Approved WT Bio for Serena Vanyle--CC'd by the CotL

[WhiteWolf]

Basic Information
Your Handle : Kaelen
Full names of WT characters you already own and their status (active/retired/dead):none


Character Information
Name (first and last) of this character: Serena Vanyle
State whether this is a Traditional or a Salidar character: Traditional
Age of this character: 14
Name of country where this character is from: Cairhien

Appearance
Hair: Raven black straight hair, shoulder length when joining the WT
Eyes: Ice blue
Skin: Very fair
Height: 5’2”
Voice (low? high? any other characteristics? ie what does she sound like): She has a warm silky voice, quiet when she’s happy, but loud and grating if angry.
Other: Serena has just started turning from an ugly duckling into a swan. She has been sickly until now.

Optional
Special Skills: Serena has a talent at drawing, and every day draws on a slate with chalk to show the patron’s what the menu that day is, adding to the inn’s charm. She also had a near eidetic memory.
Knowledge Weakness: She has been trying to teach herself to read and write, with the help of one of the friendly inn regulars, and making good progress.
Physical Weakness: Serena is thin and stringy for a girl her age, and for several years has fallen ill each winter from an illness that never quite goes away, leading to a weak constitution. Hard work and a strong will kept her on her feet helping at the inn and have given her a wiry strength from countless hours cleaning the kitchen and serving tables.
Personality weakness: She has a quick temper and can hold a grudge. She’s a bit of a tomboy, though starting to develop into more of a lady, to her mother’s relief. She is very nervous and wary of people she doesn’t know.
Personality
Serena is a very kind and humble girl. Being a frail girl who was often sick and couldn’t really play, she didn’t have any friends her own age. She was kept home at the inn most of the time, helping out with the work when she was healthy. Not having much in life, she clung to the few people that took care of her, and tried to do her best to help them with the struggling inn. She was a curious girl and was always talking with the inn patrons when she could, eager for stories of far off places. Often the butt of cruel teasing and pranks from the village kids, Serena developed a short fuse, depression, and mistrust of her peers. Adults were so much nicer, and she loved the attention she received at the inn. She was very creative, inventing stories and playmates to fill the void, and she loved to draw and make things. Her most treasured possession was a set of colored chalks that the innkeeper gave her to draw with on a slate.

History
Serena Vanyle was the daughter of a Cairhienen soldier and a farmer’s daughter, born in a small village far south of the City. After a Tairen lance left her fatherless at the age of one, her mother, Tharina, took a job as a cook at an inn to support herself and her infant daughter. The young Serena grew up on her mother’s apron strings, and for the first few years of her life at the inn, she was a happy healthy child. That all changed one winter when she was playing with the other children and fell through the ice of a small pond, nearly drowning and freezing to death. It took the poor girl two weeks to recover from the experience, but she was never truly healthy again. Prone to frequent terrible chest colds, and a weak constitution, Serena could not play with the other children or have an active life as a child again. Too much exertion would send her back into bed for days, so her mother was careful to keep her near and to try to keep her occupied with little tasks at the inn, aided by the innkeeper Banril, who didn’t want to see the girl fall ill.
Serena would help Tharina in the kitchen and with cleaning, and she took plates and mugs to the regular inn patrons. While the inn was not very prosperous, it was respectable, and all of the normal patrons were fond of Serena and made sure she was well looked after. Several used to be merchant guards, and during slow times told her stories of their youthful travels, which were the highlight of her day.

Despite their efforts to keep Serena from overexerting herself, she still fell ill often, and during those long boring days in bed, her caretakers gave her whatever diversions they could think of. Though she couldn’t yet read, she enjoyed the drawings in some books, and taught herself how to draw with charcoal on leftover scraps of paper the innkeeper discarded. After a few years, the talent had grown and Banril set her to drawing chalk pictures on a slate to advertise the daily menu or other things, a novelty that amused the patrons and gave Serena something to do that she loved. When she turned twelve, Banril gave her a set of colored chalk so she could make even prettier works of art. As she grew older, the books that she once admired the pictures in, she tried to learn how to read. Helped by the innkeeper and the few literate patrons, she slowly picked up enough to read some of the books when she falls ill.

While the grownups treated her nicely, she was not so lucky with the youngsters of the village. Being a sickly child, the other children avoided her, and thus she became an easy target for childish teasing and cruel pranks. Putting a mouse or lizard down the back of her dress at the market, pouring wash water on her from an upstairs window, and tricking her into embarrassing herself; it became a favorite game of theirs to try to make the sensitive girl angry and cry, so Serena rarely left the inn, the one place they wouldn’t dare harass her.

Serena’s fourteenth winter was nearly her last. Falling ill again, much worse than ever since falling through the ice, Serena wasn’t expected to pull through. Only the overhead gossip that an Aes Sedai was staying in the next town spared her. Seeing no other hope for recovery, her mother bundled her up in a wagon, lent to her by one of the inn patrons, and Tharina and Banril took the girl to the next village to seek the Aes Sedai’s Healing. They were just in time to catch the Aes Sedai before she departed, and Serena received Healing. Maerin Sedai delayed her departure, sensing potential in the girl when she Healed her. She tested the girl once Serena had regained consciousness the next day, though she was still weak. Staring into a pretty pink jewel, she felt all of her weariness drift away as something deep inside her flashed and she saw the gem light up to match. It took a full week for Serena to regain her full strength; in fact, she was healthier than ever since her lifelong illness was finally cured. Maerin Sedai allowed her to return to her inn to say her goodbyes to everyone before taking her to Tar Valon to train to be Aes Sedai.

Serena loved the inn and the people there, but she had lived so little, trapped at the inn by illness, and she wanted to see the world. As an Aes Sedai she could go wherever she wished, and she was so excited that she could learn to channel. She was eternally grateful for her Healing, and hoped she could learn how to do that to help the sick. Saying a tearful goodbye to her mother and Banril, and the rest of the regulars, she took a small bundle of her belongings and followed Maerin Sedai out the door.

Edited May 2, 2014 by WolfbrotherKronos
Font size increased

[WolfbrotherKronos]

Consider this good to go.

[Kaelen]

Yay. I'm approved. Could you increase the font size of that a couple points? It's too small to read. Thanks

[WolfbrotherKronos]

Indeed - it wasn't smaller on my phone when I CC'd, but it should be fine now!

[Kaelen]

Appreciate it.