Tiershala Pehnsief
| Tiershala Pehnsief | |
|---|---|
| TEER-shah-la pen-SEEF | |
| Created by | Elizabeth Halvorsen |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation |
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| Affiliation |
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| Nationality | Domani |
| Attributes | |
| Talents |
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| Weapon Skills |
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| OP Strength | 6.6 |
| Affinities | Water, Spirit, Air, Earth, Fire |
Tiershala Pehnsief is a Domani Oathsworn Blue Aes Sedai of the Grey Tower.
Description
Tiershala is short for a woman from Arad Doman, and rather more plump than is the fashion there. Her dark brown hair hangs in shoulder-length curls that seem to move of their own accord when she speaks, and her coppery skin is sun-dark from all the time she spends traveling. As part of the Blue Ajah, she travels often and far, most of her business unknown to anyone but herself. Though Shala's true, secret cause is to serve the Great Lord of the Dark, those around her usually assume it is to end world hunger--beginning with them. Her motherly demeanor and plump physique lead most people to trust in her a good deal more than is good for them, and they occasionally even live just long enough to regret it.
Biography
Bittersweet? I see the bitter plainly, but where is the sweet in this? The Creator and his flaming Light have abandoned us.
Tiershala's thoughts, at least, held no sweetness as she stood beside her father's grave. Her mother was determinedly grateful that Genoe's life had been spared by the fire, but a two years' younger brother was no consolation at all against the loss of the warehouse complex and Shala's beloved Papa. At fourteen, she was firmly ensconced in Mama's trading business and adept with the cosmetic powders, unguents, and rabbit-fur brushes common among women in Arad Doman. Despite an overly plump figure--Papa had always stubbornly insisted that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen--dresses, too, were of great interest to Shala, and she despised the severe white silk she wore now in proper mourning.
Foolish, anyway, to spend money on funeral attire when our livelihood still smolders. We'll have to turn around and sell these clothes in a month, at the most.
The taste of ash and smoke filled Tiershala's mouth, acrid and dry, and she cried as much for the loss of her own life, as it had been, as for Papa's. It was going to be a very long day.
Six months proved Tiershala right, and she took a grim, perverted satisfaction at the knowledge. The whitest clothing any of them owned was unbleached wool, lumpy and scratchy. She did not recall the last time a spice had crossed her lips--spices, after all, were too valuable to keep for their own use, and so they ate bland roots and plain bread, or a rabbit when Genoe got lucky with his pitiful snares. The tall, narrow house in Bandar Eban was gone. All the furniture was gone. All but a very few of the fine gowns were gone, though Shala was sure she did not know who would ever fit in hers. The carriage had been traded for a wagon, and the matched Tairen team for a mismatched pair of Dhurron draft horses. Even Papa's razor, a gift from Mama on their tenth anniversary, had gone to pay for cargo to fill the wagon.
"I've done it!" Mama's face was alight as she returned to the wagon. "I've sold the lot. We'll stay in an inn tonight!"
A dutiful smile decorated Shala's lips, much like the ointments that used to paint her mother's. Mama had long since run out of makeup, and there was no money left to buy more. Shala's lacquered box was still well-stocked, but Mama did not know it. In any case, Shala's smile was all the camouflage she needed to fool her fool of a mother just now. The woman had run the family business so well, when Papa was alive, but the disastrous fire seemed to have claimed all of her foresight and business acumen along with the rest. The three of them would stay in an inn tonight, and eat a fine dinner. Mama would have a bottle of wine for the evening, and in another week, the meager profit would be gone and they'd be back to hauling another wagonload of something--it hardly mattered what--to Light knew where.
But that was just it, wasn't it? Did the Light know? Was there even a Light? There was certainly a Dark One, because he had plenty of servants that were always being found out and put on trial and hanged. Idiots. If she were going to do something like that, she would be much too smart to ever be caught by the bloody Whitecloaks. Or by anyone at all, for that matter.
Resigned, though still bitter, Shala tried to enjoy the inn. There was a gleeman in the common room, and despite being in Tanchico, they ate a proper Domani meal for supper, sursa and all. The sauces swirled spices and memories across her palate, all of it tinged with regret and recriminations. She was fifteen now; how long until she could feasibly strike out on her own? She had little doubt she would do better than her mother, especially with only herself to look after.
A man and woman watched her from across the common room, but Tiershala tried not to let it bother her. After all, a plump Domani girl was a rare sight, and perhaps worth staring at. Shala glared at them for that, as though it were their thought rather than her own, but hastily arranged her face into friendlier lines when the woman rose and approached Mama. Blood and ashes, she'd be in for it when they retired for the evening.
As it happened, Tiershala had faced no punishment that fateful evening, or even a harsh word. Instead, Mama had gone for a quiet word with the pair at their table and returned, pensive, an hour later. The woman was Aes Sedai, the man her warder, and they had taken Shala with them the next morning. Carianna Sedai of the Green Ajah explained to her that she had been born with the spark; that she would either channel or die very soon, and ought to be taught how to channel if she wanted better odds on not dying. As death sounded rather unpleasant, Shala did not argue.
The White Tower was better, in a way, than being on the road with her mother and Genoe. She, who had been brought up with servants to do the chores, found doing everything for herself onerous, but she had been doing many of those chores on the road for months, anyway. But there were no floors to scrub while traveling. She hated scrubbing floors. At any rate, there was plenty of food to eat, and Carianna had many interesting things to say on many subjects.
Tiershala was Accepted by the time Siuan Sanche was deposed, and Carianna took Shala with her to Salidar in the aftermath of that bloody day. From there, Carianna again took her along to the founding of the Grey Tower, where Shala was one of the first Accepted to be raised to Aes Sedai. Though she chose the Blue Ajah, she did not disappoint her mentor in the least, for they were both of the Black Ajah.
At present, Tiershala has adopted the guise of an ascetic, eschewing the close-cut Domani dresses that looked awful on her heavy frame in favor of plain unbleached woolen robes, though of a much finer weave than what she wore in those awful months after Papa died. Unbeknownst to her Tower acquaintances, she has spent the years since attaining the Shawl in building a shipping empire greater than what her mother lost so long ago, and often uses it to secretly send messages, goods, and even people where they need to be to best serve the Great Lord of the Dark. She keeps a townhouse in Far Madding and a country manor a day's ride from Jehannah. The stable at the manor house contains a razor.
Career History
- Novice (24 May 2009)
- Accepted (24 May 2009)
- Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah (24 May 2009)
- Aes Sedai of the Black Ajah (24 May 2009)
- Supreme Leader of the Black Ajah (21 December 2009)
