Carina Al’Tara

Name: Carina Al’Tara
Age: 16
Place of Raising: Baerlon
Hair: pitch black hair, half long usually held together with a pin
Eyes: Dark blue like the evening sky in summer
Skin: White
Height: 5’6"
Voice: deep alto
Other: slim yet not thin, normally curved for a girl her age
Skills: fast learner and loves to learn, especially survival skills. Enherited a natural affiliation with animals from her mother.
Knowledge Weakness: anything to do with the White Tower and Tar Valon
Personality Weakness: stubborn as a mule when her mind is set, slow to make friends or to trust people, suspicious of random friendliness.
Personality: strong willed, independent and stubborn. She is polite but very slow to make real friends and has learned to be suspicious of people that are friendly for no apparent reason. She values honesty above all else and can’t abide fools or snobs. She is a hard worker and nothing is beneath her but she will not put her full attention on something that doesn’t trigger her interest. She has a natural born affinity towards animals which she got from her mother and a very strong survival instinct from her father.
= Character History =
Born in the shadow of the Mountains, Carina Al’Tara was the only daughter of Manuel and Jaheera Al’Tara. They had been an independent pair. Never bothering too much with the folks of the neighbouring villages, though well respected and welcomed when they would make one of their rare visits. The small family spent their life on their remote property in a valley in the woods, with the mountain peaking over them, content with what they had and living in harmony of their surroundings. Her father had been a great woodsman and a warrior of some sort, though none did ever claim his allegiance. Her mother had been fair and beautiful and ever had a kind word for all children that crossed her path. Though little was known from both their past and so Carina was left with an emptiness that probably would never be filled.
She hadn’t learned of her true origins until she turned 10 and her adoptive mother took her on a long walk along the river banks. Carina had been shocked to find out that this lady was not her birth mother and that the man she had grown to love and admire was in fact not her natural father. That day she learned of the death of her parents and the promise that was made to Jaheera on her deathbed. Carina was to be sent to a Malkieren noble house where she would receive proper education and training in payment of a debt owned to her father a long time ago. What that debt was, her mum couldn’t tell but that the promised must be kept went without saying.
And so preparations were made and within two days Carina was all bundled up, said her goodbyes to the only family she could remember and was carried off towards Kandor by a servant of the Malkieren house she was to go to.
Lord and Lady Proga’Rhan showed her great kindness and treated her well though there was no warmth or love in their actions. They did their duty to her father and gave Carina the education that was promised so long ago but didn’t much liked to be reminded of the necessity of his intervention and Carina was forbidden to ever speak of it. She learned all that they would teach her, including the fighting styles that were deemed appropriate for a young woman of the borderlands, though one particular type of lesson never really triggered her interest and so she did not exactly excel in all things related to the White Tower and Tar Valon. Little did she know that these would turn out to become the most important lessons she could have been given.
One day she was with Lady Proga’Rhan out on the market shopping for linens when a body of Aes Sedai came gliding past. Her Lady and herself made their reverences to the Sisters and as she came out of her curtsey and turned to continue on with their business one of the Aes Sedai stopped and declared a wish to test her. For what reason the Sister focussed on Carina no one knew, but in the borderland when a Sister speaks you hop. And so she was tested and the next day she was sent to Tar Valon with the explicit instructions to report to the Mistress of Novices and hand her the note the Aes Sedai had given her. All she was given to take with her was a bundle of extra clothes, some cash and a package of travel food and a water bag. None of the Sisters would accompany her as they had ‘business’ in the Blight. Lord Proga’Rhan was torn at not being able to send a decent host of protectors with her as all his men were ordered to the service of the Aes Sedai in the Blight. Instead one of the manservants of the Sister was sent with the girl.
Making her goodbyes once more, the now sixteen year old Carina set out on her long journey towards Tar Valon on the horse she had been given by Lord Proga’Rhan. It was a good horse, bred to endure long distances.
Not long after they had set out they were attacked by a group of bandits, her money and horse stolen and she barely escaped with her life. The only thing that saved her then was a lucky fall into a covered up hole in the ground made by some ranger or other forest dweller. The manservant had not been so lucky, as Carina discovered the pierced body when she emerged from her hideout. Shaken to her core, Carina nursed her bruises as best she could and ripped one of her spare shirts up so she could bandage the deep cut in her arm where one of the bandits had sliced her. Tears running down her face from both the shock and the pain, she sat on the ground not quite knowing what to do next. Then, slowely but surely, she felt a heat build up inside of her and the tears receded. This encounter would normally be enough to send any child into hysterics, but Carina now experienced the full meaning of her Manetheren blood combined with the Malkieren training she had received and stubbornly refused to give up. She buried the body of the maidservant as best she could, sending her prayers to the Creator and the Light for the preservation of the man’s soul and took a few more steadying breaths before turning towards the road once more.
The letter of the Aes Sedai securely tucked under her clothes against her skin, she set out towards Tar Valon on foot. Vowing to do whatever must be done to reach her goal and to fulfill her duty to the Servants of All, in honor of the man that gave his life protecting her.
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