Kiera
Handle: Avalonshroud aka Gaea Sedai
Character Name: Kiera
Email: gaea5@hotmail.com
Character Age: 18
Gender: Female
Division: Freelanders
Physical Description: Average height (5′5″), dark hair, brown almost black eyes, 135 lbs.
Place of birth/raising: small farming town in Andor on the border of Murandy
Character history: Kiera has had a hard life. Her father was killed by a run away horse when she was 6. Her mother, unable to support her family on her own, took up with another man shortly after. Within a year, she had married him. He was one of the wealthy members of town, and well-respected. Everyone thought he was doing such a good thing, taking in the poor widow and her small children. No one really thought anything of the way he doted on his new step-daughter, except to think how good of a man he was for it. A few months after the wedding, the abuse started.
It started out innocuous enough, him wanting to help her get dressed, help with her bath. The attention made her uncomfortable, but her mother insisted he was just trying to be a good father for his new daughter. Soon, the cuddling during bedtime story took a darker turn. Tickling no longer was fun. She didn’t like where his hands tended to go when they wrestled. When she tried to tell her mother, her mother just waved it off, telling her that she was being too sensitive, and that she needed to behave for her new daddy. Kiera came to hate this man that had suddenly become her “father.”
Years passed, the abuse escalating with the passage of time, but no one would listen to her. They would just tell her she was being ungrateful, that this man was her father now, and what a good and kind man he was for taking her and her mother in. She learned to keep her mouth shut after her mother struck her across the face when Kiera tried to tell her what went on during “story hour.” Her mother screamed at her that he took care of them and loved them, and how dare she say such awful things about him.
She took to trying to stay close to her mother. He never did anything when she was there. But he would send her mother to the market, making Kiera stay back with him. This was when he developed a new game ..Hide and Seek he called it. Kiera once saw a cat stalking a mouse, playing with it before killing it, and that’s what she felt like on those afternoons when her mother was gone. He called it Hide and Seek. She called it Cat and Mouse.
Six years into the marriage, her mother became pregnant again. As she grew larger, the abuse at night got worse. Kiera thought she would loose her mind. Then the one joy Kiera had came into being. Her sister, Aubrey. Daddy was elated. After Mother was healed enough, a lull came for Kiera. She spent that time taking care of Aubrey. It was a marvel to her, watching her sister grow. She laughed and played for the first time since she was 6.
A few months after Aubrey’s birth, Daddy came to her room again for “story time.” She protested that she was too old for story time now, but he just looked at Mother with that “I’m just trying to be a good father” look, and Mother told her to stop being ungrateful. He was just trying to show that he still loved her and that Aubrey hadn’t replaced her.
Later that night, she crept into Aubrey’s room and held her baby sister’s hand. “Don’t worry, little Aubrey. I’ll protect you. I won’t let Daddy hurt you too.” She whispered and fell asleep crying. Now, little Aubrey is 6, and Daddy is offering to read her a story. Kiera insists on being there. She never lets her little sister alone with Daddy, and she can tell that Daddy is getting angry with her for it. She doesn’t care. He won’t do to Aubrey what he did to her. She’d kill him first.
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