Veira of the Mosaada Sept of the Goshien Aiel

[Veira]

Veira of the Mosaada Sept of the Goshien Aiel 

Age: 132
Nationality: Aiel
Place of Birth: Aiel Waste
Place of Residence: Tar Valon
Affiliation: White Tower, Goshien Aiel
Rank/Title: Keeper of the Chronicles

One Power Strength: 6
Air: 6 | Earth: 9 | Fire: 3 | Spirit: 5 | Water: 7
Years as Novice: n/a
Years as Accepted: 1-7 FA
Years as Aes Sedai: 7 FA - present
Years as Keeper of the Chronicles: 109 FA - present

Talents: Dreaming

Weapon Skills:
Martial: 5 | Hand-Held: 0 | Stave: 4 | Thrown: 0 | Ranged: 6 | Mounted: 0

APPEARANCE 

Height: 5’11”
Weight: 160
Build/Complexion: Lean / Fair
Eye/Hair Color: Blue / Red

Distinguishing Features:

• Freckles
  

Veira is a tall woman, standing at nearly 6 feet she dwarfs most of her Sisters in the tower. Her height is often intimidating to others. Her red wavy hair enhances her beauty but also serves as a warning to her fiery temper, like the stripes on a poisonous snake. Veira’s eyes can often be seen darting around taking near perfect photographic memories and many think of it as a nervous tic.

PERSONALITY 

Veira is playful and often mistaken for being absent-minded. Often times people underestimate how serious she can be when she needs to. She enjoys toying with others by letting them think they are going to get the better of her. She is extremely observant and compulsively looks around wherever she is to take in all the details. She is a hard worker and loves learning as much as she can about everything she can. The history of the Westlands is particularly fascinating to her, as she grew up removed from it. She is also very adept at dancing around the meaning of words.

HISTORY 

Veira was born in Five Springs Hold in Goshien territory in the Aiel Waste two decades prior to Tarmon Gai’don. Her parents were craftsmen; her mother a weaver and her father a blacksmith. Her childhood was simple and happy, much of it spent playing with her siblings and many cousins.

Five Springs was one of the more populated areas in the Waste, due mostly to the springs it was named for. As such, Veira came into contact with gleemen and peddlers more often than many who call the Waste home. From a young age, she had a voracious appetite for books and learning. Anytime a caravan came into the hold, she was the first in line to get her pick of the books. She was also endlessly fascinated by the tales told by gleemen of the lands west of the Spine and hoped to one day be able to see such places for herself.

Her parents encouraged her curiosity but tried to temper it with reason. The reason did not stick. The older she got, the more often Veira could be found sitting with her nose in a book, a faraway look in her eyes. In an effort to give her something other than daydreams to focus on, her mother taught Veira to weave. She enjoyed it and picked up the skill quickly. It gave her hands something productive to do while her mind traveled to far away places.

One evening when Veira was fourteen, she was sitting on an outcropping of rock near one of the hold’s springs, reading and daydreaming as usual. Her mind was in far away Arad Doman, the setting of the book that was propped open on her lap, so she did not hear her cousin creep up on her from behind. When he jumped out to scare her, she screamed and jumped up, her book skidding down the rocks and into the water. She immediately grabbed it up, but it was already sodden. Her cousin’s face turned ashen; he knew how much she loved her books. Veira clutched the book to her chest, sobbing. Suddenly the water that was soaking through the bodice of her dress from the book vanished. She looked down; her book was dry.

It was not long after that Veira began her training as a Wise One apprentice. Her thirst for knowledge aided her in this; she was a willing student and retained information like a sponge. She particularly excelled at her training in Tel’aran’rhiod, in part because she wanted to be able to walk in the western lands she had mostly given up on ever seeing.

Luck would shine on Veira though as an opportunity to study at the White Tower presented itself and she was not about to ignore it. An alliance of sorts formed between the White Tower, the Wise Ones, and the Sea Folk Windfinders. They agreed to send their apprentices to each other, to further learning and build common bonds. Veira, for her part, wanted desperately to see the Westlands. But it was the prospect of living in the White Tower for a time, with the most impressive collection of books in the known world at her fingertips, that was almost too much for her to bear.

Within her first few weeks in Tar Valon, Veira had already decided to become an initiate of the White Tower. In truth, she hadn’t planned on returning to the Waste even before she left it. There was much grumbling among the Wise Ones when she told them of her plan, but there was little they could do about it. She signed her name in the novice book before she was halfway through her exchange, but because of her training with the Wise Ones she was tested and raised to Accepted immediately.

Her time as Accepted was uneventful, other than the friendship she formed with Katreine din Ziago, a Seafolk woman who had come to the White Tower through the same exchange program that had brought Veira there. They found common ground in their outsider status and became close.

Once raised to full Aes Sedai, Veira put her impressive intellect to use for Katreine, who dreamed of a world free of suffering. While her friend traveled to the far reaches of the Westlands, Veira stayed in the tower, studying herbs and other traditional healing methods at Kat’s request. Medicine had never been something that had caught her attention, so it was a surprise even to herself that she found the work so rewarding.

During her long years in the White Tower, Veira frequently taught novice and Accepted classes. She understood the necessity of it, but also found it quite tedious. It took her away from her true interests. However, she was not the type of woman to do things poorly. She excelled as a teacher, which was somewhat to her detriment because it meant the Mistress of Novices wanted her to teach all the more.

It was in one such novice class that Veira first encountered Calina Taborwin, an angry girl who was too busy raging against the injustices of her life to see the heights she could rise to. Veira saw it and determined to help the girl overcome her inability to channel without her mother’s approval. With the Mistress of Novices approval, she took Calina to her home of Cairhien and gave her free reign of the city for a day, leaving the choice to return to the Tower or not up to the girl’s discretion. The smug look on the young noblewoman’s face told the world she thought she had finally gotten her way, but Veira knew she would not be returning to Tar Valon alone. When the girl returned to her in the evening, her jaw set and her eyes cold, Veira knew the block was gone.

Veira became a mentor of sorts to the younger woman as she continued her training toward becoming Aes Sedai, and often praised her to the nines in letters to her old friend Katreine. Kat was intrigued by the girl’s cunning and ambition, and Veira was secretly as proud as a mother the day Calina gained her shawl. Suddenly, her promising young pupil seemed unsure of herself. The goal that had been the driving force of her life for so long was finally realized and she seemed unsure of where to go next. Veira gently suggested going out in the world, using her status as an Aes Sedai of the Grey Ajah and her impressive grasp of political machinations to help better the world. Calina liked that idea and was off like an arrow loosed from a bow. Veira had only to wait for the inevitable meeting of the two people she was closest to, knowing that the three of them would someday work together toward a common goal.

With that, she returned to her studies and teaching for a time, until the inevitable encounter between Katreine and Calina changed the trajectory of all of their lives. Calina returned to the White Tower, full of worldly sophistication and grand ideas, angling for a seat in the Hall of the Tower. Despite being much too young, she gained one to Veira’s amusement. That one had enough ambition to rival even the most conniving of Cairhienin’s Houses. Shortly thereafter, Katreine was raised to Amyrlin and raised Veira up with her, as her Keeper of the Chronicles.

Books Read: Up to and including The Dragon Reborn