Rive

Rive is aloof, sometimes cold to those around her... she has secrets, and she despises anyone getting close enough to know them. In fact, the only person she's ever let close (beyond Lyolath, that is) is Sindal, and that was more because the boy reminded her so much of herself in a strange way. Though she tries to hide it behind her aloofness, her natural Aes Sidhe nature often shines through, especially when she's angered.

Her anger is a cold thing, cold enough to freeze the air about her at times (which happens if she forgets to lock down her Wild Magic), and her ire, once gained, is nearly impossible to lose. She often takes a long view, much longer than the humans around her, and finds the short-sightedness of mortals to be frustrating at best, and angering at worst. Rive has plans and motivations all her own, which can be incomprehensible to others around her, and which she refuses to enlighten others about.

Exactly what she was doing in the real world, much less trying to fit herself into human society, is an unknown, and she'll never speak of it with others.

Rive was always a bit of an outcast at school... the one who never dressed in the 'cool' clothes, or had the latest accessories, or anything. The thing that no one realized, because she guarded the secret with her life, was that her father was dead, her mother practically a walking zombie. She freelanced on the internet as a webdesigner and artist, earning enough (barely) to keep herself and her mother in food.

A close friend of the family, Tarin Le'Ranu, paid for the major things... the bills, the schooling, things like that. Rive hated the charity, but accepted it without complaining... there was no way she could get by on her own, not at her declared age.

Rive held many other secrets though, like the fact that she could see auras, lines of power, things like that. Like the fact that she wasn't human, despite her appearance. Like the fact that she didn't even come from the same world, but from the Otherworld of the Aes Sidhe. She keeps a glamour up about herself at all times, to hide her distinctive features from the unbelieving world.

Because distinctive she is. Without the glamour, her hair is a brilliant fiery red, her eyes a crystalline green, her skin a bright silver, with traceries of green vines covering her limbs, growing more pronounced with every year she lives away from the Otherworld . Eventually, the traceries will cover her entire body, and she'll be drawn back into the Otherworld, permanently, leaving nothing but an empty shell and a tiny sapling to mark her passing. (Though being bonded to Lyolath seems to have slowed the growth substantially - so much so, that Rive is certain that her remaining time away from the Otherworld is now measured in Lyolath's life, not years, and that only when Lyolath dies will she be drawn back to the Otherworld.) Her ears are delicate - not the stereotypical long pointed ears of elves, but thin, graceful shells that are swept back along her skull, as opposed to sticking out. Her teeth are sharper, and gleam a bright silver in the light.

It came as a surprise one day, when she walked into Tarin's house and saw the strange boy sitting curled in a sofa, drawing pad out in front of him, sketching. When she went to investigate, she was amused to see that the boy was drawing dragons... boy would he get a surprise when Tarin's yearly visitor came around!

Over the weeks, she and the boy, Sindal, grew close. Two outcasts with daydreams that they shared and embellished. She did have a bit of a start when Sindal drew her, and added the traceries of vines in, saying that, "It just seemed right." She resolved to watch him closely after that.

It was during that watching that Tarin's friend showed up again, the dragon-rider searching Sindal, then turning around and searching her as well!