#if inspiration strikes i want to develop this into a single Water Tribe set of motifs and design patterns

[3cosmicfrogs]

i emerge from the depths of Real World Job to give you an idea dump.

ID in alt text.

[alicia-x-itachi]

The Fairly Long Backstory for Jaina and Timeline of Fifth Age Events post

Finally finished this lengthy and overdue post! It was a long time coming for sure, and I hope it paid off!

Note that Jaina has not done all the quests. In some cases, certain quests have still occurred, but someone else was the agent involved (Goblin Diplomacy, The Knight’s Sword, Recruitment Drive, the old versions of Druidic Ritual and Wolf Whistle, dwarf quest series, pirate quest series, slug quest series); others I have chosen to omit entirely (Tower of Life, Clock Tower, Perils of Ice Mountain, Camelot series, penguin series, bar crawl miniquest)--but that’s another post. I also haven’t gone into extreme detail about every quest because that would’ve taken too long. More importantly, I have tried to spread events out fairly reasonably so they aren’t all packed into a single year.

A Dream of Adventure

Born in Lumbridge on the 20th of Rintra, 152 of the Fifth Age, Jaina Katarn was of humble origins, the daughter of retired adventurer turned handyman Daelin and former druidess and master summoner Phrynna Katarn (otherwise known as Yaketysax). She is descended from many talented wizards of the Misthalin Tower, as well as partially from the human servants of King Baxtorian's court (which, according to her aunt, may be where her surname originated); she is also a direct descendant of Virtus. Her family was of modest income and lived comfortably but simply due to Daelin having accrued many debts before being forced to end his adventuring career; he worked long hours doing many different odd-jobs around Lumbridge to earn his keep, while his wife pitched in by working as an herbalist and treating the sick.

They were, however, able to have runes on hand consistently enough, and Jaina’s natural talent for magic manifested fairly early on when she found a stack of air runes on the kitchen table at the age of two--and accidentally cast her first Wind Strike. Her parents, and later her teacher Wizard Mikasi when she was old enough to go to school, encouraged her to develop her talent and practice it as much as she could, which she did fervently and passionately--a miscast spell while practicing was what turned her hair, which had been black when she was born, permanently purple. Inspired by the stories her father told of his adventuring days, Jaina decided early on that she wanted to be an adventurer herself, see the world, and discover new things. She would often wander off and try to explore on her own, resulting in her parents or her mother’s familiars having to drag her back.

Although Jaina read many books and practiced her magic diligently even outside of school, she did have to deal with many of the other children picking on her and her brother, Korrilan, for being the only Guthixians in Lumbridge. That, combined with several of her neighbors constantly badgering and nagging her parents about why they should raise their children Saradominist instead, left a bad taste in her mouth and fueled the first seeds of a strong bias against Saradominism that would stay with her as she grew up. It did, however, also fuel her drive to prove herself and not only get better at magic, but to gain the skills to become an adventurer. Her father encouraged her to learn a balanced skillset so she could be prepared for anything--she wasn’t always successful, particularly never being any good at trying to fire a bow or wielding most close-quarter weapons, but she did try.

When she turned ten, her parents agreed that she should begin asking around town to do favors for the neighbors as practice for adventuring. She did so eagerly, from Cook’s mundane request for cake ingredients to the restless ghost in the church graveyard who needed to pass on. Her first real adventure, however, came sooner than expected, a year later, when her father’s former mentor Xenia roped her and Korrilan into going after a trio of cultists who had kidnapped a local girl with the intent of sacrificing her in a dark ritual. Both of them succeeded and survived unharmed; Daelin, of course, was not pleased with Xenia for risking his children like that.

To the Tower

The Misthalin Wizards’ Tower was aware of the young Jaina’s capabilities with magic thanks to Wizard Mikasi, and offered her an apprenticeship there when she was twelve. Eager to travel and see more of the world, she accepted the offer. At the same time, her parents were preparing to set out for Phrynna’s hometown of Taverley, as dire news had come from Asgarnia--there had been a massacre in Taverley, and the couple wished not only to help the druids rebuild, but to investigate the suspicious political goings-on in the kingdom that had seemed to start with the disappearance of King Vallance and the White Knights’ refusal to allow Prince Anlaf to succeed his father. While Jaina was to study at the Tower in her parents’ absence, Korrilan was to begin an apprenticeship with Harlan and undergo guard training.

Jaina remained largely unaware of the turmoil in Asgarnia during her apprenticeship at the Tower. She impressed her tutors with her advanced prowess in spellcasting, although she did not want to be a wizard, and found academia and complicated magical theory boring--nor did she get along well with the other, much older apprentices, many of whom resented the presence of a child prodigy. Her adventurous streak tended to frustrate the wizards greatly, and most did their best to keep her from venturing too far outside the Tower, although some relied on her for errands, most notably Wizard Mizgog, who requested that she help find the imps who had stolen his beads. They weren't always successful, however--when Jaina heard about the vampyre that was terrorizing the people of Draynor Village, she took it upon herself to go out there and slay Count Draynor. She barely survived the encounter, and it left her rather shaken--not just because of how close it was, but because it was the first time she had ever killed someone--and it didn't take long for the news of how a brave young girl of twelve had faced and killed Count Draynor to spread, sparking the interest of the citizens of Misthalin (and the ire of Lowerniel Drakan). The Tower wizards, on the other hand, lectured Jaina on how she'd foolishly risked her life and how she needed to focus on her studies and on magical theory.

However, the conflict in Asgarnia only escalated into the War of 164, and Jaina’s parents were unfortunately in Falador when it was besieged. They fought bravely to the very end, ultimately sacrificing their lives in the process of rescuing the city’s civilians from the onslaught of Sulla’s forces. When the news of their deaths reached the Tower, Archmage Sedridor gave the devastated Jaina an ultimatum: in order to continue living and studying at the Tower, she must commit fully to being a proper wizard and curb her tendencies to seek adventure--alternatively, she could go to live with her closest living relative, her aunt Solona, who had moved to Yanille to research her family’s ancestry before she was born. Jaina chose the latter option, and it was also decided that she would continue her magical studies at the Wizards' Guild. Korrilan, meanwhile, would inherit the family home in Lumbridge, and remain as Harlan’s ward until he was old enough to make his own living.

The Guild Apprentice

Although she was initially excited to see Kandarin and the Guild for the first time, Jaina soon found that the citizens of Yanille were quite insistent that she stay within the town walls for fear of running into ogres or Khazard troops. She found it more constraining than ever, and grew determined to venture beyond the walls and beneath the town as often as she could. In the interim, she busied herself with not just working on her magic, but with helping to fix an old house that had been destroyed by the ogres years ago. She attempted to sneak into the Khazard Fight Arena a few times as well, but was always spotted and forced to flee; she did not tell anyone else about these occurrences.

During her four-year apprenticeship at the Wizards’ Guild, Jaina proficiently outperformed her fellow apprentices, getting the hang of all four Blast spells by the time she was fifteen. She did still struggle in some aspects, however--particularly with earth spells, which she was never very good with, in contrast to her particular prowess with water spells. That year, in 167, the Watchtower’s wards failed, and despite the wizards’ protests, Jaina insisted on going into the ogre city of Gu’Tanoth in order to restore the wards. During her adventure, one of the ogres she encountered was Bogrog the summoner, who offered to teach her more about the art of summoning. She would slip out often to learn from him, although his teaching methods did differ a bit from her mother’s.

Although the Guild wizards commended Jaina for her bravery, they did still want her to stay at the Guild and become a wizard herself, and quite a few of the citizens of Yanille thought she should settle down and marry a wizard when she turned sixteen. She wanted no part of that future, and was tired of being constrained in one place for so long--so, on her sixteenth birthday, Jaina packed her bags and left Yanille, setting out for an island off the coast of the Misthalin Tower where a school for adventurers was located. She would spend a year studying there, primarily with Wizard Terrova, who focused on teaching her magical combat and how to wield staves, wands and orbs as she had a good grasp of the spells themselves.

A True Adventurer

Proudly returning to Lumbridge at the beginning of 169, Jaina was eager to begin her journey as a real adventurer at last. Her arrival proved to be rather timely, as there had been some strange activity in the castle basement--which turned out to be from a tribe of cave-dwelling goblins that had lived beneath Lumbridge the entire time. Jaina hoped to learn more about them, and in due time got her wish, in the form of meeting the explorer Zanik, who was fascinated by the surface world and keen to befriend her. In addition to Zanik, Jaina got to know the veteran adventurers who frequented the various guilds, and accompanied some of them on adventures--mainly the thief Ozan, who managed to drag them both into a plot that went far beyond just finding a stolen diamond. She had first met him, along with the knight Sir Owen Sonde and the seer Ariane, when a horde of goblins attacked the east side of Lumbridge, looting and burning the homes and killing the elderly mage Lozar before Jaina could save her. The trio had arrived on the scene too late, although just in time to see Jaina’s magical prowess in action as she picked off a few unlucky goblin stragglers.

There was much adventure to be found in Misthalin alone, from finding the lost shield of Arrav to confronting the past ghosts of the Wizards’ Tower to facing the demon Delrith (a fight which Jaina only barely managed to win due to not being very good at wielding Silverlight), although the place she found herself keenest to explore was the Digsite ruins east of Varrock, particularly after finding evidence of a forgotten god in the ruins. Her curiosity about the place led her to work part-time for the museum, where she earned a fair bit of her keep for some time.

For a time Jaina mostly stayed around Misthalin, since she was focused mainly on proving herself worthy of entering the guilds and on keeping the Dorgeshuun goblins safe from the plots of the HAM cult--and occasionally delving into Morytania to assist the Myreque undercover, disguised and under the alias Kreia Fel so that the vampyres would not notice her distinctive hair. She also found herself frequently exploring the Kharidian Desert, due in no small part to Ozan and the Kharid-ib, and did her best to help out in war-torn Burthorpe and Taverley in their efforts against the trolls--taking in an orphaned baby troll, whom she fed strawberries and thus named Strawberry, while there. However, she soon had to worry about getting a proper home, especially for Strawberry’s sake and with her propensity to adopt pets on her travels. Her family home in Lumbridge did not have the space for more than three pets, and Korrilan was not able to care for them in her absence--the house she ultimately managed to procure turned out to be the old estate in Yanille that she’d repaired a few years before.

The one place Jaina was reluctant to go, aside from the Wilderness, was Falador. She had no issue with visiting Burthorpe and Taverley, as the druids were friendly to her and she wanted to help stop the trolls, but she wanted no part of the political turmoil in Asgarnia, since her parents would have still been alive had they not gotten involved with it.

Barbarians, Dream Magics, and Lucien, Oh My

Once she had moved into her new house, Jaina spent some time adventuring around Kandarin. She was a skilled enough battlemage by now to break into the Khazard Fight Arena to rescue the Servil family, even managing to defeat Khazard himself in a duel. She also learned the secret of the plague of West Ardougne and managed to survive crossing the Underground Pass into the elven forest of Isafdar, and took an interest in the culture and cuisine of the gnomes even as she thwarted Glough’s machinations and found evidence of the hidden city of Arposandra. She ventured into the Temple of Ikov at the request of the seemingly unassuming Lucien, only to listen to the Guardians of Armadyl and leave the Staff of Armadyl in their hands when they revealed the truth. She even found the Enchanted Key and traveled in time to the First Age, meeting the first humans to come to Gielinor. And she took on the final challenge that stood in the way of her entry to the most prestigious adventurer’s guild in Gielinor, going to map the Kharazi Jungle--and becoming the youngest entrant to the Legends’ Guild in history.

However, while in Ardougne she also aided in the reawakening of Hazeel, purely out of anger at the Carnilleans for snubbing her and mocking her clothes, speech, and accent. She was horrified at what she’d done after the fact and regretted her actions greatly, although she still had a strong dislike of the Carnilleans for being prissy, snobby nobles.

In the north of Kandarin, shortly after finding the Dagannoth nest beneath the lighthouse and killing the Dagannoth Mother, Jaina encountered the Fremennik, who spurned her for being a mage and even mocked her hair and appearance--all that did, however, was tick her off enough to decide to prove them wrong, and she boldly declared she would undertake their trials. She had to rely on her wits to come up with clever alternate solutions to the tasks given to her, but pass she did, and the Fremennik welcomed her as one of her own. (Korrilan had also taken the trials shortly before Jaina arrived in Rellekka, after finding out that the Fremennik were great warriors and had lots of beer; he was known to them as Thorlor Daltinsson. His word wasn’t enough to vouch for her, however.) There was no shortage of adventure around the area, the most memorable thing being the frozen Jhallan deep in the ice strykewyrm caves. However, Jaina was much more interested in meeting their sister tribe--the Moonclan, who were said to wield powerful and unusual magic. Chieftain Brundt agreed that a mage was the perfect choice to send to try to communicate with the Moonclan, so off Jaina set for Lunar Isle, nearly overwhelming the Moonclan mages with her eagerness to learn their magic. The isle became one of her favorite places to visit, and she almost immediately began to integrate Lunar magic into her day to day tasks. It was during such a visit to Lunar Isle that she found and saved Cyrisus, as well as helped him confront his inner demons in his dreams. It did not take Cyrisus long to fall in love with the young woman who had saved his life, although Jaina was unaware of his true feelings even as they forged a strong friendship.

From Rellekka she also ventured to the island of Miscellania, recalling a request for a hero’s help from its king on the Heroes’ Guild noticeboard. King Vargas asked her to become the kingdom’s regent by marrying his son, since he could not rule well due to being cursed into yeti form. Jaina protested the idea at first, but ultimately decided she should at least agree to it in order to help the citizens, even if she had no desire to ever rule a kingdom and was never going to settle down there. She did not get along with Prince Brand at all at first, and he was just as averse to the idea of marrying a stranger as she was, but Jaina decided to be patient and take the time to get to know him. Despite Brand’s many personality flaws and annoying habits, she did grow to genuinely care for him, and he in turn appreciated how she was willing to listen to him and hear his terrible poetry and music. However, she couldn’t seem to find a priest to perform their wedding, and would frequently get distracted by other adventures when she was trying to look for one. (Korrilan also became engaged to Brand’s sister, Princess Astrid, who was impressed with his skills as a warrior despite his awkwardness around women and general meatheaded personality.)

Despite her aid to the Guardians of Armadyl, Lucien still managed to procure the Staff of Armadyl, and soon Jaina found herself drawn into a covert operation to try to stop him before he threatened all of Gielinor. She was confused as to why Akrisae deemed her the best choice to impersonate Surok Magis, even with a fake beard to wear for the part. Just before the eight heroes set out to face Lucien, Cyrisus, concerned with the possibility of dying on the battlefield, confessed his love to Jaina, also explaining that he had never pursued her because he’d known about her engagement and did not wish to interfere. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of his confession, but after the disastrous operation where he and the five other heroes died at Lucien’s hands, she grieved his loss the most out of all of them and swore to make Lucien pay, and a part of her wished that they could have been together if things had been different.

The Imprisoned Hero

Not only had Jaina become quite the famous adventurer, she had also earned a good deal of money from her travels and part-time work for the guilds and the museum, and her next goal was to be recognized as a master of magic. After spending all of her money on a new set of ancient mage’s robes and having to work harder than usual to make money back, she learned from an unscrupulous treasure hunter that a great treasure lay buried in the Kharidian Desert. Immediately she went to investigate the rumor, coming across an encampment full of desperate bandits who were cold and hostile to her on sight. She managed to get an audience with their leader, who revealed that their greatest hero was imprisoned in the nearby pyramid and that four diamonds were needed to break the seal and free him. Resolving to rescue the hero, Jaina set out across the world to hunt down the four guardians of the diamonds--even forgetting to don her Myreque guise when venturing into Morytania for the blood diamond, thus drawing even more of Lowerniel Drakan’s ire when he learned his brother’s killer had slain Dessous as well. Ultimately she was able to break the seal and venture into the heart of the pyramid, where she met the imprisoned hero, Azzanadra. Although he was shocked and confused to learn that several ages had passed, he was grateful to her for freeing him and thanked her with a gift--knowledge of the Ancient Magicks of Zaros.

Jaina was excited about these new magic spells, at once setting about practicing with them--and working with Ariane to develop more efficient rune requirements for them so they would be more practical and efficient to cast. She believed mastering these spells would truly make her worthy of the cape of magic mastery, as well as finding them much better suited to her fighting style than the standard spells had been. Though she soon grew comfortable enough with the ancient spells to begin using them exclusively in combat and found that she had a particular skill with the ice spells, she had to practice them via trial and error due to the lack of any teachers who could help instruct her, which was frustrating--particularly with the Burst and Barrage spells, which she struggled to control. She also struggled greatly with the shadow spells. Her newfound gift also drew negative attention, particularly after she published the spellbook with the improved, up to date rune requirements to cast the spells. Many Saradominist priests regarded her with suspicion, whispering that she might be dangerous; even some of the desert bandits felt that she was profiting off their heritage by having published the spells. They were already reluctant to tell her more about their faith despite her curiosity about the unknown god Zaros, and she wasn’t getting anywhere in learning more about him. However, their attitudes didn’t stop her from trying to help them out with food and resources as best she could.

Nonetheless, the spells served Jaina well, particularly in allowing her an edge when she faced the Myreque’s longtime enemy Vanstrom Klause at long last, in challenging the TzHaar Fight Caves and mitigating the heat sickness she suffered in the volcanic environment, in keeping ice cream cold for the monkey king, and in rescuing her father-in-law King Vargas from the lair of the Dagannoth deep below Waterbirth Island, as well as fending off the Dagannoth hordes that invaded Rellekka. As the Fremennik planned a counterattack to stop the monsters once and for all, Jaina and Brand were finally married in a spur of the moment ceremony, together with King Vargas and Queen Sigrid, and Korrilan and Astrid. Their happiness, unfortunately, was short-lived, as Astrid and Brand were both killed trying to buy Jaina and Korrilan time to defeat and trap the new Dagannoth Mother. Swearing vengeance on the vile creatures, Jaina channeled her anger and sorrow into her spellcasting and slaughtered the entire Dagannoth colony beneath the lighthouse in a fit of rage; however, she overexerted herself and was badly wounded from their quills, and the Fremennik had to nurse her back to health. They refused to allow her to pursue the Waterbirth colony for her own good.

Deciding to go as far away from Rellekka and Miscellania as possible to help take her mind off her grief, Jaina headed eastward just in time for an audience with Emir Ali of Al Kharid, who tasked her with traveling to Menaphos along with his grand vizier as part of an official delegation. She soon found herself lost in the sights and intrigue of Menaphos, and stayed there to adventure for a few weeks; not long after dealing with the Pharaoh himself she felt keen to share some of her discoveries in the desert--mainly about Amascut and the Mahjarrat--with the scholar Ali the Wise, whom she had befriended after finding Jhallan frozen in muspah form.

Ali the Wise, as it turned out, had news of his own to bring her--namely, that he had a friend at the Varrock Museum who happened to be looking for her and needed a favor done. Curious, Jaina headed for the Digsite ruins, where the friend, Dr. Aurelius Nabanik, was waiting for her--and, to her surprise, turned out to be Azzanadra, the hero she had freed.

The Forgotten God, Zaros

With permission granted to restore the ruined temple, Azzanadra tasked Jaina with procuring artifacts for the temple so that he would be able to contact his god, Zaros. She did so easily, and found her curiosity about Zaros and his followers only growing when the communion portal was restored. She asked Azzanadra to teach her how to better wield the Ancient Magicks, which he was keen to do to help bring out her full potential, and visited him in the temple often, asking many questions about Zaros, the ancient city of Senntisten, Azzanadra himself, and what it meant to be Zarosian. He informed her very starkly that if she was to embrace the Zarosian faith, she must keep it a secret and be very careful what she was to say and do, in order not to draw undue attention. Taking his words to heart, she thought carefully over the matter as she visited him regularly--not only did the plight of the Zarosian people touch her heart and spur her wish to help them, she also found Zaros’ ways of self-control and thinking before acting resonating with her in ways that Guthixian philosophy never had. She did not have to think about it for long before deciding to convert to Zarosianism and help Azzanadra with his goal of returning Zaros to Gielinor.

Thanks to her regular magic lessons, Jaina was soon confident enough in her skill with the ancient spells to undergo the testing the Wizards’ Guild required for those seeking the cape of magic mastery, and had Azzanadra test her abilities before going to the Guild. She was awarded the cape, becoming the youngest in history to be recognized as a master of magic--and not long after getting her cape, she suddenly came into ownership of a private dock in Port Sarim and found herself assisting quite a few adventurers who had business in the Wushanko Isles. The first she met was Zu Zu the Occultist, who had heard of her talent with magic and her skill as a runecrafter--and unnerved her to no end with her constant flirting. The one she was wariest of, particularly with having to keep her conversion secret now, was Tomlin the Missionary--and she was aware of his past misdeeds, as her father had helped turn him in after he beat up the citizens of Draynor. That, combined with Tomlin’s open disapproval of her use of the ancient spellbook, got their relationship off to a very rocky start, although Jaina was still willing to work with him.

She was indeed careful to keep her conversion secret, having to watch her words and not let anything about Zaros slip. She had to be especially careful not to let her faith slip as she tried to help mediate an alliance between the Void Knights, Temple Knights, and Kinshra long enough for their combined efforts to drive back the Void pest threat. Her fellow heroes noticed her being more secretive and less eager to talk about her adventures and accomplishments, although they chalked it up to her grief from Brand’s death and simply being a more seasoned adventurer. On the other hand, the desert bandits had grown to accept and admire her, Ali the Wise was always keen to see her visit and let her read his old books, and Azzanadra was fast becoming her closest friend, since not only had he begun financially supporting her so that she no longer had to worry about money, she could talk to him about her new Zarosian faith and the new perspectives it gave her.

Among these new perspectives was being forced to confront her prejudices about more monstrous races. She did have a fairly easy time understanding that demons weren’t all bad after volunteering to show off her magic at Balthazar’s circus, and decided to hire Alathazdrar the demon butler to help out in her home as a caretaker for her pets (though he did happen to be the only servant who was qualified to care for some of her more exotic pets, like TzRek-Jad and the abyssal minion). Azzanadra, of course, was proof that Mahjarrat could be honorable and even be friends with humans--and Jaina suspected that Ali the Wise was also really a Mahjarrat, since he seemed to know so much about them and about Zaros--but it was extremely difficult for her to imagine that the vampyres could have ever coexisted with humans after seeing the horrors of Morytania (and finally confronting and personally killing Lowerniel Drakan himself). She still fought alongside the Misthalin army to defend her homeland from Vanescula’s invasion; when Vanescula ultimately agreed to a truce and to rebuild a united Morytania alongside Safalaan and Efaritay, it gave Jaina hope that the rest of the world could come to understand that different races, even monstrous ones, could truly live together, as Zaros’ people once had.

With the Temple of Lost Ancients recently having been unfrozen that year, Jaina learned of the Zarosian forces there under the command of the fearsome Nex. She had to get a set of ceremonial robes from Azzanadra so they would recognize her as an ally if she ventured beyond the frozen door. Nex was indeed intimidating and terrifying, but she recognized Jaina as Virtus’ descendant from her physical features and had heard about her prowess from Azzanadra; she wished to test her in battle to see what she was capable of. Although Jaina gave it her best shot, she soundly lost the duel; Nex, however, was still impressed with her capabilities and encouraged her to come and fight her whenever she wished.

Jaina’s conversion also brought her another new perspective: that of her old foes the Zamorakian Mahjarrat, particularly the looming threat that was Lucien, as she now knew what they had done to the Zarosian people. It made her even more determined to help Zaros return, and to ensure none of them could ever harm anyone ever again. Her chance to confront them again, though, was closer than she expected...

The Ritual

Jaina had known about the Mahjarrat Ritual of Rejuvenation since finding Jhallan, and even asked Azzanadra about it; she still didn’t expect to end up dragged into it all of a sudden. It was, however, the perfect opportunity to strike back against Lucien, and the only chance at stopping him from achieving godhood since he had both the Staff of Armadyl and the Stone of Jas. When Jaina arrived at the Ritual site with her allies, she knew she would be fighting not just for the sake of Gielinor and her friends, but for the Zarosians and their cause--and that her allies didn’t need to know that. Her suspicions about Ali the Wise were quickly confirmed when he was revealed to be Wahisietel.

She was not as disappointed about not being able to personally kill Lucien as she might have expected, in part because the Dragonkin were truly terrifying, and in part because of the one Zarosian Mahjarrat she hadn’t yet met: Sliske, who confronted her immediately after the Ritual and tried to enslave her in unlife as a Barrows sister. How suddenly everything happened, from Sliske casting the spell to Akrisae’s sacrifice to save her, sent her into a state of shock, and Wahisietel had to take her to his home to help her recover. The experience left her terrified of Sliske and hoping fervently that she would never see him again.

The events of the Ritual also changed Jaina’s relationship with Azzanadra; she had been feeling more and more drawn to him before, but had thought little of it, assuming she was merely admiring his human guise and that she simply really liked him as a friend and mentor. Seeing him in his true form for the first time, however, made her understand that she was genuinely falling for him. The prospect frightened her, as she believed that a Mahjarrat could never see a human that way and that he would laugh at the absurdity of it at best if she told him how she felt. She grew much shyer, more insecure, and more awkward around him than she’d been previously, although she was still keen to ask him questions and confide in him. Azzanadra, however, was not only fully aware of her obvious attraction to him, but also finding himself growing to feel the same and often thinking of her. He found it confusing and did not know what to make of it, especially since they would not be able to bear children together without magical methods that he believed Zaros would not approve of. After (naturally) discussing the matter with Zaros, Azzanadra decided that he must allow Jaina to make the first move in order to ensure that she actually wanted to begin a romantic relationship rather than feel obligated to do so.

As uncertain as Jaina was about how to deal with her attraction to Azzanadra as the weeks went on, with her eighteenth birthday drawing closer, she was at least bravely looking towards another year of adventure. She could never have suspected what exactly that next year would have in store for her, though…

(Aaaaaand now I have to write up a lengthy post summing up the Sixth Age eventually!)