Profile of Tali

The first thing that might come to mind is that…well, that’s the thing - she tends to not be thought of as the darkness of her coat aids in her blending into her surroundings and to fade into the background. The majority of her coloring lends itself to blacks and dark grays, while much of her points and the parts of her body more directly in contact with sunlight turning to a lighter brown as if slowly being bleached by the light. Surely as she ages, the chocolate color would spread and intermingle with any lighter grays that would sprout. There was only one small bit of white on her, that being the very tip of her tail - depending on position, it wouldn’t even be noticeable unless one already knew it was there. She’s built quite sturdy - thirty inches tall and broad chested, large bones lending to a frame that was not meant to float nor dance. Tali was built for tougher weather.

On first meeting one might call her crass - the lady is not one to hold her tongue, and in a fair amount of circumstances she lacks the ability to maintain an acceptable level of decorum. And really, while that might be a good observation it is not entirely true; while she doesn’t bother much with manners, Tali is intelligent and observant - she possesses a sharp mind and gathers a great deal of information from her surroundings, including body language, eye contact (or lack thereof), even a change in one’s voice. This also lends to her wry sense of humor - sarcastic, dry, mean-spirited maybe but in her words, “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t like you.”

In things that are of interest or concern to her, Tali is quite passionate - or maybe one might call her opinionated. She is not afraid to speak up at the expense of being thought of as crude or vulgar. Though, there have been times where she has put herself into awkward or dangerous situations and luckily enough she’s been able to weasel her way out of them. But on the other hand this passion makes her a fierce friend who will not only tell you how it is, but will defend you if it came down to it.

The lady made of charcoal and earth’s story started in the depths of Tir Na Nog - born the younger of a litter of two, and surprisingly the smaller, she was not thought by her mother to survive and she was convinced enough that she was not given a name. If the whelp did pass then it would have been a lighter blow if she was nameless, at least that was the lady’s mindset. Her father had been lost in battle all but a couple of weeks before she was born so neither Tali nor her brother, her littermate Onni, ever knew of him and could only rely on the stories their mother told them later on after they were both weaned and given their names.

She grew up living on the outskirts of civilization- despite her family being revered, her mother respected as the local healer and herbalist, others always suspected there was something more occult happening behind closed doors. But of course as long as it benefited them then there would be no questions. Both Tali and Onni were raised to help her forage and assist with nursing injured wolves and the like. But Onni soon would be taken to be trained in battle and to take up the helm of warrior just like his father before him - whisked away in the night, neither Tali or her mother could say their goodbyes. She never saw him again.

Tali began to take being her mother’s apprentice more seriously and focused on her studies, though it was clear by how thankless the townspeople were that the young wolf would not be able to forever hold her tongue. Her anger would get the better of her at times, and while her mother’s apologies certainly smoothed things over, there was bound to be a time that it didn’t save her.

There was an evening where she was sent to help an ailing mother having trouble delivering her litter. It was not something Tali could not handle, but upon arriving it proved to actually be much more than she could have ever anticipated. The mother ended up being lost with the litter, and in a fit of rage the deceased mother’s mate took out his emotions on Tali who did not, despite understanding his pain, allow him to let loose on her. Her sharp words turned into a bloody battle and thankfully it was broken up before it became fatal.

However, the rumor quickly spread that Tali did not save the litter nor the mother on purpose and that it was part of some depraved offering orchestrated by her own mother. The rumor turned many residents against her, chasing Tali down through the mountains and through Aberdeen until she crossed the Mirror Lake into Melrose. Exhausted, she’d collapsed on the shore of the lake and during her loss of consciousness she had been picked up by one of the scholars who had given her a place to rest and heal.