Ayero Shiiba

Ayero was born the second eldest child to a fanalis woman and human male in what would eventually be a rather large family. Her mother, an escaped slave, fell in love with a traveler and the two settled down quickly in a remote mountainous village located in northern Reim. Ayero and her older brother (Neem) were often responsible for helping their mother take care of their many younger siblings with little free time to themselves. Neem was often considered to be the fun-loving older brother as he occasionally shirked his responsibilities and often let bad or unruly behavior slide. This lead the burden of being the responsible older sibling on Ayero’s shoulders, and she quickly learned that she would have to be a stricter disciplinary force to counter her brother’s more foolhardy behavior.

Having lived life as a slave, Ayero’s mother chose to live a more secluded life in a sparsely populated region where slavers typically did not tread in order to protect her family. It came as an earth-shattering shock when 15 year old Neem did not return home after one night, news coming shortly thereafter that he and several other young men of the village had been kidnapped by slavers while trying to make it to the nearest town. Their village fell into a hush, no one left their home after dark and passing travelers were not as welcome as they once were. Several months after the ordreal, Ayero (Now 13) was beginning to grow anxious. Perhaps it was because she had entered her teenage years, but she was no longer content with passively caring for her siblings, a task which had become much harder due to her brother’s disappearance and her mother’s increased anxiety. Additionally, she also grew to abhor the idea of growing up only to marry and raise a family, instead yearning to see what was beyond her isolated village. Fueled by her desire to expand her world views and the vague idea that bringing her brother home would fix everything, Ayero made the decision to leave her family one night and disappeared without a trace, heading for Reim’s capital.

Traveling alone went about as well as one would expect for a naïve 13-year old girl; she soon regretted leaving the safety and familiarity of her home. However, her pride and stubborn disposition wouldn’t let her turn back as she desperately did not want to live the rest of her days in a tiny mountain village. After surviving for two days alone without coming across another village or town, Ayero was out of food and exhausted from sleeplessness and nerves. About to collapse from hunger, the young girl was surprised to stumble across what she presumed to be a band of traveling merchants. Hunger and desperation outweighing her instinctive wariness, she approached them with the intent of asking for food. Unfortunately, she failed to recognize that these “merchants” were actually slave traders. After seeing the girl’s red hair which marked her as a fanalis, they approached her aggressively. After struggling with her attackers for several minutes, distant yelling was heard and not long after she felt a sharp blow to the back of her head which effectively knocked her out.

When she awoke next it was light. After recalling the events of last night and realizing that she was laying on the floor of a cart, panic set in, yet she was surprised to find neither her legs nor arms bound. A bigger surprise came when the man next to her—with red hair and an obnoxiously large grin—offered her some bread and water. The man then introduced himself as Kai, a 19 year old fanalis who had escaped from slavery after being born into it. Kai then when on to explain that he was a part of a merchant caravan that had been nearby when she was attacked and had managed to nab the unconscious girl before the slavers had made off with her. When asked what she was doing wandering alone, Ayero panicked and lied to Kai, rambling off something about how her parents had been killed. Though she felt terrible, she figured that if she told the truth about how she had run away they would take her back to her family which she couldn’t face after what she had done.

For the next five years, Ayero stayed with the caravan traveling on a circuit through Reim and Balbadd, and occasionally cities in-between. The caravan itself was well protected with several hired guards as well as some of the more skilled members. Kai, an accomplished martial artist and sword handler served as her mentor during her teenage years, teaching her how to defend herself and acting as a big brother figure. Somewhere along the line she had developed some sort of crush on the older fanalis—though she never outright said anything to indicate her infatuation, she grew immensely jealous whenever another woman show interest in him.

Though she thoroughly enjoyed traveling the world with her new “family”, a feeling of guilt was always present in the back of her mind—guilt for abandoning her family, for not actively searching for her brother, for lying to Kai. At the age of 18, Ayero announced that she was going to leave the caravan in order to travel to the more distant regions of the world that the caravan’s path did not follow. Though this was true, the gnawing feeling of regret was what primarily drove her to leave and resume her search for her brother, in a sort of repentance for her past misdeeds.

At first, being completely on her own brought her back to the night when she left her village. However, she had to remind herself that she was no longer a naïve girl; she was a young woman who was able to defend herself from common bandits and had grown more street-savvy over the past few years. Relying on herself had taken some getting used to, she had to be wary at all times and learn for herself which areas of a city to avoid. Traveling by oneself can be predictably lonely at times, as such Ayero has developed a habit of occasionally having brief flings during her journey, with both men and women.

Presently Ayero still wanders from city to city, searching for any clues to the whereabouts of her missing brother.

Trembling hands cause her movements to be quick and jerky, nearly dropping the skin of water as she moves to secure it around her waist. Fear, panic, guilt, regret, excitement and a myriad of other emotions cluster at the back of her mind as the sound of her own blood rushing in her ears drowns out everything but her resolve to push forward. But as she reaches for the door, her stomach sinks and hesitation briefly washes over her. How could she do something this selfish? Her family need her, she’s teaching Noni to read and Ashur just started walking. Her mother was pregnant (yet again) and would need the help of her eldest daughter to keep the family in line, especially with another baby on the way. Her teeth grind in resentment that surprises even her. It’s not fair. Why should I have to spend my life taking care of them? Its mom and dad’s own fault for having too many kids! She mentally backtracks immediately: she certainly didn’t hate her siblings. Though rowdy and loud, she loved them all and took a sort of pride in being the dominant older sister but now…she had reached her limit. She’s made her decision. She doesn’t know what she’s doing, but she’s made her decision.  Swallowing thickly, the redhead pulls her plain ash-black cloak closer to her body and slips silently out the door.

After setting not one foot outside of her family home, a blade is pressed to her neck and somehow, chains immediately bind her limbs. All she can see are the faces of men, ugly and twisted in a bizarre sort of menacing laughter. Their faces grow larger and more demonic, laughter turning into hideous cackles while all she can do is stare in fear, completely immobilized.

She starts, awoken suddenly from her own nightmare. Her eyes widen to accommodate the darkness as she scans her surroundings with a nervous curiosity. Oh, right. The wagon she had fallen asleep in. A breathy sigh pushes its way from her lips and she leans back against Kai’s chest, gaze rolling upwards to make sure that she hadn’t awoken the sleeping giant. Satisfied that his eyes were still closed, she settles and closes her own eyes, hoping to fall back into a more peaceful sleep. “Bad dream?” Comes a murmur from her side and she glances upward once more, eyes this time meeting with the crimson gaze of the fanalis. “No.” She mumbles in response, eyes falling shut once more and turning her head away from the man as if to make a point.

The dream always started out the same: an exact replication of the night she decided to leave her home two years ago. It was always so vivid and realistic compared to other dreams which were normally abstract. However, this dream always took a turn for the worse when she opened the door—it was different each time though slave traders, bandits or murderers often made appearances.

“Want to talk about it?” Kai stretched beside her, back stiff from leaning against the side of the wagon. He sounded a little more awake, more concerned. A frown pulled at the corner of Ayero’s lips. “Shut up and go to sleep.” She insists, eliciting a heavy sigh from the male next to her. She knew that if he wasn’t too fatigued, he’d start pressing her for details as to what’s troubling her. He cares, but he’s nosy and she likes her privacy. In compromise, she settles her head back onto his chest, blushing when she feels his arm draw her closer and squeeze her shoulder reassuringly. No matter how that dream ends, she’s grateful for how things have played out in reality.