Marie

Marie is a two-legged Centaur who lives in the countryside. She is the aunt of Hazel. Because she was born with two legs instead of four, she is exiled from her herd and was raised as a human, but suffers from health issues and a lifespan that is drastically shorter.

Appearance
Marie is a two-legged centaur and, as such, resembles humans more than their four-legged counterpart. She has dark hair that's almost a shade of blue and wears a quilt over her shoulders instead of a shawl.

Hazel often mentions that her scent resembles that of a frozen flower, though he notes the scent has grown faint over the years.

Personality
Marie is a kindly, but lonely woman due to being born with only two legs. Despite her human appearance, her mind, body, and heart were still that of a centaur, and so she finds herself longing to run through fields and envious of those who were born fortunate.

Her brother and nephew have helped ease her loneliness, but she worries that she troubles them due to the divide between being born as she has.

History
When Marie was born, it was with two-legs instead of four. Because of this she was sent away to live with another group of two-legged centaurs to be raised as a human. Eventually, she moved to live on her own in the countryside.

Her brother made contact with her at some point and gave her an apple tree seed that grew into a tree that would produce fruit all year around. He also sends her medicine to help ease her condition, though its done in secrecy due to the rift between them and never in person. Eventually, her brother sent her nephew to visit and since then the two grew closer.

The Gold Yarn
The short story, Frozen Flowers, picks up with her nephew Hazel coming to visit her as he did every Christmas. She wipes his feet before he comes inside since he isn't able to due to his physiology, and prepares tea before they exchange gifts. While she's confused why he gives her a horseshoe (for two-legged centaurs this is seen as an act of spite normally), but he explains its for good luck by hanging it on the wall.

Before they could talk more, Marie's illness strikes and she ends up collapsing. She reveals that her medicine has run out and begs him not to run off to get more for her since it could cause trouble for his parents and himself, instead asking him to stay with her.

She eventually falls asleep and wakes to find him preparing porridge for her before she gives him an apple pie to take to her brother.

Relationships

 * Hazel: Marie is fond of her nephew and treats him much like one would a younger child. His visits to her are something she looks forward to as she has no one else who will do so, and so she often hid her frailty from him in order to not worry him.
 * Brother: She has a distant, but caring relationship with her brother. Despite never seeing him, he found a way to make contact with her even when their parents sent her away as a child to not have to bear seeing her. Because of this she's hesitant to trouble him.

Quotes

 * (To Hazel) "I may look human, but my legs ache for it. On days when the breeze is gentle, on those rare clear days when I see a beautiful morning mist, I want to run as far as I can. But I'm so weak. Two frail legs won't take me anywhere."