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Valencia
Ve'Kyna
(Huntress)
Daughter
of Nikolaus, Niece of
Autolycus
Valencia is the niece of Autolycus, and the
younger of two children of an Athenian carpenter, Nikolaus. The
few that ever get the chance to interact with all three of them
will certainly conclude that she takes after her uncle. The truth
is, she never knew about her kinship with the self-proclaimed King
of the Thieves until she was sixteen years old. Her father, a
humble, diligent, and somewhat tight-lipped man by nature, had
been at odds with his brother ever since they were young. The two
lost touch with one another shortly after they went their separate
ways, and Nikolaus never mentioned him.
Nikolaus had made a name for himself in Athens as a carpenter, and
so there were often unfamiliar people in the shop that was also
their home. Ever since Valencia could remember, an endless slew of
faces - commissioners, patrons, apprentices, friends, neighbors,
beggars, even those involved with the government - passed by her
curious gaze. She liked watching people and thrived best in
crowds. She would wander down the street to the nearby tavern and
see passersby of all different walks of life. It was one of her
favorite hobbies. Granted, she had to avoid the overprotective
eyes of her mother, father and brother to sneak out of the house,
but she'd discovered early on, and much to her glee, that she had
an uncanny talent for sneaking around. She was a mischievous girl
and a prankster, and much to Nikolaus' mortification, customers
were often fair game. And even though the carpenter was stern with
her, he loved her too much to turn his back altogether. It also
helped that his son was growing up in his footsteps to be an
excellent carpenter, thus taking a lot of pressure off of
Valencia.
As a child, she was a daredevil and a teller of tall tales. Her
glib mannerism and sense of humor endeared some, while her
boastfulness - especially regarding her talent for pick pocketing
- offended others. At the age of thirteen, she bragged to her best
friend, in her usual brash and godless manner, that she could
steal the winged-shoes off of Hermes himself. Despite this
self-flattering exaggeration, however, Valencia's schemes
occasionally backfired due to carelessness or miscalculation.
Oftentimes, the results were comical and embarrassing, but when
she had a brush with the law at age fifteen for being caught
trying to steal the golden undergarments of a government scribe's
wife, the consequences were not so amusing.
At the time, Nikolaus had arranged for her to marry the son of a
prominent merchant. Valencia didn't care to be married at all, but
didn't think about the engagement much either, seeing as the
wedding wouldn't be for another five years or so. The boy's
father, however, called the arrangement off as soon as news of the
attempted theft reached his ears. Nikolaus was not pleased.
The next morning found Valencia on the streets with a bundle of
clothing and some stale nutbread, quite disheveled, and quite
disowned.
Several months passed, luckily, without incidence. There had, of
course, been occasional tangles with scoundrels, but between
tussles with her unruly friends, misadventures around Athens, and
the occasional bar fight, Valencia had learned to be adaptable to
her environment. What she lacked in training and expertise, she
made up for, to an extent, in the ability to think on her toes.
Surprisingly enough, she got by just fine; she made a few dinars
doing odd-end jobs around the city, borrowed some loose change
from friends, and fingersmithed the rest. Valencia knew this was
not a good long-term plan, but whatever attempts she made to get
back in touch with her family were ignored. For the first time in
her young life, she was truly worried. Even as she ate her meals
in relative comfort, she was haunted and sobered by the thought
that it was only a matter of time before fortune, like her father,
turned its back.
On her sixteenth birthday, life changed drastically for the
better. A band of musicians were playing that night in the seedy
tavern where she stayed, so the room was unusually crammed. She
was in need of some money and had stealthily maneuvered her way
into the purse of a wealthy-looking patron to find that his dinars
were all gone. Behind her, she heard a disapproving cluck, and
whirled around to find herself face to face with a
peculiar-looking mustached man. There was a knowing little gleam
in his eye as he waved his fingers to reveal a good stash of coins
in the palm of his hand. Valencia was equal parts intrigued and
impressed. They started a pleasant conversation over some mead,
and Valencia found him likeable and oddly familiar, and was
shocked when he introduced himself as none other than Autolycus,
King of the Thieves. He told her of some of his greatest heists,
and in turn, she started to tell her story to him. But as soon as
she spoke of her family, he choked on his drink and nearly spit it
half-way across the room; Nikolaus, carpenter of Athens, was his
brother.
After a jovial reunion, a long chat and much bonding, they decided
that they would travel together occasionally; Autolycus was in
need of an accomplice for his next heist, and Valencia needed to
find her place in the world.
Throughout the next three years, they traveled together off and
on, and usually for a month or two at a time. There would also be
breaks, where Valencia would occasionally go off and explore while
Autolycus pursued his own adventures. She needed her independence
as he needed his privacy, but the two quickly formed a
teacher/apprentice relationship. With the help of her uncle,
Valencia honed her skills in scouting, spying and avoidance, and
became a capable thief in her own right. Nonetheless, she was
still prone to carelessness and misjudgment. The maturity that
came with long periods of travel had toned down her brashness
somewhat. There was, however, a devilishness within her still that
would probably always remain. She was just as much of a prankster
as ever, but stealing purely for thrills had lost its appeal to
her, and a part of her wondered if she could someday put her
skills to good use.
She enjoyed adventuring with her uncle, but as time wore on, it
became clear to her that while similar at first glance, the two
were very much different. For one thing, Valencia still lacked a
certain level of skill and experience as compared to her uncle.
Autolycus' talent with the meticulous angles and calculations
of planned thefts was unsurpassed; Valencia was a brilliant
stalker. Autolycus fully embraced the worldliness of life as a
vagabond thief; Valencia was plagued by youthful ideals. Autolycus
felt complete as his own individual; Valencia yearned to connect
with others. Autolycus thrived in the utter independence of having
no solid ties; Valencia craved for something greater than the next
heist. A sense of spiritual belonging so to speak.
It was in a heist with one of her uncle's protégés that she first
heard of the Themiscyran Amazons. Seriana was her name, and
although they didn't like each other, the project called for a lot
of teamwork between the two. Part of their plan was to get
kidnapped by a warlord so that they can do things from the inside.
As was the case with some of Autolycus' plans, things went a
little awry, and they found themselves locked up in a cell for
many hours. To ease their boredom and anxiety, they started
talking. They debated over everything from the latest bards to
various politics, and naturally, they came to the subject of
personal philosophy and lifestyle. Seriana's descriptions of her
clan had Valencia entranced. As she lay that night on her cot, she
envisioned the power of the sisterhood like the roaring flame in
the circle, flickering to the rhythm of their very souls as they
danced in unified passion, and thought that perhaps the sense of
spiritual belonging she sought lay somewhere within the depths of
that forest.
Five days, one encouraging talk with Autolycus and many, many mugs
of port later, Valencia was on her way to becoming an Amazon.
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Valencia is about 5' 7'' with messy, dark brown hair and pale grey
eyes. Her face is round and her features are soft and almost
cherubic, but her strong eyebrows and the glint of mischief in her
eyes gives her the air of a devilish sprite. While she is pretty,
she has a face that looks different in different arrays. She walks
with a spring in her step, and prefers to travel on foot. Valencia bears a striking resemblance to
Watch Mistress Myla.
Valencia uses the bow and the tanto, a Japanese
long dagger. She speaks Greek and her hut mate is Kiarna.
Her totem animal is the tarantula.
Tae'Nah athelfi arche:
6 October 2008
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