Maquia, who is tangled in the fabric. The Renato later crashes and dies in a forest. Maquia wakes up and meets an alcoholic merchant at the ambushed caravan, where she finds a newborn baby boy, held tightly in the arms of his deceased mother. Refusing to let him die, she pulls the baby from the woman's arms and takes him in as her son. She travels to the village of Helm, where a woman, Mido, takes them in, raising them alongside her two sons, Lang and Deol. Maquia names her adopted son Ariel. Time passes and Ariel has grown into a child. The Kingdom of Mezarte had once built their strength and reputation on their ownership of the ancient Renato, but the Renato have started to succumb to the "Red Eye" disease, leaving them with less than ten as they begin to die out. Fearing the inevitable loss of power and influence, the king of Mezarte tries to claim ownership of another ancient and legendary power, the Iorph's longevity, leading him to attempt to introduce Iorph blood into the royal bloodline. Through a message woven into a Hibiol Maquia finds in a shop, she discovers that Leilia has been forced into an arranged marriage with the prince of Mezarte. She travels on a ship with Ariel to try to free Leilia. On the ship, she meets Krim, an Iorph. He is a friend of hers from their homeland, who was Leilia's former boyfriend and Maquia's secret crush. Krim is also seeking to free Leilia. Once in the capital of Mezarte, the two meet with a number of other Iorph, and unsuccessfully ambush a royal parade. Maquia briefly frees Leilia, but learns that Leilia is pregnant with the prince's child. Maquia flees on Leilia's orders and avoids capture with the help of the merchant, revealed to be half-Iorph. Krim, undeterred, resolves to continue trying to free Leilia, and leaves Maquia and Ariel behind. As more time passes, Maquia and Ariel move to the iron-forge city of Dorail, where Maquia works as a restaurant waitress. Ariel grows to be a teenage forge worker. He becomes alienated from Maquia by the ever-decreasing difference in their apparent ages. Meanwhile, Leilia, still in the palace, is a prisoner of the royals. She has been cast aside because her daughter Medmel shows no signs of being an Iorph. She has not been able to meet Medmel