Profile

BASICS

Name: Lady Clara of Taerin
Age: 48
Birthdate: December 14 [Saggitarius]
Blood Type: B+
Languages: Korin, High Korin, Trade [Fluent], Dentorian, Old Korin [Passable], Old High Korin [Weak]
Country: Korin
Class: Pegasus Master
Weapons: Lances [A], Swords [B]
Family:Husband // Rodger Daughter // Irene Daughter //
Lauren, Daughter // Rae Son // Alexander [deceased] Son // Brandon
- Mother // Kathleen, Sister // Caitlyn
- Father // Edward [deceased], Brother // Gareth [deceased]
Mount Name: Elayne [pegasus]


HISTORY

Clara had always loved to fly.

There was never anything she wanted more. Her first memories are of her elder sister coming home from her pegasus hunt, a beautiful wild white miracle with her. Clara dreamed of pegasi, willing away the years of her childhood until the day she could go and go a mount of her own. The ground was a cage, her lessons and obligations a trial. She had a sister to be learned, a brother to be responsible, and all she wanted was to fly away and never look down.

Her pegasus, Elayne, turned out to be as free-spirited and unbreakable as she was, and they fought each other every step of the way until Clara had her in the air for the first time. And after that first flight, their relationship clicked. It was customary for Taerin daughters to run messages for the House and their allies, and there was nothing Clara loved more than doing just that. First with her sister, and later on her own, she took every mission she could get her hands on and savoured every one. She loved her home. She loved her family. But she loved her freedom, the friends she made, the places she saw, and, most of all, the feeling of being able to go anywhere and do anything. She loved that best of all.

And then it all changed.

Her sister married, her brother's wife passed childless, and then there was the blizzard. Her brother was found near-death, but Clara had to watch him linger for a year, improving only to get worse again every time. None of her requests to leave on missions were granted, and by the time he finally died, much of Clara's dauntless flame had gone out.

She was now, at sixteen and against all odds, the sole heir to House Taerin. Gone were the long weeks with Elayne in the sky, the excitement of meeting new people and seeing new places, the thrill of flirtations and dalliances wherever she could find them. Clara was expected to learn, to train, and especially, to wed. Quickly, so that her husband could be schooled in the peculiarities of House Taerin and the family secrets could be passed on to him. Her hope at seeing the name of one of her past on-off lovers rise higher and higher in negotiations dimmed when they met and found they had both changed a great deal. Rodger was, however, the best match, and he had wonderful ideas for the future of Taerin. They were married before she even turned 18.

Their first child was stillborn, and the rest all girls. Clara was constantly exhausted and drained by the pressures of the life she had somehow inherited and never wanted. She loved her daughters -- responsible and serious Irene, Lauren, who was so much like she had been, and her baby, Rae. She even loved Rodger, in a way. There were times she would catch a glimpse of the impish, fun-loving young man he'd been. She loved her House, her history, her family. But in many, many ways, she never loved any of it as much as she'd once loved to fly.

It has been a difficult six years for Clara.

First, there was her daughters. She'd never felt more that Lauren was her daughter and hers alone as when she learned that she'd simply flown away into a blizzard and refused to come back, but seeing her favourite child leave her so easily was more painful than she ever could have expected. Irene, for the first time not willing to stay at home and studiously apply herself to Taerin, became more and more involved in the affairs of Rodger's family, House Keir, culminating in the sort of disasterous worst case scenario that could only be dreamed up and then laughed off. And Rae, her baby, who she'd perhaps applied herself to more than any of the others, having finally accepted that the life she'd loved was gone forever, was growing up somewhere far away, and didn't seem to have any wish to come home.

Second, there was the politics. The Sylea-Keir war, the insidious poison that ravaged her people, the devastating losses their armies suffered while marching to the support of House Rayla. The decade has been, in many ways, harder on House Taerin than any other in Korin that hasn't Fallen. No matter how she and Rodger try to rally morale, repair their losses, bolster their troops, rekindle their alliances, nothing seems able to restore the once sturdy prospects of House Taerin.

Third, there was Brandon.

Perhaps it was just that she felt too old to have another child. Perhaps it was that losing Irene, Lauren, and Rae all so utterly put a wall up around her heart. Perhaps there was just too damn much in her life to make room for one more thing. But Clara has never been able to truly connect with Brandon. She tortures herself for it, hates herself for it. He's a second chance with Alexander, a new child who she can enjoy and keep with her while all the others have gone. But despite how much she tries and tries to make room in her heart, it never quite feels as though there's enough.

Lately, Clara sits at windows and looks into the sky, and she wishes more than anything in the world she could just get Elayne and fly. Fly to Lauren, fly to Rae, fly to Irene, or just fly somewhere very, very far away. But she has politics, and she has Brandon, and holding the life she's been given together always seems just slightly more worthwhile that a chance at being free one more time.



PERSONALITY

Once a free-spirited, fun-loving girl with an indomitable heart and a passion for life and living, Clara has grown into a frustrated and unfulfilled woman who longs for the life she could have had even while trying to do her best with the one she was given, instead.

She keeps her unhappiness and regrets buried deep, and presents the face of a soft, warm, gentle matron. Anyone who knows Clara would say that she's friendly, approachable, and kind. She works very hard and constantly seems to be in the midst of a project to improve things in Taerin however she can. She's dutiful and always fulfills her responsibilities, and anyone still at Taerin from the time she was a girl will proudly say how much the wild child they knew has grown into a very conscionable adult.

She still smiles often, laughs easily, and enjoys jests and games, and she would never be called serious or severe. She's especially well known in Taerin for taking young Pegasus Knight messengers under her wing and teaching them routes and tricks that she learned in her days, and she's immensely fond and possessive of "her girls." She's well-loved by the skeleton population still in Taerin, and her people look to her as their heart and hope while Rodger is their protection and future.

The roles of wife, mother, and Lady are the only ones that are available to Clara, and so she does her best to play them as well as she can. She does not live in a constant state of feigning something she isn't, but rather strives to be what she has to be and outwardly succeeds.



APPEARANCE

Clara has green hair cut in a short bob, and the same violet eyes shared by her two younger daughters. She is tall, with a thick, womanly build and large hips and breasts. She's losing her eyesight in her middle years, and has, in the last decade, reluctantly began wearing eyeglasses.