Xephyra

**Spoilers Abound!**  This page contains SPOILERS! Have you finished all that's been released? If not, DON'T READ THIS, PLEASE.

## Xephyra

The front and back of the Crown Of Feathers book cover, taken from Nicki Pau Preto's Instagram

## Relationships and Family

### Affiliation

* Veronyka Ashfire
* The Phoenix Riders

## Physical description

### Eye color

Black

> "*That's poison ivy. Stay away. That's a wasp's nest. Definitely stay away. That's my dinner - Xephyra, don't eat that!*"
> ― Veronyka, mentally, to Xephyra, page 347, chapter 32, of Heart of Flames
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> "*But the panic Xephyra had been projecting ceased, and she spoke to Veronyka in a calm, self-assured tone.* We will*.*"
> ― Xephyra, in Heart of Flames
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**Xephyra** is a female phoenix, and the bondmate to Veronyka. She is a major character in the *Crown Of Feathers* series. She is less than a year old as of Heart of Flames. There is no knowledge of her mother or father, or her quest to find Veronyka off-page. She is strong and loyal, especially to Veronyka. She protects those she loves, and would fight to defend the phoenix riders. She's curious, always wanting to know more about the world, willing to listen to conversations that most would find boring. She is mischievous and rebellious, like when Veronyka asked her to speak with words, but would use words in different languages. She's also level-headed, knowing when to ask others for help.

## Personality

Xephyra is a mischievous but caring and compassionate phoenix. She is extremely self-assured, and interested in other cultures and languages, like when she would listen to Anders singing Arborian songs that no one else did.

* The Books
* The Webtoon

## Appearance

Like all phoenixes, Xephyra's feathers are filled with reds and oranges like the flames. Since she is a female, her crown and tail feathers are deep purple. She's also unusually large, able to be ridden at two months old instead of the normal three to six. Since she is so large, she has a larger wingspan, which allows her to fly faster than most. Her eyes are black. Her beak and feet are golden.

## Biography

### **Crown of Feathers**

Xephyra is born, and instead of choosing Val as her bondmate, she chooses Veronyka. Her and Veronyka quickly get along. When soldiers raid Veronyka's Cabin, Xephyra panics, and reveals herself to Sev and Kade. Later on, Xephyra is poisoned by Val. Veronyka attempts to bring her back to life, but it doesn't seem to work, however it just took longer than expected. She seeks out Veronyka, and allows Val to follow her, not quite sure of what was going on. When she sees Veronyka again, she's happy, but panics at all the other people who try to capture her. Eventually, she does get captured, and put into a cage. She doesn't like the feeling of being trapped, and she's confused as to what had happened before. Commander Cassian orders for her to attempt to mate with one of the males, the first "volunteer" being Rex. Her and Veronyka start speaking to each other again, and explains what happened. When the attack on the Eyrie happens, she voluntarily fights to protect everyone, even when she starts to get exhausted. She's happy when Veronyka reveals herself to be a girl, knowing that she would finally get to spend more time with her.

### **Heart of Flames**

Xephyra helps Veronyka practice flying and archery. They also go out to villages such as Vayle, so they can help out with repairs. When Veronyka goes back to her cabin, she's attacked by Val, and Xephyra desperately wants to help her out, and constantly checks to see if she's okay. When Veronyka learns her identity, Xephyra is constantly being supportive, despite having little knowledge of what was going on. Tristan's patrol attempts a test that would make Veronyka an official member, but things go wrong. Xephyra acts quickly and saves both Tristan and Veronyka, with the help of Rex. Afterwards, Tristan learns the truth and says some harmful things, but it is Xephyra who convinces Tristan and Rex to talk it out with Veronyka. When Val finds Veronyka again and practically forces her to join her, Xephyra gets trapped in a cage. It's stressful, but she's always ready to fight back, unless there are major consequences. The moment she is freed, she goes to see Veronyka, and saves her life on multiple occasions, despite injuring herself. Because of her relationship with Rex, she's the only one who is able to try and console him after Tristan's capture.

## Quotes

> "*"Ready"Veronyka asked as they approached the mouth of the caves*
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>  Xephyra didn't reply so much as give a surge of excitement and adrenaline. An obvious yes, but Veronyka pushed her to communicate more clearly.
>  "Words, Xephyra." Veronyka pressed.
>  Xephyra huffed beneath her. "Aeti", she said at last.
>  Veronyka rolled her eyes, fighting back a grin. Whenever Xephyra grew tired of Veronyka's constant pushing, she rebelled. In this instance, choosing to reply in ancient Pyrean instead of the common Trader's Tongue.
>  "You think this is funny?" Veronyka asked, going for stern but not quite managing it. There was no hiding emotions from your bondmate, after all.
>  "Sia", Xephyra replied smugly. That was a northern Arborian dialect that she'd picked up from Anders, who sang old Arborian songs to the other Riders and translated them for anyone who'd listen. Most people didn't, but apparently Xephyra did.
>  "Are you finished?" Veronyka asked, the gaping mouth of the entrance growing steadily nearer.
>  "Verro." That was Ferronese, maybe? How Xephyra picked that up, Veronyka had no idea. She couldn't help it; she laughed as they dove down into the dark.*"*
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> ― Veronyka's narration on Xephyra's affinity for languages and rebellious tendencies[[Heart of Flames, pages 9-10|[source]]]
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## Relationships

### Veronyka (bondmate):

Xephyra and Veronyka's relationship started ever since she had hatched. As bondmates, they have the ability to communicate with each other easily, and are somewhat attuned to the other's emotions. Xephyra is Veronyka's hope of having a good life, and she treats her well. When she is reborn, her first instinct is to seek out Veronyka. When they reunite, their relationship is awkward, as they hadn't seen each other in a while. But when they catch up, their bond is stronger, and they promise to not block the other out. Their relationship only grows strong with time, and Xephyra starts showing her more mischievous side, much to the annoyance of Veronyka. But they care about each other a lot, and would put their own lives at stake as long as it meant saving the other.

### Val (friend turned enemy)

Because Xephyra originally knew Val as Veronyka's sister, she trusted her easily. After Val poisons her, however, she gets her bond with Veronyka abused by Val to find her. After Veronyka starts to distrust Val, so does Xephyra. Their relationship only gets worse as Val traps her in a cage, and hurts Veronyka over and over again.

### Tristan (friend)

Xephyra wasn't there when Tristan was originally rude to Veronyka. But she's there when Tristan and Veronyka work together to protect the Eyrie. When Veronyka and Tristan go to ride her, she's a little wary of him, but Veronyka insist that he's helping, and together they help stall the soldiers. While her and Tristan don't interact as much, she still cares about him, partially because he's Veronyka's friend, partially because he's Rex's bondmate, and partially because he's a good person.

### Rex (friend/close ally)

Most of their interactions aren't shown in the book, but the ones that are prove that they have a good friendship. They playfully bicker a lot, and try to steal each other's branches a lot. But they bond over their fondness for their bondmates. Since Tristan and Veronyka are often together, Rex and Xephyra are required to be too, which allowed for their friendship to grow. Her and Rex are much better at communicating than Tristan and Veronyka, due to the fact that they didn't have to block out anything. It's Xephyra who manages to contact Rex, so the Phoenix Riders could come save them. Xephyra is the only phoenix who manages to get close to Rex after Tristan is captured, because they're so close.

### Ignix:

Xephyra doesn't seem to like Ignix, threatening Ignix after she nearly killed Veronyka. Xephyra is defensive and unafraid, willing to fight the elder of all phoenixes.
In the Webtoon Crown of feathers so far on episode 8 Val gives Xephyra a bean/fruit, it was poison as a test to test her sister's bond with Xephyra, it isn't strong enough so Xephyra "died" we do not know if she is dead or not.

## Etymology

Xephyra can have two meanings in Pyrean. he first is "Sweet Flame", as pyr means fire, and xe can be a prefix for sweet. Pyr means fire in Greek (and in Pyrean)

The other could be "Flame Sister", as 'xe' could also mean brother/sister (depending on the gender). In either case, both names fit Xephyra well, as she's a phoenix, and a nice or 'sweet' firebird (Sweet Flame) and a peer (or *sister*) and a sort of sister to her bondmate, Veronyka.