memory of her true, human family when she was about five or six years old.
She regains her memory when she goes through the ter'angreal as a part of
her testing to become an Accepted. In the mean time, parts of her history
that she is unaware of will be marked by * before it starts.
*Beginning of Forgotten Time
Iona was born to her merchant parents Chalinda Ordieth and Avende Atha'an.
Her mother had fiery red hair with blue eyes. She was quite short and squat,
and almost never left her home. She never made it over 5'. Avende, however,
was tall and light haired. Iona inherited his blonde hair, although her hair
is much lighter than his ever was. He was nearly 6' 9'' before he died. He
was well known in his home city of Jehannah.
Avende spent most of his life traveling, trying to bring in enough money to
keep his wife and daughter fed and happy. He absolutely adored his daughter
and always brought her trinkets from his travels. Chalinda spent her time
at home, making sure that Iona was happy and never in want of anything.
Chalinda would on occasion accompany her husband on extremely important
trading missions.
Iona spent her first five years of life in extreme comfort. Her family was
one of the richer ones in Jehannah. They owned two houses, one of them out
in the wilderness for her mother, and the other in the city itself. Chalinda
had been born and raised in the Mountains of Mist, and couldn't stay for
extremely long periods of time in the city house. So, the mother and
daughter would spend about three-quarters out of a year in the country
house, while Avende would stay in the city to do business.
She grew like a weed, learning as many survival tactics and business tips
from her parents as a toddler could. She loved music of any kind, and would
sit at her father's feet for hours on end listening him play on his flute.
She could even play some complicated rhythms on a harp by the time she was
four.
The year that Iona turned five, she and her mother were traveling to the
country house escorted by Iona's father. He had heard reports of Trollocs in
the area, and had decided to accompany them. As they were entering a stretch
of woods just outside of the Stedding Chinden, the horses began to panic,
rearing and bucking. Avende took no chances. He recognized the signs of
Trollocs in the area, and knew that there would be no time to escape. He
quickly grabbed Iona and shoved her inside of a rotting tree.
Iona could barely move inside of the tree, but her father had unwittingly
placed her inside of her fort so that she was unable to stop herself from
watching the massacre of her family and friends. As the Trollocs descended
on her waiting family, her body went completely into shock, preventing her
from even closing her eyes. They murdered all of the people, including some
of her child friends. As they ripped apart her father's body in front of her
hiding place, she finally collapsed from shock.
While she was unconscious, she had no idea how closely she had come to being
discovered. A single Trolloc had seen her move a fraction of an inch in her
tree, and crept to within a foot of her hole. However, another Trolloc
grabbed it and dragged it so that it would follow the rest of their Fist.
*End of Forgotten Time
When Iona woke up, she had no memories of her past. She could not remember
what she had been doing before she woke up, and she felt no bonds to the
slain people around her. She only knew her name, Ionamera E'Liana. However,
she smelt the Trollocs and heard them nearby, making a camp for the night.
She tensed in fear and squirmed out of her tree hole, not even trying to
cover up the noise of her escape.
One of the Trollocs, a particularly vicious one named Frukar, heard her, and
walked silently towards their earlier battle. As he entered the small
clearing, Iona broke free of her prison and took off like a shot. He howled
and gave chase, following her through the undergrowth. However, luck was not
with the hapless Trolloc today. Iona's path of escape headed directly
towards an Ogier, who was just returning from a visit to the city.
Jushai, the aforementioned Ogier, heard a huge crashing and growling coming
from the bushes. She took her staff and waited, ready to defend herself if
necessary. However, when she saw Iona, she did not attack the child. She
waited instead for whatever was terrorizing the girl. When Frukar came
crashing through the trees, she hit him soundly over the head, effectively
crushing his skull and killing him.
Trollocs in the area! I have to let the Elders know about this. But what
about the little one? She turned then to the small girl, and held out her
hand as if she were a wild animal. "Come here, little one. I am not going to
hurt you." She stood there with her hand outstretched, softly whistling a
child's play tune, the sort of song that could put a child into a trance.
Iona stepped hesitantly forward, and put her tiny hand into the Ogier's
larger and hairier grip. Jushai smiled and picked her up and held her
against her shoulder, holding her as if she were a baby. Iona immediately
fell asleep against the warm body, blissfully away from the real world.
Jushai patted her gently and set off again, using a pace that would get her
to the stedding quickly, but also not jostle the girl.
When Iona woke up, she found herself an adopted member of the Stedding
Chinden. Jushai had met with the Elders to discuss her presence and they had
agreed to allow Jushai to care for her. Jushai had recently lost a child to
Trollocs, and felt that she was being given a second chance to raise a
child. So, she raised Iona as if she were just a smaller Ogier. Iona dressed
as they did, learned to speak as her fellow residents did, and also learned
everything an Ogier child was expected to learn.
Except the Songs. Ionamera, being human, was not allowed to learn these
songs. This perhaps was the only difference in her education than her age
mates. She made up for this lack by following her adoptive mother and
siblings around, asking them questions about everything. They didn't mind
her curiosity, and answered as many of them as they could. However, Iona
wasn't a perfect child. She had a habit of following any Ogier who was going
to sing to help the trees around until they finally did the deed. In this
way, she learned tiny snippets of the songs.
Iona met many people who came to the stedding who came to do business and
such. She could not speak to them, however, and couldn't understand their
gibberish. So her foster mother decided to teach her common speech. However,
she did not teach Iona to write in it. This was most likely because Jushai
thought that her strange little child would never leave the stedding.
Iona spent another eleven years at the stedding, until late in spring on her
sixteenth year of living. She was being allowed to follow her mother outside
of the stedding to a tiny mountian village where their trees were suddenly
dying off at an alarming rate.
"Jushai, what's wrong with the trees? Didn't Kila and Frunde already heal
them?"
"Yes, but this time it's a new infection. They probably tried using their
awful fertilizer again." Jushai continued walking through the path, Iona
trailing behind, jumping from branch to branch like an oversized squirrel.
"I hope you fix them for good this time. But I'm glad to be able to go out
into the outside world."
Jushai only smiled. She had known of her daughter's restlessness since Iona
had reached puberty. Although she loved her odd daughter, she knew that at
some point, she might have to allow her to go out into the world. She
stopped when she heard that Iona had stopped moving.
"Iona, what is the matter? We've only just left the stedding."
Iona had frozen on the tree she was in. "I do not know, mother. I felt.
something. It felt like someone poured water all over me."
Jushai shook her head and said, "There is something different in the air
here. That is probably what you were feeling." However, a tiny spark of
worry had planted itself in her breast. She had known there was something
strange about the child since she had found her. Maybe she can channel? That
might be. No, Iona is not an Aes Sedai. She continued walking towards her
destination, Iona following behind her.
When they reached the village, it only took a few hours for Jushai to heal
the trees. When she was finished, she looked around her, expecting to find
Iona in the trance-like state she went into upon hearing Ogier song.
However, Iona was nowhere to be found. When Jushai asked around, she found
that she had gone to visit a sick child.
Jushai walked into the tiny house, barely making it past the doorframe.
"Iona, what-" But she was cut off by the sick child's mother, who whispered
in an undertone, "Please be quiet, honored Ogier. Your. daughter is healing
the poor little thing. She has had a fever since last year, and she is
slowly dying."
Jushai moved her head up and saw Iona in a sitting position near the bed. A
tiny, frail looking girl was lying in the bed. Jushai was suddenly struck by
how much the sick girl looked like Iona had when she had found her. Sores
covered her body, some of them bleeding blood and pus. But, as the Ogier and
mother watched in amazement, they slowly disappeared, sinking back into the
skin.
When the last one had disappeared, Iona let go of the child's hand and
slowly sunk to the floor, fast asleep. Jushai squeezed her way past the
astounded woman and gently picked her daughter up. "Pardon me, I must be
going back to my stedding."
"But what about your payment?" The woman looked confused.
"Please send it along with the next Ogier that visits here to heal." Jushai
strode out of the house and towards her home, trying not to show any
emotion.
"Mmmmmmm." Iona stretched, warm and safe. She was back at home, in her bed
next to Jushai's. She suddenly woke up all the way, remembering about what
happened. She had heard a mother lamenting about her sick child, and had
gone to try and help her. With a rush of panic, she realized she couldn't
remember what had happened between then and when she had woken up. She flew
out of bed, and almost charged out of the room before she realized that she
wasn't wearing anything.
A few minutes later, she stalked out of the room and found Jushai waiting
for her. "Jushai, what happened?"
She looked as if she was going to cry. Iona was taken aback for a second.
"Momma, what's wrong? I didn't disturb you or anything, did-" She found
herself enveloped in one of the bone crushing hugs she had received so often
from her siblings, but never from her mother. "Momma," she squeaked, still
hanging almost a foot off the ground, "what's wrong?"
Jushai placed her on the ground and wiped away most of her tears. "Ionamera,
I want you to listen to me closely. You are going to have to leave me for a
time to receive training."
"Training? What? What do you mean?" She was really frightened now. "I don't
need any training, momma. You have trained me more than enough!"
Jushai shook her head. Why did her little one have to make it so difficult
for her? "Iona, we have told you many stories about the Aes Sedai. You know
all about their powers, and how they can channel it through their bodies."
Iona nodded warily. "You have the same ability. If you don't go and have
training for it, you will die."
Iona was silent for a few moments, before she said unhappily, "Do I have
to?"
"Iona, if you don't go willingly, I will make you as your mother. Oh,
treeling," she cried, and enveloped Iona in another, gentler hug, "Do you
really think I want to let you go?" Iona shook her head, crying as well.
A few short days later, Iona was riding on the back of a farmer's wagon,
waving a furious good bye to her family and friends, crying freely. As they
disappeared around a bend in the path, the farmer asked curiously, "Do you
know those Ogier?"
Iona smiled brilliantly, her violet eyes twinkling in the bright sunlight.
"They are my people and family."
And so began Iona's life as a novice at the White Tower.