Atrianna - my protagonist

Atrianna is a village girl in her late teens. She has dark wavy hair, that falls to about the bottom of her shoulder blades. She often wears her hair in a single braid, but not always. She also wears it down loose, or with a section tied back (a half-pony, with thin braids running to the back of her head). Her face is soft, and when she laughs you can see her dimples at the corners of her mouth. She almost never blushes, but when she does, she has very good reason to (ie: greatly embarrassed or flattered, awkward situation, etc). Her nose is a bit on the smallish side, but not tiny. All in all, an average face but not plain. Her brown eyes are flecked with gold, and they sparkle when she laughs or when she's up to something. She loves adventure, and her curiosity often gets the better of her good sense. Always up for a challenge, the tedium of village life tends to bore her, even though it's all she has ever known.

Atrianna's family is small. Her father and mother (Ca'el and Meinwen) and herself make up the whole family. No grandparents or relatives in town. Ca'el came with his new bride to Dörset almost 20 years previous to the start of this story. They were fleeing the ravages of war and anarchy in the larger cities. He came from Nor-Holst, near the coast, originally. Meinwen was from a nearby town. She had been in town with her father when she met Ca'el in his father's bookshop. Meinwen loved to read, but rarely got the chance to see new books. She read the few volumes on her family's shelves countless times – The Hystorie of Amiran Civilization, Tales of Narthazell Forest, and other histories and instructional books. Seeing shelves upon shelves of new, thick books had mesmerized her. As had the golden-brown eyes of the shopkeeper's son, who had been hiding amongst the shelves and sneaking peeks at the gorgeous farmer's daughter who had wandered into his father's shop. They were married soon after. When Galdred was killed and war destroyed the peace of the country, the newlyweds fled to the seclusion of the mountains. Ca'el had always lived in a large city, and it took him a while to adjust to village life. Meinwen, however, having grown up on a farm in a small community, felt at home in Dörset. Nor-Holst was destroyed in the war; neither Meinwen nor Ca'el ever knew the fate of their parents/families.

Meinwen's mother (R'hira) was never really known. She was Galdred's daughter. When rumors of war spread, Galdred's worry for his people and his family led him to send R'hira into hiding. He sent her to the Theudal Mountains for her protection, knowing that war would touch that secluded area last. R'hira was beautiful. She appears as the Widow in Atrianna's dreams of the lake. Atrianna will later learn that the woman in her visionary dreams is in fact her grandmother, and thus she (Atrianna) is royalty. This may be brought to light by a sage or a historian, or perhaps by a vision of Atrianna's. This will refute any claims by Malacant or anyone else that she has no right to rule.