Umbra Moonfall

Name: Umbra Moonfall
Age: 21
True age: 28
Sex: Female
Personality: Umbra Moonfall is a sweet, kind and bubbly heanta, on the surface at least. Beneath lies a complex girl born a weak heanta and raised in the safety of her home. She is as much a heanta as the next, but she sees some things differently to the rest of her kind. She happily shed's blood when it suits her, but for the most part Umbra prefers to hide that part of herself. Not out of fear or shame, but because she likes to be thought of as weak. Umbra is very playful and flirty and easily engages in romantic relationships, but has never found herself attached to anyone for more than a few months. She has a tendency to act like a child, but she can be serious when necessary.

Umbra has a way of getting on people’s nerves, which of course she does for fun. If the bubbly personality and childish behavior doesn’t do it, veiled insults and light mocking are her next go too. She especially enjoys annoying Solomon, messing with his experiments or just generally getting in his way. They share a strange relationship, Umbra looking up to her brother for saving her and helping her to become stronger, while he sees her mostly as a pain in the ass and possibly his greatest magical achievement.

Weak as a child, she was pampered and protected from society by her parents' influence. She was kidnapped by her clan’s rivals, Strixa, tortured and very nearly died but for Solomon, and she did not come back whole. The incident left her scarred, both mentally and physically, but she came out much stronger because it allowed her to meet Vala. While Umbra has zero qualms with how her society functions, she does not abide by cruelty to those she sees under her protection. She is very kind to the slaves in her household, treating them like pets, and is quick to anger when her pets are threatened or harmed.

Stubborn as they come, Umbra won’t commit to something she doesn’t want to. She’s almost impossible to reason with, and is insistent on getting her own way. She’s a true princess when it comes to being demanding, and never lowers herself from anyone. Backing down when she believes she’s in the right is never an option. Likewise, she’ll never back down from a fight, even if it seems she has. Even so, Umbra finds the mindless slaughter her brethren are prone to very boring, somewhat distasteful even, and avoids unnecessary killing of innocent people. Her enemies are not so fortunate.

Umbra enjoy’s art and music. She finds it sad that her people do not value the first, while the second is not quite to her tastes. She has had countless art pieces imported from various countries, and has quite the collection of portraits in her family’s home. Some of the pieces are from Mondolin and Sindaron, but she has yet to acquire anything from the Asentari. The rest are from the freelands, some done by heanta who left Kyrias to pursue artistic goals. Umbra is a surprisingly talented painter, and some of her paintings have found their way into galleries around the freelands.

Umbra is still regarded as a weakling. While this is no longer the truth, it's something she’s chosen not to dispute. It fits with the fake image she’s created for herself, and her high status has allowed her to keep the ruse up. Umbra does not judge a book by its cover, and knows what can lie underneath a pretty face or cold demeanor. She does not hate Eldari like most of her kind do, only mistrusting because of nature. She sees humans as pets, and has trouble understanding that she can’t just own them. Asentari are unknown to her, she’s never met one as her trips outside Kyrias have always been short lived.

Likes:
Painting and art - She is a talented painter and art lover, and enjoys both the act of creating and collecting it. She has a massive collection that rivals anything in Kyrias.
Fashion - Umbra considers herself a canvas, and a good canvas should be painted well. She loves to dress nicely, and in fashions from around Ka’Lesa, favoring Fashions that show off her goldleaf and scars.
Rare Things - Skills, items, people. If they’re a rarity, she’ll be drawn to them. She may also try to collect them against their will.

Dislikes: Needless Slaughter - While Umbra is not new to killing, she never partakes in the needless slaughter of innocents, mainly because it’s unsightly.
Sentient food - She very rarely chooses to eat people because she’s very picky about her food.
Cruelty to slaves - Umbra has never seen the need to be cruel to slaves. She treats her family's slaves well, and is fond of many of them, as if they were pets.

Fears: Torture -  She suffered greatly at the hands of her parents' enemies, tortured as much for fun as to hurt her. She has lasting scars from this experience, both mentally and physically. While getting hit in combat doesn’t affect her, if she experiences great enough pain she may be driven into a state of panic.
imprisonment - Umbra would rather die then allow herself to be imprisoned by anyone again.
Loneliness - Umbra grew up isolated. She hates feeling alone, and fears spending the rest of existence that way.




height: 5’7”
weight: 119lbs
Appearance: Umbra has light grey skin. Her back and neck are laced with scars, the worst of which have been covered with a gold compound similar to her brother's tattoos. Umbra's demon matrix is set into her forehead. Her eyes are gold, and when annoyed they glow along with her demon matrix. Umbra's hair is pure white and long enough to reach her lower back when not in a braid. Her horns are dark grey, and they curl back over her head and then forward In an s shape.  She has fine delicate features and is both elegant and regarded as very beautiful even among heanta. She has a soft, lithe build with slender limbs.

clothing: Umbra loves to dress fashionably, often forgoing more practical outfits to wear dresses done after various fashions from around the world, along with high heels. One thing that can be counted on is that each dress is designed for combat, and often made with materials that can adapt to her transformations. When she’s not wearing a dress, she wears fighting leathers, usually with short sleeves.



General Fighting Tactics: Umbra adapts her fighting style on the fly using her powers to change the core elements of herself. She is neither fast or strong but can become either, often using this to catch opponents out as her transformations are rapid and allow her to adapt quickly. Umbra doesn’t really rely on weapons though she does carry some. She utilises her Goldleaf Aurilium implants to great effect though, having adapted to them being a part of her body.

Umbra is a playful fighter, rarely taking anything serious she will use idle chatter to distract or annoy them. She has no fancy long range attacks, but is deadly accurate with her Aspect of Thorns Ability. While Umbra is not trained in hand to hand, melee or ranged weapons, her body is a weapon and She has incredible instincts and natural talent that make up for her lack of training when fighting. She prefers to talk more then fight, and will only fight when forced to or is extremely bored.

Combat Stats-

Strength || Average
Speed || Average
Agility || Average
Durability || Average
Stamina || Good
Magical power || Fair

Strengths: Natural Weapons: Umbra has instinct to thank for the inherent skill she possesses when fighting with any of her natural weapons, those being the ones gained when she uses her powers, her own claws, fangs, horns, or her goldleaf talons.

Adaptability: Both in and out of combat, Umbra’s greatest strength is the ability to adapt quickly to a situation. Her mind reflects her powers, and her quick wit allows her to think her way out of dangerous situations in a pinch.

Weaknesses: Weapons: She’s not trained to use most Weapons properly. She can swing them, and understands the pointy end goes in the enemy, but in a duel against a skilled fighter, if she tries to match them with their own weapon she’s going to lose quickly.

Pain Overload: Umbra has been left scarred and damaged by a harrowing experience in her past, and when she experiences a great deal of pain, her mind has a tendency to flash back to that experience, causing panic attacks, irrationalities and potentially causing her to flee or cower. It depends on how great the pain is but a few cuts or bruises won't cause it.


Primary Equipment
Name: Goldleaf Aurilium Implants
Type: Magical Item
Description: Very similar to Solomon’s Blackleaf Aurilium tattoos, these flexible Aurilium implants have been set into Umbra’s skin using ritual magic of her brother’s design. Considered some of his best work, they provide Umbra with minor protection along her spin, across her shoulder blades and around her shoulders. They have become part of her changing along with her body as she uses her shape changing abilities. Besides being artistic, The main thing they provide is a canvas for additional enchantments to be placed on.
Enchantments:

Name: GoldLeaf Talons Type: Support Damage Category: N/A Description: 4 long gold Talon’s appear attached to the back of her hand, extending out past her fingers. These Talons can bend and flex like fingers and react independently of Umbra’s hands. They are considered a natural weapon working much like her heanta claws but with greater reach. They are as strong as Divinium. The longest is 12 inches, the shortest is 9. They vanish when Umbra is using Aspect of speed/Strength. Duration/Cooldown: N/A Name: Goldleaf Reinforcement cost: 300 Type: Defense Damage Category: N/A Description: A portion of Umbra’s body turns to gold, gaining toughness comparable to Divinium, while maintaining its mobility. The effect lasts one post, and can only affect one of her hands, forearms, feet or lower legs. Duration/Cooldown: 1 post.

Secondary Equipment
Name: Moonfall blades.
Type: Daggers
Description: A Pair of fine foot long blades elegantly crafted by the best smiths in Av’Eden. They are as much decorative pieces as they are weapons, made to suit Umbra’s fine tastes. They are more for show than anything as she can barely use them properly. They are perfectly balanced for throwing.


Nia: Nia is a small Certal with a fluffy white coat and black button nose. As Certals go, she is very friendly to Umbra, only biting her when she’s hungry. Fortunately it takes quite a few bites for Certal venom to take effect. She is a curious creature, and tends to nibble on new people, often biting those she doesn’t like. Like most Certals, she enjoys company, pets and chewing on things.


Demon Matrix Appearance: A small golden gem shaped crystal placed into her forehead. It glows gold along with her eyes when she’s annoyed.

Name: Minor Shape Changing
Type: Support
Damage Category: N/A
Description: Umbra can change minor aspects of her appearance, such as skin, hair and eye color, teeth, ears and horns. She can give herself scales like an Asentari’s, without the protection they provide, or other such markings, and change the shape of her pupil. she cannot edit her height, weight or overall facial or bone structure. Essentially she can look like any race, while also retaining her basic appearance. The Appearance shift is almost instantaneous, with her horns taking the longest to adapt to her new appearance. The changes for about a day after which she needs to redo them, and she returns to her normal form as soon as she ends the effect. The effect ends once she engages in combat.
Cooldown: 3 post

Name: Aspect of Might
Type: Support
Damage Category: N/A
Description: Umbra’s muscles bulk up and veins of gold spread across her skin. Her hands grow larger, and gold ridges grow over her knuckles. The gold Ridges are comparable to divinium. Umbra’s Strength increases by +2, and her speed decreases by -2. This effect can be maintained for up to 3 posts, and has 1 pp maintenance cost after the first post.
Cancels Aspect Of Speed.
Cooldown: 1 post.

Name: Aspect Of Speed
Type: Support
Damage Category: N/A
Description: Lines of gold spread over Umbra’s limbs, and her body becomes slightly sleeker, her arms thinner and her legs longer. Blades of bone edged with gold grow from her forearms. The blades are as strong as Divinium. Umbra’s Speed increases by +2, and her strength decreases by -2. This effect can be maintained for up to 3 posts, and has 1 pp maintenance cost after the first post.
Cancels Aspect Of Strength.
Cooldown: 1 Post.

Name: Aspect of Thorns
Type: Offense
Damage Category: Very Weak X 20
Description: Long needle-like quills roughly 1 foot in length and about as thick as an arrow, tipped with gold, grow from Umbra’s forearms. She can fire these needles individually or in a single burst, over the course of two posts.
Cooldown: 3 post cooldown after all needles are fired.


Name: Aspect of Agility
Type: Support
Damage Category: N/A
Description: Lines of gold swirl down Umbra’s legs, reaching her shins. A pair of arm greaves form from bone, edged with gold. They are thick, wedged shaped and as strong as Divinium, protecting the length of her shin. She gains a great deal of flexibility and is capable of bending into unnatural positions as her joints adapt. Her Agility increases by +2, but she has -2 durability, making her more vulnerable as long as the ability is active. Her Pain Overload comes on more easily when hurt while using this ability. This effect can be maintained for up to 3 posts, and has 1 pp maintenance cost after the first post.
Cancels aspect of Armor.
Can stack with Aspect of Strength/Speed.
Cooldown: 1 post.

Name: Aspect of Armor
Type: Defense
Damage Category: N/A
Description: Black Armored plates or Keratin, reminiscent of the protective plating of a Fenroc, spread over Umbra’s body, concentrating around her limbs, back and neck. Gold markings decorate the plating. Umbra gains an armor category of Heavy in these places, but takes a -2 to agility. She can maintain this ability for 3 posts, and it has a maintenance cost of 1pp after the first post.
Cancels aspect of Agility.
Can stack with Aspect of Strength/Speed.
Cooldown: 3 post cooldown.

Name: Aspect of Banshee
Type: Offensive
Damage Category: Average
Description: ridges of gold form across Umbra’s throat and down her back, and Umbra unleashes a sonic screech that can damage the hearing of anyone nearby for a single post, while also launching a blast of sound from her mouth that deals average damage, reaching up to ten foot in a 45 degree cone in front of her.
Cooldown: 3 post cooldown.

Name: Rapid Mutation
Type: support
Damage Category: N/A
Description: Umbra temporarily flips between a pair of her mutations for a single attack, using the sudden change to catch an opponent off guard. This does not cancel her current mutation and she goes back to it after the attack. Does not work with Aspect of the Moon/Banshee/Thorns.
Cooldown: 2 post cooldown


Transformation method: Umbra rakes her claws across her shoulders, dragging blood over the gold set into her skin.
New appearance: Umbra’s transformation is extremely subtle compared to some others. The gold embedded in her skin spreads further down her shoulders, and similar ridges of gold appear across the back of her hands, around her thighs and along the length of her shins. Her claws turn gold, and any weapon her transformations produce turn fully to gold as well.


Name: Ability Thief
Type: support
Damage Category: Varies
Description: Umbra mimics a single ability that has already been used by an ally or opponent during a fight, with the addition that the ability is replicated in gold. So if she copied a fire ability, she would produce golden flames. It costs the same amount of Pp +1 to use the copied ability, and she can only copy it once per thread.
Cooldown: 1+ the copied abilities’ cooldown.

Name: Buffed Up
Type: Support
Damage Category: N/A
Description: Umbra gives an additional +2 buff to strength, speed, or agility. The Buff cannot be applied to a stat already receiving +2 from a mutation, but can nullify the -2 to the other stat. It lasts for 2 posts.
Cooldown: 5 post cooldown.

Name: Molt
Type: Defense
Damage Category: Strong
Description: Umbra sheds a golden skin, a copy of herself that can block a single strong attack before breaking. The Copy forms around her and is left behind as she moves away, and she cannot hide inside it or she will take damage.
Cooldown: 5

Name: Aspect of the Moon
Type: Support
Damage Category: N/A
Description: Umbra’s skin turns to a moonlit blue, casting off bright blue light. She becomes cold, seeming devoid of anger expresses very little emotion. She loses her chatty nature as it becomes muted, and gains a higher tolerance to pain. If she is in her Demon Form and is hit with a great deal of pain this ability may activate in response. She gains the ability to fire rays of light blue energy from her hands, each ray dealing weak damage at range of 100ft, and can levitate up to 6 feet into the air. Once Per post She can charge a ray, shooting out a wider, more damaging blast that deals Average damage that can reach up to 50ft. Or she can split her charged ray into a barrage of 10 Very weak beams that home in on a target at 30ft. This ability lasts for 3 posts. She cannot use other abilities, and when Aspect of the Moon ends She enters fatigue state 3 immediately.  
Cancels all other Mutations.
Cooldown: Once per thread.

New Boosts: Magical power +2, stamina +2.


History:

birth
Umbra was born to Sheva and Tilurion Moonfall. Her Father, Tilurion, is the current leader of Clan Moonfall, while her Mother was a former Warrior who rose to high status in Clan Hornless before Marrying Umbra’s Father. While Tilurion’s Father never respected Sheva, it brought his clan closer with Clan Hornless and he allowed it. Umbra’s parents took control of the clan not long before Umbra’s older brother Solomon was born, and have been the respected leaders of Clan moonfall since. Umbra was born almost one hundred years after Solomon, due to a multitude of complications caused by a clan feud with Clan Strixa, in which Sheva was badly wounded and her womb damaged, a wound that took much longer to heal and made it difficult for her to conceive. Umbra was a miracle, as Sheva thought she would never have another child, but she was born frail.

Despite her frailty, her parents loved her and kept her from the world because they were wary of their peoples customs. Weakness was unforgivable, and a heanta born in her situation would normally be tossed aside to die. But between her parents and her elder brother, the family managed to keep her safe. As she grew, her parents were sure that she would become stronger, however she stayed frail. Very thin and weak, she was afraid to fight and loud noises scared her easily. She was kept isolated from the world outside, and given everything she needed to keep herself occupied. Umbra was a quiet child, but friendly. She didn’t understand the Master Slave dynamic, so she was always polite, even playful with the family slaves. She saw them as Pets, and they were less wary of her than other members of the household.

Umbra picked up painting during these years, first showing interest when a human slave formerly from Karcenak told her all about the art the free people created there. She was fascinated by it, and her parents eventually relented and acquired a few pieces for her along with the supplies and a teacher. She showed great talent but there were few people in Kyrias to appreciate her art, so she began to sell her paintings in the freelands, by proxy of course as she was never allowed to leave the house or grounds. Her parents were always happy to provide for her, to keep her safe, but her eighteenth year came and went and Umbra was soon to face Na’Kora’s trial, a task she was not strong enough to survive alone. Her parents knew this, and decided to acquire help, because failing the Trial ment enslavement or death for Umbra.

Trials

Strictly speaking, those taking the trial could choose to help each other, or kill each other, but what Umbra’s parent’s did was somewhat against the rules. They organised for Tamris Vel of clan moonfall, a son of their most ardent supporters in the clan, to take the trial early a year early alongside Umbra. In exchange for taking his trial a year early and receiving other rewards, the boy was tasked with protecting Umbra and getting her through the trial alive. It was to date the hardest thing she’d ever done, the heat of the magma chasms alone nearly flooring her. But with Tamris’ help she made it to the halfway mark, where trouble struck.

Remis Strixa’s youngest son would also take the trial at the same time as Umbra, putting her on Strixa's radar. Their clan’s feud had abated over the years, but Strixa had not let it go. Remis saw it as a perfect opportunity to reignite the feud and get revenge on Sheva and Tilurion, and ordered his son to make sure Umbra did not make it out alive. Remis’ son Ferix saw his chance, while the pair was crossing a dangerous magma flow, and attacked. He wounded Tamris, who had to pick Umbra up on his back to cart her across and couldn’t defend himself. Tamris managed to make it with Umbra, before the two got locked into a bloody fight. Ferix eventually gained the upper hand, but before he could strike Tamris down Umbra finally attacked, after working up the courage. Her claws tore across his eyes, and while he was blinded by the blood Tamris kicked him into the Magma.

The rest of the trial flew by, Tamris keeping to his word and helping Umbra to make it out the otherside alive. In doing so, she’d earned her right to stay among the Elite, though many considered her passing to be a fluke at best. Remis Strixa did not accept that his son had simply perished and knew Umbra was involved. A few weeks later, Heanta raided her home. In the fighting, Umbra tried to flee to safety but was knocked out and captured, and the attackers vanished into the night with her. She woke up in a cell chained to a table, and endured several weeks of torture, with short breaks to let her regeneration do its work before continuing. It didn’t take long to learn of Ferix’ fate.

The worst of the damage was done to her back and neck, where one of Remis’ particularly nasty sons did his best work and succeeded in leaving scars that never went away. Her captures intended on destroying her mind as much as her body, and had they held her for longer, they would have. They were punishing her for a feud they had started. However Umbra had not been abandoned, and her brother eventually found her. Solomon saw what had been done to his sister, and slaughtered two of Remis’ sons, almost killing the clan leader before reinforcements forced him to take his sister and go.

Umbra was left a wreck by her experience, scared to leave the safety of her room. Nightmares kept her from sleeping from months on end. She refused food, and wouldn’t let anyone near her barring her family. Her paintings lay untouched and unfinished. Things went on like this for several weeks, until Celaena The Hornless and her Daughter visited Moonfall Manor. While meeting Celaena was a terrifying experience for Umbra, she also met Valatrix, who had taken an interest in her. Though Vala was cold, she was nice to Umbra, and a slow friendship sparked between them. Vala visited whenever she could, helping Umbra slowly come back from what had happened to her. Eventually she convinced Umbra to spar with her, teaching her some basic self defense with her claws. Slowly she returned to normal, and began painting again. Vala introduced her to Saivene, who was quick to befriend Umbra too. Both Saivene and Vala were much stronger than Umbra but never held her weakness against her, instead encouraging her.

Eventually Umbra worked up the courage to begin her Journey, and asked Solomon for help. She wanted Solomon to give her augments like his, and he agreed. The first step was to acquire her Demon Matrix. Without it, she was vulnerable, and also not strong enough to survive the ritual he would have to perform. Acquiring her demon matrix was a task Umbra had to undertake alone, though he accompanied her as far as the forge. She ventured into the caves alone and acquired the crystal, only almost dying twice. The first time to a Magma Mauler that had decided the perfect moment to emerge from the earth was as she was crossing a narrow ledge, almost knocking her into the river of magma below. And the second time, when she almost came face to face with an Arvaern that had chased its prey into the caverns.

She eventually made it back to the forge, where she had the crystal fused with her power and placed into her skin. The ritual sapped her, but also left her feeling stronger than she’d ever been. Solomon spent the next year forcing her to learn to use her powers, which turned out to be a rare form of mutation. When he considered her strong enough, he performed a ritual of his own. He had spent his down time over the last year developing an alternative to his blackleaf Aurilium, a gold Aurilium metal that he would fuse into her skin, covering the worst of her scars. Umbra had a hand in designing the implants, wanting them to be artistic and practical at the same time.

Once prepared, Umbra let her brother set to work performing the ritual, using both her own magic and his to imbue and set the goldleaf into her skin.it started off mildly but the pain quickly became unbearable, and Solomon was forced to knock her without one of his chemicals as she began to panic. When she woke up several hours later, the job was done, and the Goldleaf had fused with her skin as her regeneration took over and healed her. Solomon gave her a few months to recover again, urging her to keep up with her training with her powers, and give her time to think about the kind of enchantments she wanted.

Umbra slowly began to develop keen instincts for fighting with the weapons at hand. While she was useless with blades and axes and hammers, she found that using her inherent weapons, her claws, was much easier. She bagan sparing daily, sometimes with Saivene, and any time she could with Vala, but mostly with the guards. She had made a marked improvement, though she was nowhere near Vala’s level. But as she used her powers, she noticed them slowly adapt to her Goldleaf. The quills produced by Aspect of Thorns were tipped with gold, while using either Aspect of Strength or speed caused gold to spread down her arms. The Goldleaf had integrated with her powers, a side effect Solomon had not expected.

After Months of sparring, she found herself proficient with her powers and claws, and had finally decided on the first of her enchantment. It took the form of a set of Talons of gold, razor sharp and deadly. They worked much like her claws and were easy for her to adapt to.

Rebirth

Feeling stronger than ever, which was an easy feat to achieve considering her life until that point, Umbra finally urged her parents to let her leave the grounds and explore the city. This opened up a new chapter in Umbra’s life. Though Umbra had suffered and grown, she knew that most heanta respected strength. They still saw Umbra as weak. The rumors of her past had spread far and to many she was a failure. Umbra let them believe she was weak, because it caused them to underestimate her. It made it easier to integrate because they didn’t see her as a threat, but a pretty frail flower that they could use for their own gains.

Unfortunately, no longer being sequestered to her home meant that Umbra was required to take part in raids. She mostly found the short trips into the freelands and Enderon boring. She didn’t understand why they were killing slaves, and didn’t engage unless she was attacked. Mostly she was ignored, too high of status to bother. A trio of heanta took a disliking to her for not partaking in the slaughter though. Umbra let them say what they wanted and simply laughed at their words, responding with jibs of her own. However, they inevitably caught her alone, attacking her away from the rest of the warband.

Intent on killing her or worse, the first one never saw the moment of his death coming, as Umbra summoned her Talons and nearly took his head clean off. Blood sprayed across the remaining participants, shocking them, and Umbra ripped them to shreds in seconds. Smiling to herself she sauntered back to camp, cleaning the blood off in the river. Their bodies were eventually found, but blame was thrown elsewhere, as no one could believe a weakling such as her was capable of it. Time passed. Raids came and went. Vala left for the freelands, leaving her with Saivene alone.

Umbra spent most of the next five years, painting and exploring Kyrias, going on raids when forced too. While exploring she came across a Certal that followed her through the mountains. She ended up feeding the little creature, earning appreciative nibbles on her hand. It continued to follow her, and she continued to feed it, and it wasn’t long before the Certal started curling up and sleeping on her. She took named the Certal Nia and took her home, or Nia let her, depending on one’s point of view. Umbra considered Joining the Sanguine dominion to get out of raids, but she wouldn’t be regarded as weak for long if she did. She spent most of her time interacting in elite society, forming connections with the more refined of her race. Her fashion sense was seen as an oddity, rarely appreciated, while her beauty drew the attention of a fair share of suitors and lovers. Completely uninterested in being a bride, she had her fun and moved on. She made sure to steer clear of the warlord’s goons, though the likes of Korroth or Knightfall had better things to do than attend parties.

Betrayal

While things were quiet for Umbra for a time, it eventually came to light that something had gone down in the freelands between Vala, an Eldari named Fayla, some mercenaries of varied sides, and Saivene. Umbra quickly learned through the grapevine that Saivene had made an attempt on Vala’s life, both recently and several years back, revealing that their friendship had been anything but. Tensions between the Warlord and Celaena the hornless were rising rapidly, and Saivene had vanished, making it impossible for Umbra to question her friend. Or former friend, because if she betrayed Vala the heanta was just as likely to betray Umbra.

As for Vala, her friendship with an Eldari was a surprise, but not one that outraged Umbra like it did others. Mostly she was concerned for her friend. She just hoped that Vala was still her friend. Not long after, Umbra was forced onto another raid. It seemed a boring Affair until Umbra ran into a knight named Rory. Intrigued, she fought him, only to be interrupted by Saivene’s elder brother and his flunkies. Rory was knocked out, and Umbra kicked up a fuss as she insisted that he belonged to her, because she’d fought him first. Things looked dire for Rory, until she found out he was a friend of Vala’s.

Approved A-5

seconded.