Image Credits : Meiker Elequinoa Power Princess

Name: Sita (SEE tah)

Gender/Pref: Female, bi

Age: 20, 19 at Judgement

Hair: Black, very well kept naturally wooly, usually braided or shaved, styled into clever shapes, or kept so that any helmet will fit comfortably on her head

Eyes: nut-brown, wide, large and angular, with strong eyebrows

Appearance: dark tan skin with a red tint, she has a few moles and freckles; dark full lips (naturally dark) and a flat, broad nose. She typically wears the gear of a Dun Keiba foot guard as shown, but loves down time with silks and layered dresses (equitable to hindi fashion) in colorful patterns. She has a husky voice, loud when needed for guard work, and an easy, raucous laugh. She holds herself strongly but with confidence and smoothness of motion, and she is nearly 6' tall. She is muscular and fits right in with the young men of the guard, no doubt about it. She does not have any scars despite being in numerous altercations with mobs and Nexii alike, and for that she thanks the armor makers!

Family: though her family is not present at Dun Keiba, they have often visited, she has both parents, three of four grandparents, and cousins and aunties and uncles aplenty. She has three younger siblings, two sisters and a very young brother. She is also romantically attached to Vernacia

Aspirant At: Savannah Castle

Skills: Trained from a young age with the arts of physical prowess, climbing and scaling walls, racing through both forest and cobbled streets, she is adept with moving from place to place to spot where thieves, mob people, or even the rare sighting of the friendly ninja may occur. Strong in her arms, legs, and body equally, she can heft weapons as delicate as a stiletto knife, through arrows and slingshots, to swords (preferred) and even maces or hammers. She doesn't much care for shields, as she feels they will slow down any easy movement, but can wear the heavy padded and reinforced armor required to go up against Nexii in the field and still move reasonably well. She knows how to maintain all of these items, from boots that need re-lining to gloves and face wraps, cleaning swords and sharpening them, restringing bows, she doesn't fletch arrows, she leaves that to the experts in that field! But also she is very good at assessing locations for their usefulness in defenses particularly against natural enemies. That they also work against people... well that's a bonus! She has a good head on her shoulders and doesn't insult her fellow guards, always remembering their status, their name and title, and the like, and properly going through whatever motions are needed to pay respects to the High Knights and others in the area. Sita also enjoys the games that the guard play, and this is where she met up with Vernacia for the first time, as the younger woman ran a game about an invasion and castle with little figurines and dice! She's not as good at describing her character's activities, but she lets the dice do that for her.

Personality: Surprisingly easygoing for a rough and tumble guard in training, Sita has a quick smile, a bright laugh, and a compliment for any given person when she meets them. However if things are serious, she immediately adopts the demeanor of a tough castle guard, and will carry out any instruction to the letter when she knows what her duties will be. She is efficient, both quick witted and on her feet. She will want to 'get more serious' with Vernacia, as she knows she's unlikely to find a better partner among the guard of either gender, and since Vernacia's family are okay with this she feels it will eventually be important to let her own family know too...

Background: Part of a big family, filled with guards, couriers, silk weavers, thatch roof makers... you name it, her family does it. Sita's own eye was drawn toward the role of protector, when her youngest sibling was nearly crushed by a passing cart - speeding down the road with no warning? She made sure that the person driving that cart and its overworked racers were properly chastised for being careless. As she was relating this tale to the local guard, one of the Judges that had arrived asked her if she'd like a position learning how to guard. She took it immediately, she was nearly 14 so she could make her own mind up about it. (At least, that's what she told her family.)

She was placed first at their local village and given the training that any other might take, and easily mastered skills needed - quickly enough in fact that she was then sent to Dun Keiba for both further training, and assignment to their foot guard. She's spent the last four years there, and had been assessed for drak pairing in that time. Though she hasn't stood for any clutches yet, she knows she will, and has had Vernacia help her research about what kind of duties they do, and how their training might overlap with her own existing skills.

Sita has actually suggested that Vernacia run a little game here and there, for specifically figuring out those skills and needs, and has challenged herself when they roll the dice, 'how would you react if this went wrong'!

**

Sent to Savannah Castle to hopefully mind-pair, Sita explored enough to know the layout, and met enough of the local Castle folk to understand who went where. She also understood that there was only one other waiting and Judged for this nest, which felt a little weird to her. The silk garment she wore went well with the surroundings, gold and red patterns echoing the sandy ground and hills. It was hot, but any Castle guard was used to being overheated a little under their armor and gear. When the call went up for the Aspirants, she and Dennis arrived quickly.

She was excited, rather than anxious. Having lived around draks quite a while now, it was only unusual that the dam had kept her lovely draklings to herself all this time, being picky about who saw them if anyone.

Brown and green shaded draklings walked with purpose from under her wings, and the first of them was a gorgeous green who went right up to Dennis. The second was brown, a Mud, male, and light in coloration. He was very careful where he stood, how he posed, he didn't fidget, as his mother introduced him

"Buixt will be a steady and dependable companion for the one he pairs," Innui spoke, and it was in time for the drakling to arrive directly in front of Sita. He proudly lifted his pale dusty-brown muzzle and put it into her hand.

"I'm coming with you," he told her. Together they watched as the third brown and green Forest female was presented, and as if to show that someone might have missed out, she flounced before rejoining her dam.

They all, however, were headed off to the celebration and banquet! After that, it would definitely be a series of classes and training, as Veerle introduced herself as well as her strong and bright Fire Griïkisdu as their trainers. They might have a lot in common, though it did feel like Veerle wasn't much for 'playing' and more intent on 'work'.

**

That work was paying off, as within the year of training Sita and Buixt had high marks all around. Good with both flying and using their Portals, the drak could move around an area with great ease. He always seemed to know exactly where to put his paws down, just how to angle his flight to move through a Portal, and could easily hit targets with his acid spit without leaving a splash.

His confidence was obvious, but he was never overconfident, there were always going to be dangers that could only be met with the aid of others. They could rely on the Guard, as well as Knights and their Draks, and when they finally were cleared to return, they came to Dun Keiba proudly.

Everyone on the Guard gave rousing cheers for Sita, but the only voice she wanted to hear was Vernacia's. She appeared on the shoulder of her beautiful white and blue Wind drak, Zavymju. Of course they'd corresponded in their respective year away from each other, why wouldn't they? Sita had heard about the exploits of getting enough printing press time and supplies, and Vernacia had likewise been told of how sure footed and brave of a drak Sita had paired was.

They met up on one of the castle walls, when Sita was getting acquainted with her new duty and roster. The Wind was truly lovely, and Sita got the distinct impression from her empathic link that --

Buixt was about to introduce himself, but hesitated, tripped over his own paws, and wound up in a pile at the Wind's feet. Sita was mortified, he definitely was more graceful than that. But Vernacia managed to keep her own giggle to a minimum as Zavymju lifted her head and peered downward to appraise all of this.

"You sssaid he wass ssurefooted," the Wind quietly hissed at her pair.

"Shhhh," Vernacia chuckled.

"Buixt iss... merely impresssed by the lovely queen before him," the drak said, collecting himself and rising back to all fours. They were of equitable size, not much variation among the draks on Icarus after all, but they definitely held themselves differently!

Zavymju however seemed quite pleased with this development in personality as well as her new apparent title...