Themis_Karenina

7. BIO

Themis Karenina – affectionately "Karen", to those few of high enough class to dare use her nickname – was born to one of Marunomia's highest families. Of the traditional sports available for noblewomen, Themis took most to fencing, quickly falling in love with the elegant activity. She was beautiful to watch, effortlessly executing dance-like dodges and lunges like lightning in her ornamented outfit. Soon, she rose to national prominence, thrice winning the prestigious Marunomia Fencing Championships.

Despite her privileged upbringing and growing fame, Themis was unusually approachable, exuding a warm, excitable kindness rare among women of her caste. She cared little for social status, just as eager to spend hours talking with a servant as she might with one of her many noble suitors. When the talk got good, her eyes lit up, complementing her infectious smile. And though she never seemed particulary invested in the day-to-day duties of nobility, her big heart believed fully in the noblesse oblige.

It was no doubt that belief that led her to join the Guild. Though she was markedly unenthusiastic about wielding a real, sharp sword, she couldn't bear to stay home and hear about untrained peasant girls her age giving their lives to fight monsters when she had so much experience with a blade.

Unfortunately, that experience proved worse than useless. As it turned out, fighting to the death had little in common with the ritualized sport she knew: fencing was as far removed from real swordplay as ballet was from breakdancing. Habits painstakingly formed during long hours with her tutors became deadly liabilities. In fencing, you give up when touched – and you certainly don't eat your opponent!

But the monsters she fought against played by different rules, and in the wild, there were no judges...