Adelais Binart -- just a fisherwoman. mostly. maybe.

– Adelais Binart –


First glance
Name: Adelais Binart (nee Kinbarra)
Nicknames/Alias: Del, on occasion, though a rare one
Age: 25
Date of Birth: 27 March, 2684
Gender: Female
Race: Human


Alliance
Profession: Fisherwoman, especially now that “wife” doesn't seem to apply as much as it has in the past
Birthplace: a small riverside community outside of Tarz, where the water is clean
Faction: Defenders of Dragons’ Cove, though to this point she's done literally nothing in support. Maybe soon, however...
Relation To Any Dragons: Adelais has no companion dragons nor any want for one, though she has no issues with the species as a whole.


Surface
Hair Colour: A dark brown that is nearly black in the winter months, but fades to a warmer ash brown once she sees more sunlight
Eye Colour: An appropriate sea green
Height: A very average 5'3”, showing she comes from very average stock
Scars/Tattoos: Her hands and lower arms are speckled with scars and callouses because of her work, but nothing too jarring and out-of-place. If you were to take off Adelais' boots, you'd also find feet rough and torn from days standing barefoot in the mud and rocks of the riverbed.
General Appearance: Adelais is very normal. She's not gorgeous by any standards, but she is a fisherwoman, after all. Her skin is permanently tanned by her work in the sun, red springing high on her cheeks underneath light freckles; her husband says this is what made him fall in love with her. Adelais has calloused and scarred hands not befitting a lady, but befitting her station. A cloth of some sort usually covers most of her hair, but on particularly warm and sticky days she removes it and shows her hair in only a bun. Her clothing is that of a normal riverside peasant, though Adelais does often push up her sleeves or pin up her skirts to have an easier time with the nets and fish.
Personality: Adelais is a very hands-on person, thanks to her lifelong work with her hands. She loves touching, feeling, and learns things much more quickly by doing. So unlike her husband, Adelais is a thinker, a planner. Symon saw an opportunity to join the DDC so he immediately took it; Adelais remained at home, because she figured that the level-headed choice. Being outwardly level-headed, however, does not mean that she has no emotion—in fact, it's much the opposite. Adelais is vocal about how she feels, but tries to not let her heart get in the way of her head. This makes her consistent, the rock of her family. In most situations she is quiet (though not soft-spoken) but friendly, and full of motherly affection. She hopes one day to have plenty of time to use that.
Strengths: To some extent, Adelais is adept at handling disappointment. She's also rather good at “playing dumb” and being just a stupid peasant as the need arises; it's easy, since she can't read or write anything but her name and makes her living catching fish, but she does know some of what's happening with the invasion. Her rationality is also a strength, because she doesn't let emotion get to her head when making a decision.
Weaknesses: Adelais is stagnating in contentment. She's contemplating changing her life, but right now, what's wrong with what she has? Rather than finding a new approach, Adelais is generally content with the old one, which can make her seem unyielding; this is also changing as she contemplates making such a big change. Finally, she refuses to let people (men, mostly) look down on her because she is a woman. She works just as hard and suffers just as much as a man! This in itself is not a weakness, but her inability to “be seen, not heard” has gotten her into trouble. Some see this viewpoint as hypocritical, since she is attached to the old ways except for this one.
Likes: Being poor (it has its advantages with regard to societal expectations), water, her husband
Dislikes: Being poor (she is still poor, after all), eating so much fish, dogs
Fears: Even though their culture is one that thoroughly understands and accepts death, Adelais is afraid of it. She’s made it this far, and it could be a war that kills her? That’s one reason she’s not run off to join the DDC—she’s safe where she is, at least for now. She doesn’t have to die. Similarly, she is afraid of this war, but also almost... excited by the prospect.
Important Possessions: Worn on a piece of leather around her neck is the ring Symon gave her at their wedding and is Adelais' most important possession.



Underneath

Father: Clais Kinbarra, a fisherman that knows the world is changing but just can’t come to terms
Mother: Melisande Kinbarra, happy to grow old and die outside of Tarz
Siblings: Six other Kinbarra children lived to adulthood, five girls and a boy. Sisters--Havisa, Mathilda, Legardis, Maysant, and Iseut--ranging in age between 15 and 30, are all (mostly) happily married, and brother Brandt is properly courting a girl (“Before things get bad,” he’s told Adelais, and she pretends not to understand.)
Other Important Family: Symon Binart, her shipwright husband of nearly 10 years. He's gone away into the hinterland to fight, far from the rivers and streams to which they're both so attached. Adelais is of a mind to follow him.
History: The Kinbarra children—seven in all living past childhood—were raised equally: equal rights, equal responsibilities, equal rewards. The family was rather liberal in this sense, but they saw it necessary. The river didn't discriminate, and more hands working meant more money to put food on the table. Adelais grew up catching and preparing fish, going into Tarz twice a week with her father and siblings to sell their catch. It was a hard life, but sometimes, the sunset reflecting the hills against the water made it all worth it.

When her third daughter was fifteen, Melisande Kinbarra began looking for the girl's future husband. It didn't take long for her to find Symon Binart, a shipwright's apprentice from just upriver. The Kinbarras  knew their girls wouldn't find husbands of wealth, but this one so acquainted with the river would do nicely. At age 21, Symon took 16-year-old Adelais as his wife and moved into a small cottage in his community. Here he could keep building ships, and she could continue to fish as she saw fit (knowing full well that the fish further down river, where her parents and 4 of her siblings still worked, was much healthier—that is just Adelais' way).

As was to be expected, about a year later Adelais fell pregnant. Unfortunately, as was also to be expected, the baby was miscarried a few months before the birth. To perhaps combat the sadness and disappointment, Symon soon looked into attending the Southern Academy to boost the small amount of magical ability that he contained. This didn't pan out, for monetary as well as other reasons, and he soon returned their village. Symon took to sailing, and continued this habit until he ran off to join the DDC.

Adelais and Symon did enjoy their life, however. To this day she will count her happiest days as some of those there with him by the river. There were hard times, certainly: two more miscarriages before the age of 20, and then one particularly difficult live birth at age 22, after which their son Pierrick lived for two months. Her natural motherly affection has gone instead to nieces and nephews, whom she spoils as best she can.

One month ago, after a long day by the water, Symon sat Adelais down and told her all he knew of the invasion. She'd heard things, whispers, but had purposefully not said anything about it. But now, Symon had said, he was going to join the resistance. He had to, because he was 29 years old and felt worthless. That night Symon held her and called her Del and in the morning he took their small boat, the one that he had built for the two of them and perhaps some children, and sailed away.

Symon always insisted that he was disappointed with how boring his life has been, not with his wife, and she knows this is true. They've been very lucky in that Adelais loves him as much now as she did 9 years ago on that cool spring day she became his wife. And perhaps this boredom is why she's seriously contemplated going after him, to leave her lovely river behind. It's a scary thought, going away from all of this that she knows so well, but what is there for her in Tarz? She has no children (yet, she always thinks) and no wealth tied to the land. By joining her husband and the DDC, perhaps Adelais can make the world remember the Binart name.


Present

Relationships: N/A yet[/color]