Ymeene, also known as Miss Goshawk, was the first ymbryne recorded to use her abilities to protect peculiars from normals. She is also the reason why there are so many rules for the way that peculiars must behave in loops, and is credited with founding the first Council of Ymbrynes and Ymbryne Academy.
She pioneered loopology and made many discoveries regarding the behavior and function of loops, including arrested aging, the inability of normals to enter, loops' dual exits into past and present, and perhaps even the rudiments of time-stream theory and the problems of parallel streams. Her story is one of the few tales in Tales of the Peculiar that has thorough historical authenticity.
Biography[]
The First Ymbryne[]
Ymeene was born into a family of goshawks, and had the ability to transform into a human. Her family was not entirely accepting of this, with her own name meaning "strange one" in the language of the goshawks.
When a turf war erupted between the goshawks and a band of harriers, Ymeene fought with her family, and although they repelled the harriers, most of Ymeene's siblings were killed. Wondering what it had all been for, she asked her father why they had not simply run away and found another nest to live in. Her father stated they had to defend the honor of the family and a creature like her wouldn't understand.
Having lost her taste for blood and fighting, Ymeene left and wandered for a long time, lingering around human settlements and studying them. Hunger eventually drove her to enter a village. After finding that she enjoyed human life, she learned their language and chose a village at random to live in.
A kindly old man let her stay in his barn, and his wife taught Ymeene to sew so she would have a trade. She would still sleep in her goshawk form, however, and after a few days, the village baker saw her turn into a bird. Ymeene was accused of witchcraft and was chased out. She went wandering again and found another village to settle in to. This time she was careful not to let anyone see her change into a bird, but the villagers seemed to distrust her regardless as to most people, Ymeene had a strange way about her due to having been raised by hawks. After she was chased out once more, she began wondering if there was any place in the world she truly belonged.
One morning, Ymeene discovered her time manipulation ability after she made a sunrise replay. She continued to amuse herself with this trick for days, such as repeating the leap of a deer.
Englebert saw her creating these temporary loops and invited her back to his camp, which was filled with other peculiars like her. She avoided Tombs, having become distrustful of prideful men and instead spent her days with Englebert. She helped him till the camp’s vegetable patch and collect wood for cook fires, and he helped her get to know the other peculiars. They took to her instantly and she came to think of the camp as her second home and the peculiars as her second family. She told them about life as a hawk and amused them with her trick of repeating things—once looping a moment where Tombs tripped over a sleeping dog until the whole village hurt from laughing—and they regaled her with tales of peculiardom’s colorful history. There was, for a while, peace. The peculiars welcomed new arrivals, like they had welcomed Ymeene, and the camp went from fifteen to fifty.
The camp wanted to go to war with the normals, but Ymeene refused after stating that she lost one family to war and wouldn't watch another one throw itself willingly into war. She tried to get Englebert to go away with her, but he refused. She left first thing at dawn, before anyone else woke up.
However, as she was flying, she saw the normals' fighting force and when she realized the peculiars would be slaughtered, she turned back and told Tombs what she had seen. She realized he knew all along and tried to reason with him. She then went out to warn the others, but it was too late. She saw the other peculiars huddled in their camp and she could've flown to safety as they had urged her to, but she couldn't leave them to die. Ymeene began creating three minute loops over and over to prevent the normals from coming closer. Because she had to keep resetting the loop, she couldn't sleep and had to have someone keep her from falling asleep.
After resetting the loop, she made another loop inside the first one, leading to a longer loop overall, until she eventually managed to create a loop that lasted for a whole day. After the peculiars stood up for Ymeene and banished the councilmen out of the loop, they looked to Ymeene for leadership. She was also called upon for personal disputes, to cast deciding votes about which of the council’s many rules should be retained and which jettisoned, to punish breakers of what rules they kept, and so on.
In order to solve their biggest problem, how more than a hundred peculiars could live in such a small space, Ymeene went in search of more ymbrynes like her for help. She eventually was able to find a Miss Kestrel, who she brought back and taught everything she knew about creating loops, and soon Miss Kestrel was skilled enough to keep their loop going by herself. This allowed Ymeene to embark on long-distance journeys looking for more ymbrynes and found five. When the new arrivals had been trained, and spring had arrived, they divided the peculiars among them and set out across the land to establish five new, permanent loops. More peculiars sought refuge at the loops as long as they abided by the ymbrynes' rules.
The ymbrynes held council twice a year to trade wisdom and collaborate, and for many years Ymeene herself oversaw the proceedings. She lived to the age of one hundred and fifty-seven, dying to the Black Plague. After Ymeene's death, all the peculiars she had saved who were still living, and all their children and grandchildren, risked their lives to cross hostile territory and carry her in a grand procession to the forest and, to the best of Englebert’s reckoning, to the very tree in which she had been born, and they buried her among its roots. The tree was a destination for peculiar pilgrims for many years, but its location has long been lost.
One of her tail feathers was saved and can currently be viewed in the Pantheon of Notables.
Relationships[]
Englebert[]
Englebert is a good friend of Ymeene and they first met when she was creating temporary loops. He invited her back to his camp and spend a lot of time together. When the other peculiars wanted to go to war with the normals, Ymeene tried to get him to go away with her, but he refused. When Ymeene was resetting the loop, he nudged her to stay awake. They loved each other in a steady, companionable way, and for years they shared a house (but never a room). When she died, he and the rest of the peculiars even risked their lives to cross hostile territory in a grand procession of the forest, to his reckoning, and buried her among the roots of the tree where she was born.
Miss Kestrel[]
Ymeene saw Miss Kestrel while she was searching for another ymbryne and tried to talk to her, but the kestrels fled after seeing her. The next morning, they talked and demonstrated their ability to create loops. They ran to each other, laughing and clasping their hands, shouting and hugging. She taught her everything about creating loops and Miss Kestrel kept the loop going while searching for more ymbrynes like them.
Tombs[]
Ymeene dislikes Tombs, the prideful leader of the peculiar village who kept on reminding people that he sat on the Council of Important Peculiars. Usually, Ymeene avoids him. She disagrees when Tombs, who says that the normals' army is cowardly and weak, wants the peculiars to stay and fight the normals for their camp. When Ymeene leaves and flies away from the camp, she realises that Tombs had lied to them and that the normals' army was larger than he said. When Tombs tries to stop Ymeene from creating a loop in the name of the Council, the other peculiars stand up for her and he is later driven from the loop with the other councilmen.