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Lena is from a world shaped entirely by magic. It's not a one-way relationship though - just as the magic shapes the people, the people shape the magic. Crossing the boundary between one kingdom and the next can be like stepping from one world into the next, depending on how different the cultures that formed them are.

Lena hails from Orandin, aka fairytale land. While not everyone can use magic, it's still a part of every day life. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who got turned into a donkey this one time. However, due to a few interesting coincidences centuries ago, most of the magic in this kingdom focusses on the royal family. Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Cinderella, all of these stories are the reality that keeps befalling the royal family of Orandin - to which Lena (real name Rosaline Cardonell), is currently the sole heir.

Well, technically speaking. The truth is that Lena has an older brother, who was stolen from his crib when he was just a few days old due to a deal the king and queen made with a witch. It is currently believed that on Lena's sixteenth birthday, the witch came for her as well. But the truth is a little more complicated than that. And also totally different.

Lena ran away. While the idea of ruling was definitely something that appealed to her, the idea of getting married to a dude and popping out some kids was less enticing. Her thinking was that because she lived in the land of happily ever afters, eventually someone would rescue her brother and he'd be able to take his rightful place instead. Three years later, however, and he's still missing. And Lena's been gone for so long now, she doesn't know how to go back, even if she wanted to.

Her story opens with her apprenticed to a blacksmith in the small farming village of Angevine. She's been there for two years after a stint as a maid in a city didn't go so well for her, and content to stay that way. Which is why, when the mage Adara shows up and announces that she's going to rescue her from the evil witch? She's less than enamoured.