Description[]
Handle: Opera
Name: Shera Elwin
Age: 16
Nationality: Saldaean
Hair: Strawberry blond
Eyes: Light brown
Skin: Fair
Height: 5'3
Voice: High pitched but soft, with a heavy saldaean accent.
Other: A mole at the corner of her right eye.
Special Skills: A good dancer, graceful, nimble and deft, and a decent rider. She also knows her way around a house and has sewing as a pastime.
Knowledge Weakness: She's from a family of peasant (cultivating pepper) so she doesn't know much, but she is fond of the tales of the past.
Physical Weakness: A late bloomer : still as flat as a board but it will come with time, or so she has been told.
Personality Weakness: Very touchy on her Saldaean origin.
Personality: She can be quite stubborn when she has decided something, but she's usually meek and kind of a pacifist. Still, she can flare up when made fun of. Respectful toward elders. She's got quick whits and can learn fast. But she's really dense when she's the one implied. She's fond of beauty, therefore, she can be quite perfectionist about what she does.
Character History[]
Shera felt Saldaean from each strand of hair till the tips of her toes, but each time she left the village where everyone knew her, she immediately felt as a stranger. She lacked the tilted eyes and the dark or red hair of the typical Saldaean girl. That was because her parents (and probably their own parents before that) were Amadicians and Taraboners. And although she was raised to learn how to ride a horse or how to dance the sa'sara and other Saldaean customs, her fair hair made her a stranger to the eyes of others.
She didn't know why her parents had left their homeland situated in the borderlands of Amadicia and Tarabon, before she was born, to then set up in Saldaea. She could only assume they fled from whatever the Children of the Light had in reserve for them, because every time Whitecloaks were passing through the village, her mother would lock their home's door and get away from any windows, while her father would keep watch outside. But they never told why they had such a behaviour, and she was too respectful to ask them.
When an ageless Aes Sedai and her Warder, who spent the night at the village's inn, knocked on Shera's door, one fateful night, to ask about Shera's mother, the girl finally understood why her parents had to flee and why her mom, whom she admired, was so knowledgeable : she discovered her mom had the ability to channel the One Power. The Aes Sedai stayed at their home to discuss with Shera's mom, Lilia, for a long time. Shera was impressed in the Aes Sedai's presence and just listened to the two of them talking about "saidar", "tying off weaves" or "how to deal with the subsequent weariness". She didn't understand any of it but she learned a great deal about Lilia's past : how she nearly died because of a fever, how she was disowned by her parents who wanted to keep a clean slate before the Whitecloaks, how she fled Amadicia and met Shera's father. She also learned why they came to this lone village of Saldaea. It was because her father, Alen, was friend with the neighboring Naese family, whose son, Llewelyn, had been Shera's playmate since childhood. Alen had fought alongside Llewelyn's father during the Aiel War and kept contact with him by sending each other letters. So when Alen had asked if he could come and make a living in Saldaea, the Naese family welcomed him and the pregnant Lilia with open arms.
Before the Aes Sedai left their house, she stared at Shera for quite some time, and asked if she could perform a test on her. Shera and her parents couldn't say no to the intimidating woman, who laid a silver mark on Shera's open palm and asked the girl to focus as hard as she could on the coin, which she did with her whole mind. After some time, the Aes Sedai laid her own hand on Shera's open palm, which diverted her focus. "It's enough, she said, I now know that you can be taught." She turned toward Lilia, who was as white as a sheet. "If I were you, I would send her to the White Tower so she could learn how to channel, and so she never has to endure the same hardships as you." Lilia nodded, and the Aes Sedai slammed the door behind her, leaving the silver mark in Shera's hand.
Shera had decided to go to the White Tower on the day she turned sixteen. She had pierced a hole in the silver mark and run a leather cord throught the hole. The silver emblem of Tar Valon was now hanging down her neck. She was sad to leave her family, her homeland and also, surprisingly, Llewelyn (but she would never admit it to the boy). Nevertheless, her heart was set, and she departed for the great city of the Aes Sedai.