Lauressa Merenda

Born in Pearlhal to Marcus Merenda, a minor imperial magistrate, educated, careful, and entirely forgettable. Her mother, Lethariel, came from a coastal lineage of elves, already in decline, and had, back in the day, moved to the capital on a last ditch diplomatic mission to bring her family back from the edge, at the city, she was quietly dismissed and married Lauressa's father shortly after; their union was registered, acknowledged and politely ignored.   Lauressa would grow up knowing where she stood in society, inside the law, but outside acceptance.   Some of her earliest childhood memories are those of listening. learning from a young age that the adults around her tended to speak freely when they forgot that she was still in the room, the few servants her family had would gossip while she was still in the room, and officials that her father had invited over lowered their voices, but never enough. Lauress, as a child, was calm, very observant, and only rarely came with demands, typically when it came to baked goods, a weakness she has even today.   Her elven lineage showed in the form of incrediable patience; she could sit for hours with a book that she was to young to understand entirely, she would sit and trace the shape of the letters, committing the cadence and rhythm of the words to memory long before she understood the words.   As she grew up, she learned how to recognise tension before voices were even raised and when silences were dangerous.   Once she reached adolescence, her father attempted to position her carefully into a useful position for her family. She was taught by language tutors, etiquette instruction, and how to appear at minor civic gatherings. It wasn't to marry her off well, but to make her useful; Lauressa didn't protest; she just watched and learned the unspoken rules that always followed the spoken ones.   Reaching early adulthood, Lauressa was known, though never loudly. Those who knew her described her as pleasant to be around, being understated and exceptionally composed. She moved through taverns and minor gatherings for minor magistrates as a soft presence, known for being an excellent listener; people tended to speak freely around her, often underestimating her engagement. From her language tutors, she learned several of the languages and dialects spoken in the Empire of Dercia.    Never having to flirt deliberately, she never needed to; her allure came not from the pursuit but from being available without being accessible, often lending an ear to someone but never progressing beyond that.     Her father died quietly, just like he had lived, Lauressa inherited the house, and just enough to avoid having to be dependent on anyone she didn't want to and not enough to draw unwanted attention. Her mother had left years earlier, returning to her people, teaching Lauressa a lesson that no one would claim her but herself. Over the years, she had declined several offers of marriage; some would have raised her to a high status, but all were declined politely and calmly, often without the admirers even realising she had refused them. Soon enough, people stopped asking.   By the time she reached her current age, she was no novice nor a recluse; she was something else, she was known, trusted, and unattached. She became an intermediary, trusted with conversations that required discretion by those involved, sometimes used to soften difficult negotiations and used as a careful presence in places where tempers could flare up without someone careful present. She never directly used her looks to manipulate others, but was not shy of making use of it did the situation required it, understanding desire intimately—but refuses to be ruled by it. Never needing to lie, being a master in omitting the truth.