Quintana

Quintana is the female protagonist of Quintana of Charyn and a major character in Froi of the Exiles. She is the only daughter of the King of Charyn who ordered the murder of the Lumateran Royal Family, the attack of the Oracle's Godshouse, and the massacre of Serker.
Unbeknownst to most of Charyn, she is the daughter of the Oracle and the former King of Charyn. She was born on the same day as Froi -- on the Charynite Day of Weeping. She and Froi are the lastborns of the Citavita.
==Biography==
===Early Life===
Quintana was born on the Day of Weeping to the Oracle and the King of Charyn. At the order of the King, she and Lirah's newborn son were swapped so that Lirah's son would be thrown out the balcony alongside the Oracle. The newborn Quintana knew subconsciously that Lirah was not her mother, and she wailed for days for her real mother.
As Quintana grew older, she was hated by the people and was blamed for causing Charyn's curse. Many assassins tried many times unsuccessfully to kill her. She was wild and a savage and people were afraid of her.
When Quintana was six years old, she suggested to Lirah that they cut themselves in a bathtub so that Quintana could see her mother and Lirah could see her son at the Lake of the Half-Dead. Lirah agreed, but saw nothing and returned half mad. Quintana, however, returned with another soul--her twin sister, Regina of Turla, who had been waiting at the Lake of the Half-Dead for the Oracle, her mother. Everyone in the palace was pleased after that, for Quintana was tamer with Regina of Turla inside of her. Lirah was imprisoned for attempting to murder Quintana, and for the next twelve years Quintana and Lirah would not see each other face to face. As Lirah lay unconscious on the ground, Gargarin of Abroi cried out at seeing her like that and gathered her in his arms and wept, as if she were the most beloved of women. Quintana thought that he was Arjuro, as that was what everyone believed, and prayed that he would come back to Lirah after he was released from prison.
Soon after the trip to the lake of the half dead, Quintana wrote the words 'The Last shall make the First' on her chamber wall in blood. It scared many people, and they thought she was mad. The King ordered the message to be deciphered, as in was written in the language of the gods. Gargarin of Abroi, who was imprisoned and thought to be the Priestling Arjuro, was chained to a desk in the King's study and forced to decipher it. Every day Quintana would come into the study and tell him 'good morning', and later he told her that it made him feel human.
When Quintana was thirteen years old, the King decided to brand the lastborn girls of Charyn and bring them to the Palace to do unspeakable things to them. To save the lastborn girls, Quintana said that only the Reginita would make the first and the Goddess would set Charyn alight if the girls were brought to the Palace. The King, frightened by his own child, passed a decree that said that only Quintana could make the first. Quintana was betrothed to Tariq of Lascow, a relative of the King, and they tried (and presumably failed) to create the first. When Tariq's father was killed in the palace, Tariq and his family went into hiding. Quintana was forced to sleep with the lastborn boys from the Provinces, to see if they would make the first and break the curse.
===In Froi of the Exiles===
Quintana is first seen in the novel when Froi, posing as Olivier of Sebastabol, sees her in the palace. When Quintana first sees Froi, she believes that he is the one who will break the curse, because it is written all over him in the words of the gods. When Froi delays to plant the seed, Quintana is confused, and questions what Froi is there for. She secretly believes that Froi will not plant the seed because she is not beautiful enough.
She and Froi become acquainted with each other, and Quintana gradually begins to fall in love with him. The night before the Day of Weeping, Froi finally plants the seed. When she realizes that she is with child, Quintana decides to kill her father. On the Day of Weeping, she convinces the guards to let her see her father with Bestiano, cripples Bestiano and takes his dagger and cuts her father's throat. Then she screams bloody murder: 'Bestiano has killed my father!'
Quintana is captured by the street lords when they enter the palace in the chaos that follows the King's death. She is held in the dungeons alongside Gargarin of Abroi, and is forced to watch as one by one all the King's relatives and dragged out of the dungeons to be executed.
On the fifth day of executions, Quintana is dragged out into the Citavita square to be hung. She falls to her knees, crying, saying that she carries the first. But no one listens to her. Just after the noose is slipped around her neck, Froi and the lastborns Grijio, Olivier and Satch rescue her and take her to Tariq of Lascow's hidden compound. When Froi is about to leave, Quintana runs after him and begs him not to go, saying that only he can look after them. Froi then tells her the truth of why he was in the palace: he was sent to assassinate her. Horrified, Quintana stands frozen as Froi leaves.
During her stay in Tariq's compound, she tells Tariq that she carries the first, and he believes her. He suggests that they marry to secure her unborn child's claim to the throne, and she agrees. Sometime after the marriage, Tariq's compound is attacked by a raiding party. Tariq hides Quintana in the morgue, and makes it seem as if she is already dead so the raiders won't find her. When Froi, Olivier and Grijio find her, she is panicking. When she sees the bodies of Tariq and the people of Lascow, she breaks down weeping and is devastated. She meekly follows Froi out of the compound and back to the Citavita. However, when she arrives there, she willingly lets go of Froi's hand and walks away from him, believing that he will kill her and her child when he gets the chance.
Quintana goes to Lirah at the inn, telling her what has happened and that she is with child. She tells Lirah that Froi is an assassin come to kill her and the Little King (as she has come to call her babe). Lirah takes Quintana and they leave the Citavita together. Lirah takes Quintana to the cave at the base of the Gravina where she, Gargarin, Arjuro and De Lancey spent time in years ago, because it is the only place she feels is safe. However, the street lords find them and hold them captive in the cave. Thankfully, Lirah and Quintana are rescued by Froi.
Lirah and Quintana join Froi, Arjuro and Gargarin at their camp. Quintana is terrified of Froi, and his intentions. She demands that he not sleep in the same room as her, and begs Lirah to make him leave. She refuses to sleep for days. This ends when Froi confronts Quintana and demands that she kill him if he is a threat to the little King. She tries, but cannot bring herself to do it, for she still loves him. She collapses from sheer exhaustion, and begins to trust Froi again.
Quintana travels with Lirah, Froi, Arjuro and Gargarin to Jidia and then Paladozza to gather an army, and does not complain even once. In Paladozza, she receives a proposal of marriage from Feliciano of Avanosh and his uncle. Feliciano praises Quintana and compliments her, and Quintana is irritated when Froi comments that she would never believe such lies. She goes with Feliciano and spends time with him and the Avanosh people to annoy Froi. Froi in turn begins to spend his evenings getting drunk with the other lastborn boys at a local tavern. Quintana is furious when she realizes that Froi was lying with another woman, and she and Froi shout at each other.
Later, Quintana comes to Froi's chamber, and she and Froi lie together for a while. They lie together like this a number of times. On one occasion, Quintana and Froi each list the people they trust most. Quintana lists four people, and she is surprised when Froi lists thirty.
Quintana agrees to a plan suggested by Froi in which he smuggles her out of the Province through a tunnel that emerges outside the Province of Sebastabol. Olivier guides them through the tunnel, but to the horror of both Quintana and Froi, he leads them into a trap. Froi is injured; Quintana escapes and flees to the valley between Lumatere and Charyn.
===Quintana of Charyn===
Quintana goes to the Valley between Lumatere and Charyn to hide until her babe is born. When she arrives, the women in the cave with her see that she is pregnant and are awed and afraid. But Phaedra of Alonso shouts that there is a plague, and to call Matteo, who has seen plague before. At first Quintana begs her not to, not wanting to be discovered, but then she realises that the man Matteo is Rafuel of Sebastabol, who lived in the palace with a basket of cats and was always sympathetic and loyal towards Quintana. Rafuel announces that there is a plague and isolates the women's cave from the others. Using this coverup, the women and Quintana move to a cave further along the stream and are proclaimed dead from plague by Rafuel.
Quintana and the women do not get along. The women fear Quintana because of her savage and unpredictable actions and Quintana hates the women (except Phaedra) and expresses contempt for them, and at times she wishes that she was protecting her babe alone. Quintana often becomes irritated by Phaedra because of her gentle manners and calls and thinks of her as 'useless'. However, in time the women grow to care for Quintana and are extremely protective of her. 
Quintana starts walking across to the Lumateran side of the stream often to escape the boredom of living in the cave with the women. Phaedra usually comes to her to tell her to return to the cave, as she risks discovery by going across the stream. During one of these times, she meets Vestie of the Flatlands, and cries at the sight of her, for she had never seen a child before. She grows to like Vestie, because her voice reminds Quintana of her sister the Reginita, and they converse for a while. When Lucian, Beatriss, Tesadora and Aldron arrive on the scene, Quintana snarls and prepares to fight to protect Vestie, because she is afraid for them both, not knowing who these strangers are. However, Tesadora soothes her, explaining who they are and that Vestie has to go. Tesadora feels a strange connection towards Quintana, and later continues to protect and care for her wellbeing. Later, Quintana says that this is because the half-spirit of Tesadora's unborn child lives within her.
Another time Quintana is walking on the Lumateran side of the stream, she is confronted with a retinue of Lumaterans, including Tesadora, Lucian and the Queen of Lumatere. The Queen attacks Quintana with a sword and says that she will die for what her father did to her family. Quintana is desperately afraid for herself and her babe. Luckily Phaedra bursts into the area and begs Isaboe to kill her instead, because Quintana carries the cursebreaker. Isaboe does not kill Phaedra or Quintana and tells them to leave and not come back. Phaedra and Quintana return to the cave quickly. Quintana is furious at Isaboe for threatening her and scaring Phaedra and swears that next time 'it will be the bitch queen that weeps.'
After that encounter Quintana stays close to the cave. She creates a small burrow for herself in the wilderness where she can go for privacy. Phaedra sometimes joins her there. Quintana's opinions of the women begin to change. On one occasion, Quintana and the women are found by one of the camp-leaders, who happens to be the hangman from the Citavita. He attacks Quintana and the women, who protect Quintana. Because of her memories of the hanging, Quintana freezes out of terror, and later tells Rafuel not to tell Froi that she froze. Phaedra kills the hangman, and he is buried under the ground to avoid being found.
Quintana and the women are shaken by the close encounter, and become even more careful about hiding their whereabouts from the camp leaders. At one point their bleeding comes on at the same time, and they decide to bathe in the stream to cleanse themselves. When the women see Quintana's scarred body they are horrified, and express their bitterness at having for years done nothing to protect Quintana when she was living in the palace in the Citavita. 
Quintana and the women are discovered by the camp leaders eventually due to Ginny telling Gies (who is collaborating with the camp leaders) about them. They are forced at sword-point to kneel and are imprisoned in a cave in the valley. As the women are taken away they witness Rafuel, beaten and broken, being led away on a horse. Quintana cries out at the sight, and is truly frightened.  
While imprisoned in the cave, Quintana's water breaks, and she goes into labour. The women place a wooden board between her teeth to prevent her from crying out and alerting the camp leaders. Quintana hears from Jorja that a woman is coming to the valley to breast feed her babe, and begins to weep at the news, realising that she is to be killed after she births the little King. She realises that she doesn't just want to birth the cursebreaker, but wants to be a mother to him and watch him grow up. Quintana begs Phaedra to promise her that she will at least see her son's face when he is born.
Sometime later, Queen Isaboe of Lumatere and Phaedra's lover Lucian enter the cave to help Quintana. Isaboe suggests giving the babe to the camp leaders so that Quintana will be safe, but Quintana refuses. Isaboe then offers to bring Quintana's son safely across to the Lumateran side of the stream so that Quintana will not be killed before the Charyn army comes to rescue her. The women agree to that idea, and Quintana births her babe. Quintana's babe is delivered with the help of Tesadora, Isaboe and the women and Finnikin, Isaboe's consort. Afterwards the Lumaterans leave with the little King, pretending to the camp leaders that the babe is Isaboe's.
Later that day the men of the valley rebel against the camp leaders and fighting ensues. Within the chaos Lucian of the Monts sneaks into the cave where the women are imprisoned and smuggles Quintana to the Lumateran side of the stream where she is reunited with her babe. Then the Charyn army arrives and finishes off the camp leaders, and takes custody of them. Froi is with the army and Quintana calls out his name in surprise and joy when she sees him. Froi, near tears as he thought she was dead, stumbles across the stream towards her and the couple embrace and have a heartwarming reunion. Their reunion is interrupted by the army leader, Scarpo, who grabs the little King and forces Quintana from Froi's arms. Frightened and confused as to what is happening now, Quintana panics. Froi stops the Lumaterans and Charynites from attempting to fight each other and Phaedra goes to Scarpo and tells him that he is scaring Quintana. She calms Quintana down and goes with her to the cart that will take them back to the Citavita.
In the Citavita, though reunited with Gargarin, Arjuro and Lirah and with Phaedra as a companion, Quintana misses Froi, who stayed in Lumatere. She begins her days by counting. Though her friends try to persuade her, Quintana refuses to go outside the palace for fear of assassins, and refuses to bathe her babe for fear of him drowning. On Quintana's birthday Lirah, Gargarin, Arjuro and Phaedra try to throw a birthday party for her, but it does not go well. Quintana sends for Hamlyn and Arna, the parents of John of Charyn, to tell them the fate of their son. She then asks them to stay in the Citavita and help her raise her son. The first thing Arna convinces her to do is give Tariq a bath, and they make sure that his head doesn't go underwater. After that Quintana is convinced to bring Tariq to visit the godshouse. 
Quintana also visits Ginny in the palace dungeons the night before Ginny is meant to be executed as a traitor. At first Quintana wants Ginny dead for what she did to her and the women, but then decides to spare Ginny's life. She finds Ginny a place as the apprentice of a seamstress and orders her to leave the Citavita and never come back. She tells her that if she ever sees Ginny in the Citavita or in Phaedra's Valley while Quintana is alive Ginny will regret it.
As the months go by Quintana begins to notice how lonely and sad Phaedra is without Lucian. Knowing that Phaedra would never willingly leave her, Quintana orders Grijio to take Phaedra back to her valley and Lucian, threatening to remove her friendship with him if he refuses to do so. She gives him a letter for Phaedra to be opened when Phaedra arrives at the valley. In the letter Quintana expresses her gratitude to Phaedra for supporting her for all these months and explains why she sent Phaedra back to the valley. She also tries her hand at matchmaking Grijio with Florenza.
Quintana is even more lonely now that Phaedra is gone, and dreads the upcoming Provincari meeting which will decide who she is to marry. Six months after Quintana's return to the Citavita, Froi arrives, and is reunited with Quintana in her chamber. They passionately make love and Quintana kisses the places where Froi was injured by the arrows. Quintana shows Froi the little King and breastfeeds him in Froi's presence.
Not long after that, the Provincari hold the meeting which will decide who Quintana's husband will be. The Lumaterans come to the meeting uninvited and present Froi as a possible candidate as Quintana's husband. After much argument, the Provincari agree to the match. Froi asks Quintana if she wants to marry him, as he wants her to have a choice about something in her life and wants her to have some normalcy. Quintana is incredulous at being asked such a question, as she never expected a choice, but she says that she wants to marry Froi. Thus Froi and Quintana are married.
Finnikin of Lumatere, Queen Isaboe's Consort, presents Quintana with a gift from Isaboe: a trinket. Quintana is disappointed by it, and tells Finnikin that if Isaboe wants to communicate then she should write a letter directly to Quintana and not send her trinkets. However, later Quintana sees that the trinket is the ruby ring Isaboe had once given Froi, and realises that it is a message from Queen to Queen that their enmity is over and that Lumatere will have peace with Charyn. Quintana is then hopeful for the future between the two kingdoms. 
==Appearance==
Quintana is described as having a darker shade of fair hair and has blue/green/grey eyes. She is short of height, and has crooked front teeth which show when she smiles or snarls. Her voice is usually frosty and she has a sweet laugh.
==Personality==
Quintana is savage and unpredictable, and it is said that she was unbearable until she visited the lake of the half-dead and returned with the soul of her sister Regina. She can be cruel at times and is described by Froi as the Ice Queen as she always speaks in a cold voice and has a cold demeanor.
Quintana has a good memory for details, although she claims that her sister's memory is better than hers. She knows the names of every person who lives in the Charyn Palace and every room and step that exists there. She also has a good eye for details, seen when she notices a man cheating in a game of cards in the Citavita.
Quintana is also very determined and protective of herself and her loved ones, and would kill to protect them. When she discovers that Froi is an assassin sent to kill her, Quintana leaves him as she feels threatened by him, and during their travels together refuses to sleep for fear of what Froi might do to her and her child. Quintana is finally forced to accept that Froi is not a threat and sleeps again, but does not trust him for a long time.
Quintana can be very naive at times and speaks her mind a lot and has a sharp tongue, often hurting people like Phaedra. With Tesadora's help, Quintana learns not to speak her mind always as it may hurt other people's feelings when what she says is not of their liking. In the Valley Quintana learns to know her people and interact with them and love them. During her travels with Lirah, Froi, Gargarin and Arjuro, she learns that she can be loved in turn. These experiences help her be a good Queen to her people and understand them.
==Abilities==
==Relationships==
===Froi===
===Lirah===
===Tariq of Lascow===
===Phaedra ===
===Tariq ('The Little King')===
==Relatives==
  
==Appearances==
*Froi of the Exiles 
*Quintana of Charyn 
       
  
Category:Characters
Category:Protagonists
Category:Froi of the Exiles
Category:Quintana of Charyn
Category:Charynites
Category:Citavita
Category:Charyn Royal Family
Category:Lastborns