Dove (NH)

TOWER MOUNTAIN CHARACTER INFORMATION SHEET
June, 1999
ORIGINATOR OF CHARACTER:   Ree Moorhead Pruehs
NAME: Dove (nee Lake)
SOUL NAME: Verrin
SOUL NAME KNOWN BY: Seahawk (NH -6), Raventongue (NH -4), Feather (NH -3), Lord Tyaar (NH -1)
SOUL NAMES KNOWN: Raventongue (Yrek; NH -4), Feather (Rhian; NH -3), Quicksilver (Tae; NH 10), Snowflower (Daria; NH 15), Seahawk (Pyrt; NH 54), Wasp (??; NH ??)
GENDER: Female
SPECIES: Elf
STATUS: Alive
GENERATION/BIRTH DATE: born NH -75.
ORIGIN: Thought to come from a tribe of wanderers who (like the Go-Backs) no longer Recognized nor encouraged (indeed disliked and distrusted) the use of Talent. Brought to Great Water Holt as a child by her adoptive parents.
CURRENT RESIDENCE: New Hope, Greenwillow Household
ELDER? Yes
HAIR: Snow-white, thick even for an elf, silky and slightly wavy. Though Raventongue likes it worn loose she finds this unwieldy; often she will tie it back, pull it into a careful knot at the nape of her neck and tuck it into her hood, or pile it on top of her head, secured by polished sticks. (A favorite game of his is to sneak up on her and pull the sticks out of her hair before she can catch him.)
EYES: Pink (albino)
SKIN: white shot with pink
HEIGHT: 3'4" (will eventually grow to 3'9" as part of a master's class in heaing/shaping given her and Snowflower by Arteuran; this is the same height as Feather, and the height she was always intended to become, before malnutrition and neglect hampered her growth.)
BUILD: Slender, small bust
VOICE: Soprano; simple, direct speech patterns.
OTHER PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES: Albinism; delicate, ethereal beauty. Fine-boned, with tiny wrists and ankles. Unconsciously graceful in motion.
PARENTS: Grassweaver, adoptive mother; Sunwhistle, adoptive father (both D). Birth parents: Arteuran, father; Shadowfern, mother (not revealed until some point during / after the Hostage Crisis). Regards Halfmoon (her
healer-mentor at Great Water Holt) and Peysol as fathers-of-choice. (She is conscious of this relationship with Halfmoon being paternal in nature, but not the one with Peysol. Both of they would say, if asked, that they are
very close friends -- but father/daughter is actually how they relate to each other.)
SIBLINGS: Feather, soulsister (actually twin sister of blood), Cloudseed/Ghosthunter, half-sister, ?/Ghostdancer, half-brother (all of this is revealed at some point during or after the Hostage Crisis)
OTHER RELATIVES:
CURRENT MATE(S): Raventongue, Recognized lifemate; Feather, Seahawk, lifemates by choice
RECOGNIZED?: Yes
PREVIOUS MATES: Lord Tyaar of Tower Mountain, lovemate; Airwolf, lovemate
CHILDREN: by blood: Quicksilver (nee Berry), son by Raventongue; Snowflower, daughter by Piet/Halfwise; Wasp (ne Bumblebee), son by Seahawk. By choice: Beesweets/Livvy, daughter of Feather and Seahawk; Twilight,
daughter of Feather and Raventongue.
CLOSEST FRIENDS Feather, Seahawk, Airwolf, Peysol, Piet, Tinker, Laravie, Mikail
BONDBEAST None
MAGICAL TALENTS: A strong healer and powerful sender whose Talents extend to, but are not necessarily limited to, blacksending, fleshshaping, hypnotism and astral projection.
SKILLS: Expert herbalist, first aid skills, general survival
HOBBIES: Superb dancer and percussionist, gardening; sings in the New Hope choral group.
WEAPONS: Expert knife thrower, also adept at hand-to-hand knife work. Does well with just about any sort of missile weapon, though neither as expert at bow as Feather or Raventongue nor sling as Seahawk. Has been
drilled, as well, in weapons improvisation (Raventongue saw to that, in trade for her teaching him knife throwing).
JEWELRY: Silver diamond-shaped necklace, inlaid with conch-shell and set with an oval onyx, a gift from Raventongue somewhat before the birth of their son Berry/Quicksilver. (She likely has some sort of gift from Seahawk, given at the birth of their son Bumblebee/Wasp, but it hasn't been revealed yet.)
CLOTHING: Tends to cover up all over except at night; for her, as an albino, the sun is a dangerous thing. Likes light-colored long-bell-sleeved tunics (that she can tuck her hands into), matching pants tucked into calf-high boots. Detail work varies; Peysol makes a fair amount of her clothing, and what he's likely to give her varies with his mood and the phase of the moon. Most often found in shades of grey, light blue or lavender. At night her clothing styles get livelier, particularly if she is dancing. Takes a secret, sinuous delight in fine clothing. Then she gets to Taiakaar and her every wish of this nature is fulfilled...
SPECIAL POSSESSIONS: Necklace described above and a scrimshaw-hilted brightmetal knife (the blade was once Feather's, with a new hilt made by Raventongue shortly after they lifemated; the replacement is a scrimshawed
depiction of a plump dove nestled atop a tree branch). A well-stocked herbal pharmacology. Possibly other gifts from her lifemates.
PERSONALITY/HISTORY:
    To understand all of the factors that make Dove the person she is, it is essential to know her background.The tribe in which she was raised is unknown, her birth parents a mystery that would not be solved until almost eight-cubed years later. Her adoptive parents arrived at Great Water Holt when she had seen between eight and twelve turns of the
seasons. Sunwhistle and Grassweaver were both extremely sullen and reclusive by nature. But they contributed, somewhat, to the tribe (he was a skilled hunter, and she a competent herbalist with perhaps some latent treeshaper blood), and the Great Water elves, by nature, a largely "accepting" group; thus they were allowed to stay. From what little was given the Great Water elders (mainly on one notable occasion when Goldbeard managed to get Sunwhistle in his cups) the child, called "Lake", was considered nothing but bad luck to the tribe and the chief had been only
too glad to send her into exile with him and his lifemate. Further pressing, however gentle, of the subjects of bad luck and the underlying reasons for his and Grassweaver's exile only led Sunwhistle to down another half skin of wine and pass out. After that Sunwhistle avoided intoxicants as he did the Talented. As a result of her adoptive parents' feelings about elves with Talent, no healer ever touched Lake until she fell into the hands of Tyaar of Tower Mountain, so it is possible that there was some physical basis for her later insanity. Indeed, very few people ever reached out to the strange-looking child who was as shy and wild as her parents were reclusive. One notable exception was Seahawk, who had been off on a sea-voyage for most of the years Lake had dwelt at Great Water, not to return until Lake had seen about two-eights. Immediately noticing Lake, fascinated by the exotic beauty that no one else had taken time to notice, he invited her to spend a night with him up on the rock bluffs. This one-night-stand led Lake to develop a crush on Seahawk that was to shape her entire life. Perhaps Seahawk would have had more of an influence upon her, had not a plague (possibly a form of influenza) struck Great Water shortly thereafter. Both Sunwhistle and Grassweaver fell victim to the Sickness; Lake, who had been on her soul-name journey, found their putrefying bodies upon her return. The sight and other things conveyed by barely developed healer sensitivities were was enough to snap what fragile hold Lake had on sanity, and she fled Great Water Holt.
    Where and how she lived for the next eight years remains a mystery. In about HNH -51 she was discovered digging in a midden heap for food scraps by two of the Declared of Tower Mountain. Seeing the ossibilities of the
exotic-looking (though somewhat catatonic and undeniably not sane) elf as a gift for Lord Tyaar, they captured her, brought her to Peysol, and arranged for her presentation to Tyaar at a Tower party. ("Gift Wrap," M. Purdy [now
Dean], TALES #3) Upon discovering her healer's Talent Tyaar healed Lake to awareness but not sanity for reasons of his own (he had a theory that two healers could force Recognition). After arranging for Peysol and Leravie to
teach her social skills, and training her in other skills by his own hand, Tyaar took her to lovemate. While Lake dwelt in the Tower she was generally disliked and feared. The human Mraal tribe regarded her as the White Spirit, bringer of death, lover of blood and pain. Tyaar encouraged her ruthlessness and her practice of Talent; few dared to challenge her for fear of reprehension from the Tower lord.
    In NH -46 Tyaar felt that her training had reached a plateau sufficient for his standards; he had also fallen more than a little for his own Galatea. He proposed a lifemating to her. Lake turned it down. Shortly thereafter she left the Tower, claiming the desire to "search for an empire of her own" and "prove herself worthy of Tyaar". This may have been partially true, but her desire to find Seahawk must also have been a motive of her actions. ("Sea-Change," Margaret R. Dean, TALES #19, "Seedling," R. Pruehs, TALES #3.) With her departure the Mraal added a prophecy was to the legend of the White Spirit: that upon her return even the Spirit Lord (Tyaar) might not be powerful enough to stop her from causing the trees to rise upand devour them all, and that the Mraal were ultimately doomed unless the
Lovebringer should return and, from the bottomless depths of His love, eradicate the hatred within her.
    Little is known of her life from then until RH -6, when she reappeared in the Great Water Holt area. By this time Seahawk had Recognized Feather of NeverWinter Holt. Consumed by jealousy (it is possible that Lake actually
witnessed the Recognition), the young antihealer set a trap to kill Feather, but succeeded only in causing her "rival" to miscarry ("Bee and Flower, R. Pruehs). Further enraged by Seahawk's (belated) decision to lifemate with his Recognized one, Lake determined to eradicate all barriers between herself and her "loved one" by kidnapping Feather and forcing her to reveal Seahawk's soul name. ("Vengeance," R. Pruehs) After these and other plans against the holt were thwarted, Lake (pursued by Great Water elves, NeverWinter elves, and an outraged tribe of humans) fled into the Mist Marsh southwest of Great Water Holt. Here she encountered a true healer, named Ceti, whose touch awakened the suspicion in Lake that perhaps something was very wrong with her. ("Betrayal," R. Pruehs) While fleeing from this truth, she got careless and was captured by one of the oddities inhabiting the Mist Marsh, a giant spider. This might have led to her death, had her Talent not taken over and healed her enough to attempt to send for help. Of her messages to Tower Mountain and to Great Water Holt only the latter got through. ("Secrets," L. Welsh [now Roth]) Rescued from the spider by Seahawk (among others), she was brought back to Great Water Holt for healing. Some moons later Lake, no longer insane, began a new life at Great Water Holt and adopted the tribe-name Dove. ("Retribution," R. Pruehs)
    Although Dove turned down a proposed lovemating with Seahawk and Feather, she might have accepted one with a wolfblooded glider (and newcomer to Great Water) named Airwolf had Recognition not intervened. This meeting of
souls, to Seahawk's soulbrother (and the Great Water chieftain's uncle) Raventongue, was a great trauma that evolved into a far greater blessing, for he possessed the wisdom and self-confidence that finally gave her some perspective on who and what she was. ("Capture," R. Pruehs) She gained much from associating with him, including the gift of laughter. Her relationship with Raventongue has grown to be a true meeting of minds as well as souls. Unfortunately their senses of humor have also grown much alike, and she is just as devious as he if not more so.
    Yet it would be turns before she could discuss any part of her past with anyone -- even with him. At first she could only deal with her memories of "Lake" by regarding them as stories that "happened to someone else ... someone [Dove] knew long ago". She was also haunted by nightmares, overwhelmed with the difficulty of retribution for past misdeeds, and deeply worried that someday she might "revert" to her antihealer's behavior patterns, either all unknowing or deliberately. When it comes to those she loves, she has a deep capacity for self-sacrifice--and a far greater one for vengeance, as she learned when Raventongue was nearly killed during a battle between Great Water and a tribe of humans known as the "stinkers", two seasons after the birth of their son. ("Era's End," [unfinished], R.
Pruehs)
    In NH -1, Dove and Raventongue were among a group of elves journeying from Great Water Holt to the Wolfgang, a wolf-blooded tribe of elves living far to the west. Unfortunately, they were only partway to their destination when the group was assaulted and largely captured by the elite human guard of Tower Mountain. Under the guise of "Lake", Dove infiltrated the Tower and effected the escape of her tribespeople and several Tower rebels -- not without cost; for she could not free her adopted tribesfolk without mortally wounding her former lovemate Tyaar. Eventually the Great Water group (with additions) straggled to the Wolfgang. (=Nightmare,= cast of
thousands)
    When it was learned that Tyaar had survived her attack and was attempting to possess a living body (in order to return to the Tower, draw strength from his possessed body and heal his own mortally wounded one), Dove accompanied the party that was attempting to find and warn Tyaar's intended target. Unfortunately Tyaar had already successfully possessed his nephew, Piet; but they were not to learn this until Tyaar kidnapped Dove, imprisoning her within a labyrinth of underground caves. During her captivity she finally learned his reasons for healing/lovemating with her all those turns before -- and his reasons to still want her despite her "betrayal" of him. By the time she was rescued she was bearing the child of Tyaar's spirit; shortly afterwards, the former Tower lord, healed in spirit and no longer desiring physical healing, departed for the Palace. (Possession, projected story, M.Dean/R.Pruehs)
    In addition to her pregnancy, Tyaar left Dove with a far deeper understanding of her Talent, knowledge she would need to carry out the final task he asked of her: that of releasing the coerced Functionals of Tower Mountain. Shortly after the completion of this task (including further inadvertent fulfillment of the earlier White Spirit/Lovebringer
prophecies), the Holt of New Hope was founded; invited to resettle there, Dove and Raventongue chose to do so out of love and duty. (Crisis, cast of thousands) Her daughter by Piet/Tyaar, Snowflower, was born at New Hope
in NH 2.
    Currently Dove serves New Hope as senior healer and teacher/mentor to the other healers who dwell there; she also holds a place on the Council of Elders. Herbalism (and related arts such as dyeing) remains one of her greatest pleasures, and she supervises the main herb gardens cultivated in and about the holt. She deals with all the dwellers of New Hope, regardless of race, with consistent fairness and a firm but tender temperament.
    She far prefers the use of the "white" aspects of her talents as opposed to the "black", but will not hesitate to use the latter if circumstances dictate she must (i.e. to protect herself or others). The multifaceted experiences of her life have left her with finely tuned emotions, a high moral code (much of it acquired from Raventongue) and a strong will. Yet
she is assertive rather than aggressive or domineering; focuses upon a low-key, soft, yet intense and determined course of action.
    By temperament Dove is an introvert, quiet and even shy around those she does not know; though she can act the part of an extrovert, a leader -- even a ruler, if she must. Afterward she must balance time spent with people (especially non-intimates) with time spent alone, to "recharge". Her most enjoyable time socially is spent with her close circle of friends, inside an atmosphere of mutual trust; Dove prefers a few deep relationships over many superficial ones.
    Has an amazing amount of personal energy. A major focus of her life is to give love and be loved. She is fiercely loyal to (and somewhat possessive of) life/soulmates, children and friends; faithfulness, thrift, giving and courage are bywords in her social life. A great "inner radiance" draws others to her, particularly those who have never known her as "Lake".
    Though her earlier insecurity has largely been burnt out of her, on occasion it still resurfaces.
    Has an amazing memory; seems to forget nothing; also a strongly analytical mind, but would prefer to take time to solve a problem, piecing the solution together from details, rather than attempt to grasp its entirety at once. Very flexible and even, some would say, "sneaky" in thought.
    Possesses an inborn sensitivity to rhythm and a deep and abiding love for the art of dance, and often performs at gathers with or without Mikail (her dance mentor) or Seahawk as partners.
    In NH 54, the foursome of Raventongue/Dove/Seahawk/Feather came to the realization that their relationship had grown and deepened into a four-cornered lifemating (not surprising for a pair of soulbrothers and pair of soulsisters who had already been doubly crossed by Recognition). They celebrated the realization with a night of deep and tender lovemaking-- at the end of which both Dove and Feather were pregnant by their unRecognized lifemates (with a little boost from a certain healer's Talent). Dove gave birth to Bumblebee [later Wasp], and Feather to Twilight, on the same day two years later.
    In NH 223, a group of monks from the civilization of Taiakaar arrived at New Hope, proposing a trade agreement/cultural exchange between the two groups. A slight problem arose when, having seen Dove and Feather, the monks would have no one else as ambassadors to Taiakaar (yes, can you say set-up, heh heh?), declaring they had been so advised by a vision provided them by their spiritual ruler, Lakaaza. Shortly thereafter, the two females and their mates set sail for Taiakaar. A year and a half later, along came the Hostage Crisis. And the elves discovered that their hosts, including the secular ruler of Taiakaar (Her Radiance) refused to allow them to leave....

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