[b]Name:[/b] Freya Cattail
[b]Race:[/b] Muran
[b]Age:[/b] 26

[b]Appearance:[/b] Freya stands at 5' 2", small and light.  She has hazel eyes and a bright smile.  Dirty-blonde hair hangs down to her shoulders, often pulled back into a ponytail to be out of the way.  Her clothing is very plain:  she'll usually wear a simple, modest dress made of cotton, her favorite being of a soft blue hue and without design or ornamentation; as the weather turns cold, she'll switch to a wool dress.
[hider=picture][img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/2b/00/46/2b00468c55949a7691644bac6cb97479.jpg[/img][/hider]

[b]Magic:[/b] Sensing, coupled with amplification or interference.  Aunt Helen also shared her knowledge of wood magic--enough for Freya to have a green thumb but still be inconspicuous.

Sensing - reading the flow of magic in the world.  Every form of life has a flow, that is, its own connection to the magic in the world.  Freya has been taught how to identify organisms through the magic--up to a certain range, irrespective of physical barriers such as walls.

Amplification - though she hasn’t learned many spells of her own, Freya knows how to channel her flow into that of another, enabling them to cast stronger spells.

Interference - conversely, she can channel her flow against that of another, weakening the spell or even cancelling it if it was comparatively weak to begin with.

Green Thumb - Freya is good with plants.  She can spot disease, and often cure it; and she knows how to give plants a little push in their growth.

[b]Gear:[/b]  
Traveling Staff - a sturdy, straight stick of yew, wrapped in leather at the middle and capped with steel weights at both ends.  Freya uses it interchangeably (and proficiently) as a walking stick and a weapon.
Traveler’s Pack - A leather bag with shoulder straps and a sash that ties around the waist to keep it in place.  It has good volume, as Freya essentially lives out of this bag while traveling from one town to the next.  Currently it contains:
two changes of clothes
a lightweight pot
a canteen
a compass and map
soap
two candles
a half-filled notebook and three pencils
two apples and a loaf of bread.
a small spray bottle filled with concentrated Donotate juice--pepper spray, essentially.

[b]Brief History:[/b][hider=A short time ago]
[color=ccffcc]”Aunt Helen!  I’m home from the market!”[/color] Freya called happily into the small cottage.

“Oh?” called a voice from the small kitchen.  Soon the owner of that voice appeared--Aunt Helen, the woman who had raised Freya.  Her features were sharp and graceful, a proud reflection of her Ydran mother.  From her Muran father--Freya’s Great Uncle--she had inherited straight hair as black as the raven.  Even past her fiftieth birthday, Helen was beautiful.  Freya had always thought so.

[color=ccffcc]”They just received a new shipment of medicines from the capital, so nobody offered much for the herbs.  I sold only enough to buy the flour and butter.”[/color]  So saying, Freya untied the sash around her waist and slipped the pack from her shoulders.  First she handed a small box containing the butter to her Aunt, then she heaved a twenty pound bag of flour out to carry herself.

“Goodness, dear.  Did you walk all the way back with that on your shoulders?”

[color=ccffcc]”Yes?  I’ve carried a lot more than this between towns, Auntie; just coming back from the market is nothing compared to the three days to Crevice.”[/color]

“Young people have so much energy.  You will make a wonderful wife, I’m sure!”

Color pressed itself into Freya’s cheeks.  [color=ccffcc]”I don’t… I’m not… Not right now, Aunt Helen!  I don’t have anyone like that!”[/color]

“No one?  But you’ve been to so many different villages, I thought for sure you would have seen a man that caught your fancy.”

[color=ccffcc]”Nope,”[/color] Freya denied, adding a small ‘hmph.’  [color=ccffcc]”None of them.  I’m going to live with Aunt Helen forever.”[/color]

A moment of silence passed as Freya watched her Aunt.  Helen was staring at her, her eyes full of.... What?  What was that expression?  “You know you can’t stay here with me forever, Freya.  You’re young; you still have a long future ahead of you.  I promised your parents I would care for you, raise you up to be a fine young woman.  Now you are, so it’s time you decided where you will go from here.”

Freya bowed her head.  [color=ccffcc]”I… I know that.  But for right now-!”[/color]

Helen smiled.  “For right now, we’ll make dinner.  After, you can show me how much you practiced while you were away.”

* * * * * * *

Freya sat cross-legged on a stump, her hands resting calmly on her knees, fingers lightly gripping the fabric of her skirt.  Eyes shut, muscles relaxed, she drew slow, deep breaths.  Physical senses faded away until Freya was observing the world only through her magic.

And what a wondrous world it was!  Rivers of energy flowed beneath, circling the earth in an endless round.  The tree roots tapped into it, diverting the life-flow, drawing strength into themselves.  The ferns, the grass, the moss--each in turn drew on the energy of their mother earth to continue their growth.

Swarming around those tranquil streams were thousands of pinpoints of charged energy.  Some crawled along surfaces; some buzzed through the air around; some even burrowed deep inside.  All of these insects, in one way or another, were drawing their energy from the plants they gathered to.  It wasn’t quite the same as the flow the plants held; rather, each was its own small cycle charged with energy, only appearing to interact with the main flow at certain times--sometimes packing energy into their tiny forms, sometimes releasing their seemingly overcharged magic back into the world.

So often Freya watched this beautiful world.  She saw it as an elegant dance, connecting each life back to its mother earth.  The insects, their small forms bursting with energy; the plants and their small, serene flows; the soil, housing a current as strong as life itself.  And atop it all sat the forms of two humans, each so filled with magic that even by proportion the insects could not compare.

This was where Freya saw her aunt as most beautiful.  The woman’s presence radiated with energy, with vitality--so much so that her very presence glowed in Freya’s mind.  And despite the intensity of the life in her, Aunt Helen’s flow was the definition of tranquility.  Hips, navel, chest, throat, head, and sky--her magic flowed continuously, unperturbed, unbroken, filling her with such life and majesty that Freya felt she was gazing upon a queen.

Then that flow began to move.  To change.  It shifted, swayed, gathered a tremendous energy from in and around her body to her chest, then burst forth all at once.  Freya mentally reached out to the magic, pushing it, diverting it, pulling some of it away and into her own stream.  She worked as quickly and efficiently as she could so that, by the time the conjured wind swept over her, what had been a powerful blast to knock Freya from her perch was only a strong wind, whipping her hair and pressing her gown against her.

“You’ve grown so much,” Aunt Helen commended.  “I can still remember you as a young girl falling of that stump time and again.”

[color=ccffcc]”I have the world’s greatest teacher,”[/color] Freya answered modestly.  She knew her own magic wasn’t half as powerful as her aunt’s.  Doing even this much had taken two decades of practice and learning.

“You and your flattery.  If Baldur hadn’t his own child to care for, I would send you to him to learn.  I can show you the Current, but I have nothing more to share than remedies for plants.”

[color=ccffcc]“But those are all I need, Auntie.  If I learned any larger spells, they would be noticable.  The Church would-”[/color]

Aunt Helen cut her off with a sigh.  “The church would hire you as an apothecary.  I still wish you would at least consider it.  For your safety and my sanity.”

Freya pouted and looked away.  [color=ccffcc]”I won’t do anything those heretics tell me to.”[/color]

Helen clapped a hand over her face.  “You’ll break my heart, dear.  I tremble now when I think about what I have taught you.  We can’t speak so critically of the Church.”

[color=ccffcc]”But it’s true!  And nobody is here to listen anyway.”[/color]

“I want to see you find happiness, Freya.  Marry a good man, raise a family, live in peace.  Trying to rebel against the Church will ruin all of that.  Please, just keep yourself safe.”

[color=ccffcc]”Even though what they do is wrong?”[/color]

“The Current will reward every man his due; Mother Earth will see to that.  You focus on doing what is right--not on what someone else is doing wrong.”

* * * * * * *

Freya was seething, but she held it in long enough to march home and slam the door shut behind her.  [color=ccffcc]”UGH!  That damnable preacher!  May his flow be scattered and rejected by our Mother!”[/color] she screamed at the room.

“FREYA!” Helen called from her bedroom.  “You should never wish such a curse on any man!”

[color=ccffcc]”But he stands at the pulpit and screams hate!”[/color]  Freya protested, stomping to her aunt’s bedside.  [color=ccffcc]”What have we ever done that people should hate us?  Despise us?  You’ve only ever tried to help the people--and Baldur and Amira, as well!”[/color]

Helen reached out and cradled Freya’s cheek in her hand, wiping a tear away with her thumb.  “I know, dear.  I know.  And I have tried to show that to everyone--to George and Amanda, to Hans and Vivian, even to Byron and his mother.  We can’t expect people to think well of Magi if we scream hate back.”

[color=ccffcc]”But it’s not right!”[/color] Freya protested, breaking down into small sobs.  [color=ccffcc]”You do so much--for me, for them!  He can’t-!  Say those things!”[/color]

Helen leaned forward and reached her arms around her beloved niece.  “I know,” she cooed soothingly, holding Freya tight.  “I know.”  They stayed like that for some time, until Freya’s tears slowed.  “Freya, I want you to remember:  I’ve never worried what others may say about me.  Just knowing my Freya loves me this much, that’s more than I could ever have asked for.”

Freya nodded weakly.  Wiping away the tear streaks on her cheeks, she smiled at her cherished aunt.  [color=ccffcc]”Sorry, Aunt Helen.  I should be taking care of you right now, not the other way.  Are you feeling better?”[/color]

“Much better than last night,” Helen answered readily.  “The fever broke quickly; you should thank Amira for me next time you go into town.”

[color=ccffcc]”I will, for both of us.”[/color]

Helen opened her mouth, but hesitated a moment.  Freya cocked her head to the side.  [color=ccffcc]”Auntie?”[/color]

“I should be all better by this afternoon.  It’s time you started toward Ridcully.”

[color=ccffcc]”Are you sure?  I might be gone for a month; waiting two more days won’t cause any harm.”[/color]

“Oh, posh, child.  I’m certainly able to care for myself.  There are people out there who need you more than I right now.  Come; let’s pack your bag and set you on the road.”[/hider]