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Ilyana
Lilka
(Scout)
Ilyana was born near the ruins of the once great city of Babylon. In the city's heyday, it had been the largest and most beautiful city in the world. Her parents were descendants of the royal line of Babylonians before they were conquered by Alexander. The mighty Greek had died in Babylon, but Babylonia did not stay in Greek hands for too long. A succession of rulers reigned over the jewel on the Euphrates River until the Parthians annexed the city to their empire. Her family was forced to live as outcasts in their own land.
Growing up, Ilyana heard her parents tell tales of the glory that was once Babylon, with her wondrous temples, majestic palaces and beautiful hanging gardens to which no other gardens in the world could compare.
As a teenager, Ilyana roamed through the ruins of the city at night when the moon was full. She walked under the still intact Gate of Ishtar and imagined the countless generations that had passed under the blue-stone archway. She stood before the dismantled altar of Ishtar's dilapidated temple and raised her hands in supplication as she imagined the priestesses of old had done. Ishtar was still worshiped by her family, but in secret. The Parthians were their new masters and they had raised temples to their own gods. They wanted no competition and the worship of Ishtar had been suppressed.
Ilyana wanted to become a priestess of the old rites, but there were no more schools where she could go and be taught. One night, she sat before the old altar and prayed fervently, "Make me a priestess of the old ways!" She wept in despair and cried herself asleep.
When she awakened, it was morning. She knew she had to hurry home before anyone saw her there, but as she sat up, she saw she had lain upon a slight depression in the old temple floor. She pressed up it with her hands and the old tiles broke. Beneath the broken pieces, something gleamed in the sun's rays as they struck the bare floor; the temple walls were no more.
Intrigued, Ilyana lifted up the tiles and saw an old box made of silver and engraved with the image of Ishtar. She carefully opened the box and gasped. It was full of old scrolls that had survived intact. She recognized the old Babylonian language her parents had taught her in secret; the Parthians had forbidden anyone to speak the old language. The scrolls had been written by Odalia, the last priestess of Ishtar. She told of her life, of how she had become a priestess, of the old rites and of the last days of the temple before it had been closed.
Ilyana replaced the old tiles and ran home with the box under her arm; but someone saw her leaving the ruins and reported her to the Parthian king. The king sent his soldiers to arrest her, but her father, a former soldier, took up his sword and barred their way. Ilyana and her mother were inside and overheard the soldiers' demand that Ilyana be handed over to them.
"You must flee!" her mother whispered. "Go to your Aunt Nerine. She lives in Asia Minor, near the northern coast of the Euxine Sea, in a village called
Themiscyra on the Thermodon River."
This was the first time Ilyana had ever heard of this aunt. Her parents had never spoken of any other relatives. Her mother went out and stood beside her husband and began to argue with the soldiers to buy Ilyana time to make her escape. Ilyana blessed her parents; she would miss them terribly. She quickly gathered a few possessions, including the old silver box, and climbed out a back window.
Ilyana never knew what happened to her parents. She could not stay, she knew this; it would be death if she did. She fled for her life and kept on running until she reached the Euphrates River. She bribed a boatman to take her upriver and so began for Ilyana a time of travels and trials until the day she finally reached the forests along the southeastern border of Themiscryan land.
Ilyana is nineteen years old, stands five feet, five inches tall, has black hair and brown eyes. Her fair skin has a light tan from so much traveling. She is left-handed.
Her totem animal is the white bull.
Tae'Nah athelfi arche:
20 March 2009
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