Daughter of Wade Montray (son of the first Terran Legate, Russell Montray) and Mariel Aldaran, half-sister to Kermiac Aldaran. Born on Darkover, ahe stayed with her mother on Terra after Mariel separated from Wade. Elaine was reared and schooled there with her brother Larry Montray, who was Kennard Alton's bredu. Kennard did not originally realize her line­age, though he doubtless identified her as one of the rare Terrans with laran. He later married her and they return­ed to Armida, where she bore him two sons, Lew Alton and Marius Alton. The Comyn Council would not recognize her as anything more than barragana, and Ken­nard fought for years to have Lew declared the legiti­mate heir to the Alton Domain.