Elena lived an unremarkable life in the plains of Abanasinia until her parents died and left her in charge of her younger sister’s care. She first found herself travelling away from her people when her sister Torani left the tribe and did not return. She came across her sister’s body and returned to the plains where she grieved the recent losses and matured into a young woman. Many amongst the warriors of her tribe vied for her attentions but she found one warrior particularly brave and he offered her comfort in her grief. In time this man, Sopus, who she fully expected to be joined with eventually, was named the emissary of her tribe and was sent among the white people to broker a peace agreement. His visits to their people became less and less frequent and many in the tribe turned against him, feeling he had become as one with the white people that had slayed so many of their kind.

Heartbroken, Elena sought to replace his presence in the tribe, both by accompanying the braves on warring trips to a nearby city to the west and also in trying to broker peace amongst the white people to the east. On one of the warring trips, several braves were killed and this sudden confrontation with quick and unexpected death left Elena vulnerable and uncertain. An older man, Misae, one respected by the war chief, saw his opportunity to make his intentions known to her and soon she agreed to marry him, feeling a traitor to Sopus. Yet waiting for him to return to the people he had betrayed would have meant turning against her people as well.

Misae was at first solicitous yet impatient for the impending joining ceremony and forced himself on the young, naive Elena. Frightened by his strength and sworn to him in the eyes of her people she humbly accepted this fate. Sopus returned to the tribe shortly thereafter and discovering that Elena had given herself to Misae, turned his back on her forever. This so shook her that she left the tribe to sort out her feelings. Upon returning, it was to discover that Misae had so ingratiated himself to their war leader that his every whim was listened to. Thus, the war leader believed Misae’s treacherous lies that Elena had betrayed their people in her time away from the tribe and she was subsequently banished.

Frightened, alone, and uncertain if she carried Misae’s child, Elena wandered aimlessly into dangerous territory. She was befriended by a white man named Marius who cared for her when she could not care for herself. Under his ministrations, she grew to accept the loss of her people and gradually fell in love with him. This deep and abiding love, the first mature love of her life, was all she needed or wanted from life. When Marius asked her to marry him, she accepted without hesitation, happier than she had ever been.

Tragically, the very week after they were wed, Marius was killed by warriors of her tribe sent to kill her. In shock and grief, she wandered many days alone. The days grew into weeks, then months, then she found herself in Kalaman two years after her husband’s death. There she heard rumors that Misae had also come to Kalaman. The cold death in her heart where Marius’ love once lived has convinced her she has no choice but to marry Misae and return to her people, and accept whatever fate they have for her.