If Rua had to choose between fighting or flying, she would choose the later. Sometimes literally.
Her story begins deep, deep, in the forest. A thatched roof with mud walls and a dirt floor, very far from the concerns of the world. Where magic is the natural order of things, and local politics were about the business of ravens, squirrels, and the care of the trees. It's not all sunshine and rainbows.

Her master is dying.