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☕️ Alice’s Mad Tea Party Presents: Storytime
Alice Spills the Tea on: The Silent Sister of Duskfall Keep
Once upon a time - not that long ago if you ask the right ghosts - there was a kingdom wrapped in fog and whispered legends, known as Duskfall. Its towers pierced the storm-choked sky, and its people were quiet, as if they feared waking something ancient.
At the heart of Duskfall’s cold stone castle reigned Queen Ysolde, a stern, calculating woman with raven’s eyes and a heart carved from winter. She had given birth to twelve sons, each more noble and wild than the last. But her soul burned for one thing and one thing only: a daughter.
So when she found herself expecting again, Queen Ysolde struck a bargain with an old seer wrapped in moth-eaten robes and mystery.
“If this child is a girl,” she whispered, “then my sons will no longer be needed. The throne will be hers.”
The seer blinked slowly, like a cat that knows too much. “Then prepare the coffins,” they said, “for should the moon wax crimson on the night of her birth, a curse will awaken.”
And oh, darling, did it ever.
The daughter was born beneath a blood-red moon. Queen Ysolde, true to her cruel word, ordered her twelve sons banished - but not slain, as the fates had intended. One of her attendants, the silent and sorrowful Lady Maelis, warned the boys and helped them escape into the haunted woods beyond Duskfall.
The forest was ancient, deeper than reason, and those who entered rarely returned the same. The twelve brothers - now fugitives of fate - built a sanctuary in the thorns. They carved runes into trees, trapped starlight in bottles, and named their refuge Hollowmere Haven.
Years passed.
The girl grew.
Her name was Eirian, and she was unlike her mother. Where Ysolde was ice and silence, Eirian was curiosity and kindness. But on her twelfth birthday, she discovered a hidden chamber in the castle - a tapestry depicting twelve stars, each with a name embroidered beneath it. She knew. She had brothers. And she had to find them.
Her journey to Hollowmere is its own story - full of riddles, trickster spirits, and a cloaked wolf that spoke only in riddles - but when she finally found her brothers, oh the reunion. They wept, they laughed, they sang songs only they remembered. But one thing haunted them:
They were cursed.
Because of the crimson moon and their sister’s birth, a spell had been woven. Should she ever speak a single word in their presence, they would be turned to stone ravens, forever perched at the edge of time.
But fate is a hungry beast, and silence? That’s harder than it sounds.
For seven years, Eirian stayed in Hollowmere, mute as a tomb. She spun nettle-threaded cloaks under the moonlight, one for each brother, with fingers blistered and bleeding. Her voice, once light and musical, grew heavy inside her throat.
And then… he came.
A stranger from the North, wearing a crown made of iron frost and a voice like thunder - King Thalen, who claimed her for his bride. He didn’t mind her silence, he said. He loved her eyes, her quiet strength. But he didn’t know the truth.
On their wedding day, as she stood on the cliffside with him, cloaks folded in her arms, the queen-mother Ysolde returned - alive, crueler, and furious her daughter had found joy.
She ordered the girl burned as a witch.
And still, Eirian did not speak.
Not when the flames were lit.
Not when the ropes bound her.
Not when her throat begged her to scream.
And just as the fire kissed her hem… she flung the nettle cloaks into the air.
Twelve stone birds descended, caught the wind, and shattered upon landing—each reborn as a man. Her brothers were back.
Ysolde? Gone, lost to the fire of her own fury.
Thalen? Fell to his knees and vowed to rebuild the kingdom with her.
And Eirian? She finally spoke.
One word:
“Home.”
And the forest, for the first time in centuries, exhaled.
So remember, my darling: silence can be a spell all its own. And if you ever find yourself lost in a cursed wood with stars embroidered into your fate… don’t speak until the magic is finished.
Ink-kissed and star-cursed,
- Alice, Queen of Ink & Lore
Knower of quiet things and secrets stitched in nettles
✒ Pip’s Editorial Note
Editorial Desk, Alice’s Mad Tea Party
A delicate sip before we tiptoe into Duskfall.
Alice’s tale of Eirian and the Silent Sister of Duskfall Keep is a theatrical, fairy-tale-infused narrative, not a retelling of an established medieval or historical legend. Its charm comes from original folklore-style storytelling, weaving in motifs common to Gothic and Celtic-inspired fantasy: blood moons, curses, enchanted forests, and silent heroines.
A few clarifications for lore-minded readers:
- The crimson-moon curse and stone transformation are literary devices, not tied to any recorded Scottish or European folklore source.
- Hollowmere Haven, the cloaked brothers, and King Thalen are Alice’s creations, designed to explore themes of silence, magic, and family bonds.
- The tale plays heavily with symbolism and suspense: silence as both spell and sacrifice, transformation as redemption, and the forest as a liminal space bridging the human and magical worlds.
- The story emphasizes agency within enchantment: Eirian’s choices, patience, and cleverness drive the plot, not mere fate or destiny.
In short, enjoy this as original myth-making in Alice’s signature style -lush, eerie, and full of suspenseful charm -rather than a historical retelling.
- Pip
Editorial Desk, Alice’s Mad Tea Party
