Glade Antlephore
Deer are sacred to the goddess Artemissa, and their princess was the most sacred of all. The lady of the moon bestowed upon her anything she desired, but the goddess's affections could not satisfy the princess's heart - she had fallen in love with a human prince. But as long as she remained a deer, her love could not be known.
The goddess saw her grief, and despite her own sorrow, granted the princess the ability to become a human woman in the light of day. But each night, as the goddess rose in the sky, the princess would return to her, her faithful doe once more.
Time passed, and the prince and princess were married. Though he questioned her relentlessly about her nightly disappearances, her secret remained hidden, even as she became heavy with child.
The facade continued until, alone at sunset in a forest clearing, the princess gave birth to a daughter. The prince, who had decided that enough was enough and had followed her as she left the palace that evening, burst into the clearing as the sun crossed the horizon, only to see his wife become a deer, while their newborn daughter turned from deer into girl. Unversed in the ways of the old gods, the prince cursed the trickery by which he had been deceived, and banished the two forever from his life.
Under the goddess's sorrowful eye, the princess withered away in grief, leaving her baby daughter behind. The lady of the moon took the girl under her wing and hid her from the world, determined to protect her from a similar fate.
And so hundreds of years passed and the princess's daughter grew up in solitude, living each day as a deer and each night as a human girl, hidden from the entirety of the world.
