Ara Karritt

"The holy fist of Shizuru, at your service."

Ara Karritt is a tengu who serves as a knight for Chessur, serving directly under King Jenova. In particular, she has been appointed as the knight of his daughter, but she attends to many other matters within the city itself. Lately, she has come back from the dead, and has struggled to find meaning in the life that she has been spared.

She also squawks and molts.

## History

Ara was originally born in Riferia, a kingdom far to the south of Oustomia, on a tropical island. There she was trained as a hunter and, along with her brother, the two would capture or kill monsters of all shapes and sizes on the island. However, with every success, Ara's confidence grew, and the duo began to go after bigger and more dangerous game. It was not until the two came across rumors of a massive ogre on the island that they finally bit off more than they could peck. In the battle, her brother lost her life, and since then Ara has blamed his death solely on herself and her hubris. She loved her brother dearly, but now he was gone.

Since then, Ara went into a self-imposed exile, leaving her island paradise behind because of all the painful memories the kingdom held for her. But, no matter how far she ran, she could not escape her past, and Ara soon found herself locked into a cycle of drugs and alcohol she used to try and numb herself to the guilt. It was not until Ara came across a temple dedicated to Shizuru that she began to find any reprieve.

Shizuru is the vengeful empress of heaven, and it was at this temple that Ara found an opportunity to better herself. She could not change the past, but she could work hard to perfect her mind, body, and spirit in order to create a better future. She would train rigorously for years until, at last, she was deemed worthy. However, rather than simply leaving the temple entirely, Ara used her newfound abilities to seek work as an Inquisitor. There, she combined her knowledge of hunting and her martial arts to hunt down and destroy monsters in the name of the empress herself.

Since that time, Ara has traveled from continent to continent, in search both of monsters to slay and a place that she can call home. Eventually, she found herself in O'Kibo, where the kingdom's ruler, Jingo, took her under his wing and gave her both a home to protect and a position of power as one of his knights. Since then, she has gone on several missions on his behalf, and has become distressed by the amount of undead creatures she was running into on a seemingly daily basis. It was on one such mission that Ara's speed failed her, and she died in a fiery explosion. While the King brought her back to life, Ara was never truly the same.

She claims that she saw her brother while in the midst of the afterlife, and this has only served to remind her of her guilt. She once thought that she had been able to move on, but now she was back to the same point as before she had begun her journey. Ara tries to dedicate herself to her work even as she begins to fall back into old habits. More than anything else, she currently seeks companionship so she does not have to feel so alone anymore.

## A Fresh Start

Ara has been going through a lot of changes lately. The primary reason that she had come to Chessur was because of her friendship with Jingo, and how he had assigned her to watch over his daughter, Ikari. Now, that same man was a shell of his former self, a ghoul in service to Tae’lana. Furthermore, she felt betrayed because she had known Jingo for an important period in her life, and yet he turned out to not be the person she had thought he was. Ara felt like a shell of her former self for a long-time after this was revealed, turning to many of her bad habits in order to cope with the loss.

Ara has, however, devoted herself to watching over Ikari as the new Queen of Chessur. She had served the Princess since she was a young teenager, and their close relationship lead to the Queen viewing her as an “aunt.” She was proud to have seen the Queen of Chessur grow into a strong and regal woman, successfully taking the throne for herself in Jingo’s absence. The Queen, however, had begun looking for suitors. And yet, no matter who came to meet her, Ara found that she was very dissatisfied with all of them.

After an incident where Ara shared her disapproval of one of the suitors, Manfred, she went into deep meditation, wondering why she was so upset lately with all of Ikari’s suitors. After spending a long period of time in quiet contemplation, she realized that she had developed feeling for Ikari, and was attracted to the Queen. She confessed her feelings to Ikari who was, at first, surprise by her knight’s sudden admission, but was willing to give the Tengu a chance as one of her suitors. Ara wanted the Queen to choose someone that she loved rather than who would be best for the country, but Ikari was still conflicted about what the best course of action would be.

Ikari stated that she wanted to go adventuring with Ara, and the two made plans to disguise the Queen during their travels. They decided that Ikari would pretend to be Ara’s squire, which was partially true as Ara was the one who would be teaching Ikari how to travel and defend herself. Ara asked if Ikari wanted to spar so that she could better understand the Queen’s abilities in combat, and Ikari told her not to hold anything back. Out of practice herself, Ara attacked the Queen with more force than she should have, killing her in the process. While she was resurrected, the experience was very frightening for Ara, who’s already low self-esteem plummeted as a result of what had happened. Ara was, at first, determined so see herself banished from the kingdom, but Ikari encouraged her to stay. And as always, the knight obeyed her Queen.

## Personality

* Wise: Ara, as a monk, is wise beyond her years and often offers advice to others. Of course, she often does not follow her own advice.
* Flirtatious: Ara has been alone, in her opinion, for far too long. As such, she is more than willing to compliment and casually flirt with others.
* Regretful: Ara still blames herself for the loss of her brother, and often engages in self-destructive behaviors because of it.
* Confident: When at work or on the hunt, Ara feels sure of both herself and her abilities, and has at times served as a competent leader.

Ara is the sort of wise person who will tell you to stop drinking with a bottle of alcohol in her hand. Often better at giving advice than following her own, Ara does her best to serve as a competent knight for O'Kibo, but her own personal demons often catch up with her. She also insists on walking around with nothing on but her feathers, as that is how everyone carried themselves back on her island.

## Physical Appearance

Ara is, more than anything else, built for speed. Her body, despite being toned and muscular, is also very thin to ensure that she is able to move as fast as possible on the field of battle. She has bright blue feathers that stand out in a crowd and draw eyes wherever she goes. In some people's words, she is like an exotic Tengu, possessing all of the same features, but being far more unique in terms of her colors than some of her brethren. Some argue that she looks more like a dancer than anything else.

## Friends and Foes

* Jingo: Her former employer, savior, and friend...Ara is disgusted by what Jingo has become and has vowed to do everything in her power to slay him should they meet again.
* Miyuki: Frequent visitor to O'Kibo and wizard. Helped Ara conquer one of her fears by teaching her how to fly through the use of her magic. Ara, however, may seek something more from her for their relationship.
* Ikari: The current Queen. Ara has watched over for a long time and has marveled as she turned from a teenager to a proper Queen in what felt like a blink of an eye. Ara has fallen for the Queen.
* Zahara: A half Tengu who Ara finds very attractive. Only met once, but she has trouble getting her off her mind.
* Alan: Her brother. Passed away during a hunt years ago.
* Jhal'Mud: Frequent co-worker. Saved her life on many of an occasion, though she finds his nickname hilarious.

## Aspirations

More than anything else, Ara seeks to find a way to redeem herself in her mind for the loss of her brother. She is not sure what exactly that will look like, but until she finds it, she will never be able to rest easily at night. Ever since her unceremonious demise, Ara also seeks to justify for herself why she was brought back to life, as she herself doubts that bringing her back was even a good idea. Finally, Ara seeks to find a true life-long friend, perhaps even a partner, to help her feel less alone constantly.

Currently, Ara has become smitten with the Queen of Chessur herself, and wants to have a more serious romantic relationship with her...regardless of the plethora of problems this creates for Chessur as a whole.

## Fighting Style

Ara is a fighter who relies on her speed and wits to defeat her foes. Not particularly muscular, Ara relies on the precision of her strikes over the power she puts behind them to strike at her opponent's chakra points and bring them down for good. She is also adept at studying her opponents and exploiting their weaknesses against them; a skill she honed while working as a hunter alongside her brother. Ara is not very magically inclined, and the arcane arts do little for her other than cause confusion. However, she does know some degree of divine magic that she has used in the past.