Downs on his own, fearing the worst.
By the time he arrived, it was too late. The entire group had been decimated. Slowly coming to terms with what they had done, the Whitebrim squadron begged for the Count's silence. The tragedy having already passed, he reluctantly accepted.
As he rode back to Camp Dragonhead, his conscience heavy, the Count spotted a small, horned child hiding in the forest. He gently reached out to her, and brought her back with him in secret to his quarters, then later Fortemps Manor.
Shortly after these events, the soldiers who had played a part in the massacre either resigned from their post, died in battle, or some even ended their own lives. Count Edmont, in silent protest, retired from his post at Camp Dragonhead to focus on the inner politics of Ishgard. Thus, no one foresaw that the tragedy would repeat itself a few months later, when a small group of Xaela refugees would attempt to cross the Coerthan border as well…
From here on out, the child was kept clandestinely in a locked room in a small inn, until Count Edmont would deem it safe enough for her to leave. He would visit her daily to bring her food and literary entertainment, and taught her the Eorzean language, as well as how to read and write. While she was shy and cautious at first, the child soon found herself with a voracious appetite for new knowledge, and the Count struggled to keep up with her incessant questions and the amount of books she requested from him. Since the child had no recollection of her name, he offered her to decide on one herself. But to his own bafflement, instead of naming herself after one of the many figures in Ishgardian and Eorzean history, she picked her name after an ancient dessert recipe she had found in an old cookbook.
As the years passed, Schwarzwaelder's knowledge grew more and more. Even if her only opening to the outside world was the small window of her room, through her books and her long conversations with the Count she had gathered a good understanding of Eorzea, as well as the struggles that afflicted both Ishgard and the rest of the Realm. Despite not knowing the whole truth, she was convinced that the Dragonsong War had to be brought to an end, and the Dravanians reasoned with, if only to bring peace to the souls that had accompanied her here and had died in its name. She also became quite familiar with the theory behind elemental magic, although lacking any tool or tutor to practice it.
Schwarzwaelder was now close to adulthood, but the Count was still wary of allowing her independence. As rumors spread throughout the Realm of a red moon, a long series of feverish dreams and seizures afflicted the young woman. Despite Count Edmont's best efforts and the help of a trustworthy surgeon, nothing could be done to ease her torment.
Her final seizure would make her witness the Battle of Carteneau and the fall of Dalamud, after which she heard 3 familiar words:
"Hear... Feel... Think..."
When she woke up some days later, to the surgeon’s puzzlement, the skin on her back had partially crystallized in a strange pattern. While she was still weak, it seemed that the worst had passed.
After this first contact with the Mother Crystal, Schwarzwaelder slowly recovered from her condition. As soon as she was in full health again, she begged and begged the Count to let her leave, for she was certain there was something only she could do to save the fate of the very star. Astonished by her detailed recollection of the events of the Seventh Umbral Calamity, Edmont had no choice but to grant her request, but asked her to wait until the repercussions of the Calamity had stabilized. Finally, some years later, it's with a heavy heart and a lot of worry that he accompanied her to the Gates of Judgment in the middle of the night, and saw her off.
As Schwarzwaelder found herself back in Coerthas, heading for The Black Shroud, she passed near Boulder Downs. To her great surprise, the very location where her fate had changed a decade earlier had completely transformed, now the resting place of a shard of Dalamud. After a short prayer, she made her way to Gridania. Count Edmont had advised her to become an adventurer, to gain much needed life experience and means to fend for herself. But she also hoped that by doing small odds here and there, she would find her way to the quest Hydaelyn had entrusted her with.
A Realm Reborn →