The Tale of Maya Trusk

As told by Lethe (a.k.a. akta_kairon)

It was this story about a young elven girl who was born without magical abilities. Her mother, Sarin, had mated with someone outside of their tribe and born a child, whom she named Rhin, despite this act being against the tribe's law, and she refused to tell anyone who the father was. Rhin's mother thought everything would be fine when Rhin was born, because Rhin came out looking just as she should. She looked elven. A few years passed, and no one caught on, so Sarin thought everything was well; until one day, it was discovered that the child could not perform magic. Every child in the city could perform magic, and this served as a mark that something about Rhin was unnatural. When the council found out, they questioned Sarin, who under the force of a truth spell she couldn't fight admitted that she had ben bedded by a man not of the tribe. The council, who even with the truth spell could not get Sarin to admit who that man was, stripped them of their names and banished Rhin and her mother. This was a death sentence to them, as the elves of this tribe drew their lifeforce from a great tree that grew in their forest city. Sarin was unable to plead their case, and they were marched out of the city under a watchful guard. Rhin, still young, didn't understand, and went along with excitement, thinking it was some grand adventure. When the guard left them at the outside edges of the Life-Tree's power, marked for death with a magic that would keep them out of the city, Sarin took Rhin's hand and led her into the forest. She never once let on that she was dying, but Rhin, young as she was, could tell something was wrong with her mother. Two weeks after their banishment, they reached the edge of the forest, and Sarin collapsed. . Rhin did what she could, but her mother soon died. While on her deathbed, she explained how her life was connected to the city’s tree, and with her last words she touched Rhin's cheek and said "Child with no name... Go, find your destiny. Make yourself a name and honor it. Your father will watch over you." Rhin buried her mother at the edge of the forest and set out into the world, taking the name Maya Trusk. The bulk of the book was about her travels and life during this period, which was dark and difficult. She spent her time trying to fulfill the wish of her mother, but it seemed like everywhere she went, bad luck and even despair would follow. As she grew older, she thought more and more of her mother had died, how the tribe had, for all intents and purposes, killed her. She also realized that they had likely thought Maya herself would die, being at least partially of the tribe. This set a coal of hatred in her heart that the tragedies she faced as she travelled only fanned with more hatred. After a particularly bad encounter, one that nearly drives her mad, finally escaping to somewhere safe, she vowed that she would have vengeance on the tribe that she felt had set her on this path. It was on that night, in a room at an inn where she had been working to scrap together some coin, that her father finally appeared... And that's all I know... The book ends on the words "As Maya felt the resolve trickle down her spine like so much frigid water, a darkness seemed to expand from the corners of the room and encase her. The window, a moment ago offering the pale light of the distant full moon, now matched the pitch-black of her hair. She stopped breathing, her ears straining to catch the sounds of the inn below to no avail. It was in this seemingly blank space that a deep, baritone voice filled her ears. 'Hello, my daughter. I'm so glad to finally meet you.'" I don't know if there's another book or not. I've never had the chance to look. The author was someone named Ilmosh... Just the one name... I'd love to find out what happened...