Ava al-Rashid.

**TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR: Miscarriage, Suicide**

Ava al-Rashid was Khalid's first wife.

## History

### Marriage

Upon taking the throne, Khalid Ibn al-Rashid experienced a lot of pressure to marry, and produce heirs, as, at this time the only remaining family he had was Salim el-Sharif and his extended family. To avoid the throne falling to him, as well as to avoid joining their familes more closly by marrying Yasmine, he sought a political marriage elsewhere. Ava was "from a good family in Rey." They were wedded without difficulty. Due to his myraid duties and allergy to emotions, Khalid proved to be a distant husband, and Ava fell into depression.

### Child

Ava soon became pregnant, and this caused a massive shift in her outlook. Her spirts were lifted and she "began to plan for a future." However, this era of happiness was horribly destroyed when she miscarried the child. Her depression returned with ten-fold fervor, before finally she ended her life by hanging herself "with a silk cord about her throat."

### Post-mortem

After her death, Khalid met with Ava's father when a meeting was requested. He used a dagger to cut himself open and used his blood and dying breath to curse Khalid.

*"One hundred lives for the one you took. One life to one dawn. Should you fail but a single morn, I shall take from you your dreams. I shall take from you your city. And I shall take from you these lives, a thousand fold."*

Khalid also notably made a promise at her grave-side to never use the words "I love you" again, instead proving his love through his actions to those he cared about.

## Personality

Ava was a kind and smart girl. She was generally quiet and lost in her thoughts. She had low self-esteem, especially when it comes to painting, which was her hobby. She suffered from depression, an affliction that eventually led to her suicide.

## Apperance

Ava has long brown hair. Despina describes her as "a slender sylph of a queen."

## Relationships

### Khalid Ibn al-Rashid

Khalid was a distant husband, who would often postphone their meetings to work on other things. They were both quiet people, and their interactions held no spark as they'd often "drift to silence." Khalid admits to Shahrzad that 'the akwardness made [him] less inclined to seek her out."

### Despina el-Sharif

Despina was meant to be Ava's handmaiden, but the queen had brought servents of her own, downgrading her to "Guardian of the garments, instead." They do not interact much for this reason, but they do have a single interaction in which Despina encourages Ava to mention her calligraphy to Khalid, as she appears hesitant about the venture. Although Despina hold out hope that this encounter will lead to becoming closer to the queen, "the calipha never called on her again."

## Refrences

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Renée Ahdieh, *The Wrath and the Dawn* (New York, NY: Penguin Publishing Group, 2016), [Page 336].
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ahdieh, *The Wrath*, [Page 337].
3. ↑ Ahdieh, *The Wrath*, [Page 338].
4. ↑ Ren?e Ahdieh, *The Moth and the Flame* (Place of publication not identified: Penguin Young Readers Group, 2016).
5. ↑ Ahdieh, *The Moth*, [Page 3].
6. ↑ Ahdieh, *The Moth*, [Page 2].
7. ↑ Ahdieh, *The Moth.*