Fontaine playwrights often use strings as analogies for hearts — and indeed, this is the oft-used phrase, "heartstrings." And just like harpstrings, a person's heart will shift in shade and color according to fate's melody. The term "heartstring" is found in one of the oldest Fontainian plays, "Dryas," Although the "string" being referenced there was at first not that of a harp, but of a bow. The main character was named Aurelius, the ur-form of the identically-named character from Coppelius's famous "The Saga of Aurelius." According to the script, he was honored as a hero as glorious as gold, who conquered countless traitorous nations and cities for Fontaine. However, there is no such corresponding figure in recorded history, and as such, he is often regarded as a fictitious invention, much like the figure of Ajax. Legend has it that while out on a campaign, he fell into a trap laid by his foe, and was lost along with his army amidst the pine forest. Just as an assassin's blade was about to take his life, silver arrows pierced the air like falling rain. And as he looked in the direction of the bowstring's quivering pulse, he saw that "the gods had made such loveliness, yet destroyed the mold for pity of mortals." The young maiden, Dryastis, took his hand, a hand that should never have again felt such delicate touch, and brought him beyond the bloodstained pines. "I simply desire that no more die here in vain. Too much grief has flowed through the waters already." "I ask but one thing of you, noble warrior — take this conflict away from this land." "Taint these pure waters with 'death' no longer. Let us preserve our final home." Conquering youths often believe their bodies and hearts as tough as the marble that adorns city walls. But just as all kingdoms must fall into silence, the agitated strings added dissonant notes to the hero's poetic saga... Millennia of shifting legends and theatrical edits have given this tale all manner of extended developments. In some versions, the hero, who once subdued cities and nations unnumbered, heeds the words of the fairy maiden. He accepts the proffered bow from her hands and sounds the withdrawal, only to be slain en route by conniving traitors, his body consigned to the ocean depths. In other tales, the illustrious Aurelius falls into agonizing, maddening love, he leads his army into the pine forest, Seeking her out, yearning to see her once more and make her his lover, that she might stay by his side. The young maiden flees to the riverbank, weeping as she appeals to her pure-water mother to save her from the obsessions of the hero. The ruler of the Many Waters took pity on her fate, turning her into a pine tree. Then, the bowstring that once shot love into Aurelius snapped like the heart the arrow had struck, and it fell by the maiden's side in silence, sinking into the countless blooming Pluie Lotuses. The pained young hero stared at the flowers in the water and would not leave, eventually falling into a deep pool... Natural philosophers who came after would claim that according to their research, a barbarian tribe named Dryas had once settled here, Which led to the pine forest being named as such. Such unromantic explanations have never had much to do with theater. Whether he met his end sinking into the deep sea, to have his will and desire sanded down by the passage of time, Or if he resurfaced after many years, only to be slain by the new White Armada or the Marechaussee Hunters, The tale of the youthful hero ended, and Dryastis too was rendered naught but a legend born from chaotic times. And as to how this bow, that had so disturbed Aurelius's destiny, came to pass into the hands of someone who dwelled deep beneath the waters after changing hands many times, Then be adorned and modified into a theatrical prop for children's performances in that person's homeland... That is a different tale altogether.