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| - Born: 549 ATA Spouse: Deceased Children: None Occupation: A frugal dowager who has dedicated the last thirty years of her life to scrutinizing the every move of her nieces and nephews and their offspring. At one point in time, she was a very talented seamstress. Tall and willowy in her younger years, Athara represented the strikingly sharp and bold image that summarized the concept of the Mikin woman. As age descended upon her it did so gracefully, despite the massive blows that life repeatedly dealt her. Her eyes are a brilliant, emerald green, somewhat clouded from age, but gaze nonetheless piercing. Her face is slender and steeply angled, wrinkles failing to dull the sharpness of her nose and chin. Her hair is almost always worn tightly spun into a bun at her nape and is a sleek, silvery hue. Her stature has become a bit bent in the shoulders, thin frame more vulnerable to the elements than it once was. She dresses mainly in black and gray, representing both her former House Mikin and the loss of her husband. Her clothes are extravagant in their design, as is her jewelry – velvet, silks, detailed embroidery, all of the finest quality. Her wealth is in no way hidden upon her person. Athara Mikin was born and raised in a Mikin family. Her oldest brother was father to Athell Mikin, causing her to be Athell’s Aunt and Rowena Valoria and Orell and Alieron Mikin’s Great-Aunt. The age difference between Athara and Athell was not much, barely half a decade, and so the two had a relationship more akin to siblings. Athara had a critical eye from the start and was raised traditionally in the stringent, law and Church-abiding Mikin mindset. Light be blessed, Shadow and all things of it be damned. Athara was married off at a young age to a wealthy man in the Kahar family after an almost vicious rivalry between the Kahar and a Nillu horse breeder to win her hand. Her husband was considerably older than she, by nearly twenty years, but the two developed a very close bond regardless. When Athara’s husband passed away at age fifty-six, it left her widowed at a rather early age. Still, the woman avoided future attempts by men to seek her – and her money – in a second marriage. Athara lived alone in her keep for several more years before conceding to her nephew’s wishes to move into his estate in Light’s Reach. It was during this time that the next generation of Light’s Reach heirs and, surprisingly, an heiress were born. Athara sharpened her tongue to a deadly point over the next few years, harping rather harshly over household and estate matters. She became a perfectly synced shadow that followed her nephew and his offspring’s every move. As the children grew, she came to name Alieron as “impulsive and incompetent”, Orell as “lazy and thought-wandering”, and the youngest – Rowena Mikin – as a “meddlesome whore” and years later as an “old maid”. Where precisely the term ‘whore’ came into play is anyone’s guess as the girl had remained perfectly chaste, but it might have spawned from the tell-tales told by spying staff that she was frequently seen in her chemises cavorting aimlessly with an equally inappropriately-dressed boy her age. That boy, of course, turned out to be Prince Serath Kahar, but when splattered in mud and stained with grass, who could tell the difference? When Athell and his wife Lelara were killed in the yacht accident on the river, Athara was beside herself. Who now would run the township matters? Surely not the ill-equipped children left behind. Well, those children were fully grown and despite Athara’s harsh judgments, all three at one point in time served on His Majesty’s Council. She continued to nag relentlessly mostly at Alieron Mikin and his offspring - Sophia and her younger siblings - and wife Merielle until the tragedies of Light’s Reach and the rest of the kingdom struck. The impossibly strong victory of Shadow left her speechless for many months. A hidden blessing for the Mikin family. In the most recent years during the time of political upheaval and drastic policy and religious changes, Athara has lost faith in those running the realm. She still abides by the laws but does so very grudgingly and mutters frequently about them. The Shadow-touched will never be favored by she, nor will those who cater to them and treat them as equals. A victim of her time and upbringing, perhaps, but she mostly certainly exhibits the stubborn and zealous traits of the Mikin bloodline. When the House name was merged with Kahar to form “Valoria” she did accept it. It was, in a way, a route with which to union once more with her deceased husband and she of all people had seen the economic failing of House Mikin in her sleep for years. Athara is not a woman to be taken lightly, nor will she grant you the illusion of doing such. She is a sharp-tongued, whip-witted woman whose mind is very much alive while her body advances very swiftly towards its final years. She has been a surprisingly long-lived woman given her obviously high stress-level and blood pressure. Perfection makes her happy and anything short of that makes her quite the opposite. Ladies wear gowns and Gentlemen wear pants in her eyes, and never shall the two be confused. Women also do not command a seat of power in the military department in her view, nor do they get their hands dirty – unless they are peasants, of course, in which case, they are not worth her glance. To make a long description short…Athara is an old woman grown bitter and her bark has its own bite. Presently, Athara would live within Light’s Reach very near to her now remaining niece – Rowena Valoria – if not inhabiting the same building. She did live on her own for a short time after Alieron’s death, but a bout of bad health forced her back into the presence of her whorish niece. Her opinion of Rowena has improved marginally since the nickname was first dubbed, but only since her betrothal to the Prince – a man of power – and her commanding position o’er the Light-blessed city of Light’s Reach. She does acknowledge Rowena’s talents as a healer – especially her wildling toxin antidotes – but loathes the woman’s fraternization with freelanders and above all – the Shadow-touched. If you might be interested in playing this mouthy little spitfire and give Rowena’s tongue a run for its money, don’t hesitate to contact the meddlesome whore. ;) She’ll be waiting.
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