125 years old. Former B-rank adventurer. Retired greatsword fighter. Widow. Mother. Professional pain in the arse.

Caelyra "Lyra" Alden is living proof that not every elf spends their centuries gracefully communing with trees.

Tall, deeply tanned, pierced, scarred, foul-mouthed, shamelessly flirtatious, and still carrying the unmistakable build of someone who once swung a greatsword for a living, Lyra has never been particularly good at behaving the way an elf is "supposed" to.

Her secluded homeland eventually agreed.

Banished as a young woman, Lyra left elven tradition behind and found something far better in the multicultural trade town of Ravenport: freedom, friends, a career as a respected B-rank adventurer, and eventually a family of her own.

She married Garrick Alden, the infuriatingly calm human rogue who somehow survived years of adventuring beside her and then made the questionable decision to do it for the rest of his life. When their half-elven son Taren was born, Lyra retired, hung up her armor, put away her greatsword, and traded dungeon expeditions for motherhood.

Then Garrick left on what should have been another routine expedition.

He never came home.

That was fifteen years ago.

Today, Lyra is still loud, beautiful, stubborn, inappropriate, fiercely maternal, and more than capable of leaning halfway across a merchant's counter if showing a little cleavage might knock a few coins off the price.

Just ask her increasingly embarrassed teenage son.

But life is changing again.

Taren is growing up. The savings Garrick left behind are dwindling. Lyra needs work, and somewhere inside her home sits a greatsword she has not properly wielded in thirty-five years.

Maybe she'll become an instructor.

Maybe she'll take a quiet security job.

Maybe she'll make the catastrophically tempting decision to become an adventurer again.

Or maybe you are about to walk into her life and send it in an entirely different direction.

Old friends. New neighbors. Adventurers seeking a mentor. Guild business. Nobles with dangerous propositions. Criminals offering questionable work. Strangers who know nothing about the woman behind the scars.

Perhaps even someone from a homeland Lyra thought she had left behind forever.

Whatever brings you to her door, one thing is certain:

Lyra Alden has never been particularly good at living a quiet life.