Ifalna
From Final Fantasy Wiki
Ifalna is one of the last remaining Cetra and the mother of Aeris in Final Fantasy VII.
Around 24-28 years ago Professor Gast Faremis sets out on pilgrimage searching for information on Jenova and/or Cetra/Ancients. At some point he meets Ifalna, one of the very last Cetra. In a unknown period of time they fall in love and secretly move to Icicle Inn on the Northern Continent, not officially notifying the Shin-Ra company of their whereabouts.
In the time they lived together, Ifalna entrusts her knowledge of Cetra, WEAPONS, and Jenova, also known as the "Calamity from the Sky" to her husband. Gast tapes these moments and hides the videos in his cabin on the north continent. (Cloud can easily find these tapes later in the game.)
Eventually Ifalna gets pregnant and has a daughter. The two lovers were overjoyed and oblivious to the world. That is until about 20 days after Aeris’ birth when Professor Hojo locates Gast and Ifalna.
When Hojo claims he needs Ifalna and Aeris for experimental purposes Gast resists and is shot by Hojo's henchmen. Aeris and Ifalna are then taken from their home and relocated to a Shin-Ra lab.
It seems Aeris and her mother are kept Shin-Ra’s prisoners for about 7 years. This is backed up by this statement:
Elmyra: I'm... Not her real mother. Oh... it must have been 15 years ago... ...during the war.
If Aeris is 22 in Final Fantasy VII, then for her to have escaped from Shin-Ra 15 years ago, and captured when she was 20 days old, she would have had to be in Shin-Ra’s control for about 7 years.
Ifalna plans an escape with her daughter that does not go quite according to plan. Ifalna was hurt by Shin-Ra employees and dies in front of a train station in the Midgar slums. Her last actions were entrusting Aeris to a nearby woman, Elmyra.
