TOWER MOUNTAIN CHARACTER PROFILE

Originator of Character: Margaret Dean
Name: Cuendee (known to the Mraal as the Speaker; called "Vauryimre'em" [Rememberer, Memory Woman] by her adopted people)
Gender: Female
Birthdate/Approximate Age: b. TWR -3056
Status: Alive (For a time, between Twillor's Escape and the beginning of the Fourth Millennium, she was "missing/presumed dead.")
Origins: Born in the Old Settlement
Declared?: No

Hair Length/Color/Style: Light reddish-brown, straight and silky, length to waist; worn in a variety of styles
Eyes: Hazel
Skin: Naturally very fair; freckles in strong sunlight
Height: 4' 11"
Build: Angular
Voice Quality & Speech Mannerisms: Clear, medium range, not particularly striking. Speech style varies widely -- and consciously -- to fit occasion and mood.
Other Physical Attributes: Angular face, pronounced cheekbones

Parents: Maryah, mother; Clayven, father
Siblings: Maat (D), Morli (D), Kela, full brothers; Periel, half-sister (D); Dijin, half-brother
Other Relatives: Wyren (D), Avensyn, uncles; Tascha (D), aunt; Sanpriel (D), Vyth, Wisprian (D), Ninvi, first cousins
Current Mate: None
Recognized?: Yes, once
Previous Mates: Amleth, R mate (D); Byern, Tanyel, lovemates
Children: Doji (D), daughter by Amleth; Jaizarik, son by Amleth; Dis, OOR daughter by Byern
Closest Friends: Sanpriel (D), Vyth, Shadaln

Special Talents: None save sending, which she manifested only after her Recognition and which remains weak and erratic. Since it takes so much effort she usually doesn't bother. Receives better than she sends.
Skills: Linguist; has a good ear and and excellent memory for sounds. Can mimic just about anyone's inflections and speech patterns. Finds a kind of music in words; it is her great love. The languages of both elves and humans have been her special study since coming to the Tower, and she has even developed a notation system for spoken sounds.
Hobbies: Court dancing, with more enthusiasm than skill, though she's not bad; dressing up; poetry; word games
Weapons Used: None until just before the Escape, when she took a few lessons in dagger. In the Fourth Millennium, spear and horse bow, which she learned from the Shigyeveth.
Bondbeast: None
Jewelry Worn: Various, mostly made for her by Byern. From the time of the Escape onward, wears a gold and amber neckpiece he made for her.
Clothing: Various, likes to experiment. Shigyeveth native dress when living with them.
Other Special Possessions: None known

Personal Info: A lady and a scholar. Maintains a certain quiet dignity even under the roughest conditions, though she's never been afraid of hard work or of getting her hands dirty (her father's legacy). Intellectual and analytical in temperament; not highly sexed, though passionate enough when her heart is engaged. Dry, subtle, verbal sense of humor, likes to play with the nuances of words. Uses language as a precision tool.

Cuendee was born in the Old Settlement. As a child and in early adulthood she was handicapped by the fact that her sending did not manifest until quite late -- not until she Recognized. (She was examined by the healers but nothing was found to be wrong with her -- just a late bloomer.) As a result, Cuendee found herself paying more attention than most elves to the intricacies of spoken language, and found it captivating. Her first linguistic project, which she embarked on in adolescence, involved analyzing preserver dialect and what it revealed about the thought processes of the tiny beings. Cuendee's studies did not really come into their own, however, until Tyaar's people arrived at the Tower and became involved with the Mraal. Cuendee eagerly took up the study of their language, partly to assuage her grief at the loss of family and friends at the Sundering. With the help of her studies and the compassion of friends, she was able eventually to put her losses behind her.

Largely absorbed in her studies, the darkening of the Tower did not affect Cuendee much until Byern's downfall; they had been lovemated since early in the First Millennium, a relationship that survived his Recognition to Sarafel, the three of them settling into a tri-bond. Byern's punishment hit Cuendee hard, though she was powerless to do anything about it then. However, the incident sparked a rebellious streak which was easily quickened to life by Twillor and his co-conspirators, Tanyel in particular, who guessed that her facility with the human tongue would be useful Outside. Cuendee was Tanyel's passenger in the Escape, and though injured when his bird was shot down, managed to elude the searchers and was presumed dead by the Tower.

In fact, Cuendee's adventures were just beginning. Left in hiding by Tanyel while he hunted, she was discovered by a pair of hunters from the Shigyeveth, a band of nomadic humans descended from the tribe (the !Nekwethir) that had attacked the Redrock Valley in TWR 10. Instead of killing her as she feared (she remembered these people and their nasal fricatives), the hunters took her to their camp and to the senior priestess of Star Woman, who proved to have some knowledge of the subcontinental human/Mraal tongue. She and Cuendee soon became friends. By the time Tanyel caught up with her, Cuendee had already been practically adopted into the Shigyeveth band.

In the Fourth Millennium Cuendee lives mainly with her adopted people, making occasional visits to the Tower and to New Hope.

Attitude toward Elves: Was always curious about Outsiders and how their dialects might differ from Tower speech. In the Fourth Millennium, particularly at New Hope, she gets a chance to meet some and finds them just as congenial as Tower elves (and fully as interesting, linguistically, as she had imagined).

Humans: Finds them and their languages fascinating. In the Tower, she was able to deduce quite a lot about Mraal thought by studying their language, and worked closely with Shadaln down through the years. Always talked to her servants a lot, saw them as people almost without realizing it. (Never got into field work at that time, though, content to let her subjects come to her; Shadaln was always good about finding articulate and intelligent humans for her.) In the Fourth Millennium, having chosen to live with a human tribe, Cuendee consciously accepts humans as equal to elves. ("We're all speaking creatures, aren't we?")

Trolls: Not as fascinating as humans, though their dialect has some interesting aspects. It was while studying these that she got involved with Byern. Their association with him gives Cuendee kind of a vague warm feeling toward trolls.

Preservers: Liked them, often helped her mother, Maryah, with them. Intrigued by their speech, the analysis of which was her first linguistic project. Misses them.

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