General Information
Name Lylliana BrendewhinNicknames Lylli, Liana
Gender Female
Age 17
Birth Late summer 1405
Gift(s)
- Fetching; Average (56/100)
- Firestarting; Average (37/100)
Appearance
Eyes Forest greenHair Dark brown
Height 5’7”
Build Slim
Description
Lylliana is unassuming in her looks at first glance. Her hair might blend into a crowd, her build would not call attention to herself, her looks and demeanor would be easy to glance over.
Upon further inspection it is clear she’s a girl with a unique averageness. Her eyes are a bright green, and even from a slight distance they show their true color. Her hair hangs long and is a rich chocolate color; it is often braided or pleated for convenience sake. Lylli is just above an average height, and is slim through and through. Hips, shoulders, and chest all make smooth lines down her body, nothing juts or curves in any strong direction.
Her look is almost always neat and tidy, not a piece out of place. She stands up straight and moves with purpose.
Personality
Virtues Polite, serious, kind, hard-workingFlaws Judgemental, vindictive, easily-frustrated, overly-practical
Description
Lylli is most deeply a practical and serious person. She does what needs to be done with little complaint. She’s resilient against setbacks and strives to move forward, to find a better or different way to accomplish what she needs. She is not all that stubborn however, and is able to move with changing plans and will abandon a course of action if it’s proving futile.
She doesn’t let her practicality make her unkind, in fact she's very often generous with her time and attention. The young woman is patient and caring. She does well in a variety of company, defaulting to a quietness and reserved manners to see her through new situations.
She does not do overly well with those who are repeatedly unkind or seemingly working against their best interests. She tends to judge others when she thinks they were making, or have made, poor choices. The words ‘I told you so’ have left her mouth more than once when others follow paths she thought were best avoided. She gets frustrated with those who don’t seem to be trying or working hard enough, and she doesn’t like to hear complaints.
Her penchant towards practicality can make her often a little too practical at times. In some situations she can come off as harsh. She has said and done things she sees as necessary or inevitable with little outward qualms, even when her heart feels dreadfully over the choices.
Family & History
Parents Eadwin & ArvenaSiblings Sylas (18), Lusinda (12), Davin (8), Aember (6), Taela (5)
Noble Family Brendewhin
Description
Lylliana Brendewhin was the second born child of her siblings, in the late summer of 1405. Her mother always remarked how dreadfully hot it was that summer to be heavily pregnant, and after two summer babies, the rest of Lylli’s siblings were born in the fall and winter.
Her father Eadwin held a noble name, though he was the third son of second or third sons for a few generations. The family did well, but their connections to true nobility were quite distant for practical purposes. They had a nicely sized holding in the west of Valdemar near Deercreek where the family lived well as ranchers.
She was born barely eleven months after her older brother, and the pair were close as small children. It was a few years before Lusinda came along, and then in quick succession; Davin, Aember, and baby Taela. Finding herself as the eldest girl in the family, Lylli stepped into a role of caretaker with ease. She fed and calmed lambs on the farm alongside smaller siblings just the same and enjoyed being looked up to and looked to for help.
Her gift for firestarting appeared early, when she was about twelve, and Lylli saw it as such, something to benefit herself and her family. It made meals and travel and all sorts of situations easier. She used it regularly, but seldom for more than starting a cooking or camping fire. Fetching came along a few years later, and it too helped her around her home and farm. The girl was not oblivious to what having gifts usually meant, and neither was her family. While her parents and siblings would certainly miss if Lylli was Chosen, they wanted the best for her and saw it as a mark of honor that their daughter seemed on a path towards becoming a Herald.
With the hope of saving a Companion the trip, and seeing to other business in Haven with the opportunity, the family made a rare trip to the capital when Lylliana was nearing her fifteenth birthday. With an invitation from Brendewhin cousins they stayed at the palace and Lylli was not subtle in her glances at every Companion and white horse that crossed her path during the family visit to Haven.
On one quiet evening she ventured out to Companion’s Field to sit near the river. She did know better than to think she ought to approach the companions uninvited. While she watched them graze it was only a foal who approached her. Long legged and lanky, it was clear the young filly wanted to be pet and Lylli was happy to oblique. The young woman didn’t know what to think of the young Companion. She’d heard enough stories of what being Chosen felt like to know what she had not been, no matter how much the pair looked into each other’s eyes.
As much as the experience with the young Companion made Lylli certain she would have been happy as a herald, she accepted that she had not been Chosen, and her life was meant to be one where she was simply a girl with gifts.
Lyllianna returned to her life at home, a little disappointed, but she felt that at least she had done all she could, and she felt there was no question that her future was meant to go a different direction. Sometime after passing her sixteenth birthday her parents began to discuss marriage for the young woman. Not quite yet obviously, but it seemed only proper that Lylli begin to think of what else her future might hold for her. A prosperous merchant family in Haven had a son near Lylli’s age, and after some thought she decided that she would like to meet the young.
Zayle Atwater visited Deercreek and the pair, with much supervision, got along quite well. The pair bonded over a shared love of animals. Zayle made it clear that, should Lylli like to become his wife, he had plans for a business in the city and a comfortable future.
The young man returned home betrothed and Lylliana began thinking of what her life in the city might be. She imagined busy days with her husband, and enjoying all of the things that Haven had that her home did not, and eventually, she imagined plump babies that would be her own to have and raise.
After her seventeenth birthday all seemed set for that future and the family again made the trip to Haven. This time Lylli was thinking little of Companion’s and much more of her wedding dress and her future home.
In fact she was caught quite off guard when a few days before her wedding a nudge on her shoulder had her turning and looking up at a tall, lanky Companion. All of a sudden she recognized the cerulean eyes she was looking into and remembered the foal she had met in Haven years before. Saete introduced herself and Lylli was a girl-with-gifts no more, she was actually a Herald-trainee.
Her life felt turned around again, and against the joy of meeting Saete and being Chosen, there was a flash of dismay that she would no longer marry Zayle nor be a simple wife and mother. The young man offered that they could still be wed, but Lylli didn’t know what her future would be as a Herald, and the young pair parted on terms that were as good as they might expect.
Lylli did indeed stay behind in Haven, and began to settle into her life in the city, as a herald-trainee.
Extras
Likes animals, reading, cloudy weather, finishing projects, productive daysDislikes Idleness, indecisiveness, tricks/pranks, hot weather
Talents & Skills
Singing
Animal care
Cooking and baking
Sewing
Bookkeeping and accounting