Leonie Merrordren

[Leonie Merrordren]

Name: Leonie Merrordren
Age: 23


Nationality: Malkieri
Place of Birth: Malkier
Place of Residence: White Tower/Borderlands
Affiliation: White Tower
Rank/Title: Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah


One Power Strength: 8
Air: 10 | Earth: 7 Fire: 2 | Spirit: 10 | Water: 11


Date they were raised to Novice/Soldier: 107
Date they were raised to Accepted/Dedicated:110
Date they were raised to Aes Sedai/Asha'man:113
Date they were raised to any other rank: N/A


Talents: Dreamwalking
Weave Affinities: None


Weapon Skills:
Martial: 2 | Hand-Held: 2 | Stave: 0 | Thrown: 4 Ranged: 0 | Mounted: 3

APPEARANCE

Height: 5'10
Weight: 152
Build/Complexion: Slender/pale
Eye/Hair Color: Blue/Dark brown, almost black, with a slight wave to it.

Leonie's appearance isn't much of a priority for her, and she mostly wears the simple brown dresses that were given to her on the day of her raising. If she can ever be bothered to have more made, she will be drawn to dark shades of a range of colors, refusing to limit herself to the brown of her Ajah. Her sole requirement is that she be able to move freely in anything she wears; she will not wear anything uncomfortable or restrictive. When in the Tower, she wears her long hair loose and has to be careful to avoid sitting on it. If she is traveling, it is worn up and out of the way.

Distinguishing Features:

• In the Tower, she is rarely seen without two carved ivory bracelets, a gift received during her time with the Aiel.
  
• She wears a blue ki'sain.
  
• Scars on her upper left arm in the form of large teeth marks.
  

PERSONALITY

Leonie carries herself with the confidence of a woman who knows her place in the world. She is highly organized, a meticulous planner, and is entirely lacking in the distracted air common to many of the Browns. Thoughtful and cautious, she thinks carefully about every decision she makes. Some might view her as nervous or cowardly, but she is neither. Those who know her well know that she is more than capable of taking necessary risks, but only after she has first considered all of her options.

There aren't many, however, that know her that well, because Leonie has a deeply rooted fear of abandonment. She believes herself to be the only surviving member of her family, which has caused her to feel alone in the world. Leonie expects that everyone she cares for will eventually leave her. If she suspects that this will happen soon with anyone in particular, Leonie will withdraw from that person before he or she has the chance to disappear from her life. While this has allowed her to avoid pain, it has also made her a rather lonely woman who spends more time with her books and drawings than she does with people, even the few she calls friends.

She also has a bad habit of comparing herself to other people, which often results in Leonie feeling that she isn't good enough. Depending on her mood, this feeling can either motivate her to work towards improvement, or sink her into frustration with herself. She is aware that she does this, and is actively working on stopping, but that isn't always easy for her. Despite these moments, Leonie knows that she is making progress towards becoming the person she wants to be. She still dreams of fighting the Shadow, fulfilling that duty of every Borderlander, but Leonie has committed to achieving this in her own way.

HISTORY

Leonie was the second-born of a set of twins, left to be raised by their father after their mother's death in bearing them. Her earliest memories are vague impressions of being watched over by the household servants, often with her brother Lyraes by her side. She does not recall her father being present until the day the twins were brought before him to begin learning how to fight.

Smaller and slower than her twin, Leonie would rather have been playing than made to endure countless hours learning to wield weapons. A child's desire for her father's approval drove to her to try as hard as she could to do well, but it was almost always in vain. She was a very quick learner if asked to remember instructions she'd been given, but was completely hopeless with the sword. After the first few times she came close to cutting into her own foot, her father decided to teach her to use a dagger instead, but his disappointment in her was very clear to Leonie.

As the years passed, her ability with the dagger improved, but it was painfully clear to Leonie that she was nowhere near as competent as her twin was. What Lyraes excelled in within days, Leonie had to struggle to learn for weeks. She found this incredibly frustrating, and often wished there were some other way for her to serve Malkier, but her father grew furious the one time she dared make that request. Leonie developed a resentment of the man which developed into hatred, and when he died, she did not shed a tear.

More upsetting to her was Lyraes' departure from the household not long after. She'd never felt especially close to her twin, though she'd often wished that they could have been. It was just that it was impossible for her to open up to someone to whom she was constantly being compared. She blamed their father for that, never Lyraes, but she still couldn't manage anything more than politeness to her twin at best and avoidance of him at worst. Despite that, he was her only remaining family, and it hurt Leonie deeply that he'd choose to obey the wishes of the father she hated rather than staying with her.

It fell to Leonie to learn to supervise the servants and ensure nothing went undone. It was a lot to take on, but she adapted quickly through the use of multiple lists of tasks and setting strict schedules by which the whole household ran. She was glad to leave her dagger abandoned on the floor of her bedroom, and was happier, though she did sometimes wonder if she'd spend the entire rest of her life alone, looking after her father's servants until her death.

A night came when Leonie learned that that was not to be her fate. As on countless other nights, the young woman slept deeply and slipped into dreaming. The tales of the Blight she'd been raised on frequently showed themselves in her dreams, dreams which then changed into nightmares. In this particular one, Leonie stood at the edge of Malkier's land, facing down a Trolloc. She was armed with nothing but her small dagger, which was proving to be completely inadequate against a foe so much taller and stronger than she. Refusing to shame herself by giving up, Leonie threw herself against the creature again and again, earning a new wound from the Trolloc's blade each time. On her last attempt, instead of the expected blow, the creature seized hold of her left arm and bit into it with all the strength of its powerful jaw. Her head whipped back as she screamed, and the sound of her own pained cries woke her from her sleep. When Leonie sat up in her bed, the left arm of her nightdress was wet, and when she pushed it back to look, saw that she was bleeding from what she could only describe as toothmarks in her arm.

Yelling for help, she soon had a couple maids assist in bandaging the arm, and one of the older clerks suggested that they send to some of the nearby families in case someone had an Aes Sedai visiting. That wasn't uncommon in Malkier, and if they could only find one, Leonie could receive Healing for her wound and perhaps an explanation for the toothmarks which unnerved them all.

Two days later, a woman in red showed up at the front door, identifying herself as Aviva Sedai. The Aes Sedai Healed Leonie's wounds as well as she could, but not before warning her that the size and depth of the largest wound meant that she would be left with a scar. She was also able to explain that what had happened was likely that Leonie had performed something called Dreamwalking, unknowingly entering a world which existed only in dreams but held very real dangers. That small bit of information left Leonie with more questions than answers, confused and a little afraid.

Even more startling was the Aes Sedai's assertion that Dreamwalking was very rare and many of those who could do it were also able to channel. Leonie found that nearly impossible to believe, reasoning that if anyone in the family could channel, it would probably be Lyraes. Still, when Aviva Sedai asked to test her to determine if she could also channel, the younger woman was left with the distinct impression that the Aes Sedai was not asking at all, but was informing her of what she would do. Unable to argue, Leonie agreed to the testing, and after a few strange moments of staring into a stone, she was informed that they would both be departing for Tar Valon the very next morning.

Leonie adapted easily to novice life, finding it to actually be less demanding than the expectations her father had placed on her as a young girl. She proved to be a quick study, eager to progress through her lessons and searching for more to learn when she had time. She spent her novice years absorbing everything she could about the One Power and the world around her. Sheer intelligence and the potential for great strength allowed her to achieve the ring of an Accepted in a very short time.

As an Accepted, she continued her studious ways, and her interest in learning led to her selection as one of the Accepted who would study with the Sea Folk and Aiel. She traveled first to the ships of the Sea Folk, and found that life aboard a ship did not suit her at all. The strict hierarchy of the Windfinders reminded her too much of her childhood, and she couldn't imagine restricting her use of the Power to Cloud Dancing alone. While she was grateful for the experience of their culture, Leonie left the ships with no desire to ever return.

The months she spent with the Aiel could not have been more different from her time among the Sea Folk. The Wise Ones were known to be especially gifted at Dreamwalking, which Leonie had not yet had much time to study. She considered herself very lucky that the Wise Ones were willing to begin teaching her, and while Aiel life was hard, Leonie found herself enjoying it. She grew particularly close to a Wise One Dreamwalker called Marys, who conducted most of her lessons, and gave serious thought to returning to the Aiel and training as a Wise One herself. Though she eventually decided against this, she remained close to Marys, who gifted her with the ivory bracelets she almost always wears.

Not long after her return to the White Tower, Leonie was summoned to the test for the shawl. After successfully passing it, she knew which Ajah she was meant for. The Brown was not a common choice for a woman from the Borderlands, but Leonie planned to put her enjoyment of research to good use, recording everything she could learn about the Shadow, the Blight, and the creatures that dwelt within it. She still meets her Wise One instructor to continue her lessons in Dreamwalking, and looks forward to the day when she travels to the Borderlands to begin the study that will be her life's work.

TIMELINE
91 FA- Leonie and twin Lyraes are born; mother dies in childbirth.
96 FA- Lyraes and Leonie begin their training.
Early 107- Death of father, Lyraes leaves home.
Autumn 107- Unknown to her, Leonie Dreamwalks for the first time, resulting in her departure for the White Tower.
110- Raised to Accepted.
112 -Participates in the exchange program, spending six months each with the Aiel Wise Ones and Sea Folk Windfinders.
Winter 113- Earns the shawl, claiming a place within the Brown Ajah.

Books read: All