Helia Tyrian

Although she knew they weren't her parents, Helia loved her aunt and uncle as such for as long as they raised her.  A local religious figure, Uncle Roman was a stern but loving figure in Helia's life, making sure she excelled as best she could in her schooling and her faith, while not allowing 'carnal' distractions such as boys impede her success.  Aunt Mauve on the other hand was less strict where rules were concerned and encouraged her niece to enjoy more than scholastic things in life, such as art, music, and literature.  The occult and astronomy was a shared secret between the two women, something Roman explicit forbid for being discussed in the home, unless it was during one of his disparaging lectures.

When Helia was days from turning twelve, her guardians suddenly began to pack up her things.  Instead of the party that had been discussed for months before, Helia received a driven car to her family's country home.  Separated from the driver by a deep tented partition, Helia traveled several hours alone, saddened but curious by the request to return to her estrange father.  For the past eleven years, she had received a card,  some kind of superficial gift dictated by whatever update Mauve had given him on Helia's maturing tastes and the occasional picture of the man doing little beyond sitting regally at his desk or some room with a fire, but never had the man and his daughter met face to face.  The day of her twelfth birthday, Helia present was less the long car ride and more a sudden family reunion.  Upon arriving in the middle of the city, Helia looked to what was to be her new home.  Standing before the grand (compared to the previous country cottage) house, stood her father Walter Tyrian.

Two more cars arrived shortly after her own.  As Helia stood assessing the man who shared only her name and blood, she was joined on the sidewalk by two other strangers.  A boy, just a few years younger than herself and the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.  All four stood in awe and silence for a moment before Walter broke the tense moment.  Moving first to the women, Walter embraced her as her knees buckled and gentle sobs escaped her.  The children exchanged looks, assessing one another in kind.  Helia found him to be handsome, sharing her own dark skin skin, while appearing eerily similar to her father.  While Walter consoled her, he gently turned the woman, he addressed as Griselda and made introductions. Three gasps came at once, as Helia met the mother she had never heard of and brother Roy, she didn't know she had.

A tiny squeal managed to escape before Helia composed her and thank the bemused boy who had delivered her mail.  Hopping onto her bed with enough force to toss the open book on her pillow to the floor, she held up the three letters, mentally debating which to open first.  Her family wrote her often, a request she insisted they keep, since it felt more personal than even phone calls.  She decided to open her aunt's letter first, since she knew it would also include several pages of loving edicts from Roman.  To counter the written lectures, Mauve gave Helia all the latest gossip of her childhood home.  Several farmers had gotten thrown into the slammer for getting drunk and fighting over stray horses.  One of Helia's former friends was now trying to become a Huntress as well (“The girl is as dumb as a box of rocks and as coordinated as a pig in a dress, how she got into an Academy is anyone's guess”) Helia couldn't help but giggle. More stories followed and a usual a big pink lipstick print as her aunt ended the letter with her love.

Next came the big packet from Roy.  Much to their mother's joy of not having both her children go to risk their lives fighting monsters, Roy spent his time taking pictures throughout the four kingdoms of Vale. Several of Roy's prints decorated Helia's walls.  She had to take down actual face shots of her brother and keep them in more personal photo album as too many of her classmates were expressing the kind of interest in her little brother that would have Uncle Roman red with pious fervor.  Picking out the best of the two dozen photos, Helia set them off to the side to frame and add to her wall.  Noticing the same guy was increasingly appearing in more pictures with Roy, she made a mental note to hound him about it later before picking up of the single snapshots of him just outside Beacon Academy in Vale. ”You're looking more and more like ol' Walt everyday little bro” Helia said as she gave his face a quick kiss.  

Griselda's letter came last and Helia hesitated before opening the envelope.  Her mother's writing was sweet and elegant and struck the young woman with a sense of nostalgia and homesickness.  In the seven years since their reunion, Helia and her mother had become the best of friends.  At the thought of the twelve years she had gone without her, Helia always felt a pang of resentment towards her demented father.  While his brother was focused on doing right in life to be rewarded in the hereafter, Walter was the opposite, almost hedonistic with his mentality and whims.  Having money to spare from his manufacturing deals with the Schnee Dust Company and several other big names in their respective industries, the Tyrian family was well-off to say the least.  Walter, on a whim had decided to test his wife's interest and faithfulness, shipping off Roy to another relative when he was a baby and herself to the borderlands of Vale and Vacuo.  Griselda was lead to believe her children had been killed during isolated incidents involving the Grimm or confrontations with the White Fang, two reasonable excuses Walter's twisted mine had thought up.  Over the years, Griselda was often shipped off to Atlas to remain at a 'health spa' to deal with her depression for months at a time.  Once they were reunited, Walter's wilder habits had calmed down, but Helia never really forgave him for tearing apart their family, although she was regularly advised by her mother to do so.  This letter from Griselda opened with how well her parents were doing, Helia couldn't help but smile.  Her mother's knack for details made each line come to life, and she pictured the happy couple sitting on a yacht celebrating their twentieth anniversary as if none of the other bs had ever happened.  When they returned home, Griselda began redecorating the house, as she did after every anniversary and like always, she promised to leave the kids' rooms alone, although she usually added something new for them to discover when they returned home to visit.  Closing with a warning to be careful and a how Walter sent his love, Griselda promised to write again soon.  

Helia brought the note to her face, inhaling deeply the delicate smell of her mother's perfume.  Again she longed for home but pushed aside the hints of sadness.  Helia had resigned herself to a higher calling.  Ridding the world monsters one Grimm at a time is where she needed to focus.  If she got to see the world and witness a few good battles, or even crack a skull or two herself, Helia would do be true to herself and make her family proud.