Obituary: Killed tragically when an out of control team of horses wrecked a statue. She pushed two others out of the way - including the pregnant wife of the High Lord of Thrax - at the cost of her own life.

Description:     Dark auburn hair would fall in waves about Elara's oval face if it weren't done up in a crown braid about her head. It also indicates that her hair is long and that, perhaps giving the coils of braid, she has never cut her hair. Her skin is a golden tan color telling of time spent in the sun. Thick lashes and dark brows frame piercing blue eyes the color of the sky. Full lips are often thinned in a scowl, but turn beautiful during a rare smile.
    She is tall and lithe, her movements graceful and instinctively quiet. Easily eye-level with most men she stands about 6'1". She is more willowy than athletic with a soft hourglass figure.

Personality: Elara was one a warm, smiling, and jovial woman. But death and loss and betrayal have turned her grim, remote, and some would say even cold or cruel. The loss of two husbands in her short life has left her bitter. She hides her grief behind a cold demeanor. Occasionally the hard mask slips and a glimmer of the bright and beautiful soul can be seen.

Background: Life for Elara has been full of loss and pain. Born the bastard child of a minor nobleman of House Thrax, she was quickly given up by her prodigal mother. Elara does not know much about her birth mother, just that she was formerly a Northern Shav and an entertainer in Port Stormbreak.

Though she was given up by her mother as a babe, Elara was not raised by her father, Baron Dorian Helios, the Baron of Helion Rock. Instead he 'fostered' her with a Kennex noble and his wife, an old ally of her father's from the Tyde Rebellion days. The couple's family being quite huge, they were nowhere in line for inheritance nor did they have a need, or want, for children. Baron Dorian was childless besides her, and with Thrax succession at the time precluding women from rule, there was concern that if he fully legitimized her, that she would be used by another house to try to take Helion Rock after his death.

Raised as more of a nuisance than a wanted child, Elara quickly learned the art of being silent. The girl had a keen mind and enjoyed reading. And since it kept her out of their hair they encouraged it. She also had a talented gift for embroidery. And that was a thing her foster mother and she bonded, though slightly, over.

At the age of 17 her father arranged a marriage to a much older Kennex man out in the Mourning Isles, both to get her far from any succession issues and to stifle criticism of him by the Faith that made it extremely difficult for the man to rule when he failed in his responsibilities as a father. The wedding was on her birthday, the day she turned 18, and she tried to be happy. They left for his holdings in the Mourning Isles the morning after.

Not ten months later she had her first child. And her first loss. The baby girl was born blue and still. Elara, however, managed quite well despite having few people to confide in on the remote holding. Unfortunately this would not change much over the next few years. Their next child survived their first year, a boy, who was named Erik, till a horrid fever took him.

It would have been soul-crushing to many, but Elara held up strong. Never seeming to break even though she lost five children total, most in their first year of life, during her marriage. The most recent loss, two years ago, was a miscarriage at five months when someone poisoned both her and her husband. Her husband perished and she suffered for several months the effects of the lingering poison, but eventually recovered. Widowed as she was and free of needing to stay in the Mourning Isles she returned to Port Stormbreak and the closest thing to family she had, the Kennex.

Yet with the approaching horrors and the problems at sea she has, with others of the house, retreated to the safety of Arx. While it is not her first visit to the city, it has been some time. Elara has found herself to be of use to her house using her talents with needle and thread.

Relationship Summary

Ally:

Halsim - He has helped me in my scholarly pursuits.

Friend:

Alban - We really need to work on your wardrobe.

Ianna - Oh sweet Ianna, the fun times we have.

Ford - Lord Kennex has been kind and helpful in adjusting to life in Arx.

Niklas - My one childhood friend. He left like the rest.