Kestral

* Pendsbury
 Affiliation
 Family
 Significant other(s)
 Weight
 Gender
 Hair Color
 Age
 Mage Type
 Alignment

"*I kind of always knew I was connected to the stars, but I did NOT expect I could control them.*"
—Kestral
**Kestral** is an astute and prodigal astral mage originally hailing from the traveling city of Pendsbury. She is quite a peculiar girl and this demeanor of hers belies her intense skill in creating blockades and shields and traveling across each element realm. Currently, she lives on the run with her brother in an attempt to escape Pendsbury officials.

## Concept and Creation

Kestral's original design was created in 2014 as a Sonic the Hedgehog fan character. She was a bright lavender pika named Kestrel that had various magical capabilities, and she was 10 years old. Her oldest design was a sharp contrast to her current design, as 2014 Kestrel had bright magenta and purple clothes, and absurdly long hair. Her overall design was rebooted in 2015 and now more closely resembles Kestral's current design. Then she had light pink hair and lavender-colored clothes with darker accents. However, once Mana et Mecha (MEM) was created, it was decided it would be best to throw out all of her old design concepts and start from scratch while keeping various other elements from Kestral's past, such as the lavender color palette and the white triangle cut trim.

It was debated whether or not Kestral would still exist in MEM as a supporting character to Arkanov, her brother. At first Kestral was simply to be his cousin. However, after some debate, Kestral was once again the younger sister, this time with more emphasis on her individual character and journey in learning her magic type rather than being a side character lacking depth.

## Personality

Kestral is a girl with views on life and capabilities that belie her tender age. She is prodigy in respects to her wisdom in life, which also stems from her prodigal amount of astral powers.

She may be wise, but she is lackadaisical in her attitudes towards working, since most things come naturally to her. Thus, like most children her age, she is a bit of a slacker, a quite lazy one at that. She preaches about virtues such as being hardworking and brave to those older than her yet sometimes, she falters in practicing said virtues. That is because she receives direct insight from the astral gods on life and its lessons, yet never follows them. She spouts knowledge to other mages to impress them yet does not know what they mean. Many mages also believe she has an old soul, or at least one from a person who was very wise in their past life. But, this is not the case. She is simply good at repeating what she has heard. As a result, most adults tend to take her to be a hypocritical young brat.

However, she is not as frustrating as she may seem to be. Kestral is actually quite sweet, whenever she shows that side of her at least. For the most part, she refuses to take things seriously and loves to joke and tease. In her mind, life's all mapped out and worrying is futile because fate will take its course and things cannot be changed. Thus. she takes most serious situations with acceptance, and even tries to find the lighter side of things. However, she feels extreme guilt for her ability to be connected to astrology, fate, and future-seeing. She believes she has a duty to prevent some events that happen that may harm her friends, but she knows she cannot change fate and it is impossible. She has no other insecurities besides her guilt. She may even be too secure; she can be cocky at times as well, which only makes people believe she's even more of a brat.

Still, Kestral is very aware (thanks to the gods) that she is not done growing as a person and that the events of her life, and her attitudes towards them, will shape who she becomes, so she might as well take every situation in stride because it contributes to her character.

## History

### Birth

Kestral was born into a comfortable middle class family with her brother Arkanov, her mother Irmia and her father Irmia. Her survival through the birth is somewhat of a miracle; in the middle of labor, Irmia had a sudden seizure, stopped breathing, and was dead for nearly a minute. However, she was thankfully speedily revived, and Kestral was removed safely from her mother's womb with a cesarean section.

At the hospital, the doctors examined Irmia to see what had created the labor complications, and thus discovered she had a malignant tumor that had originated in her brain and gave her the seizures. The doctors informed the family that Kestral may suffer a similar fate if the tumor had spread to Irmia's zygote when she was carrying the child. Kestral was kept at the hospital under watchful eyes for a month as a result, in case she suffered sudden brain damage and needed to be treated immediately. It appeared as though Kestralhad escaped the likelihood of being treated with adolescent cancer for now, but the doctors warned the family that it was very possible she could experience the growth of a tumor in her adulthood.

### A Simple Childhood

At any rate, she grew up as an average girl in Pendsbury did. When she was tested into being a possible astral mage when she grew up, lest she had her anti-magic training, Irmia and Valdus were worried. It is extremely rare to test into the astral mage type in Pendbury, and children that do tend to have the hardest time learning to not use their magic because astral magic's capabilities of telling the future and drawing on premonitions can be so tempting.

But Kestral was a good girl and listened to her parents warn her about magic. She attended her anti-magic classes at Prinsburn Institute for Naturally Gifted (PING) and excelled in them simply by doing what she was told: never practicing magic inside or outside the school, at any time. She did not know any better about magic and its benefits and uses. Kestral's anti-magic indoctrination is what prevented her from practicing earlier on in life.

However, she could not deny her fascination from practicing magic, and she exercised this fascination through questioning her brother in his tenure as an Elite Seven member. Arkanov and Kestral knew the truth alone, for he had lied to his parents saying he had a high-end job as the city's ambassador of Atrean-Pendsborne communications. It was their little secret.

From the time she heard of him taking the job, since she was around nine or so, she asked her brother everything about his job and being able to practice magic around the city when no one else was allowed to. It seemed forbidden because of her studies in anti-magic at PING, but that's what made the idea of using her powers all the more desirable...

### Breaking the Rules

Thus, she began to use them in privacy, and picked up the skills at an astoundingly rapid pace. But Kestral had no one else to compare her superior skill level to, and since she always hid her practices, she never knew she was a prodigy. She also never knew she had been an astral grandmaster from Samadurai in her past life and thus explained her soul's rapid connection to the magic form, but Pendsbury's faith did not believe in past lives.

The Stowaway

One day, Arkanov came home and told his sickly mother and sister that he was going off on a trip for his job, which Kestral took to mean that he had a new mission for his job in the Elite Seven. She asked her brother if she could come along, and he refused immediately. Kestral understood his reasoning; it was a dangerous job, certainly not fit for a tween. But Kestral was far too curious about Arkanov's objective and how he would use magic to accomplish it, not knowing that it was to destroy the government of Sihrasul, and eventually, Samadurai. The girl was stubborn and decided if she couldn't go with Arkanov with him knowing, she would go with him without him knowing. She enchanted his satchel for the trip and using her powers, she gave it a pocket dimension, one she could easily inhabit and not disturb her brother.

On the day of the trip, she left a note for her mother and father telling them she had gone with her brother to help gain training for possibly pursuing an ambassador career in the future - again, a lie. She was off with her brother to the country of Samadurai, a world completely unknown to the two...

## Relationships

### Arkanov

Arkanov is Kestral's brother and source of entertainment. She loves him and admires his aspirations to help his family, and thus follows him around to watch him in his endeavors. She comes into contact with the more illegal side of his jobs and scolds him for his involvement, but her loyalty to the sibling that provides food on the table for her and her mother prevents her from tattling to her parents. She may not approve of his rambunctious behavior on the side as well, nor his involvement in the anti-magic league of the Elite Seven, but she adores her brother for his love. Kestral is greatly amused through following Arkanov throughout the day when she is not in school in sort of ride-along missions, but she never gets involved in his jobs herself.

### Irmia

Kestral loves her mother. It pains Kestral greatly to see her mother so weak and feeble as a result of her cancer, and thus, she tries her best to remain a good, obedient child that does not get mixed up into bad sorts. This is the only reason why she attends her school and practices anti-magic willingly. Her love for her mother surpasses any desire she may have to begin practicing magic in secret. Kestral feels bad for occasionally lying to Irmia for her brother's sake, but Kestral also does this for her mother's as well, for if she knew the true nature of Arkanov's job she would be terribly disappointed and her condition might worsen. This is not to suggest that they do not have a close relationship. Irmia inspired Kestral's love for fiction books, caring for small animals, and baking whenever spare ingredients for baked goods are available, which is a rarity. The young girl also waits on her mother and medicates her whenever she's at home.

### Valdus

Valdus is Kestral's father, but she does not see him very often to have a definitely strong bond with him, since he works constantly, often without breaks and without visits home for weeks at a time. In the rare times she does see her father, however, she reveres him for the hard work he puts into their family. Thus, Kestral's relationship with Valdus is more akin to that of a believer would have to a certain god or figurehead during a special holiday. Kestral is extremely polite and shy towards him when he is around, yet when he is away, she looks upon memories of him fondly and feels nothing but gratefulness and a far away sense of love.

## Trivia

* Despite wearing an abundance of lavender, her favorite color is ballerina pink.
* She learned basic gymnastics from classes originally held in Pendsbury when she was a young girl. However, due to fears of the classes inspiring "too much creativity," they were cancelled. She currently learns more acrobatics skills from Thomas.

## Gallery

Current look (for Sihrasul)Pendsborne lookLIL' PRINCESS!River with Kestral, again from the most fabulous girl in the world