Fionnuala
| Niabh ni Dowd | |
|---|---|
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| Information | |
| Title(s) | None known |
| Hair Colour | Dark brown |
| Eye Colour | Black |
| Height | 5" |
| Build | Slender, waifish |
| Notable Features | Well-healed injury on left hand; missing ring and small finger |
| Born | Unknown; presumably East Weald |
| Spouse(s) | None |
| Children | None |
| Profession | Lady's maid |
Description
Niabh is very slight and small; most of her weight seems to be in her long, thick, messy dark curls, which hang in a mane down her back. Her complexion is a natural medium brown, and her eyes are large, black, and slightly tilted. She is less conventionally pretty than striking, with strong, angular bones in her cheeks and jaw. In general, she is very cheerful, brisk, forthright, and confident, though her new surroundings often leave her anxious or confused. She is polite and courteous to strangers, to the point of sometimes being almost overly formal, though she quickly warms to people and becomes more playful and girlish.
Background
Origins
According to Niabh, she was until late a servant in a large household, where she attended the daughter of a noblewoman. Due to some unspecified disaster, the house fell under attack, the noblewoman was killed, and the remaining members of the household fled. Niabh's sister, herself the house doctor, chose to remain to help the injured, while ordering Niabh far away for safety and promising to summon her as soon as the situation was stable again.
Niabh frequently and fondly talks of her family. She was raised by her elder sister and grew up with her sister's two children (Niabh invariably refers to this sister as her mother and to her children as her siblings). She has also mentioned a stepfather and a grandmother. She also left behind a sweetheart called Deirdre, whom she evidently still holds hope of seeing again, even though she has admitted that she doesn't know if Deirdre survived.
She has variously explained the injury to her hand as an accident with a fishing line or a door carelessly closed on her fingers as a child. Either way, the injury is clearly very old and doesn't seem to physically impact her.
The Broken Dagger
Niabh claims to have traveled largely on foot from her old home in the East Weald to Myrken Wood at the behest of her mother. Why her mother would have specified this place in particular--or if Niabh simply chose it--is currently unknown, but Niabh seems confident that her mother knows where she is now and will send word for her at the Dagger when it's safe to return home.
The Present
Niabh quickly found employment as a servant to Lady Patience and resides with her at the Broken Dagger, where she has gained a small but largely harmless reputation for hanging out with some of the shadier elements of the Dagger's patronage.
