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PERSONA: Callillilli. Quite a mouthful, isn't it? People only call her that sometimes..maybe when they're angry. We can simply use 'Calli'.
GENDER: Female
AGE: 16
ORIGIN: Danach
OCCUPATION/RANK: Daughter of Kitt, a retired dragonrider after her golden dragon died in a Thread-fighting accident, and Mathos, a Healer of people and also a Protector of the Cathair, who died in a fight with some vagabond thieves and murderers.
HAIR: Long and golden, curly
EYES: Blue
HEIGHT: 5' 5"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Smooth, fair skin that burns rather easily. An oval face with slightly pointed ears, large blue eyes with long fair lashes, fair eyebrows, and small round lips. A straight and slender nose. Long golden hair, the color of a buttercup, and often pulled back and tied with a ribbon. Calli is long-legged with a mildly curvy body and a very slightly chubby middle, with a little 'pooch' right below her stomach that was popular in that time and place; every place else is skinny, including her long neck. Although her mother likes to see her in pretty, ribboned and laced dresses, usually pink or cream in color, with stifling corsets and choking necks, Calli prefers at this age to still wear loose cotton dresses that let her breathe, move, and play.
VOICE QUALITY: Calli has a sweet voice that she has been forced to culture into that of an angelic dove. She sings well but cannot breathe very well and so cannot hold notes. She is still 'her mother's songbird.'
LITERACY: Calli can read and write but it was not considered ladylike for her to do so very often.
CLOTHING: As I've said before, she wears dresses that you might have seen popular on Earth in the medieval times and the 1900s-1930s. She prefers a loose cotton shift or blouse and skirt. She is also forced to wear a frilly nightgown, but prefers pyjamas.
JEWELRY: Calli, although very fond of jewelry, usually wears it in moderation. Pearls are a favorite, as well as diamonds or rose-colored gems.
FAMILY: Her mother Kitt, deceased father Mathos, and younger sister, Brachet.
SKILLS: Calli, dubbed 'her mother's songbird,' is really not much of a singer. She can knit and sew, and cook. Gardening is another skill she has, having a natural 'green thumb.' She can also dance quite well, and sometimes plays the piano or flute.
PASTIMES/HOBBIES: Calli's pastimes under her mother's watch include singing, shopping, knitting, sewing, cooking, dancing and gardening. Alone or with people of her own age or younger, she prefers to swim, dance (wildly), climb, and cavort/frolick merrily.
PERSONALITY: Calli is a stubborn person who can throw tantrums with the best of them. She was very close to her father but now blocks him out of her mind because she doesn't like pain. She longs to be closer to her mother, but since her mother has emotional problems and is also quite strict about Calli's upbringing, there is little hope of them becoming best of friends. Calli has almost no interest in her sister; she is much too tomboyish and distant. Calli can act like a civilized lady, but she prefers wild parties and hanging out with friends or going for walks in the woods. Despite her inner fun-loving nature, she isn't very forgiving, and is very haughty, prideful, and snooty, especially around those she deems below her.
Callillilli, or Calli, watched the youths playing in the orchard from inside her room. She smiled wistfully; gone were those days of joyous energy, gone was the sweetness of innocent childhood. Her mother may had gone into denial (and no doubt into another man's bed), and her sister Brachet may seek revenge for her father's cruel death, but Calli was trapped in her own self, unable to seek a course of action. It would be twelve years ago tomorrow. Brachet was still searching for Lothe, and no doubt she would now feel a burning desire to kill him even more than when she had first set out. Kitt would act as if nothing had changed until the sun set, when she would sob uncontrollably for her lost husband.
Calli fidgeted with discomfort. The dress she wore choked off her air supply, however pretty, and the young people, about her age, maybe a little younger, some of them older than her sixteen years, were enjoying themselves immensely. Calli fought between remaining a dignified, strangled 'lady', or a free and breathing child. After a few moments, she chose the latter.
One change into a looser, plainer dress and a few flights of stairs later, Calli was barefoot in the sweet grass of the orchard. The gentle sunbeams danced merrily in the damp shadows, and Calli thrilled to hear laughter and the scuffle of wild birds flying from tree to tree. She skipped nimbly to the group of children and was accepted into their enthusiastic happiness. They all joined hands and danced in a ring, singing 'fae' songs meant to entice those ephereal beings to give the children faery presents. Calli couldn't think of any present better than to simply forget the twelve years past and drift aimlessly in a world of freedom.
As the suns drifted lower toward the horizon, the younger children scampered home, leaving the older ones to sit and chatter with each other. Calli tired quickly of the petty, small-time gossip that the 'lower-class' class girls had to talk about, and soon she regailed them with more feisty tales of where she lived.
It grew darker, and many of the young men and women excused themselves, speaking of chores and mealtime. However, one young man stayed behind, his gentle eyes aglow. Calli didn't notice him; she was busy brushing bits of moss and mud off of her clothing and hair and skin.
"Miss?" The deep voice startled her and she turned toward the boy. "What?" she asked.
"If I may be so bold as to ask your name?" He walked to stand in front of her, and bowed, taking her hand and gently kissing it, his eyes locked on hers. Calli rather liked the feeling, and held out her other hand. The young man laughed and obliged.
"My name is Callillilli. What is yours, fair sir?" Calli inquired.
"Ah, a lovely name to fit an even lovelier lady. Mine is True'Min." Calli tasted his name on her tongue, and smiled.
"Please, if you wish to call me anything, call me Calli. It is much less of a mouthful," Calli said.
"You may call me True."
True'Min much reminded Calli of her long-departed father, not so much his face, but his firm build and his voice, his manner so chivalrous. True was an apprentice to his father, who was the local creature Healer. He enchanted Calli, and soon they were chatting like old friends. The moons lit the orchards almost better than any lantern, and the stars were bold and beautiful in an indigo sky.
"True?"
"Mm?"
"Do you..believe in...Fate?" True smiled indulgently, and Calli felt a fool to have asked him so early in what she thought of as a relationship. She realized True was probably simply flirting with her, and that he thought her a mere child compared to his twenty-one years. But True surprised her yet again.
"At some moments, I do believe in Fate, quite strongly." True stopped walking, and so did Calli. He tilted her face upward, and she smiled shyly at him. "As I do now," True murmured, and kissed her.
Calli whirled in a celestial sky, True kissing her gently, she responding hungrily, but with the shyness of inexperience. "Calli.." True murmured, and she opened her eyes. The moons were almost gone, only three of them left above the horizon. Shades of red and orange ripped the indigo open, and it faded..
"Oh!" Calli turned away and True kissed her face and her neck. He took her hand and kissed all the way up her to her shoulder. Calli pushed gently at him, and he moved away.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Calli pointed to the suns.
"I have to go home; my mother will be worried sick." Calli turned suddenly shy. "Will I see you again?" she asked tentatively. True nodded and whispered warmly in her ear:
"Fate."
"No, oh no, he's waiting for me, I can't, I won't! Maman, it can't be happening!" Calli wailed. Kitt, her mouth set in a tight, thin line, nodded.
"You'll marry him and like it!" she advised, and left the room, locking the door behind her. Calli collapsed onto the bed, sobbing. True was waiting for her, but oh, her vile, devious mother had coaxed a nobleman's ugly, ugly, rich son to come and marry her, take her away and pay her mother.
"I hate him! I hate him, I hate him, I hate you!" she screamed herself hoarse, pounding on the walls. Outside Kitt bent over on a chair, clutching her knees, and covered her ears, eyes squeezed tight shut.
A faint knocking on the window disturbed Calli, and she rose to see what was tapping. True crouched outside on her windowsill, smiling broadly. Let me in, he mimed. Calli unlocked the window and opened it, and True slipped in like a shadow, closing the window quietly behind him. He took Callillilli in his arms and kissed her.
"You were late; I was worried," he murmured. "What are you doing up here all alone?"
"I..I'm in trouble with Maman." True laughed.
"That's no trouble. Come with me," he said, and gestured to the window. Calli shook her head. "Why?"
"Because....oh, True, I'm getting married!" True's eyes hardened, but he retained his easy attitude.
"Well, I must say that came as a surprise..I don't suppose this is a joke?" Calli shook her head. "Well..." Calli grabbed his hand.
"I don't want to, True! I love you, not some pompous, rich windbag.." True's eyes softened again.
"Then come with me!" he urged, stepping over to the window and raising it. He reached out his hand, and, laughing with relief, Calli took it and swung herself over the window's edge after True.
They landed past the rose bushes and started running, True holding onto Calli's hand tightly and she was pressed hard to keep up, at times losing her footing and sailing like a kite behind him. Finally, he stopped, in the same place where they had met.
"Fate, Calli, remember?" True asked, smiling at her. Calli nodded panting, dirt smudging her cheeks.
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