Mireanda Aorelis

Mireanda was born in 1200 CE in Aorelia, the capital of Lupear, as the second child and oldest daughter of King Thameos Aorelis of Lupear. Her mother died while giving birth to her, for which her older brother and father still resent her. Her father remarried for the first time when she was four years old, but she grew up without a real mother figure, and her first stepmother died from the Fever a few years later. The second time her father remarried, his new wife was only six years older than Mireanda and soon became more of an older sister to her.

She always felt like the life she was supposed to live as a royal princess didn't quite fit her. Even at a very young age, she dreamed of learning how to fight, but her father forbade it and made sure that she couldn't secretly train. For the first seventeen years of her life, she thought that the way she lived was the only right way for a woman to exist, so she arranged herself with it as best as she could. Still, she felt she was stuck in a golden cage.

Her perception of the right way to exist was shaken up, when a group of unexpected guests arrived in Aorelia. Meeting Ionathar Angeleos, the young King of Eleonis disguised as a commoner, his sister Eleona, who is a soldier, and Zairah, a Serbaith huntress, she realized that there was more than one way of being a woman. This made her think about her life and ultimately make the decision to join the three of them on their way to Soane. Particularly Eleona was sceptical about her decision at first, but they soon started to become friends.

On the way, Ionathar began to teach her to fight with a dagger. Mireanda had felt drawn to him almost immediately after meeting him for the first time and started to develop romantic feelings for him on the road. She chose to act on her feelings but was rejected, since Ionathar was in a relationship already. At first, she felt a little resentful about it, but that did not stop her from becoming friends with him. Their adventure together turned her, Eleona, Zairah and Ionathar into a tight-knit friend group.

After reaching Angeleor, the home of Ionathar and Eleona, Mireanda asked to stay and be trained to fight by their mother, the General of the Eleonian Army. The General agreed to train her, but when an army started bearing down on Angeleor, Mireanda was sent home to Aorelia. For the first time in her life, she travelled on her own. The way home went without problems, but when she arrived home, her father was quite displeased at her appearance and the lack of accompaniment. The concept of a woman travelling alone, being able to defend herself and being independent did not fit his understanding of the world order.

Back in Aorelia, having tasted the freedom of making her own choices, she felt more trapped than ever before. She knew that her father would now want to marry her off sooner rather than later, a prospect she dreaded now more than ever. About ten days after her return to Aorelia, Ionathar arrived there once again, this time travelling as the King of Eleonis and accompanied by two Knights of his Royal Guard, one of them Luceas, the man Ionathar had rejected her for, to try to forge an alliance with her father in order to win the ongoing war.

To her and his surprise, her father offered her hand in marriage to him as part of the alliance. Mireada was tempted to tell them both to shove it, but when Ionathar asked for her agreement, she was reminded that he respected her for who she was and would never force her into being someone she was not, so she agreed. The next day, she and Ionathar got married, though their relationship was still not a simple one, since Luceas and Ionathar were still together and they would have to keep their marriage secret due to a superstition in the Eleonian Army.

Mireanda and the Captain of Ionathar's Royal Guard travelled to Angeleor, while Ionathar and Luceas continued to Aguilear to negotiate with their King. Upon their return to Angeleor, Ionathar and Luceas proposed an agreement that would allow Ionathar to have a serious relationship with both her and Luceas with both their consent. Mireanda was more than happy to agree to that deal. In the time until the second battle of Angeleor, Luceas and Mireanda grew closer.

When she realized that she was pregnant with her first child, she even confided in Luceas, asking him whether she should tell Ionathar about it before the battle. The night before the battle, they both wanted to spend the night with Ionathar and thus closed their relationship triangle. After the battle, both Mireanda and Luceas kept watch at Ionathar's bed after he had passed out from blood loss and exhaustion on the battlefield and were both equally relieved when he woke up.

In the few months of knowing Ionathar and his family and friends, Mireanda learned a lot. She learned that there are more ways to be a woman than the one she was taught from a young age, started to train to be able to fend for herself, both with words and with weapons, and came much closer to finding out who she is as her own person.

Her journey is far from over, but Mireanda now looks forward to the future rather than dreading it like she had been for the longest time. With her new-found love and freedom as Queen of Eleonis, she is now perhaps the happiest she has ever been in her life. She in no small part gives credit for that to Ionathar, Eleona, Zairah, Ionathar and Eleona's mother, and even Luceas.