Legends of Belariath
Meiri
Storm, as most in the town of Carubon knew her, was an incredibly strong woman,especially if you considered that she was a sylvan elf, and a beautiful woman at that. She had arrived in the town some years ago, in the company of her family.
O'sheana, her mother, was a fairly strange woman. She had long blue hair (which her daughter had inherited), and rarely, if ever, opened her eyes. She also tended to look just about the same age as her eldest daughter. Storm's sister, Dew, was much younger that her, yet already showed promise on the archery field.
Perhaps the most unusual was her husband, Tarou. He was a human, still young, handsome, and strong. A Knight, most said. He came from the eastern lands, had some fairly strange customs (for the people in this town anyhow), and could speak a language none of them had ever heard. It would appear that he had earned Storm's respect, and afterwards her love. Both were, indeed, happy together.
Together, thanks to their combined strength, they formed a very competent guard for the town, which had previously been very weak towards attacks it might have received. Together, they had a place in Carubon.
But there was always something missing. They had wanted, desperately, to have a child, but hadn't been able to. Tarou wasn't getting any younger either, a fact that both knew very well. For 20 years they had been together, and while Storm's appearance never changed, he, slowly, was becoming weaker, less vigorous...
Almost with their hopes gone, they prayed, begged to the gods to let them have a child.
Maybe the gods didn't listen, or maybe they did. And maybe some other beings did, and decided to have fun, because, some months later, their daughter was born.
She was an ... unusual child, to say the least. Most of her hair was red, but it turned blue by the front. Her left eye was a deep blue, while her right eye was a bright red.
Her parents didn't care, though. They finally had a child. Tarou gave her the name Meiri, which meant "fame and fortune" in his language.
He died 20 years later, Meiri still a young infant. Storm went into a depression, and might have gone into a deep depression had she not had the cheerful child by her side now.
After she had gotten older (if still rather young by most standards), Storm decided it was time to train the child.
Fighting training went rather badly. Meiri demonstrated enthusiasm, but also a complete lack of ability to use a weapon effectively. Storm was rather glad that the weapons weren't real.
Magic was a similar story. Meiri studied hard, and studied her first spell hard. However, when the time came to cast the spell, it simply wouldn't come out.
Despite this, Meiri refused to give up studying the magical arts. She learnt firebolt with such speed that it impressed her teacher. When she actually cast the spell though, her teacher was too busy trying to get his hair doused to really care anymore. After getting a new teacher, Meiri resumed learning and quickly mastered the Chill Touch spell.
However, this new teacher noticed something... intriguing.
Whenever Meiri got hit by magic - especially elemental magic - her personality changed dramatically. Fire made her nearly berserk. Water made her cold and calculating. Wind made her distracted. Earth made her stoic. Healing magic made her docile, and so on ...
Alarmed, the teacher recommended that she, and her family, stop training in magic, not knowing what could happen.
Meiri didn't stop, though. She was driven by a desire she had acquired in her later years: with all her heart, Meiri wanted to fly.
Her frustration and anguish when she discovered that she couldn't cast the spell tore at her heart. To make matters even worse the spell had no effect when it was cast on her by somebody else.
Not one to give up Meiri undertook a journey; to make herself stronger, to make her family proud, and, why not, to see if she could realize her wish to soar with the eagles.