Aria was the victim of a secret experiment, led by a renegade group of gaolers a long time ago. Their goal was to try and break iceborn banescales to use as a psychological weapon against the invading armies from the fire flight - unfortunately for Aria (and many others), the idea of simply asking said banescales for help against their enemies was apparently out of the question, no matter their pleas. While they eventually succeeded at breaking Aria, she never made it to the battlefield. Gaolers with slightly more morals eventually discovered their plans, forcibly shutting the whole project down and erasing all evidence of its existence - except her.

As the only surviving banescale and having no idea where she came from (and her in no position to even remember), they kept Aria in a large cell with an unlocked door, as it quickly became apparent that she would never set foot outside on her own. They had no idea what to do with her or how to help her, but killing her seemed... unfair. Ketu would be her last in a long line of guards and her plight was the first time she'd ever questioned if this was really how she wanted to spend the rest of her days.

When the world was opened to them and Ketu finally had a choice about what she wanted to do, Ketu took Aria with her. She didn't take to the wilderness too well, and Ketu eventually brought her to a clan. However, while Aria slowly started to emerge from her own mental prison, clan life didn't suit Ketu, so with Rem's blessing she would eventually move on to the coastal gang, the 'Bloodmoon Killers', to see if that helped her figure herself out. By that point, Aria had recovered enough to relearn how to write, and the bulk of letters sent between the clan and the gang are between the two of them.

While Aria will never be a 'normal' dragon, her life is getting easier every single day, and her happiness grows too. Dragons who notice her pacing the shape of her old cell when she's upset will interrupt while trying not to startle her, and distract her with an offer for a walking chat about whatever the problem is, or anything at all when she cannot explain how she's feeling. Mytho always invites her to listen to her tell stories to the hatchlings, and when she's feeling brave she sometimes reads out the stories herself. She's often found sitting with the silk spinners, though in recent times she's made the odd appearance within Barebones, mostly chatting with Revvie while trying to avoid Kaguya's increasing insistence that she at least try a season with the Frostguard.