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Rhyenna
Lepidas' Archila (Blades' Mistress)
Si'Hatha (Carpenter)
Sister of Varia and Tura
Rhyenna had no idea where to point on a map if someone were to ask where she was born, but as far as she was concerned she was born a Themiscyran Amazon. She had a few vague recollections here and there from before her arrival but the very first solid memory she had was of her mother's funeral on Themiscyran Land.
"Why mommy sleeping on those woods?” a tiny amazon girl asked, tugging on the tunic of the Amazon standing next to her. The tall warrior crouched to look the her in the eye. Rhyenna noticed that she looked sad but did not know why. It was a bright sunny day after all...if only her mommy would finally wake from her nap.
"Your mommy has a very important task to do. She has to go to Artemis, the Moon Goddess.” Came the solemn reply. The warrior did not have much experience in explaining death to a toddler.
"Whose is Artemis?” The girl asked uncertainly. 'And why does mommy have to go alone? I want to go too!'
"Artemis” the warrior corrected, "is the Goddess of the Moon and our patron Goddess. When we leave this world behind, our spirits are sent to her through a sacred ritual.”
Rhyenna watched in amazement as women with painted faces formed a circle around her mother. To her shock and fear the pyre on which she was placed suddenly blazed with fire.
“Fire! The woods are on fire!” Rhyenna tugged at the warrior's arm. “Why isn't mommy getting away? I once put my hand in a fire by accident and it hurt very much...”
The warrior briefly wondered how to explain to the child that her mother would not feel the bit of the flames. “This fire is not going to hurt your mother, child. She's going to Artemis, she'll be happy there.” Then as afterthought she added “And she'll be waiting for you there. You'll see her again, when it is your time to go.”
* * * * * * *
Before her arrival to Themiscyra, Rhyenna and her mother, Migone, had been on the run for years. Her mother was captured and sold to slavers when Livia raided her original village, leaving two daughters, Varia and Tura, behind. Unlike most of her sisters, however, she was not dropped overboard when the slavers realized that they are entirely unbreakable for the sole reason that she had caught the eye of the captain of the ship.
Some months later, a heavily pregnant Migone overheard that her captor, Chalcon, promised to sell her to the prince of Thrace after her child was born but keep the child to himself. Not being able to bear either the fate of lifelong servitude or the loss of another child, she devised a plan to escape. During the darkest night of the next month she set every slave free on the ship after drugging the lone guard with a sleeping draught and slipped into the darkness.
Keenly aware that Chalcon would want to collect his valuable merchandise she fled not in the direction of the city ports but to the inner labyrinth of the city, which she would soon find out, was none other than Byzantium. Knowing that her chances of avoiding detection while pregnant were very slim she hid in the poorest slums of the city, scavenging food from leftovers and throwaways during the last months of her pregnancy.
Much to her dismay, while the slaver's ship left the port weeks before Rhyenna was born, in search of more profitable trade, she found that several men were skulking about the city with orders to find and capture her. Again, in the dead of the night, Migone slipped from the city with an infant Rhyenna strapped firmly to her back and made her way East. Fearful of Chalcon's wrath and hoping that he would search for her in Greece, assuming that she would seek the shelter of her own secluded tribe she vowed not to return until Chalcon was dead. She had no idea what had become of her other daughters but she prayed daily for their well being and was determined not to bring Chalcon down on any of her children.
* * * * * * *
Years had passed and Migone had learned that she was ill-equipped to blend into the everyday life of any community. She had issues with male authority of any kind which left her with few choices and often resulted in hastily leaving the village she happened to be at. After one such occasion she overheard some merchants in a strange new city speaking of Amazons setting up camp near the Thermodon River east of the city. On the very same day Migone and Rhyenna left for this so called Themiscyra.
* * * * * * *
It was near Cabria, a mere day of travel away from Themiscyra, that Chalcon had caught up to her again. Rhyenna was about four summers old at the time, not nearly small enough to allow Migone to flee swiftly with her. When Chalcon's men caught up to her she attacked them with the ferocity of a cornered wolf protecting her young. In the end, Migone came out victorious, defeating all five men that were dispatched to capture her but she was severely wounded.
She arrived at Themiscyra's borders on shaking legs, exhausted. Having collapsed several times under the weight, she was forced to leave all of their few possessions behind, save for a single dagger. Aided by the sheer power of her will, Migone dragged herself through the forest with a young Rhyenna in tow. It was not long before a patrolling party of Amazons were alerted to their presence. Upon their arrival Migone promptly fainted and never regained her consciousness again. Her last words to her daughter were “They're Amazons, Rhy. Don't be afraid, love, we are safe now.” The next day she died.
* * * * * * *
Upon reaching adulthood, Rhyenna was presented with her mother's belongings: a dagger with a bone handle, stolen from Chalcon's ship, her mother's leather bracers studded with bone beads and brass and the Amazon necklace that helped the border guards identify them upon their arrival. Rhyenna wears these items proudly and strives to live up to her mother's mostly imagined memory.
She's extremely talented with blades of any kind and upon reaching adulthood has assumed the position of Blades' Mistress. Her primary role is teaching specialized blade work to her sisters; but when she is not busy teaching the finesse of hacking and slashing, she's one of the tribe's more proficient carpenters.
She takes anything she does very seriously, including thinking up the occasional elaborate pranks and and even more elaborate plans to get away with them. So far she has only been caught red-handed once. She has a dry sense of humour and a very deep sense of loyalty to her Amazon tribe.
She shares her hut with Damia.
Until the present Rhyenna has no knowledge of Varia's existence.
She's approximately 5'7 with a lean muscular build, and generally keeps her long dark hair in a tight braid to avoid it getting in the way. She's 24 summers old. Her totem animal is the wolf.
Tae'Nah athelfi arche: 07 July 2006
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