3. Ah'ria Naillo

Ah'ria Naillo

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    Player Name: Lady Deyanna
    Character: Ah'ria Naillo

    <e>“Kallandra, your mother, passed away during your birth. Her final wish was that I ensure you know how much she loved you and raise you with all the love there was between us.”

    Vibrant blue eyes grew wide in horror hearing her father’s words. She had always known her mother died when she was very young but to learn of this broke her heart and left a heavy burden of guilt upon her. Before she could speak, her father’s voice broke through the pain she was feeling. His reassuring and knowing smile left her feeling more at peace.

    <e>“It’s not your fault, my daughter. Her fondest wish was to have children who would represent our love. You are the embodiment of the love we shared, a beautiful, living representation of love itself. You will live to one day carry on the love that began with your mother and I.”

    She blinked back the tears forming in her eyes, a million questions running through her mind but not one she could pinpoint to speak. She stared at her father silently for a long moment.

    <e>“Ah’ria, I have done all I could to make sure her final wishes were met. I love you with all that I am and yet in such love, there comes a time to let go. One never lets go of love itself but you have grown into a lovely woman who needs to seek her own path now.”

    Ah’ria blinked several more times and rubbed at her offending eyes. She brushed back firey red strands of long hair and stood there gazing at him questioningly. For many years past, she had struggled with her studies, poured her heart and soul into them with vigor and passion. Still, with no natural talent to follow in her father’s footsteps, she fell further and further behind of the others. Her heart sank hearing his words but deep within, she knew he was right. Her greatest hope had been to be like her father, a powerful mage, even archmage one day yet the young half-elven girl couldn’t even manage the simplest of spells. Her studies had taught her much of the weave and she had learned a great respect for the arcane. She had also mastered how the use of scrolls and other magical items such as wands. Now it was time for her to find what she was truly good at. With slumped shoulders, she nodded to her father, looking to him for what she should do.

    <e>“I have family in the High Forest. I have contacted my brother there and he awaits your arrival. Long have I watched you, assessing your skills my daughter. They have need of good archers and good scouts, those able to move through the terrain unseen and unheard. You have a natural ability at this.”

    He watched her, gauging her reaction as she pondered his words carefully. Her mind was a whirlwind of memories from her childhood. She was always the best at hide and seek. No one could ever find her. She had learned young to move quietly so as not to disturb her father’s intense studies or his reverie. Her heart was happiest during the night, she felt at home and one with the night, in the shadows. Realization hit her and hit her hard. She would be away from her father for the first time. Tears filled her eyes as she looked to him.

    <e>“I know you’re right father but I don’t wish to leave you.”

    The reply came gently yet let her know his mind was made up and no amount of talking would change it.

    <e>“You will never leave me, Ah’ria. You will always have a home here with me but your training must be sought in the High Forest. You will leave at dusk in two days time.”

    Dusk came and she was prepared, if only physically. Her father had gathered a caravan to take her to the High Forest. The bright blue in her eyes was dampened by the apprehension and uncertainty she felt leaving her father. They spoke briefly and he slipped something into her hand, telling it her had belonged to her mother and now it was hers. She didn’t even look at it, slipping it into a small pocket in her pack and giving him a nod and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Avoiding eye contact, she moved in with the caravan, her whispered parting words to her father were heartfelt and filled with self disappointment,

    <e>“One day, I hope to make you proud of me. I love you father.”

    The High Forest was very different from her home in Silverymoon. She didn’t have the comforts she was accustomed to and had to learn to adapt to the new surroundings. She kept to herself unless she was training. For the first time ever, she felt truly alone. Focusing on her lessons with every ounce of attention she could muster, she seemed to breeze through them with ease leaving her instructors commenting amidst themselves in whispers. She spent many months training with a bow and learning to properly scout and use the terrain to hide her movements. Each test she passed with ease. Nights she spent using the benefit of the darkness to further her lessons beyond what she was being taught.
    Her uncle was kind to her but she could tell she would never truly belong there being of half-elven blood. He brought her letters from her father. Those times were the only joy Ah’ria truly felt. One of her father’s letters mentioned the item he had given her upon her departure. Ah’ria had forgotten about it completely. Retrieving it from her pack, she looked at it intently for a long moment. It was a necklace, beautiful silver with a symbol she didn’t recognize hanging from it. Her father explained in the letter that the necklace had aided her mother in scouting the terrain, adding to her natural abilities to be unseen and unheard. Ah’ria blinked in utter shock. She read it again and again then looked back at the necklace appraisingly. Her thoughts ran ramped, speaking them in whispers to herself, <e>“My mother was a scout?! Then what is this symbol? What does it mean?” Ah’ria approached her uncle and showed it to him, asking him of the symbol and its meaning. He chuckled and responded,

    <e>“You’ve had your head in arcane books too long girl. That one should be easy.”

    Ah’ria regarded him with a frown that showed her displeasure at his comment. She had been taught of the Seldarine to some degree but like her father, she only offered prayers on occasion, never choosing a particular God to align herself with. Her reply was indicative of her displeasure,

    <e>“And I suppose it would be easy for you to tell me how one draws energy from the weave?”

    Her uncle’s eyes narrowed and he nodded thoughtfully.

    <e>“Fair enough, Ah’ria. It’s the symbol of Gwaeron Windstrom, heavily aligned with Mielikki.”

    Ah’ria thanked him and went on her way. Lessons progressed with ease for her, often leaving her feeling bored and unchallenged. Months passed and at last her teachers told her of her final test. She was to choose a land she had not been to and travel there. There, she would make her home and find work as a scout, offering her aid to good causes and teaching others to respect nature and the wilds, ever keeping in mind balance.
    She was given two days time to choose the land and handed several maps.

    Within a matter of hours after pouring over the maps, Ah’ria had chosen the land. She returned the maps to her uncle and told him she was ready. He gathered her instructors and had her present to them the land she chose and the reasons she chose it. Ah’ria stood proudly and with certainty before them as she explained,

    <e>“I’ve chosen the land of Narfell. After looking at many maps and terrains, I noted that Narfell offers a vast variety of terrains from mountains to flat lands to forests. I feel here my skills would be most tested. The lands also offer a variety of cultures and peoples to interact with, affording me with more opportunity to show the ways of balance and equality with nature.”

    She fell silent and awaited their response. Elders murmured, instructors whispered and other students sat with their jaws gaping open. At last came the response,

    <e>“Granted, Ahria and well done. You will leave in a days time.”

    Ah’ria smiled feeling finally free. The previous months had been as a prison to her, holding her back. At last she could follow the wind and find where she truly belonged.</e></e></e></e></e></e></e></e></e></e></e></e></e>


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