Aditha Nathamer

Arthur Nathamer - brother

**Aditha Nathamer** is a character in Book 1. She is the daughter and youngest child of Hackor Nathamer, the commander of Raylansfair's city guard, as well as the sister of Arthur Nathamer. Seemingly a sociable, friendly woman, Aditha shows signs of outright self-destructive behaviour after her mother's death and her father's seeming indifference.

## Background

Aditha was born as the youngest of two children of Hackor and Astrid Nathamer. Hackor, then a proud captain of the city guard, doted on his younger child, loving her dearly and Aditha had a happy early childhood. She spent most of her time with her mother, however, a decision that should turn out to be fateful for her.

During an Ironborn attack when she was ten years old, Aditha and her mother were cornered by raiders. Back then, Hackor himself was forced to choose between either picking up the leadership over the defenders of Raylansfair, in order to save his city, or to abandon his men in order to save his family. He chose the latter and as such, Aditha and Astrid were left alone.

By the time the defenders, led by Hackor, broke through the Ironborn ranks properly, it was too late and Astrid, having fought to protect her daughter, had been killed. Aditha herself managed to kill her attacker in return, though in the process she had received a gruesome cut on her leg, nearly causing her to bleed out. This incident also changed her and her opinion on Hackor drastically.

Over the following years, the girl turned into a young woman with a troubled mind, resenting her father for leaving her and her mother alone, as well as outright hating him for his lack of attention, no matter what she'd do. As a result, she picked up worrisome behaviour, often staying away for whole nights, in the hope that her father would at least show worry for her.

At one point in her past, Aditha was friends with Tariel and Sherryl, two local girls, though the friendship broke off when Tariel's affair with a married businessman and his subsequent murder by his jealous wife threatened to break the city apart. In order to protect her own reputation, Aditha chose to distance herself from her friend, a move Sherryl did not agree with, effectively ending their friendship.

## Book 1

### The Iron Price

Aditha is introduced as Arthur Nathamer returns home after saving Lyria and Rosalie Mettel from Wolfius Woodbark. Unbeknownst to him, the fleeing killer has been captured by Clayton Teryl and Kersea Catelins, who have brought him to the Nathamer residence, wounded and in chains. There, Aditha was forced to spend several hours alone with the three, before Arthur returned home. Confronted with Clayton's offer of taking Wolfius as his prisoner in return for calling off the investigation into his group, Aditha urges her brother to accept, knowing that a man as dangerous as Wolfius cannot be allowed to roam the streets of Raylansfair freely.

### Masquerade

Arthur's decision to take Wolfius as his prisoner gave Aditha a very positive opinion on her brother, seeing him not only as a good man, but also a worthy member of the city guard. She decides to repay him by caring for him with love, delivering fine food to the city guard headquarters, meant exclusively for him. This level of attention from her causes several other guardsmen to grow jealous of Arthur.

Later, Aditha is seen during the Stormlander effort to distribute food to the hungry population of Raylansfair. She, like most people, is less than thrilled to see Tariel again, even if she tries to stop the situation from escalating. Brokering a truce with Drent Golton, Aditha manages to defuse the situation to the point where the crowd is convinced to leave Tariel alone. However, she makes sure that she still blames her former friend for the economic collapse of Raylansfair, showing that she has not forgiven her in the slightest.

### Valar Morghulis

A few days later, Aditha seeks out her father in the courtyard of Raylansfair's castle, for reasons unknown. Both get into a heated discussion about Arthur and the way Hackor treats him, a talk that quickly grows more personal and passionate as Arthur himself joins them. Aditha, fed up with Hackor's bad treatment of her brother, demands her father's respect, something he does not react kindly to. Shutting her up, he finally acknowledges her behaviour and how it hurts him, heavily insulting her in the process. Aditha is left to storm off in tears.

### What Is Dead May Never Die

With the Raid on Raylansfair having started, Aditha is still missing in the city after her argument with Hackor. Her father, finally showing concern for her well-being, decides to leave the defense of the city in the hands of Daemion Stratford, his second-in-command, while he goes off to search for her.

Unfortunately, the Ironborn find her first. Noticing her beauty, a group of raiders decides to drag her to their ships, with intention of raping her. While they are doing this, they come past the house where Jenna Harking is hiding together with Carma Strad. The young servicemaid hears Aditha's desperate pleas outside and she also witnesses Hackor finally catching up with the raiders. Saving his daughter at last, the commander displays impressive skill in battle, despite being outnumbered and wounded. With help from Jenna, he takes down the raiders.

After this, the group retreats to the castle, with Aditha supporting her father, who is too heavily wounded to walk on his own. Though still not forgiving him for a lifetime of neglect, she seems to grow closer to him in the end. However, a second Ironborn ambush sees her being wounded and knocked out, after which Hackor carries her into the castle courtyard by forcing himself to his limits. Collapsing there, he and his unconscious daughter are still in the courtyard when the Ironborn launch their attack onto the gates. While Federico Snow and Emphryus Dresfel buy them time, Hackor urges Jenna to save the wounded Aditha instead of himself, sacrificing his life for his daughter, as he knows, remaining in the courtyard will be a death sentence for him.

### Valar Dohaeris

After the raid, Aditha is recovering from her injuries. More importantly though, she has to deal with the death of her father, who died during exactly what she always wanted from him, in a moment of care for his daughter. The realization that he loved her more than his city causes her to break down and she is grieving when Arthur visits her in the room the castle guard had reserved for Hackor's corpse.

There, the siblings try to comfort each other, with Aditha, despite her own sorrow, trying to make Arthur feel better, by lying about Hackor's final moments, claiming that he acknowledged Arthur as a good guardsman in the end. However, it is a shallow lie and Arthur sees through it, disillusioning him about Hackor. After a moment of comfort, he leaves, frustrated about his father's lack of care for him, leaving Aditha to mourn alone, despite her pleas to stay with her.

## Book 2

### Fires Far

It is revealed that in the months following the Raid on Raylansfair, Aditha has increased the sort of behaviour she has shown with Hackor for all these years, only now, it is Arthur she distances herself from. In return, Arthur grows increasingly similar to their father, as he distances himself from her. She is not seen for the entirety of the first two chapters of Book 2, as Arthur actively avoids her.

### Ours is the Fury

Aditha is seen for the first time in Book 2 when Arthur arrives at his mansion, to discuss the next step of his alliance with The Sphynx, Lucia Grimthorn and Ryler Grimthorn. The siblings have a brief, bitter conversation, before Aditha leaves to give her brother and his guests a bit of privacy.

## Appearance

Aditha has chestnut-brown hair and the emerald green eyes that run in the Nathamer family, clearly showing her relation to Arthur and Hackor. She is widely renowned for her beauty, having a pretty face and a shapely body, which she usually covers with form-fitting clothes, a brown corset, long dark blue skirt, all covered by a black cloak. She knows how to attract attention with her looks and how to use them to get what she wants. Not afraid of standing in the spotlight, Aditha is usually seen with a pretty smile and a confident sparkle in her gaze.

## Personality

On a surface level, Aditha is a lively, sociable young woman. If observed casually, her passion is contageous, she easily manages to be the centre of attention and most people find her to be very likable. She perfectly plays the role of a joyful young woman and men are drawn to her cheerful personality as much as they are drawn to her good looks. More often than not, she starts casual relationships, yet these never last long, rarely more than a single night. In general, Aditha has a problem with achieving lasting relationships, as not even her friendships remain.

However, this cheerfulness is only a facade to hide the issues beneath. Aditha has suffered from her mother's death and her father's neglect, causing her to indulge in almost self-destructive behaviour, sleeping around with several men, drinking too much, putting herself in danger by staying away at night. Behind this lies the deep-seated with to be recognized by her father, who seemingly doesn't care for a single thing she does. With each moment of neglect, her behaviour grows worse, as she distances herself from true friends and family to deal with her grief, preferring to play a role over truly confronting her feelings and trying to live as much on the edge as possible, in order to feel some sort of genuine joy.

## Relationships

### Arthur Nathamer

Arthur is probably Aditha's sole remaining social contact that is truly lasting and positive. As her brother, he is very protective of her and in return, she loves and supports him unconditionally, even against their father's low opinion on him. In general, Arthur might be the only person Aditha feels truly comfortable around and she is notably truer to herself when she's with him. However, after Hackor's death, their relationship cools off a bit, as she recognizes his method of dealing with grief being so similar to the father she always resented for such behaviour.

### Hackor Nathamer

Hackor and Aditha have a very complicated relationship. As he is her father, she once loved him dearly and a fragment of this love remains. However, it is hidden beneath bitterness over him choosing duty over his own family. Most of her life has been an attempt to get him to care, to actually bother about her well-being. His inability to show this and her inability to realize this caused both to grow bitter with each other. However, in the end, Hackor chose her over his city, saving her life at the cost of his own life. This action changed Aditha's view on him heavily, as she realized just how much she truly loved him.

### Sherryl

Once upon a time, Aditha and Sherryl have been friends and very close actually. However, this changed when Tariel screwed up by falling for the wrong man. Though no bad blood exists between the two women, Sherryl's loyalty to Tariel and refusal to abandon her as Aditha herself has done effectively ended any friendship between them and Aditha is shown to be less than happy about her return.

### Tariel

Her former best friend, Tariel and Aditha very exceptionally close a few years ago. However, when Tariel's affair with a married man threatened the economic stability of Raylansfair, Aditha saw herself forced to abandon her friend. Though unlikely to have a personal grudge against her, she fully sided with the angry crowd to protect herself, leaving Tariel alone. This has shown to remain, as even many years later, she instantly sided and even led an angry crowd when Tariel returned to Raylansfair.

## Appearances

 Butterfly

 River Crossing