Phenyx Redclaw

She terrorized Phenyx’s dreams, a woman with haunting eyes and blazing red hair, turning and disappearing as Nyx screamed out for her to come back. It was a nightmare that had plagued Nyx’s sleep for as long as she could remember. The only memory she had of her mother.

Nyx’s life was hard to remember at first, just like most, she forgot most of the early days of her childhood. She had originally only found comfort in her twin brother’s presence. The siblings had never been separated and spent what little time Nyx could remember moving from place to place. Their caretaker said it was only until their mother came for them. The woman, a maester creeping up on an age none had lived to in the north, was a close friend of their mother. She often told the twins stories of her and her legacy. When she came for them, the twins hoped this would be it, that their family would finally be complete once again, but just like the day they were born, their mother carried them to safety and passed them off again. “For your own safety,” she had said, “just until I am sure no harm will come to you both because of me.” And even as the twins screamed her name, crying for her to come back to them, she turned and walked back through the gates of the giant ice wall, the men inside turning a blind eye.

“She cares for you two too much to keep you in potential danger.” The man who spoke these words was disturbingly similar to their mother. Nyx would later find out he was her mother’s twin, a trait that was common within their family. Vaine Kingsblood held no close ties to his clan, but as he looked at the children in front of him, he couldn’t help but compare them to his own sons. And for his sister, Vaine would move mountains. Their family was a large one, and though he held no loyalty to the clan, he lived within its camp and knew these children would be safe there where their other uncles and aunts could watch over them as well. To keep them safe from any of their mothers enemies. This is the world Nyx grew up in, how she came to be the person she is now. She had learned not to speak her mother's name in the company of strangers, how she learned to trust her family unconditionally but guard herself against others. This is also how she learned of her true heritage, and the rituals of her people that she would take part in if she chose to. This is how Phenyx began her life as a Thenn.

Nyx was never considered to be normal, some called her weak, other said she was not fit to be a northerner. But their words did not bother her and that is what angered those who spoke ill of her so much. To Nyx, if you had nothing to give to her, nor any interesting feature about you, you were not worth her time and efforts. In the north there is always tasks to be completed, and lives to be cared for. Nyx threw herself into work and gave little attention to those she did not care for. Perhaps her silence was what caused outsiders to find her shy or weak. But their opinions were not something wanted, let them think what they wished. She could fight more ferociously than some of them but if no one came at her clan then she had little reason to show her true nature. Few understood her, her brother being one of the few who saw through the facade she put up to keep wastes of time from speaking to her. To Nyx, caring for the animals and stocking the clans supplies what was truly mattered. Now this is not to say she is a pacifist. Nyx lived for the wild, for the hunt. Her targets just weren’t always crows, a pack of wolves put up a much better fight then the dirty kneelers who knew nothing of true hardship and spoke ill of the north. The vast frozen expanse north of the bloody wall was what caught her mind, the secrets it may hold. Nature had an unwavering beauty to it and that was all Nyx cared for. Crows be damned, she would kill any who dared stray too far from their nest, but the woods were what called her attention. Phenyx had a sense of wanderlust with no limit to it.