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Kataerina’s family has had a farm in the line for generations, a large plot of land in Thelle worked by many other Gaeians. Her parents had three children of their own to add to the lineage: Theo, Duncan, and Kataerina. Theo, being the eldest, was to inherit the farm when his father passed, and thus stayed to help learn the trade. Duncan had always seemed drawn to the marshes and streams near their property; when it came time to choose his apprenticeship, he chose to head south to Talrise to work as a fisherman. And young Kataerina, the only daughter, was content to just stay where her roots were planted, tending the earth with her family at the farm.

Now, Aerin lived in the bustling capital of Valmon with his parents. They were a rather well off family, his father a respected member of the Academy and a brilliant researcher. One day, in a tragic accident, one of his inventions malfunctioned and a small explosion caused a fire. The other Academy members were able to douse the fire and rescue him and the assistants, but not before they were all terribly burned. Healers and doctors were able to keep them stable for a time, but eventually, time just took its toll and they passed away. So now his mother was a widow who was left to care for Aerin on her own, relying on the money from her husband’s lucrative inventions to support them. Aerin stayed in the same line of work as his father, going into the Sector of Innovations as a Prentice. He was inspired by the contraptions he saw in the medical wards that helped keep his father alive, focusing his work on technologies that would help people whose health was suffering.

This led to him working closely with Geians in the Sector of Safety, who focused on Public Health. He wanted to know how he could help make their jobs easier as they saved the lives of people like his father. When he grew older, one of these connections led to him and another Geian who worked in Valmon coming up with the idea that they should move their research to Thelle for a time, in order to study the differences between health care in the cities versus the country. Were they more reliant on technological advances, or spell-based home remedies?

So they packed up their supplies and bought a small property in Thelle, setting up shop as they learned more in the area. One day, Aerin came in contact with a beautiful Geain girl helping her family direct the loading of their produce onto wagons in town. Striking up a conversation with her, they enjoyed a meager lunch of fruits and vegetables, until she had to return to the farm with her family. But Aerin was never able to get the dark skinned girl out of his mind, finding excuses to linger in town when he knew she’d be dropping by. This little back-and-forth game of tag continued for the span of a year, until eventually, her family invited him to stay with them for dinner.

And one day, he gained the courage to ask her to be his wife. With the family’s blessing, she happily said yes.

He packed up his things and moved in with Kataerina on their estate, making the commute to assist in the lab with his partner as they eagerly awaited the birth of their first child. And one spring day, a beautiful baby girl was delivered to them. The new parents loved their precious baby girl, pouring all the love and attention they could muster into raising her. They stayed with Kataerina’s parents until Aedeline had grown to the age of four, when it was decided that they had enough experience to try moving back to Aerin’s residence in the city full-time. He’d collected quite a bit of data from his work in Thele, and was eager to get his findings back to the scientific community. So they packed up all their things and made the move to Valmon, Kataerina staying at home to raise the child with her mother in law as her husband continued his work. And all was well and perfect, until around the time Aedeline turned five.

They started noticing that their daughter was experiencing more issues than she had displayed before, things that were worse than the usual clumsiness afforded to five-year-olds: falling down suddenly, dropping things, llabored breathing, crying uncontrollably for long periods of time, issues eating food, and unexpectedly passing out. The concerned parents took her to as many different doctors and academy members Aerin had connections with as they could, putting their plans for a second child on an abrupt hold until they could find out what was wrong with their little girl. But despite all the tests they tried running and books scoured, they were never able to receive a conclusive answer, and no amount of healing seemed to fix the problem for good.

Confused and scared, it was decided the best course of action was to move Kataerina and Aedeline back to the country where her parents could help monitor the troubled little girl, while Aerin traveled often for his job, always trying to stay updated on all recent medical advances discovered in the capitol. Since his research and inventions are designed for people like her, it only made sense for him to work as hard as he could in his field. He works in the capitol because that’s where the same sort of like-minded people are, and they can build off each other. Any medicine they discover to help with her pains or illness is discovered through his work with the Geains in the Safety Sector, the health department. He’s an inventor and an engineer, whose research is connected to the health sector. But more than that, he is driven to work, because his work helps his daughter. And on the flip-side of that, any failure on his part to help her is a reflection of a failure in his job as both a professional, and a father. This move appears to have been for the best, as her condition has at least not worsened. They found that at least in the countryside, she seemed to suffer a bit less, attributing this partly to the lack of soot so prevalent in the cities. The air and water was cleaner, with access to plenty of unobstructed sunshine and fresh produce. They hoped this would all help, as they were really at a loss for how else to fight the overwhelming problem that had taken over their daughter’s life.

Years passed and Aedeline grew, still a sick child living with her mother and grandparents. The initial panic has passed as her parents have settled into a practiced, methodical approach to helping her cope every day, a more dormant but ever present fear lurking in the back of their minds that every day might be her last.


It’s impossible to say what kind of a person Aedeline might have grown up to be were it not for her condition, as it has rocked the very foundation of her life, changing who she is forever. The memory of how she used to be is still fresh enough that it causes her to fall into bouts of melancholy and anger, but these are becoming rarer as she comes to the understanding that things will simply never be the same again, and no amount of crying will fix that. And so long as she does not over-exert herself, life isn’t really so terrible for her.

Aedeline and her mother live in the same house as her grandparents, who have taken on a more managerial position of the farm as their age has slowed them down, their son Theo and his small family working with the field hands to harvest their produce and manage the animals. Kataerina works on a smaller scale, tending to the gardens that surround the house so that she can be close by to monitor her daughter. Aedeline loves watching her family and the hired help when they work, assisting whenever she is allowed to before she gets too winded.

What she lacks in physical ability, she more than makes up with her mind, possessing a keen and curious intelligence indicative of her Lightning heritage. She is always observing and questioning what she sees, quietly watching from the sidelines as she mentally takes notes. Journaling is one of her passions, as it helps her keep order of the daily events that make up her life, and gives her someplace to voice the troubles that plague her mind. One of her favorite places is the garden, interacting with the plants and animals that make it their home. Nature never bothers to ask or care why she looks different or can’t play as much, something she values highly in her complicated life. She loves to draw and document everything she learns amongst the plants, showing a focus and attention to detail rare in children her age. Her mother is a bountiful fountain of knowledge, always happy to see her daughter at peace and driven when Aedeline plies her for information regarding nature around her. Those are her favorite moments; when they can share in their love of the earth together, as simply a mother and her child.

With high impact activities causing her to grow fatigued and sore, Aedeline instead spends much of her time with things that are far less taxing: playing with dolls and puppets, embroidering her clothes, sewing alongside her Grandma, reading books, helping in the garden, and assisting with the cooking of meals. The need for her to partake in calming activities has bled into her personality as well, giving her a quiet, soft temperament. She tends to be very shy and soft spoken, partially from her condition making it painful to yell, but also from limited interactions with other children. Even though Belrea is a more learned society, there are still those who feel a bit wary of letting their children get close to her, for fear that her disease might be contagious. And though her parents insist time and time again that it’s not―none of her cousins have caught what Aedeline has when they visit―people are still hesitant to let their own children too near.

It’s gotten to the point that Aedeline herself is a little timid around new people, afraid that they might turn her away because of her sickness. So making new friends can be a tough ordeal, just one more struggle she faces in her life. To try to combat her loneliness and seclusion, Aedeline’s parents bought a companion for her, a friend to keep near even when she can’t leave the house: a Telmna. The primate is an intelligent, rather well behaved creature―for its species―that takes well to learning new things. It’s been trained to help make Aedeline’s life easier; opening doors for her, retrieving objects, fetching help when she collapses from one of her bouts of pain. She simply adores the creature, treating it like another treasured member of the family and a friend she can always count on. It helps keep her active and engaged, offering Aedeline opportunities to design intelligence tests and obstacle courses for it. But there are also moments when she just needs to lie down and cry, when all she needs is something soft and tender to hold onto. He’s become an invaluable member of the household.

Even though she can’t go out and play like all the other children, both of her parents place paramount importance in that she still remains occupied both mentally and physically, or else she might become a recluse in her room that wastes away. They try to combat this by sending Aedeline to school to learn and interact with other people, and when she is unable to, home school her to supplement her education. They both want her to understand that even though her body may not be able to develop properly; her mind is a whole other frontier that has limitless possibilities. She just needs to make roads for herself, if society won’t pave them for her. This kind of mindset and support helps keep Aedeline from tumbling into depression, reminding herself from time to time that the people who really make waves in history do it with their intellect, not their brawn. So she tries to remain positive and productive, taking every day as it comes to her.

Even though it can be hard sometimes, her parents want her to experience life to the fullest, see as many things as she can in the time that is given to her. Which leads to occasional excursions away from Thele so that the family can get away together. It can be difficult to properly prepare the carriages for long and bumpy rides with so sensitive a passenger, but the rewards are always worth the effort. They visit her uncle Duncan in the south, where he takes her boating and leads biological escapades into the inlets and marshes, giving Aedline plenty of new material to add to her journals. And sometimes, they go to live in Valmon at her father’s ancestral home, visiting her widowed, doting grandmother. She thinks the cities are amazing, with so many people doing so many things, but it can also be frightening at times. Especially getting around; the buildings towering high into the air with countless stairs are an immeasurable obstacle for someone like her.

But that never stops her from making the most out of every visit, raiding her deceased grandfather’s impressive library for books to take back with her to the countryside. It brings her father a joyful sort of pain to see her curled up in the same nook he used to lie in as a child, reading those same books; he knows his father would have loved Aedeline, with her inquisitive mind and attentive nature. And when he thinks of the future that was robbed of her, it can lead him into such a cheerless, dark place, that he needs to be away from his wife and child for a while. His ‘breaks’, when he needs to step away from everything, never last more than like, a couple hours. They don’t happen every time he sees her. It’s just the reaction of a father who, like any person, can get overwhelmed by emotions and doesn’t want to show that weakness in front of his family. He feels like he needs to be strong, but sometimes it’s just too much. He can’t help but feel guilty, like somehow her disease is his fault, because he was the one that wanted them to move back to the city in the first place when she was still very young. And while they were there, THAT’S when she got so much worse. It might be his fault she’s sick in the first place, because he missed his home in the city. And he still hasn’t found a cure for her yet, something that eats away at his conscious. That’s partially why he feels like he needs to travel so often; if he stays still for too long, he feels like he’s just giving up, isn’t trying his hardest. So while in the city he’s always attending lectures and seminars, reading research papers, anything that might give him a new lead, or some way of helping her out. But generally, whenever he’s around Aedeline and his family, he tries to appreciate that time and show her as much love and attention as he can. Because even though he has these feelings, he is still very proud of how strong his little girl is in the face of so much adversity.

Aedeline’s relationship with her father is probably similar to that of a child whose parent is in the military. She misses him dearly when he is away, and talks about him. But when he comes back, she’s overcome by excitement and just wants to enjoy the time with him as much as possible. He doesn’t like to show her when he needs to cry, and being a child still, she hasn’t quite made the connection yet that the reason he gets so sad is because of her. As she gets older, more conflict will come of this, and she will confront him about these feelings. Is he ashamed of her, and that’s why he never stays for long? Why won’t he just tell her how he feels?

Kataerina has always tended to be a very calm, patient woman, working for years with plants and animals, which cannot be rushed or reasoned with. She’s encountered life, and death, since she was born, it just being a natural part of life on a farm. So while seeing her daughter struggling, and in pain, hurts her as much as it would any mother, she knows that her job is to take it all in stride and do the best she can. She had never asked for a child with special needs, but that was what life had given her anyways, and she’d love her daughter no matter what. And she’s there every day with Aedeline, so unlike her husband, she’s become more accustomed to the way things are day to day. They aren’t always bad, in fact, there is still much joy in her life. But sometimes even she can become overcome by it all; she’s only human after all. Her pride is not as stiff as her husband’s however, and when she is hurting, or feels overwhelmed, she turns to people for help. Her parents raised three children of their own, so when she needs someone to talk to, or aid taking care of Aedeline when she needs a breather, they are there for her. Her priorities are simply being as supportive a mother as she can, and hopefully, she can prepare her daughter for a life where she may not have to be as reliant on her, if they can make it there together. Kataerina is understanding of her spouse’s feelings―giving her husband the space he needs whenever he needs a moment to collect himself once more―but assures him that she will always be there for him when he needs her, and she’ll always be there for Aedeline. They are a team, and a family, and they will get through this together.

That mentality has kept them together for years, but it is certainly put to the test when things get at their worst. On a daily basis, Aedeline is generally rather even tempered and content, only experiencing some soreness that slows down her normal functioning. She can still walk, talk, eat, and help around the house, interacting harmoniously with the residents. But when she stands for too long, or pushes herself, she can become fatigued, requiring her crutches or cane to help get around. One day her father brought home a special surprise on one of his visits: a wooden chair with wheels. He said it was a new invention from the city that he had been working on, for people like her, who had difficulty walking sometimes. She was fascinated by the contraption, eagerly sitting in it as he showed her how it worked. She uses the chair sometimes to get around, propelling herself or being pushed by others when her muscles are too weak. It has become a life saver when they want to travel or head into town, as the long walks needed to get from place to place used to be impossible for her before. But its real value comes when things aren’t so normal, when they are extraordinarily awful.

Every moment that Aedeline breathes is like living with a loaded gun, until suddenly the trigger is pulled and an explosion of pain overwhelms her. Its sudden intensity causes her to stop whatever it is she had been doing, consumed in that moment by the sensation alone. She can’t help but often cry at these times, and even though she’s been living with it for years, it never stops being terrifying. Her muscles grow so inflamed that they seize up and cramp, like a charlie-horse in multiple spots of her body. It makes her lungs feel like they are collapsing, and any movement a painful experience. The usual course of action at this time is to either leave her right where she lands, or transport her to a better location, using whatever means are available. The wheelchair has become a life saver in this regard, allowing anyone to get her from point A to point B. Her family has developed a special bomb of herbal medicines to give to her whenever one of these phases overcomes Aedeline, her grandmother or another healer helping to dull the pain.

And as her hair is stroked and whatever can be done is done, she tries to work through the episode, developing mental activities to try to distract herself from the agony. But it always ends up passing in time, and after a soothing cup of tea and a long nap, she recovers to the way she had been before. No one knows when an episode may hit her, but they tend to happen when Aedeline is feeling particularly more sore than usual that day. Sometimes they can go a full week between any, and other times she'll get three in one day. Every time, it’s just as painful to watch as it is to experience, a dark companion that never leaves the little girl. It has put a dampener on more than a few memories, but everyone tries to be as strong as they can and understand that none of this is Aedeline’s fault; she didn't choose for any of this to happen.

This doesn’t stop her from feeling guilty about it, upset and frustrated that she’s such a burden on her family and society. Her guilt gets so bad sometimes that even if she'll wake up in the middle of the night aching in pain and struggling to breathe, she'll bite her tongue and try to suffer through it alone, so as not to wake everyone else up. It’s just another embarrassing part of her illness that she needs to deal with, something that she can never run away from. When bouts of melancholy like this overwhelm her, Aedeline often folds into herself, choosing to hide alone with her thoughts and her tears. But in time, this too passes, and she comes back into the world, a spirit too strong to be broken by the cards life has dealt her.

Nicknamed “Little Flower” by her family, it’s easy to see where the inspiration came from. Aedeline has the yellow skin, pointed ears, and green crystals of her Lightning father, and the soft green curls and blue eyes of her Geian mother. She suffers from an evolved form of the old world inflammatory disease, Juvenile Polymyositis. She is a very petite, frail girl, like she might break if you pushed her too hard. Though her family tried as best they could with healers, occasional falls and other accidents have led to a small smattering of scars spotting her body, mainly on her legs and hands. Despite this all, it cannot be denied that she is an especially pretty thing, awash in a pastel palette. Loose curls frame her heart shaped face, serving as a canvas for her doll-like features. Her wide-set eyes are large and topped by curled lashes, with whispy little eyebrows on her high forehead. Puffy cupid's-bow lips stained a reddish-orange are crowned by a small upturned nose, with a wide nasal bridge. All of these features combined give Aedeline an almost elfin appearance, like she had just stepped out of a faerie's glen in a child's book of bedtime stories.

The disease Aedeline suffers from leads to chronic muscle inflammation of those muscles located closest to her core: the neck, shoulders, upper arms, hips, stomach, and thighs. It has made raising her arms above her head, lifting heavy objects, scaling stairs, rising after sitting, lifting her head out of bed, swallowing food, heavy breathing, and standing for long periods of time difficult tasks. Usually, there is not much pain for her to endure on a daily basis: just a stiff weakness. On occasion however, she can be hit by intense pain, enough so that she can’t move and barely breathe. At these times, only natural medicine and spells can alleviate the pain, dulling the symptoms until the phase passes. Bouts such as this or prolonged activity can lead to her requiring the aid of her cane or crutches, or in the worse instances, the use of a wheelchair. The disease only affects her central core, so her hands and feet still posses the ability for fine motor skills, allowing her the chance to improve on tasks that require a more delicate touch. Though it brings her discomfort to exercise, she is still encouraged to try, as staying motionless for too long can lead to muscle deterioration, something her family learned the hard way in the past.



Aedeline’s wardrobe mainly consists of dresses made of soft materials, so as not to cause the girl any more unneeded discomfort due to itching. Aprons and smocks are then usually worn over the dress, to help keep her clean after a day outdoors. She has a tendency to need to wear a bit more clothing than normal, as her frail stature has left her without enough bulk to keep her from getting chilly easily. Her dresses are long sleeved, usually coming down to mid shin so that she does not trip over her skirts when she uses her crutches. Stockings keep her warm and skin protected, and she’ll often wear a scarf or hat when outside to prevent sun fatigue. Small slip-on shoes are worn around the house, but when venturing out, she wears lace up leather boots. That is, when she does not forego shoes altogether, preferring to walk about the garden barefoot in the mud and grass.


With Aedeline being their only child, that they might lose any day from a disease they do not totally understand, her parents have taken to trying to fill her life with as much joy as possible. Her father is always bringing new, pretty little things home to decorate her with: bows, earrings, pins, necklaces, rings, hair combs. It also brings his wife happiness as well to dress up her little girl, which is something he knows she desperately needs. With Aedeline’s difficulty lifting her arms too high, doing her own hair can be a very arduous task, so more often than not, a family member needs to help her out. Because of this, her hair styles are never complicated, but they are always lovely: simple low ponytails tied off with a large bow, half-updos secured with a single comb. Often, everyone just opts to leave it down, to frame her face and bounce when she walks.