Zairah Lear
Zairah Lear is a young woman of the Serbaith people, who are native to the northern Dragon's Ridge. She was born in the year 1197 CE. She learned to hunt from her father and became a member of the hunter's guild at thirteen years old. For Serbaith standards, that is uncommonly young, though not unheard of. Like all hunters, she was then allowed to add Lear, meaning something like Child of the Forest, to her name. As a hunter, she was respected and even considered something of a leader by her people.
At the age of fourteen, she lost her mother to the Fever, the first traumatic experience in her life. Still, she would have been perfectly content living the rest of her life in the Dragon's Ridge with her family, her (then) best friend Antheos and Eliorah, the woman she loved, but on her sixteenth birthday, everything changed. On that autumn day, a small force of riders from the west came to the Dragon's Ridge and completely destroyed Zairah's home village. They imprisoned the men, burned down the village and killed anyone who tried to stand in their way.
Zairah was spared only because she had been in the woods hunting with Antheos while it happened, but one of the casualties was her younger sister. Additionally, her father was one of the men who were taken prisoner. On that day, Zairah made a promise to avenge what had been done. With Antheos by her side, she tracked down the attackers, and found out their plans to overtake the country of Baitha the following spring.
They decided to travel to Lathear, the largest city in Baitha, to warn the people there and maybe even mount a defense. Once there, they soon found allies and founded a group called the Dragons. Zairah was elected their leader and was called the Black Dragon. In the following spring, Lathear was attacked and the Dragons tried to defend the city but were unsuccessful. Most of them were captured or killed in the aftermath of the battle.
Antheos and Zairah were among those who were captured. It came as quite the shock to Zairah, when Antheos willingly went over to the enemy side, an unforgivable betrayal in her eyes. Antheos walked free as part of the enemy forces, while Zairah, the leader of the rebellion, was kept alive and taken to Soane, the enemy's base in the kingdom of Urtheon, as a prisoner.
There, she experienced many different forms of abuse, including sexual assault, that left her broken and disillusioned, feeling like she had failed to keep her promise of revenge. However, after three terrible years, she made an unexpected friend, Crown Prince Milnor Soanis. He revealed the plans of Iohan Angeleos, the man who had attacked her home, to her and later helped her escape her imprisonment.
After escaping Soane, Zairah travelled south to the kingdom of Eleonis, since Milnor had asked her to go there and warn King Ionathar Angeleos about the imminent attack on his kingdom. Contrary to what she had expected, the young King listened to what she had to say and decided to take matters into his own hands. Even though she had been determined not to trust Ionathar, her captor's nephew, Zairah joined him and his sister on their quest to Soane, where they planned to prevent the attack by killing Iohan.
On their way to Soane, they passed through the Dark Forest, where they unexpectedly met what remained of the Dragons, including Eliorah, who had joined them after Lathear had fallen. Unfortunately, Antheos had been sent to find her and tracked her to the Dragon's hideout. When she saw her former best friend, who had been one of her abusers in Soane, she became so angry that she killed him on the spot.
The plan to kill Iohan unfortunately failed, leaving Ionathar to return home and prepare for war. Zairah, however, decided not to stay in Eleonis and returned to the Dragons instead. She had decided that ist was time for her to go home to the Dragon's Ridge and reconnect with what was left of her friends and family.
However, a few months later, the Dragons noticed a large force of Iohan's men marching west from Lathear. Following Zairah's suggestion, they chose to go to Eleonis and warn Ionathar. When they arrived, they found the kingdom fully prepared for an attack, with allied forces on their way, set to arrive shortly before the battle would most likely commence. Zairah fought bravely at the side of her old and new freinds.
During the battle, she was injured and had to leave the battlefield. Unsurprisingly, she was very relieved when she found out that Ionathar had killed Iohan in single combat. After the war, Ionathar offered that she could stay in Eleonis, but Zairah chose to return to the Dragon's Ridge with Eliorah, planning to live a peaceful life away from wars and politics.
Like most Serbaith, she is lean and tall, with black hair, brown eyes and brown skin. Due to her extensive practise with hunting as well as travelling and fighting in recent months, she is rather muscular.
Growing up, she wore typical Serbaith clothing, meaning a simple belted tunic, pants and boots in hues of brown and green, as well as wool or fur coats in the cold season, helping her blend into her surroundings.
However, after losing nearly everything and being forced to fight for her life and her people, she has taken to mostly wearing black and adapted some military fashions from the west of Leanor.
Due to her background as a hunter, Zairah is a very good shot with a bow and arrow. As a matter of fact, she can shoot accurately even at a relatively big range and in adverse conditions such as wind and rain.
Hand-to-hand fighting is not Zairah's strong point. She can hold her own reasonably well if she has to, but she very much prefers her targets at a reasonable distance and not trying to kill her.
Generally, Zairah would prefer if she didn't have to fight at all, but she will do whatever it takes to protect or defend her friends and family, even go to war if need be.
She does not easily forgive those who wronged her, and after years of loss, betrayal and imprisonment, she has a very hard time trusting people, but once she does trust someone, she is the most reliable friend one could ask for.
Many of her friends consider Zairah one of the strongest and bravest people they know and even see her as a hero, but she has a hard time believing it and still blames herself for being unable to save her sister and for failing to defend Lathear.
She may not have been on the front lines when the war was won, but whether she believes it or not, Zairah played a pivotal role in stopping Iohan from eventually taking over all of Leanor and helped save countless lives.
Recovering from the mental and physical trauma she endured since her home was destroyed will likely take many years and may never fully happen, but Zairah Lear is a survivor and a hero.
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