Kayala Ayawasi
| Kayala Ayawasi | |
|---|---|
| Kal-AL-ah 'A-ah' A-ah-WAH-see | |
| Created by | Jessie Vernham |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Aya |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Drin |
| Affiliation | The Grey Tower |
| Nationality | Kandori |
Kayala Ayawasi is a Kandori Drin of the Grey Tower.
Description
Aya is physically pretty unremarkable. She is quite short, especially for a northener, but not so short as to be a great oddity. Her build is somewhere between stocky and slender; although her bones are fine and delicate, she carried a few extra pounds so as to round out her figure. Whatever colour her hair might be naturally is unknown, because she has dyed it to a mixed orangy colour for so many years that not even she is sure of it's true shade. Her eyes are an indistinct shade of greyish blue, sometimes appearing as green depending on the light. With her rough farm clothing, wide trousers and a short coat in the fashion of Kandor, and her sun darkened complection, it is obvious that she is a girl from the country.
Her personality is not what an outsider might expect from a farm girl; despite her unassuming looks, she possesses a sharp wit, and is very outspoken in her opinions. Her manerisms and expressions bely the dim view she takes of the fate that would have awaited her if she had stayed on the farm; she has a very low opinion of women who spend their days dreaming about who they will marry and nothing more.
Biography
Kayala Ayawasi, known to her friends by the simplier moniker of "Aya," stared morosely into her mug. She had travelled here, to the grey tower, to become an Aes Sedai. It had seemed like a good plan at the time, but then, her plans always seemed likely while she was thinking of them. The fact that they inevitably seemed to fall apart never seemed to deter her from hatching another half-brained scheme.
Well, fretting wasn't going to help her, not at all. Regardless of how hopeless becoming an Aes Sedai now was, she was better off here than if she had stayed at home. Elk River, a small farming community just beyond the southern border of Kandor, held nothing for Aya. Well, that wasn't entirely true; she missed her brother dearly, but everyone had to make some sacrifices if they wanted to follow their dresms.
After a tearful goodbye, and amid much protesting from her parents, Aya had left her home at the tender age of seventeen in order to wander the wide and dangerous world alone. Certainly, a young woman travelling alone on the road faced many dangers, but none of them scared Aya like the thought of what awaited her at home. To die an old crone in her bed, with nothing left to the world but her fleeting memory in the minds of those who knew who, and even that to vanish in a few short years. After all, she had no idea what her own great grandmother's name had been; how could she expect anything less from her own descendants? Pain and death didn't frighten her; what did was the sure knowledge that if she remained at home, she would leave no true mark on the world; that her life would be effectively meaningless.
And so she had set out on her journey, a few short months ago, in the brittle northern springtime. There were only so many options open to a young woman with little money and few useable skills; she could take the life of a solitary adevnturer, a career wanderer, and make her fortune as she went. Or, she could be a gleeman, and make people happier the world over. Neither of these courses appealed to her, though; a dead transient left even fewer memories then she would have if she stayed at home; at least at home she could hope to live on through her progeny. The elimination of those two options left joining the army of Illian, for, as far as she knew, tnat was the only nation that would accept foriegners into it's army, and since she was from unclaimed land, there was no native militia for her to join.
Buy Aya didn't have much in the way of skill with weapons; her quarterstaff was her only defense, and that was hardly the weapon of a soldier. And so, that left her with only one choice as far as she saw it; to become an Aes Sedai. The idea was an obvious one to her; after all, aside from nobles and royalty, who made the bulk of more tales than Aes Sedai? AS far as she knew, the Aes Sedai accepted any young woman who could channel, regardless of station and wealth, and once a member of the Grey or White tower, that Aes Sedai was free to rise to whatever height she could.
And so, Aya had made her way to the Grey Tower. Although it was farther from her home, she chose the newer tower. Surely, a tower that allowed female Warders was much more likely to understand that Aya had no desire at all to fit the image that other women of her village strived for.
But now, now Aya's plan was shattered, by one simple fact. She couldn't channel. A farm girl had only a limited idea of what channeling even meant, but according to the Aes Sedai she had met with within the tower, she could not channel and would never be able to. Several failed weeks of study had taught her that this initial claim was true. Normally, Aya would not have given up fighting, but somehow she knew that this was not something she could ever overcome. And so, here she was, drowning her sorrows in a mug of ale, trying to figure out what to do with her life.
An idea came to her as she sat alone, pondering. She knew what she must do. Certainly she had little skill with weapons, but she was strong from years of working in the fields, and she liked to think that she was a quick study. Surely, they could teach her what she needed to know!
Aya lept from her seat and, gathering her few possesions, headed for the Tower once more. She was going to become a warder. As she headed once more down the road up to the tower, her head held high in defiance and pride, she knew that she was finally on the path to attaining her greatest dream. She would become a Warder, a step in her inevitable quest.
Some day, far in the future, every child in the world would know her name.
Career History
- Drin
