Maquia resolves to raise him, though she’s still a child herself, and calls him Eriel (Yuuki Sakurai). But when the Iolph settlement is attacked by armored soldiers from the nearby kingdom of Mezarte riding ferocious flying dragons, and Maquia accidentally ends up miles from home with no way back, it’s not a romantic interest she encounters but a squalling baby, still clutched in his dead mother’s arms. In another film, from a different storytelling tradition, perhaps, this would cue up some tragic love affair.
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Lonely despite her friendship with the beautiful, adventurous Leilia (Ai Kayano), Maquia is cautioned by the tribal Elder that she will be lonelier still if she ever falls in love with an outsider, as she will be destined to vastly outlive her partner. They are also blessed/cursed with extreme longevity, and Maquia, at 15, is as old as she is ever going to look.
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Maquia is a timid 15-year-old hailing from the Clan of the Separated, AKA the Iolph, an ancient enclave of blond-haired mystics who weave Hibiol, a fine, translucent cloth that marks the passage of time and contains messages only other Iolph can read.