hälee ljusa was the product of stardust that zipped through the dark expanse of space, gathering mass as it sped toward a celestial body. nothing is known about it because when this clump of stardust finally collided with its land, the only thing it gained was a conscience. in this dreamstate, they would drift through a dark abyss until they reached a star-shaped portal.

when hälee awoke, they found themselves not on the planet with which they collided, but in a field surrounded by trees stretching as far as their eyes could see. their only instinct was to wander. as they journeyed through the woods, all they knew was to appreciate their surroundings – the soil, the sky, the foliage, the mountains and hills. they would stop at lakes and ponds to bathe in and drink their water.

eventually, hälee found a strange pathway – one that wasn’t guarded by a coniferous canopy. they followed it southward until they discovered another animal-like being. they encountered more and more of them as they continued along the path until they arrived at a network of cities and towns, a whole society of creatures that resembled them in form. initially unable to communicate with the inhabitants of this place, hälee learned soon enough that it was because they spoke a different language than the rest. in time, they would learn how to converse with the other creatures.

after living there for a considerable time, after forming many bonds and sharing many experiences, hälee found their way back to the forest. they tried harnessing that dimension-hopping power that led them to this forest, and it eventually grew strong enough that they were able to jump again. the new place they found themselves in was a forest not unlike their home, but it was hot, humid, and the sky was enshrouded by a dense haze. still, that wasn’t enough to throw them off their trail. then, bizarre things started happening.

as hälee wandered through this new environment, they often came across creatures that resembled the people from back home, but they were far smaller and always walked on four legs. then one night, hälee walked out onto a small field and saw two beings that were closer in stature to those from their home, but they had no fur. even more intriguing, the pair of furless beings seemed very fascinated, almost entranced, by hälee’s presence, and they spoke the same language as the city critters from their home. it was as if the living things that populated this new world were a reflection of hälee, but refracted in half.

the next day, hälee encountered a pathway similar to the one in their home world that directed them to those cities. curious about its similarities, they followed it (and ran into that pair of furless creatures a few more times, oddly enough). eventually, they arrived at an urban area that was a bit like the one they knew, but it was populated entirely by humans.

hälee noticed that humans’ reception to their presence was bipolar. most were either fascinated or disgusted by them, and they noticed that humans held roughly those same attitudes about this world’s four-legged furry counterparts. it made sense why those critters didn’t frequent areas settled by humans. it was as if any living thing with fur possessed inherent shock value.

still, hälee cherished all the loving, positive interactions they had with humans. they gave hälee hope that maybe, just maybe, they could harness this goodwill to get humans to care more about their wild neighbors, so that became their focus. they also realized that humans had a hard time pronouncing their name, so inspired by some chatter they heard in passing, as well as some of the structures they saw on their way to the human city, they started going by sal.

they can’t wait to meet you – be it in the wild or at your next gathering!