Teradia Falle

Teradia Falle

One Power Score:
Air~ Earth~ Fire~ Spirit~ Water~
Strength~29 Skill~32 Potency~61

Ajah: Novice (none as yet)

Age:14

Place of Birth/Raising: Illian, Illian

Physical Description:Teradia is quite tall, with a gangly, boyish figure, with the barest hint of budding curves. Her skin is sun darkened, and her hair is a deep brown, which she keeps hacked short, as it is less work that way. Unfortunately, keeping it short does not work well with the coarse texture, causing it to more often than not stick out from her head at odd angles, giving her the perpetual look of one having just risen from bed. Her eyes are a rather startling silver/grey and almond shaped, and her jaw is rather square, adding to the boyish look.

History:Teradia’s life was unremarkeable. She had several siblings, (two older brothers and a younger sister), and both her parents. Their life was simple but pleasant. They were far from being rich, but neither were they dirt poor. Her father was a fisherman, her mother a seamstress’s assistant. Life as she knew it consisted of her father and brothers fishing, her mother always sewing, and Teradia doing everything she could to avoid ‘women’s’ work and join her father. Being an indulgent sort of man, he would allow her to help clean the fish for market, even letting her wheel the barrow on occasion.

There was something about the strong smells of the fish markets that appealed to Teradia. It frustrated her mother, watching her eldest daughter become such a tom-boy. But there was little she could do, when Teradia refused to stay home and sew, or heaven forbid, cook and clean. And it was almost impossible to keep Teradia clean. She was the type of girl who would bring home a pet frog in her pocket. In the end, her mother gave up and turned to her youngest daughter to be the ‘girl’ in the family.

This suited Teradia fine. She was not exactly possessed with the keenest wit, and it never occurred to her, that one day she would need marry a man to support her. It certainly never occurred to her that men didn’t like to court boyish girls who stank of fish, and often looked worse than the mangiest alley cat. Needless to say, she didn’t have any female friends. Her chums were mostly urchins that mingled about the docks looking for mischief, and Terandia was usually caught up in the thick of it before she quite new what was happening. Eager to please, Teradia never knew when she was being teased or dragged into trouble – she just smiled obliviously. She will never be known for her wit, but she was becoming known among some of the boys as her body bloomed into the beginning of womanhood. It seemed that the belief was that she would be easy prey, and likely it would have been true, if her mother had not intervened.

It was an ordinary morning, until her mother made the last bid to turn her into the young lady she always dreamed of. Teradia heard her parents whispering while she quietly broke her fast one morning, but as usual thought nothing of it. It would never enter her mind to listen in, unless someone else prompted her to. Still, it soon became evident even to her that something unusual was happening.

“I bathed yesterday!” She complained, as her mother poked and prodded her into the small courtyard containing the iron tub they used to bathe. “You will bathe again! And you WILL wash that hair of yours…I could skin your father alive for hacking it with that blade.” Terandia sulked as she stepped into the bath and looked at her hands. Her fingernails were dirty she supposed, but they would only get dirty again. She was wasting her time, really. And she didn’t care what her hair looked like, at least now she didn’t have to try and pin it up to keep it out of her face. But wisely, she kept quiet as her mother tipped water over her head.

“Mother, I will miss out on all the work! I should be at the docks!” Making one last ditch effort to avoid further grooming, Teradia climbed out of the tub and reached for her customary breeches and shirt. “You are not going to work. And you are not wearing those pants! It’s time you started dressing and acting like a lady, you are almost a woman grown!” Teradia glowered and sucked the knuckle where her mother had slapped her. A dress? She groaned at the simple brown woollen dress, but knew her mother’s look meant she would brook no disobedience.

Belatedly the thought struck her. “If I’m not going to work, where am I going?” Her mother seemed to take a long time to answer. “You are going somewhere where they will teach you to behave like a proper woman.” And she would say no more.

Terandia was in utter confusion, and when a carriage pulled up outside their humble house, she still hadn’t worked out what was going on. The woman that entered the house was small, yet she seemed to dominate the room. And it was impossible to tell how old she was, but then again, Teradia was never good at guessing games. Dumbfounded, she gaped until her mother snapped at her to close her mouth and stand straight. “I have arranged for you to travel with Liette Sedai to Tar Valon, Teradia.” Teradia merely blinked, not knowing what that meant. “She is taking you to the White Tower, where hopefully they will accept you as a servant, or maybe even a clerk if you work hard. And they will turn you into a lady, or nothing else possibly could.”

It didn’t quite seem real, later when Teradia thought on it. By this time, she was bundled into a carriage with a rather large, scary looking man, and had left her family and friends far behind her. How did this all happen again? She didn’t really know, but she was quickly realising that this White Tower place was probably not the place she had dreamed of for herself.

Additional Notes: Teradia is friendly and generally a good girl, but sadly somewhat dim-witted, though she will eventually manage to scrape through her studies.