Willa Weaver Whitewave

Content Warning: Brief suicide mention.   A Paragon born to two Amalgams, Willa Weaver is the mother of King Leonard Whitewave Alderley. She fled Crathlia after her husband shattered Byworth, and it is widely speculated (due in part to interviews with her brother Jay Weaver) that she may have been partially at fault for her husband's breakdown. Some believe she also committed suicide; she has not been seen since then.   I will not comment on the truth or falsity of these speculations. In truth, I know no more than the average person. My personal relationship with the king does not shed any particular light on his mother, as his rememberance of her is hazy at best. If he has heard from her in the past years, he has not told me of it.  

Early Life

Birth and Childhood

Born Willa Cartwright Weaver to William and Donella Cartwright Weaver in the town of Daisy Falls, Willa was assumed to be a relatively high-scoring Amalgam like her parents. It is unknown whether she surged prior to her tenth birthday test--generally, Paragons of her power carrier concentration surge around seven or eight years of age. Her ability of pitch alteration is easier to disregard than many Paragon surges.   Willa was adopted by non-noble Paragon lawyers Hugh and Mildred Greenwater Ashbright. Not much is known about her relationship with her adoptive parents, who have refused to speak publicly on the matter. She was legally known as Willa Greenwater Ashbright until her marriage, at which point she changed her surname back to Weaver--a choice which probably would have been denied by the government if she hadn't been marrying a nobleman.  

Education

Willa Weaver was educated at the Frostgard Colbreak Institute in Lexport, a prestigious Paragon boarding school. There, she studied law among the non-noble Paragons of Lexport. Despite being Amalgam-born and thus considered behind her classmates, she graduated at the top of her class.  

Adulthood

Employment and Marriage

She ensnared Lord Daniel with pretty music and pretty words, but I think all she wanted was to finally be a real Paragon, able to do something with herself and make our parents proud. And he fell for it, I guess. To be fair to him, she was about as convincing a woman as could be. And she was something different.

— Jay Weaver, Willa's younger brother, in an interview with Crathlia Today

Housing records state that Weaver lived alone in a humble Lexport apartment from age 18 to age 20. It seems that she struggled to find employment as a lawyer; instead, she worked at several cathedrals and churches in the area as a musician. Her ability to alter the pitch of sounds ensured that the singing and playing of all who surrounded her was always perfectly in tune. In fact, she managed to attain work at the High Valley Cathedral, where most noble Paragons go to worship. It is asssumed that this is where she met Daniel Ironwood Whitewave.   She and Whitewave were married in 1267 among much murmuring from the nobility, who considered her far beneath Lord Daniel's status. They moved into a house in the foothills outside Lexport. Willa continued her church work while Lord Daniel began to push for Amalgam rights, particularly for the ability to vote in Senate elections, possibly on Willa's urging. He established her law practice, where she took on cases related to Amalgam issues.   When their first child, Leonard Weaver Whitewave, was born in 1269, they both retreated from public life temporarily. Willa was the first to return, throwing herself completely into her political work. King Leonard reports that it was Lord Daniel who was primarily at home during his young childhood.   By the time their second child, Murna, was born in 1271, Lord Daniel was rarely seen outside the house, and his wife's lawyer practice was failing, brought down by non-noble Paragons who disagreed with Willa's activism.  

Disappearance

She comes to my door, right, with the kids, and I didn't think anything of it. She was as sweet and innocent-looking as always--I thought she was going to a party or something and didn't want to hire a nanny. But she had to have known Lord Daniel was going to do something. I don't know when she started playing me like a fiddle, but I was being played that night and I didn't even know it. Imagine being married to the woman!

— Jay Weaver, interview with Crathlia Today

On New Year's Eve, 1271, a knock came at Jay Weaver's door in Daisy Falls--his sister, Willa, with both her children, Murna only three months old. "Can you keep them for the night?" she asked him, as he reported later to the police. He agreed and took Leonard (almost four years old) to play with his own children, rocking Murna to sleep himself. Nothing, to him, seemed to be wrong.   That night, Daniel Whitewave Weaver killed over a thousand people in the city of Byworth, along with himself. Meanwhile, Willa took an Ironwood hoverplane to Leutland. The pilot reports that she instructed him to return to Crathlia, that she would arrange her own transportation home. He had not yet heard of her husband's fate. She stepped off the hoverplane and was never heard from again.