Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kethaera was born in a brightly colored tent to a single mother. Her parents, never married, were gypsies. Her father had been shot by a paranoid farmer just two months before her birth. But she wasn't to be a burden for her mother, for the Family took care of their own.

The clan midwife helped deliver Kethaera into a tent swathed in garish silk scarves and brilliantly hued pillows. It was obvious that something wasn't right in this delivery. Though the baby was a little early, it shouldn't have been so early that the midwife couldn't handle any problems that arose. But Kethaera’s mother seemed to be losing color and her bleeding wouldn't stop. The midwife did all she could before acknowledging there was nothing more to be done. Before dying, her mother gave Kethaera her name.

Kethaera means Wind Singer in a language spoken only by the nomadic members of the Family. Why her mother had given her that name or what a dying woman’s last breath in it’s speaking would portend, none knew.

Kethaera was given to another of the Family who had recently lost a child and could give her the milk she needed to survive. With the rest of the clan they packed up and left to continue their migratory patterns, following the roads, an unmarked grave silent behind them.

Kethaera, proved to be a joy to her adoptive mother. Quick and agile, she was a fast learner. Soon Kethaera brought joy to all around her with her ready smile, contagious giggles and happy nature.

Kethaera found the path of music called to her. Her body could not be restrained from joining in the joy, sorrow, hope or power of a melody. Kethaera found that her feet could almost fly when music was played. And in dancing she lost herself. Those who watched as the Wind Singer moved in her own song with the wind.

Her voice was nothing special, able to carry a tune, but with no promise of a Bard’s magic, Kethaera was given to dance. In her clan she soon was taken in to apprenticeship with the dance leader. Studying with a passion needed to excel, Wind Singer soon mastered all the Family’s dances, from the veil dances to the marriage dances and the dances of the seasons to the dances of worship.

And when she had achieved all she could learn from her instructor, she was sent to the clan’s seer. The blind old woman smiled and pressed a deck of tarot cards into Kethaera’s hand. “You must wander the world, child, away from the Family. Your eyes open you will learn and hear your call.” And with those cryptic words, Wind Singer was dismissed.

Taking up her things and tucking the cards into a pocket, Kethaera set out into the world, ready to hear her call and hoping she would not be too long from her clan and the Family.