Name: Xanthia
Age: 20
Hair: Fire Red, long, soft waves
Eyes: ice blue
Physical: Short (5' tall), slender (100 lbs). Spitting image of Aradia save for the eyes which are ice blue with a somewhat feral look to them.
Abilities: Xanthia is a healer who is proficient in herbs and their uses despite her young age, having been raised by the local healer in Tilharnon. She has eidetic memory, remembering everything she reads, etc. However, she may not *understand* everything she reads or sees. She is telepathic.
Personality: Xanthia is high functioning autistic, though no one knows that is her problem, they just think she is a "strange one." No one has ever bothered to have her taken to a mind healer to see what the problem is or what to do about it. She is well respected as the local healer's assistant, but otherwise isn't thought of very well. She has trouble functioning in society, to the point of being socially retarded, and as a result is often ostracized and abused by normal people.
She has a naivete about her as a result. As such, she has trouble understanding emotions, both hers and other. She may look like a scared rabbit at times, or a woman-child.
She can talk, but has trouble expressing herself, especially her feelings and thoughts. So she doesn't talk much, especially in group situations. When she does, she is often misunderstood. Often just does not know what to say. Has trouble with making small talk and may just look at you blankly if you try to start a conversation about different foods or clothes or other things women usually make small talk about. However, she will talk you ear off about herbs and healing. She doesn't know how to lie, so she tells the truth without considering the consequences.
She is impulsive, and has trouble with following rules. Often she interrupts unintentionally. She may take a thing without paying for it because she wants or needs it, it doesn't occur to her until later that maybe she should have paid. This doesn't make her very popular with the local merchants who consider this stealing. However, she'll pay after the fact and because of that and the fact that she is so good a healer she is grudgingly forgiven.
She has few organizational skills (cleaning house is foreign to her) and lousy short term memory (constantly losing things), but is compulsively organized as far as her herbs and healing tools. She is compulsively clean as far as bathing and having her hair brushed (don't let anyone try to cut her hair though!) but dresses odd because matching clothes doesn't make sense to her. She will also read any book or paper in sight.
She is both hypo- and hyper-sensitive to sensory stimulation. For example, she hates scratchy clothing, all her clothes must be soft with no itchy threads. However, she craves vestibular stimulation so she may spin when happy. Her tolerance and cravings for certain stimulations can vary from day to day; one day she will flinch at every sound, every touch... another day she will crave being touched in nice ways. She will also learn to crave hugs, though she hasn't been hugged much in her life prior to coming to Whiteriver. She is easily startled.
She doesn't like to be touched unexpectedly, but will learn in time that sometimes a hug helps settle her down and get her to focus, even if it has to be forced on her, and that some kind of touches are nice. It will take someone special to break through her shell. She is a very loving person, but no one has worked with her, they just think she's strange.
She is an emotional paradox as well, either over-reacting or under-reacting to an emotional situation. Sometimes she will feel things even more intensely than other, other times she just doesn't know how to feel so she just doesn't.
She doesn't take to change very well She is also easily overwhelmed and prone to fits of rage on a rare occasion, though she's never hurt anybody. The rages can be set off by being overwhelmed, by sudden changes, by sensory overstimulation (such as scratchy clothes or being touched at an oversensitive moment), or just frustration at not being understood.
Prehistory: Xanthia is Aradia's half sister, a fact she discovered after being searched. She was born in Tilharnon. Her father and mother were Bear nomads who were in town for the purpose of trading for goods/supplies for the clan. The mother unexpectedly went into labor early. Xanthia was born small and fragile and the mother died in childbirth. The father, who didn't think the child would survive the trip, left the child in the care of Corra, the local midwife. He left with her the only clue the girl has to her heritage, a decorative dagger that matches exactly the one Aradia carried. Corra raised her and taught her healing and midwifery.
Since coming to Whiteriver, Xanthia has had quite a few adventures and misadventures. She was kidnapped by a misguided rider named Tarv'renon who thought he was in love with her. She was also raped at the hands of a member of the Cult of the Blindfolded Lady. She experienced her first case of unrequited love with Oldreth, a bear nomad. was in love with her. She sliced her leg in an attempt to quell the pain of her broken heart when Oldreth left, and nearly died. Though she survived, it left her a cripple.
A close bond developed between Xanthia and Th'rin, and again Xanthia is in love. After a shock, Xanthia went catatonic. It was the sound of Th'rin's voice which woke her up, and the two healers made love.
Shortly thereafter, news came that Xanthia was eligible for treatment to her crippled leg which might relieve her of her pain and restore use to it if she went to Tilharnon. Xanthia did not take the news well, thinking that Th'rin was sending her away to make life easier on him and his mate Merissa. Neither did she take well the news of her current condition, which was only discovered after the first surgeries were completed.
At Healer's Hall in Tinobal, Xanthia also developed a close platonic bond with the mind healer who was assigned to work with her, Latnem Troppus. While Xanthia was away, Th'rin learned a truth about Xanthia's parentage that even Xanthia herself did not know: not only is she the half-sister of Xanthia, but also the half-sister of Pa'gan as well.
Dragon: Maxima
Personality: Very protective. A very calm and calming personality. A very
reasonable dragon. She is the first sentient creature ever to show Xanthia
unconditional love and acceptance. Though the other dragons help facilitate
Xanthia's communication, Maxima is the main translator for her rider.
Color: Opalescent black (like rainbow obsidian), with a bright red stripe
along each eye ridge going back to the wings.
Eyes: Emerald green
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