Appearance Race: Drykas Gender: female Age: 19 years old Clan: Amethyst Birthday: 1st Day of Fall, 497 AV Birthplace: Endrykas Eira has a small, slight build. Standing at 4'5", it is likely that she has another growth spurt coming before she reaches her full height. She is also a little underweight, at 95 lbs. This is due to a number of lean years when she was a child. Although she was never malnourished, or starving when she was younger, there were several times when she never had quite enough to eat. Eira has warm straight brown hair that takes on a lighter, golden tone when the light hits it the right way. It falls just past her shoulders, and is in her opinion, the perfect length. Short enough not to get in the way when she's working, but long enough to suit her preference for long hair. She wears it loose most of the time, but she has been known to pull it back into a pony tail, or a braid on occasion while working. Her eyes are close to the same color as her hair, but they are a few shades darker. They change color with her moods. When she is happy, or excited, they seem to lighten, and even sparkle a little when she laughs. But when her mood turns dark, her eyes darken as well. Eira's skin is a dark tan from being out in the sun for much of the time. It has a weathered look from being constantly exposed to the elements. She moves with an unconscious grace born of a confidence in herself, and her abilities. Her windmarks take the form of a silvery grey full moon partially covered by dark grey storm clouds (the clouds cover the bottom of the moon). On either side of the moon are black stylized gusts of wind, giving the impression of a windy night. And beneath it all rests a bright blue butterfly resting on a budding vine. Her windmarks are located on her back, with the stylized wind and budding vine curling around her sides. A smaller version of them is located on her upper right arm and shoulder. Character Concept Eira is a sweet, gentle girl, who is very sensitive to the needs of others. She tends to be on the shy side. She tends to be the type who has a few good friends, and deals with people best in small groups, or on a one basis. Large crowds make her nervous. But once she gets to know someone, she is friendly, if quiet, and soft spoken. And she has a kind word for everyone. It simply isn't in her to be mean to anyone. As a result, it is difficult not to like her. There is also an almost child like innocence about her. She loves life. Eira never lost the child like sense of wonder that most children have for the world around them. But she is old enough to know that you have to live with the consequences of your actions. So she always thinks before she acts, or speaks. Sometimes too much so. When a situation requires a split second decision, or fast action, she tends to freeze up. Eira is a quiet observer. Very little escapes her notice. She likes to take her time, to watch a situation, think about what she has learned, and only then make a decision, or form an opinion. She is bright, and she loves to learn. But she needs time to process what she learns before she can properly apply it. Eira does not act impulsively, and when forced to act without taking the time she needs to consider all angles of a situation, she is liable to make mistakes. Character History Childhood
Eira was born to a small, newly formed pavilion. Her father, the ankal left the pavilion he was born into rather than marry a woman that his own father had chosen for him because he had fallen in love with another. As a younger son, he had more freedom when it came to choosing a wife than his older brothers did, but the woman he loved was an orphan, who had lost everything when her family succumbed to illness. They had been childhood friends since they were very young, and their pavilions had been close allies. As a result, his family took her in when she was orphaned. When that happened, friendship quickly turned to love, and they wanted to marry.
But as an orphan, who was already living with the pavilion, she had nothing to offer them. So their request was denied. And rather than marry someone else, the young couple married anyway, and formed a pavilion of their own. When Eira's father left to forge his own path, he was joined by two siblings he was especially close too; an older brother, and a younger sister, who each had their own reasons to be unhappy with their father.
A daughter was born to the young couple nine months after they married. The birth was a difficult one, leaving Eira's father's first wife weakened considerably. With a skilled healer's aid, she survived, but she never recovered fully, and they were warned that another pregnancy might kill her. Since they were such a small pavilion, having more children was crucial to their survival. But the choice Eira's father had made to leave the pavilion of his birth counted against him. He had little to offer in an alliance since his pavilion was just starting out. So rather than taking a second wife, he and his brother each bought a captive that were being sold at auction while they were in Endrykas.
Eira was the third child born to the captive her father bought. She is the younger child in a set of twins, and has an older sister. Her mother was an Inarta chiet who left Wind Reach with a trader after drawing the unwanted attention of an Avora. As a child, she had been fascinated by tales of a distant city known as Riverfall, told by Endal who traded with other lands. So when she fled, she hoped to reach the city that captured her fancy as a child. But she never made it that far, being taken captive in the Sea of Grass after the caravan she'd been traveling with ran into trouble. She hated Eira's father almost as much as she hated being a captive.
The Moonsong pavilion slowly grew in numbers both through marriage, and through adoption when the pavilion would take in other individuals, or couples they befriended if they too were setting out on their own for their own reasons. It was not one of the pavilions that stayed close to Endrykas most of the time; once they had grown enough in numbers and diversity, they chose to spend much of their time away from the city. They spent most of their time out hunting, trapping, and foraging. Some of the members tanned the pelts of the animals others hunted. while still others would capture wild horses, and zibri, and tame them. Others bred striders. They would keep the best of the wild striders they caught, and breed them to their own striders in the hopes of improving their lines. When they needed supplies they couldn't get for themselves, they would make a trip to the city to sell their goods, and the current crop of foals, as well as buy the supplies they needed. It was rare that they would stay more than a few weeks at a time. And sometimes, they would spend entire seasons far from the city. But once every few years, the pavilion would come in and spend a season or two in Endrykas. During that time, they would renew contacts with pavilions they count as friends and allies, work out marriages for daughters of an appropriate age, and set up a store to sell their goods.
From a young age, Eira discovered a love of herbs. They fascinated her. The idea that a pretty flower or other plant could become seasoning to make one's food taste better, life saving medicine, dye, perfume, or any number of other things if one knew how to use them properly was a wonder to her. So she promised herself to learn as much as she could about them. She also discovered a love of beautiful things, and an interest in art. She loved the thought of taking something, and turning it into something more than it was to begin with.
When she was old enough to begin learning a trade, Eira wanted to do something with her love of herbs. Her pavilion had a healer who had joined them a few years before. But age was starting to take a toll on him, and he was grateful to have an apprentice to teach. Even one as young as she was. As time passed, Eira learned that she had little interest in actually dealing with patients. Her passion was for working with the herbs themselves. But tending to the needs of her family would be a small price to pay in order to be able to spend much of her time making salves, teas, and other useful remedies.
Eira and her twin were best friends as well as sisters. They were close to their other siblings, and family members as well, but never quite as close as they were to each other. As children, they rarely fought among themselves, and were quick to unite against their siblings when someone decided to tease them. But when Eira's sister bonded to a strider a few days before they turned seven, things changed. All of a sudden, Eira was worth less in the eyes of their family than her sister was. And although they loved each other, just as much as they always had, that difference began to affect their relationship. Eira couldn't help but wonder why her sister had bonded, and she hadn't. She began to think that something was wrong with her, and that her sister really was better than she was. This led to a deep insecurity that she tried to hide from the rest of her family. Eira also couldn't help but feel jealous of her sister's strider. And as much as she tried not to let her jealousy affect their relationship, it did.
They began to grow apart. And when they were nine, they got into a huge fight over the bond that led them to not speak to each other for three seasons. After that, they made up, but the damage to their relationship was done. They had lost much of the closeness they had once had. Rivalry crept in to take its place, and everything turned into a competition between them. They fought over everything. This continued until they were eleven when fever struck the pavilion. Several died, and one of the victims was nearly Eira's twin. Although she recovered fully, the near tragedy made them see just how fragile life truly was. Their rivalry wasn't worth losing the closeness they once had and both missed over. So they made the effort to grow close again. They regained most of the closeness they once had, but the rivalry between them never quite died out. Instead, it became something they each enjoyed. Captivity
When Eira was twelve, her pavilion was attacked by bandits. Most were killed, and those who survived were taken to be sold as slaves in Kenash. Eira took a blow to the head during the attack, and was left for dead. She survived, but dazed by her head injury, and deeply traumatized by the brutal attack, she wandered aimlessly for a full day looking for help before she was found by a trade caravan passing through the area.
The trade caravan was stranded a few days later when their wagon broke, and they didn't have the parts they needed to repair the damage. They were rescued by a member of the Watch, and taken to Endrykas. One of the traders was a man who had been thrown out of the city for excessive drunkenness that led him into getting into a fight with a member of the Watch. Because of this, the trader was killed, and the rest of the caravan was taken captive. Since Eira had been found with the traders, and wasn't bonded to a strider, it was assumed that she was a foreigner, too. And she was too badly traumatized to tell them any differently. Locked in silence caused by shock and grief, she was sold with the others.
Eira was bought by a pavilion who had been hard hit by tragedy of their own. Illness, zith attacks, and hunting accidents had claimed the lives of all but four of them; three brothers, and a sister. They bought Eira in the hopes of rebuilding their pavilion through the children they could get from her. Since they could only afford one captive, they agreed to each breed her in turn.
The Songhunter Pavilion had never been one to stick close to the city. But after losing so many, surviving on their own wasn't an option. Despite this, they felt stifled in Endrykas, and longed to be back out on their own. So they began to look for other like minded people. It took time, but they found them. A family of five who, like them, were the only survivors of their pavilion. Three married couples from a pavilion the Songhunters considered allies agreed to join them to strengthen the ties between their pavilions. A younger son who was banished when it became known he had fallen in love with his older brother's wife. There were others as well. After a season had passed, their numbers had grown to the point that it would be possible for them to survive without the safety of the city.
The eldest brother of the Songhunter Pavilion claimed Eira first. It didn't take Thyrion long to succeed in getting her with child. And in winter of 509, she gave birth to a daughter. She was given two seasons to recover at the advice of the healer who had seen her when they bought her. Then rather than giving her to his younger brother as agreed, he decided to breed her again himself.
Eira had other ideas. Sick with horror at spending the rest of her life being bred as an animal, she grew desperate. When it became obvious that she was with child again, she used her knowledge of herbs to cause herself to miscarry the child. It was her hope that if she didn't give her captors any more children, they would decide she was useless to them, and let her go. She succeeded, and the punishment for what was considered to be a horrible crime in the eyes of the Songhunter pavilion was both swift, and brutal. As soon as it was discovered that she had not caused enough damage to render herself unable to bear more children, her master began breeding her again rather than giving her time to recover.
To prevent her from attempting to cause another miscarriage, she was kept blindfolded, and chained until she was visibly with child once more. In addition to this, once she was freed from her chains, her master broke both of her legs, and sliced the bottoms of her feet lightly. Thyrion was careful not to cut so deep that she would be permanently crippled, and the broken bones were given care so they would heal straight. But until the injuries healed, she was utterly at the mercy of her captor. The trauma of her punishment was so great that Eira never dared try to cause a miscarriage again. Likewise, she never attempted to escape. With knowledge of the Web, she knew she would be found if she dared make the attempt.
Once she had given birth to her third child, Eira was passed on to Jiral. He gave her two seasons to recover from the birth, then began trying to get her with child himself.
During all of that time, the youngest brother, Kirion took pains to be a friend to Eira. Part of it was because he felt sorry for her. But he also knew that it would eventually be his turn to breed her, and it would be easier for him to deal with her if she was a willing participant. And if they were friends, there was a chance of that happening. So he was kind to her. He never tried to free her, but he did what he could to ease the pain his brothers caused her. The task of seeing that she became a useful member of the pavilion was given to him, so he taught her things, and spent much of his time working with her.
As time passed, he began to like what he saw in Eira, and began to want to be her friend in earnest rather than out of pity, or as a means of managing her more easily. When she recovered from the trauma of losing her birth pavilion, and being sold into captivity enough to begin speaking again, Kirion was the only one she could bring herself to speak to at first. True friendship grew between them, and eventually, that friendship turned into love.
That love made Kirion want to help Eira even more than he had been. Knowing that it would eventually fall upon him to breed Eira, he didn't want circumstances he had no control over to destroy their feelings for each other. He could not help her to escape. That would only lead to her death in the Sea of Grass...assuming she wasn't captured, and punished for her attempt. Escaping with her was equally futile. Two people could not survive alone out in the Sea of Grass long enough to reach Endrykas when it was so far from their camp. Not when neither was skilled in surviving the dangers of the wilderness without the safety of a pavilion.
Nor could he simply refuse to breed her. Doing so would risk his being banished from the pavilion...and still wouldn't help her in the long run. One of his older brothers would simply take his place. So Kirion did the only thing he could do to help the girl he loved. In secret, he set out to show her that the act of creating a child did not have to be painful if the two people involved loved each other.
His efforts paid off. In the process, Eira and Kirion grew even closer. And in the fall of 513, Eira gives birth to a third daughter. One that looks more like Kirion than Jiral. Drykas
In the summer of 515, Eira had still not conceived again, and the brothers began to wonder if her body had worn out from being bred so often. Or if the miscarriage years before had caused more damage than anyone had guessed, and that the last birth had rendered her barren. Kirion didn't care whether she was barren or not. He promised to marry her when she gave him a child as encouragement, but told her secretly that even if she didn't, he would marry her when it proved that she was barren. Marriage wouldn't give her her freedom, but it would give her more rights than she had as a mere captive. Both Eira and Kirion believed that her youngest daughter was his. The others had their suspicions, but weren't certain. Eira bonded to a strider in the fall, and was freed. Plans for her and Kirion to be married were made, but the wedding was delayed when his sister, Arisa became seriously ill.
The pavilion headed into Endrykas seeking a healer when her illness persisted into the winter. Their own healer had died a few weeks before, and his apprentice, while full of promise, wasn't yet skilled enough to take over as a full healer. Pirates raided Endrykas during the winter of 515. Kirion was taken by the pirates, and Jiral was killed, as was Arisa. Thyrion begins trying to get her with child once more despite her having bonded to a strider. To keep her from protesting, or asking for help, he threatened her with severe punishment if she dared tell anyone. He claimed that he had the right to do what he wanted with her as her ankal, and pointed out that it was likely no one would stop him given the numbers lost in the pirate raid. When the pirates return, he was killed trying to avenge the loss of his family.
The winter was hard on Eira. After years of being a captive, her spirit was all but broken. She no longer knew what it meant to be free, and with five children to care for all by herself, it was all she could to just to keep them alive. Thyrion succeeded in getting her pregnant before he was killed, but she lost the unborn child due to near starvation. Most of the food she did manage to get was given to her children.
When spring came, Eira knew that she and her children would not survive much longer on their own. But she couldn't bear the thought of giving herself in marriage to a stranger. After her years as a captive, the thought of being bred again was too terrifying to think about. So when several others in similar straights decided to go to Riverfall in hopes of making a better life for themselves, Eira decided she and the children would go with them. Riverfall
At first, things seemed as if they might get better. But several days into the trip, one of her daughters was injured too badly to ride. Eira and her family were separated from the group because she couldn't keep up with the others. They were found by a trade caravan headed to Riverfall a day later. They agreed to take her with them in exchange for her acting as a guide for them since their own got sick and died. A healer traveled with them, and was able to help her daughter. But the same illness that claimed the life of the guide struck hard, killing most of the traders. The survivors, including Eira and her children, were rescued by an Akalak hunting party, and Eira was forced into becoming a Nakivak. Language Fluent Language: Pavi, Pavi hand sign Basic Language: Common Poor Language: Tukant; Eira picked up a little from her talvis. Housing Location: Riverfall House: Windswept Condos. Eira has a 400st ft Apartment there. |
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