Aneka Windweaver Tristal was born on the 78th of Vhalar on the Arc of 700 along with her twin brother Phobos Windweaver Tristal. Their mother left them as soon as she was able, leaving Aneeka and Phobos alone to be raised by her father in the city of Rharne, luckily for her her father had friends in the city and made enough gold for a caretaker every now and again.
Her childhood was spent near or around the Earth Quarter, even though she lived in the Sky quarter, living her life as much as she could. She was the type to trick and lie and play jokes on people from tourists to shop keepers and even the city guard from time to time. Her father was rarely ever around to take care of them, and when he was, he was usually too tired to do anything, and he could never keep up with Neeka's boundless energy. Neeka and her brother were essentially raised by friends of their father or caretakers.
Garland spent all he earned on his children, the best tutors he could afford, the best clothes, anything and everything they wanted. Despite all this, Neeka never really got spoiled, she never wanted anything except to have fun. Her brother on the other hand felt alone and isolated, taking to the books and tutors their father got for them.
Despite their total opposite personalities the twins were inseparable when they were together. She would run around and he would trail behind her, and when Phobos was studying or with the tutors she'd be there either asleep or not paying attention. They loved each other quite dearly during this time and they always had each others' back.
Garland eventually married someone, a half-biqaj woman with a daughter. Her name was Elin and her daughter's name was Ilia, they loved each other deeply and Garland found himself smitten. Aneka quickly found herself enjoying her new mother, never really knowing what she was missing by not having one before, although she didn't like the fact she was no longer the eldest child, she quickly grew to love Ilia as her own sister, especially since Ilia loved music and Aneka loved listening to her play.
Garland saw that Neeka really didn't have a direction in her life, as happy as she was she didn't have any real... goal or applicable skill unlike Ilia and Phobos, Aneka was in a sense lazy, never really changing from her younger years, so he decided to take her to the Lighting Dome. The cheers, the brawls, the fights and the people entertained the young Neeka, but nothing really jumped out at her. Garland spent more time trying to find Aneka a skill or hobby, from the blacksmith to see if she would find working metal to be her calling, she found it fun, but she didn't take it seriously to musical instruments which she was actually quite terrible at.
Garland then took Aneka to the School of Movement and Music, Aneka had agility and form, neither the patience or the willingness to dance. The days went on, Garland going from one place or another trying to find Aneka a skill or craft which she would stick to, unbeknownst to Garland all Aneka wanted was to spend time with her father and she was getting her wish, while Phobos was stuck at home, his path already set as Garland had more tutors for him to learn from, Phobos unlike his sister had a drive to learn and grow, he even went out of his way to find someone to teach him magic.
One night, when Garland and Aneka were walking home from the Dust Quarter a figure appeared, flaming red hair briefly showed under the dark cloak, twin daggers erupted out from the figure's hands and attacked Garland in a rush. Garland pushed Aneka off to the side and took a blade to the eye and another deep into his arm, fire flickered from the blade and rushed towards the wounds, burning Garland's face and arm.
Garland pushed the assailant back, pushing through the pain and drawing his sword. There was only one thing in Garland's mind at this point, and that was to protect the little girl, his daughter, that was hiding by the side of the road. Neeka watched in horror and awe, Garland didn't have grace or beauty in his form of fighting, it was wild, but deliberate, no wasted movement as the fight went on, always positioning himself between this person and Aneka, she was paralyzed with fear, but could not look away. The fight felt like it lasted for breaks but in reality only lasted a few bits.
The hooded assailant saw Aneka by the road and knew that any bit now an army of knights were going to surround him, they didn't expect Garland to be much of a fight but they were clearly mistaken, they thought that if they couldn't kill their target, the least they could do was to capture or kill his daughter. They broke off from Garland and rushed to attack Aneka.
Time seemed to slow down for Aneka, she saw a glint of red in their eyes as they brought the dagger down on Aneka's prone and hiding body. She covered her eyes and waited for the end.
It never came.
Instead she opened her eyes to a nightmare.
Garland was standing between them, daggers deep in his neck, blood pooling in his mouth as he grinned defiantly, and with a last burst struck the assassin, cutting of their hand. The wound burned and cauterized itself, slowly but effectively. Their job was done and had no time to kill the brat, they could hear the armored footsteps of the Lightning Knights.
Aneka was too focused on her father's dying corpse right in front of her. She called out to him, tears poured freely from her eyes, she screamed trying to wake Garland up, trying to shake him awake, but there was nothing.
It was years since that happened, time had gone on, but Garland did leave a passing gift, Elin was pregnant with another child. Elin was struck with grief for her lost, she had lost her will to live. Elin didn't survive the child's birth, and Ilu was born weak and sickly because of this. The broken family stayed with the Thunder Priests at least until Ilia had enough Nels saved up to buy a home.
Phobos buried himself in his studies, he grew up resenting Garland for leaving them, all he saw was a negligent father that used his money to win the favor of his children, using his work to avoid actually taking care of them. He continued with his studies, becoming a merchant's assistant, learning how to handle money and trade, and secretly learned about magic. This drove a wedge between the siblings, she hated how Phobos disregards and hates their father for dying.
For Ilia, she let her music carry her heart ache and she also worked as a musician and a tavern worker, working twice as hard to support her siblings.
Ilu was sickly but a kind priestess took her in, giving her the medical care she needed, Ilu devoted her life to Ilaren and joined as a Novitiate when she was able.
That left Aneka, she was filled with a deep sense of regret and pain for the longest time. She stopped her pranks, she stopped smiling and she was never found anywhere outside of the Thunder Den. She fought and trained there, honing her skills as best she could until she could join the knights proper, she avoided joining the squires, she didn't think she was ready, she viewed herself weak. This was less training and more venting out her own frustration.
She slowly started becoming old self again, but her anger and rage was there, her own self hate. It affected her deeply in her core, every broken dummy, every chipped sword, every scar, cut or bruise healed her emotionally. She broke out of her emotional weakness eventually, her smile came back, but she wasn't the care free little girl anymore, she planted her feet and grit her teeth just like her father, taking in all the bad and never breaking down.
Ilia may have been the breadwinner, but Aneka became the backbone of their family. She worked hard, helping Ilia with her job serving at taverns, but whenever anyone got a bit too "touchy" or rude to either of them, they had another thing coming. Aneka was a raw brawler like her father, rather than moving fast she rather hits hard and takes harder.
Eventually she swallowed her fear and decided to try and join the Lighting Knights as a squire.
Starter Quest
Now that you’ve become a squire, well, you’re going to be a big deal. Or you think you will be. And you’re probably wondering if from whatever place he’s watching, your father might be watching. On the thought, you’re reminded of the not too distant events of the past involving those peculiar burning people that were much the same as the man who’d attacked you and killed your father that faithful night.
But if they were similar - are they connected? Were they involved? It’s all speculation, for now. But it requires some looking into and now you’re the position to be part of just that. So now you can do it - propose a formal investigation in finding some connection, if any, to your own tragedy and what this means on a grand scale. Will you do it, or would you rather put your head down for a little while?
NPCS
