Jaela Tabris

“*Look, I'm just over here trying not to die. I can't say I'm doing a great job at it, but still.*”
– Jaela Tabris
**Jaela Tabris** is a hero of the Blight and a childhood friend of Alim Surana, the Hero of Ferelden. Jaela helped Alim on his quest to depose Loghain Mac Tir and end the Fifth Blight.

## Overview

### Physical Appearance

Jaela has dark skin and grey eyes, as well as curly, 3A auburn hair she keeps tied up.

### Personality

Jaela is perky, confident and somewhat childish. She enjoys joking around, especially to lighten the mood, but she knows when she needs to be serious.
Despite having met some horrible humans, Jaela remembers her mother teaching her that some humans are good. For this reason, Jaela is willing to give any human a chance despite humans having killed her mother.

## Biography

### History

Jaela was born in the Denerim alienage to Cyrion and Adaia Tabris. At a young age, her cousins Shianni and Soris lost their parents and were essentially raised by Cyrion and Adaia. From a young age, much to her father's distress, Adaia began to teach Jaela how to wield daggers and to fight. Her friend Nazir Surana taught Soris and his son Alim to use a sword and shield, and Adaia began to teach Shianni how to wield daggers, at which point Cyrion told them that she could keep training Jaela but to leave the other poor kids out of it. After Adaia passed, Soris eventually stopped practicing and Jaela was left to practice without a partner.

When Jaela was ten years old, her good friend, Alim Surana, was discovered to have magical abilities and was taken away to the Circle. From that point on, Jaela and her cousins looked after his sister, Mysha, in his stead. A year later, Jaela's mother died, killed by humans like Nazir had been years prior.

When she turned twenty, as per tradition, Jaela was arranged to be married. She was very reluctant about an arranged marriage, much preferring to fall in love and find a man herself.

With Soris having stopped his practice and Jaela left practicing alone, both her and Soris's skills had waned over the years, yet they managed to fight their way through the guards out of sheer determination. Unarmored and having fought through so many, the two were wounded and tired; with that and their fighting skills rusty, they were left no match for Vaughan and his friends. Soris was arrested, and Jaela was left to her fate with the other captured women.

After the events which occurred, Jaela could no longer stand being around her friends and family in the alienage. Not only did she believe she failed everyone and was responsible for Soris being imprisoned, but simply being in the alienage was enough to constantly trigger her newfound trauma. Despite the pleas of her family, Jaela decided she would leave. Using the money her late mother's friends had given her, Jaela took a few items (including the wedding ring she had found on Nelaros's body which she now vowed to never take off) and took a carriage to a village in the south, where a generous inn owner named Marta took pity on her and allowed her to take board in her inn in return for working for her. The job was hard but honest, and Jaela was grateful.

When Jaela learned that Marta's son, who was roughly twice her age, was skilled in swordsmanship, she asked him to train with her. The man was reluctant at first, but after much prodding, he agreed. With his help and learning to let go of her rage, Jaela was able to become the fighter she once was, and even defeat the skilled swordsman himself.

Several months passed in the village, and Alim Surana, now a Grey Warden, had stopped in to stay in the inn for a night as a change of pace. Despite Alim seeming to have no recollection of Jaela, she immediately recognized him and introduced herself. No bells seemed to ring for Alim, but he believed her after some insistence and explaining on her part. When she learned that he was a Warden, she asked to join him. Alim was reluctant at first, but upon seeing her skill in person after an assassin had sprung into action, Alim agreed to let Jisenia join him.

During her time with Alim and his friends, Jaela began a casual relationship with Zevran, which later turned into something Deeper. After the Blight ended, she remained at his side, fighting and feeling the Crows. They later had a daughter named Noemi. Whenever the Crows seem to be honing in on him, Zevran temporarily parts ways with his family. Despite this occasional trouble, the three live a happy life traveling together.

## Relationships

**Alim Surana:** Alim was Jaela's first friend outside of her family, and dearest, at that. Though her family denied knowing anyone in the alienage who looked like Alim in an attempt to save him, Jaela still feels guilty for having been unable to stop the templars from taking him to the Circle. Due to a combination of guilt, fondness, and simply wanting to get out of the inn she was working at, Jaela joined him on his journey.

The two now correspond by letter, rarely seeing one another in person. She, Zevran, and Noemi have met with Alim and his family several times throughout the years.

**Alistair:** Though everyone in the group has somewhat of a sense of humor, Alistair's seemed to match Jaela's the best, which made the two click from the very beginning. Though it is no easy task due to her constant traveling, Jaela and Alistair have managed to keep in touch through the occasional letter over the years.

**Leliana:** Jaela never said it out loud, but she did not believe in Leliana's vision in the slightest, though she knew Leliana thought it was genuine. Jaela was somewhat indifferent of Leliana at first, but after learning that she was more than a boring Chantry sister, she got along very well with Leliana. The two keep in touch, occasionally contacting one another via letter.

**Morrigan:** While not as close to her as Alim, Morrigan fascinated Jaela, and she found herself asking many questions which, over time, Morrigan became more willing to answer. She considered Morrigan a friend.

**Zevran Aranai:** Jaela had been open to the idea of letting Zevran join their party. She was the first out of any of them to bother getting to know Zevran. She loved listening to his many stories. Purely out of curiosity at first, Jaela would respond to Zevran's flirtation by flirting back. She took off her wedding ring when she realized she was beginning to like him, and whenever he got serious in his flirting, she would become a nervous wreck, much to his amusement.

## Links

### Reddit Headcanon and Writing Prompt Threads:

* Alim uses magic for the first time
* Cyrion gives the children "the talk"
* Pre-recruitment
* An awkward moment
* Jaela reminisces
* Zevran reflects on meeting Jaela
* Zevran gives a temporary goodbye