Nagini

Nara, along with two other young girls around her age, had been bought by this man and taken to Thảpĕn-'p̀ā. This cold and eerie man was a member of Sty-kopös' Flames, a mysterious and dangerous Organization that they had only heard of in a few very small, hushed whispers. He was an older member, nearing retiring from the life of action entirely. Old, scarred, and a little worn down. He was cold and intelligent but had no time to coddle the children he had come into possession of. It was not out of the norm, they learned, for a Flames member to take children under their wing. Usually it was orphans, or the children of slaves. Nara, along with the other two girls, had all been sold to the man by parents unwilling to keep them. The Flames had no issues with older members recruiting newbies...even if the newbies were young and clueless. He did not take them to Thảpĕn-'p̀ā to live, though; he took them there to survive. He left the three children there alone with only a small bag for each of them filled with some cloth, a few medical supplies, and a single knife each. "I will return when the winter has passed. Survive and you will be my greatest projects. Die, and the creatures of the land will pick your bones clean."

The three girls were left alone in the cold wilderness with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the small, nearly useless bags the man had left them with. It’s a strange thing, the will to survive. It’s ingrained deeply into the soul of every living creature. It’s the most basic instinct. It turns you into someone else when it takes hold of you, and that was exactly what happened to Nara. The weeks spent in the cold wilderness filled her veins with the stubborn, unyielding fight for survival. She was like a predator in the snow with nothing but her knife and her teeth bared. Her first real fight for her life had been there in the wilderness. Her opponent? One of the very same girls that had been left there with her. A fight to the death, the other girl starving and close to ravenous, and Nara cold and collected, running on the instinct of an animal backed into a corner. Killing one of her companions had been her greatest victory and yet her biggest shame; she was no killer, only a slave to her own basic nature. The other girl, the third one who had been left with her, proved to be a kind and helpful companion. Nara grew to consider her a sister, or at least the closest she would ever get to one. Together they built a shelter and hunted their food. They patched each other’s wounds. They held each other when the cold threatened to be too much. Together they gazed up at the moon, singing soft prayers to cling to the hope that their new owner would return and collect them soon.

When he returned Winter had ended, and only two of his three girls had survived. Nara and the other, a smart and now weary Khah’ female. Pleased that the two had survived he wasted no time collecting them and taking them with him to his home; Fawzia-Kedet. From there life seemed fairly simple. He trained them the way the Flames had trained him when he was young; stern, careful, and practical. He taught them to better the skills they already hard. For Nara, that meant he helped her better excel in making clothes and tending to injuries. He taught her how to work with knives, how to fight with them and to defend herself. There were countless days where the two girls spent hours sparing with one another with nothing but a knife and their fists. In her free time she fell in love with candle making, a simple art that let her busy her hands for as long as she wanted. He was not very much a father figure to them, but he was a mentor and a guardian, and he raised the two girls and guided them down the path towards becoming respectable Flames members, and also respectable members of society. It was then that Nara decided to cut the ties with her past as a slave, and as the greatest shame of her mother’s life. She was no longer Nara Pharimaya. She was Nagini, a name she had chosen for herself. She would answer to nothing else. She was a new woman now, free of her weighted past.

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It was the Flames' choice to relocate Nagini to Püertagœ. She was granted a job in a Candleshop located in the city's fifth ring. The shop, The Flickering Wick (run by another older Flame member), is one of Nagini's greatest treasures. She values her public profession greatly and takes great pleasure in it. She likes to create candles of all colors, shapes, and sizes, and also likes to try and venture out into making more nicely scented candles from time to time. It's her personality that helps her feel right at home in the quiet little shop.

As for the Flame work...well, she isn't too different in that regard. She's still quiet and calm, but she does not let anything stand in her way. Being a Flame, one cannot afford to be careless, after all. However her role in the Flames' ranks is quite tame, a request she made herself. She acts as a spy when the needs arises. When other Flame's members write to her asking about the status of a certain person, or wanting to know the latest whispers about the Greater Families, she's always up to date and ready to write back with an answer. She will take part in smuggling missions as well, so long as the smuggling doesnt involve people. She also acts as a messenger between Flames and their clients. As one could know, when hiring The Flames for a particular job you will be visited by a Flame member when the job has been completed. This member will relay the news of the job and collect your payment. Nagini takes this role when Flame members do not wish to contact the clients on their own. She's a sort of bridge between client and The Flames. The mask she wears-as all Flame members are expected to wear-is in the shape of a Drr'ţö's face, painted a dull black with swirls of gold. She's always sure to wear a big hood as well so that she can pull it up to hide her horns to avoid someone noticing them later.

It should be noted, of course, that Nagini is not proud of her status as a Flame member. She did not seek them out to join like many others did; she was forced into it, trained to be useful for the Organization despite wanting nothing to do with them. But there's no real way for her to turn them down; she knows too much, has seen far too much.