Althana Fenrich

**Althana Fenrich** is the youngest Fenrich child and currently the only princess of Quimere. She is traveling around the world as a bard named **Ana,** playing her music wherever she goes and channeling her magical power through her compositions.

## Appearance

Althana is a young, half-elf woman who stands slightly shorter than average. Her long, wavy white hair is typically tied back at the nape of her neck. She has golden eyes.

## History

### Early Life

Althana was born the youngest and only daughter of Queen Helena and King Ilvris Fenrich in the Kingdom of Quimere.

The raids that had plagued Althana's homeland long before she was born had died down over the years due to Ilvris' presence brings the possibility of magic into Quimere's forces. The raiders lost the only advantage that they had. But that didn't mean that they were willing to give up. So they kept coming at them. It was on particular battle that would change the royal family drastically, when the children were still young. Sylvan's tenth birthday had barely passed when the raid commenced. As per usual, the queen and her king were at the front of the fight, directing troops and doing their best to defend their home. And their children were waiting patiently for their parents to return.

However, things were different when they did make it back to the castle, the staff keeping the four of them away from Ilvris and Helena. The four children were confused as to why they were being kept from their parents, as they had always been the first to greet them upon their return from... well, anything. Whether it be battle or a diplomacy trip. Whatever had caused them to leave, their children would rush from wherever they were to greet them and welcome them home. But now they were being told they couldn't see their parents until the staff were told otherwise. Little four-year-old Althana clung onto Sylvan's shirt as worry took her over. Even she could figure out that this wasn't normal and that something was wrong. Sylvan picked her up, reassuring her that it was alright.

### The New Normal

It's a day or two before the children are allowed to see their mother. The four of them immediately rush to her bedside. She looks tired, as if she had been unable to sleep. From what though, it's unclear. But it's clear to them that her right arm is missing. All that's left is a bandage stump where it once was. Ilvris is silent as he ushers the four in, sitting down next to his wife to help put her at ease.

It's Brienne -- the second oldest and currently nine years old -- that makes the first move, doing their best to make sure that everything's okay and help to ease their siblings into getting used to this new normal. But it becomes abundantly clear that there's one thing that's changed from their "normal" and it has a heavy impact on not only the family, not only the castle, but the whole kingdom itself. With the lost of her arm -- her dominant hand... Helena can no longer play her beloved music. Songs that the children had come to know and love, the moments where their mother would soothe them with her lyre and the lessons that she had been passing down to them were all gone now because of someone's selfish act.

### Learning Music

The loss of her ability to play hit Helena pretty hard. It was her favorite thing, and now it was gone from her grasp. Ilvris saw this and sought a way to do what he could in his free time to help remedy it, though it would take a while. Althana, however, with her little mind, decided to take a different approach. Their mother always played a special song to help them when they were hurt or sick. She knew her mother was hurt. Why not try to play it? The thing is, she's four years old at the time and that can only get her so far. So she seeks out her siblings' help.

Although Brienne and Leone thought the idea was ridiculous, Sylvan pushes the two into going along with Althana's plan. It wasn't like they had anything better. It's with their help, and their father's once he figures out what the hell they're up to, that a few months later, Althana manages to creep to her mother's side with a surprise for her. It's a lute that she and her siblings made. It's messy and probably not the best because it was made by a bunch of kids and the one adult who did help had no idea what he was doing, but it's playable.

Helena watches as Althana crawls up onto the chair beside her, carefully plucking marked strings to play a very familiar tune. She lets her daughter play -- although it doesn't sound quite right, Althana is still proud of herself -- before speaking up.

"Thana," the queen asks her daughter softly. "That was lovely, but what are you up to?"

"It's the song that you always play for us when we're not feeling good," states the princess as if it were obvious. "You haven't been smiling, so you must not be feeling too good, too! I wanna help the same way that you help us, Mama."

It makes the queen crack a smile. She ushers her daughter closer and into her lap, using the one arm that she does have to adjust Althana's grip on her new instrument.

"Thank you, Thana," says Helena. And slowly, with her daughter's permission, Helena begins to teach Althana how to play the song properly. It takes the little girl a while to get it, but soon, she's able to play well enough for a four-year-old. Eventually, with his own instrument in hand, Sylvan joins in on Althana's lessons with Helena. While Brienne and Leone practiced only when need arose, Althana and Sylvan took their music lessons fairly seriously -- practicing together in the garden in their free time and even writing a song for their family together. It was through watching their practice that their father began to notice the effect their music had on the environment. Unlike their other children, Ilvris was beginning to suspect that Sylvan and Althana had inherited more than just his DNA, even more so after learning that Helena's injury had healed much quicker than it should have without the use of any magical remedies or spells.

### A Proposition and Running Away

As the youngest member of the royal family, Althana never truly had to deal with much of hte reality of being royalty. Sure, she was taught hte basics of how to take care of the kingdom and would entertain visitors with her songs and spells, but she had been kept out of politics for the most part. However, that would all change shortly after she had turned eighteen.

A visiting dignitary arrived in Quimere with the offer of an alliance between their two kingdoms. They would provide Quimere with soldiers and stable protection all in exchange for their youngest daughter's hand. The dignitary made that expressively clear that if the king and queen didn't accept, something bad would happen to their home and their family. Without much of a choice, they accepted. Althana was left a mess as her marraige was arranged to someone that she had never met before or even loved. She runs out of the room, secluding herself away in the safety of the castle's gardens.

It didn't take long for Ilvris to find his distraught daughter and sit down next to her in an effort to console her. If there's one thing that Althana prizes more than anything else, it would be her freedom and the fact that she's able to make her own decisions. She tells her father all of this. She wants to be free to make her own choices, not be forced into doing something just because of some "thinly-veiled threat".

With how raids have progressed against the kingdom, Helena and Ilvris are not the type to take this sort of risk, but they do value their daughter's wish. Ilvris does his best to try and get her to see the brighter side of a situation in which they are not in control of. Althana doesn't want to have to deal with someone who not only made a threat against her family, against her home.

"It's worse that I don't care about them at all!" she says, and then Ilvris says the one thing that Althana didn't want to hear.

"You'll learn to."

Althana's heart shatters as those words echo in her mind. To her, it sounds like her father doesn't care at all. She gets up and leaves him alone in teh garden, trying not to cry. She thought that out of everyone, her own family would at the very least be on her side and support her. But no, they weren't. They were going to make her marry someone she didn't know at all. Secluding herself in her bedroom and breaking down into tears, Althana's mind was working in overdrive. If she wanted to keep her freedom, then there was only one thing left to do.

Althana packed up her belongings, discarding her royal attire for something that would draw any attention and got to work. With her lute in hand and navigating the halls that she knew like the back of her hand, Althana left Quimere's castle. All that remained was a single note that she had written as a goodbye. If they were going to take her freedom away, then she was going to seize it herself to keep it. So, she ran away, heartbroken to begin her own journey herself and left her family and home behind.

### Amorevole

Althana attended her home's festival of love alongside her travelling companions. During the fireworks at the end of the evening, she has a conversation with Eden, reflecting on how she was glad to meet the ragtag band that she had come to travel with.

## Abilities

* **Musical Proficiency**: Like all of the Fenrich children, Althana is trained to play several different instruments. Her favorite and the one that she is most commonly seen using is her lute.
* **Magic**: Like her father and oldest brother, Althana possesses magic in her blood and therefore is able to use it. Though most of her spells are simply used to help with her performances, she has a few to help with combat situations and a few more to take care of injuries in her repertoire. Althana often channels her magical power through her music, claiming that this is the easiest way for her to do it.

## Trivia

* On an alignment chart, she would be Chaotic Good.
* When performing, Ana wears a golden mask to conceal her identity. When her travels take her back home, she will constantly wear this mask.
* According Ilvris, Althana's full name means "graceful".
* Althana is only one of the two Fenrich children who inherited their father's magical prowess. The other is her eldest brother, Sylvan.