Lioness

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They say Lionness is mad. They say the mushrooms that infected her grandfather have infected her as well, driving her to the brink. They say she is dangerous. Vicious. Difficult to trust. From her own point of view, the mushrooms do not make her mad, no. The rumors, though, make her very angry.
She has struggled to control her temper since she was a child. Always holding the truth in high regard, and already bitter that merchant work was looked down upon in some circles, she defended her family's reputation fiercely, with her claws if need be. Lionness would not allow her family to be slandered like this, not by anyone. But the way her claws shone in low light only made things worse; of course she was mad, if the mushrooms glowed so brightly beneath her skin. It was in her blood.

The rumors never left, not even once she grew up, and for a time, they hurt the family business. When Lionness was old enough, she was inducted into the long line of merchants that had come before her. Her parents taught her how to barter and negotiate among the best of them, how to price goods competitively but still make a profit, how to travel safely between one market and another without falling to bandits along the way. But the rumor was always one step ahead, taunting her. It ruined most of her negotiations when she was recognized as the mad one, when she railed against such accusations. Her temper and the rumors were perfect bedfellows, destroying every peaceful negotiation she touched.

Her family knew the truth, of course, and tried to soothe her, but in the end, everyone had to face the facts, Lionness included: she could not be a merchant. She could, though, protect the caravan as it traveled. Where her temper had previously failed her, it gave her new strength as a warrior. While her family rode in the wagons and carts with the goods they sold between markets, Lionness kept pace outside, either walking alongside the wagons or flying low, just above them. She was armed differently every time, and the occasional band of robbers that beset the caravan would always take away stories of the mad dragon with her mighty weapons. No one could agree on what she wielded, and rumor spread that she could wield anything. For once, rumor protected her family more than it hurt them.

She still remains bitter about the rumors of madness. Nothing will ever allow her to let that go. But it has been reducing to a simmering anger where it once blazed. Lionness has found her proper place among the caravan. As its protector, she can watch as her daughter, Tenjin makes her mark as a merchant, while her father, Arzhur, teaches Tenjin everything he knows. Her mother's windchimes tinkle in the breeze even though Celes is no longer traveling with them, and sometimes, she spends time with her grandfather Mars, collecting mushrooms for sale, bonding over the curse they bear. She is happier now. Not without anger, but certainly now with purpose. Bio by Tues.