MAIN CHARACTERS
Elunah, the Old Wonder-Maker.
Before there were caverns, there was Elunah. She made wonders for the world upstairs, until the world upstairs forgot that wonders cost something to make. This is the sad part of the story. We tell it properly, then we let a little light back in.
OUR WURLD
HER WOUND
They asked for wonders until wonder became labour.
Elunah gave, and gave, and tried to save too many. When she could not save everyone, the Ovurwurld called it failure and drove her out. It is an old, unfair story, and it happens to be true.
She is not a villain and not a victim to be pitied at. She is the person who kept making beautiful things for people who mistook a gift for a service. Anyone who has ever been thanked by being asked for more will recognise her.
“Wonder was never the hard part. Being expected to was.”
The cave and the acorn
She went below
Depleted and sad, she sought solace in a cave beneath the world. Nobody knows whether she chose the cave or the cave chose her.
A tear, a final Wunder
Her dying tear and her last piece of magic fell together, and found a tiny acorn waiting in the dark.
The Wunderwood grew
From that acorn came the tree, and from the tree, over centuries, a whole world. Her grief did not end. It became somewhere to live.
Privately, the keepers believe the old magic hid her there on purpose. They do not say this loudly, in case it turns out to be true.
