Ivilya

Stephanie

Name: Ivilya Cerrah; (Ee-vhil-yah)

Age: 14 (m?/d?)

Position: Herald Trainee - 1st year

Gifts: Strong Foresight, Average Companion Mindspeech & Weak Mindspeech 

Appearance: Chin length strawberry-blond hair frizzes about in unmanageable curls framing and often draping into her face. Large blue eyes shine from under the stray locks usually edged with a strong determination and on occasion a little mischief. Lanky and tall, her frame is slim but wrapped in wiry muscles showing signs of her obsessive training.
A pale, almost pearly white-though not sickly, complexion graces her skin with a thin dusting of freckles across her cheeks. A small nose and thin lips add to her angular face making her seem a bit younger than she truly is also leading to her looking slightly androgynous. Often being mistaken for a boy at a distance especially when dressed in padded armor or some the clothing stolen from her brothers to avoid the ‘pretties’ her mother insists she wears. Though she wouldn’t admit it to anyone she does find her boyish figure annoying and is often jealous of some of the other more ‘endowed’ and curvy girls of her age.
The only dress she ever wears, by choice, is a simple purple straight dress that flares out past her waist when she spins. It’s the only one of her ‘proper lady’ outfits that is actually comfortable (though of course when it was picked for her it included plenty of accessories that were meant to be worn with it that she despises). When trying to please her mother on rare occasions she will wear it and during most of her dancing lessons. The rest of the clothing that she wears on her own accord she picked from her brothers’ hand-me-downs.

Personality: Ivi is often rather obsessive about things, stubborn and a perfectionist even. When her mind gets set to something she works until she can’t anymore. This sometimes-even leads to sleepless nights and an empty stomach until someone reminds her that passing out won’t help whatever she’s doing.
Living with four brothers of varying age, and being younger than all but one, she is rather tomboyish spending much of her childhood running about through the woods, tumbling through the dirt and climbing up trees, much to her mother’s dismay. She looks up to her eldest brother, Ash, and wishes she could be strong like him, his joining the guard five years ago brought a determination to follow him that was unmatched by anything she had done before. When first expressing her interest in joining the guard too, when she was old enough, her mother denied it outright; this only added a rebellious fuel to the fire.
The most fanciful activity she actually enjoys would have to be dancing; she has a passion for dance almost as strong as her desire to join the guard. Many times while training with her brothers or on her own she finds herself almost falling into her own sort of dance. Both skills involve steps, some leading while others are a reaction to one’s ‘partner’ and both when mastered can be done with grace.
Ivilya is also known at times to have a short fuse, mostly when having trouble doing something she has put herself to accomplish. Usually she uses this frustration to fuel her actions until she either overcomes the problem or is just about ready of throwing a fit. On rare occasions that the focus of her anger is a person she will often try to walk away and ignore them until she can think more clearly though she has once been pushed over the edge an occurrence she looks to avoid repeating.
With all the determination and rebellion she often shows she is not lacking a sense of humor. After Ash left home she started spending more time with Aken and Mer, usually in an attempt to steer as clear from her mother and her ladies as possible. Many ‘adventures’ and pranks were had during these couple of years and she looks back to them warmly.

Short Life Story: The Cerrah family has a large home in Haven and a summer home in one of the small towns a couple days ride from the capital. Kenneth teaches private riding lessons to many noble children in Haven, quite skilled at his job the price for his lessons is high but valued by many. Andrea views herself as a ‘proper lady’, spending much time doing embroidery and other elegant things with her gathering of ladies. Always wanting to have a daughter to raise beside her and teach all the finery of life when finally Ivilya was born she was overjoyed. As she grew she bought her all the beautiful things she knew she would love, but it came to seem Ivi was not interested in the pretties like she had hoped.
Growing up Ivi quickly became tired of feeling like a doll and had no desire to become a little version of her mother. Finding ways to sneak out of the house only to return with her dresses and ribbons torn and muddy, slowly her mother stopped forcing her to wear them, though she never stopped insisting and trying to turn her into a proper lady. No daughter of hers should be rolling around in the dirt and wearing boy’s clothing. At times Ivi found herself wishing she really was ‘no daughter of hers’. This constant battle with her mother continued on and only caused her to distance herself from the house and most of the adults coming and going from it. The only times she would come home and be the closest to ‘presentable’ was for the only lessons that Andrea chose for her that she actually enjoyed; dancing. For some reason the grace and delicateness of the art fascinated her and she found she could focus and relax during the lessons. It was the only thing she really felt she was good at.
Her gift started to manifest a few days before being chosen. The first event that really made her wonder was on a day while she was in the woods at the summer house training on her own. A group of boys began to harass her about her obsession with joining the guard. It wasn’t the first time and she usually would just gather her things and walk away, ignoring them until they left but this time they had her surrounded. Jason, a boy from a more wealthy family than hers and the group’s ringleader, was determined to show her how silly her dream was and they all had their practice blades with them. It all happened so fast, she knew the blow was coming he swung the wooden blade as soon as she turned away; she dropped the armor and brought her sword up just as it came toward her. Insisting that they leave her be she kept trying to back away only to be push forward again until the tormenting became too much. Tightening her grip she stepped toward the boy focusing her thoughts. It was strange almost like she could feel what was going to happen next like a strong instinct. Then there was a flash, a picture of Jason lying on the ground bloodied and not moving. She pulled back her next swing and fell to the ground dropping her sword. A wave of nausea and pain pounded through her temples as she clutched her head. The boys all vanished and Jason stumbled away through the woods, blood running down his face, swearing under his breath until he was out of sight.
News got around of this and of course the circle of gossip quickly informed her mother. She was sent to her room and locked there during the day only allowed to leave when accompanied by one of the servants. They were returning to the mansion in Haven at the end of the week and she was to be confined to her room until then. Of course after a full day of this she came up with a plan to sneak away. The next night she climbed out of her window after everyone was asleep. Taking a satchel with her belongings she snuck out to the stable. Not wanting to alert anyone she wandered through the dark without a candle and was surprised to find that one of the stalls was open and the horse there was saddled. She approached it and it stepped toward her with a ringing of bells. Confused she reached out to stroke its forehead and gazed into a pair of blue eyes that seemed to glow like sapphire stars that pulled her in and wrapped her soul with warmth and light. Opening her eyes she found she was clutching his neck leaning her cheek against his.
::I am Teshran and you, Ivilya, are my Chosen.:: A strong masculine voice filled her thoughts and sent a feeling of affection so great tears began running down her face and into his soft white fur. Nudging her he met her eyes again and she could see a twinkle of mischief there. ::I see you have already packed, shall we go then my lady?::

Companion: Teshran, stallion

Description: Most resembling the ‘Hunter’ body type of horse, Tesh moves with long sweeping, ground devouring, strides. Fast and agile, he is smaller than some Companions with a balanced frame, built more for covering ground like an arrow and able to change direction or ready for a jump at a moments notice. Watching him at full run, one would almost describe his movements as ‘floating’ across the ground as he seems to waste no movement nor grain of energy as he moves with an even balance and rhythm. Teshran is young and eager, with a sense of duty easily matching his Chosen’s. A bit laid back he’s not beyond a little mischief but when there’s work to be done he can be quite serious and single-minded.

Family:
Mother- Andrea (44yr old, noble woman)

Father- Kenneth (48yr old, riding instructor.)

Brothers-
Ashten (24yr old, guardsman.)
Bradius (19yr old, mason’s apprentice.)
Aken (16yr old, guardsman in training.)
Merik (13yr old, troublemaker.)

Last Updated: 06/15/2008