Hoshii

Hoshii Elanor
Status	Active
Race	Elf
Gender	Female
Guild	Bard
Instance	Prime
Relatives	Wintidal (spouse), Pyppa (sister-in-law), Baylix (sisterish person through adoptionish thing)

Song Phoenix Hoshii Elanor, an Elven Bard (Pronunciation: HOSH-ee-ee ELL-an-or)

Appearance

Hoshii has pointed ears and thick-lashed jade eyes. Her red-gold hair is long and wavy and is worn braided in an elegant wreath held in place by a delicate geshiloira haircomb set with faceted crystals. She has fair skin and a lissome figure. She is tiny for an Elf. She is an adult.

She is wearing a thin platinum choker decorated in sprays of sapphires that enhance its moon pearl clasp, an azure shadesatin gown snugly laced with dove-grey ribbons, a twining wedding ring of platinum geshiloira cradling a luminous moon pearl, a spiral silver neithrel band set with small fire opals, a bardic blue leather satchel with palladium-capped corners, and some dainty spun glitter slippers adorned with star-cut twilight sapphires.

Background

The girl sits on the doorstep, staring intently at nothing at all. Not a girl, you realize--a grown woman, an Elf in this village of Humans, wearing a simple linen dress under a flour-covered apron, her hair braided into a twist that circled her head like a crown. As you watch, she leaps to her feet, seeming to have made up her mind about something at last. Noticing you, she offers a lopsided grin, peels off the apron and hangs it neatly on a hook just inside the small bakery before hefting a musician's case and small pack onto her back. With a nod, she introduces herself and steps into place beside you on the wagon bench.

The trip south to Haven takes some time at the rate your caravan travels, and with your talent for setting people at ease, you draw her story out of her. Didn't fit in, found a place and a life in the city when she came of age, went home to care for an ailing parent. It was nothing unusual, really. The story of a thousand people in a thousand tiny towns. She has a talent for words, though, and around the fires of an evening, her voice rings out clear and poignant in the chill air. You're not surprised when she admits that she had apprenticed as a Bard in her youth--though perhaps a little more when she admits that it had been over fifty years since she'd abandoned her training and returned home. With some coaxing, she eventually deigns to open her musician's case and lift out an elegant cittern inlaid with nightingales and jade, worn from decades of use but obviously cared for with love. Her fingers dance over the strings that night, but when asked the reason for the tears splashing down onto them as well, she merely shakes her head. When you press her, she exhales slowly and begins to speak, her voice barely audible over the strumming of the cittern and the crackling of the fire.

It had been a long half a century, caring for her mother and then sister, keeping up with the shop singlehandedly while her father was too distraught to do so. It had seemed to stretch out for a small eternity when first her mother, who lingered for quite some time, passed away at a ripe old age for a Human, then her sister as well--also Human, also elderly, also surrounded by her loving children and grandchildren. It's altogether too long to remain "the baker's daughter" and never the baker, never a grown woman, never the one to settle down with a lover and a family and home of her own and--and gray streaks at her temples and wrinkles on her hands--and a well-lived life.... Not for her. She always "had time," thanks to the Elven heritage her father passed on only to her. And now they were all gone, her family and her childhood companions and everyone for whom she'd stayed in this tiny village in the Therengian forest, a village that was less home than the trees surrounding it, where at least she could find small moments of peace.... She'd given up everything, she tells you fiercely, everything she had, but she had refused to give up her music, even if she was too untrained to use it for anything but simple song. Not that even the most humble of songs are ever "just" music.

It was her time now. Time to return to her studies, to her guild, to the one place she'd ever belonged. Time to make her mark in the world as something other than a daughter and an oddity.

As the port city of Riverhaven comes into sight the next day, she lifts her head and sits more erectly on the seat. You realize that this is probably the first true smile you've seen cross her lips, though she's kept a pleasant enough demeanor throughout the trip. She reaches for her bags, and you bring the horses to a halt before she swings herself down to the packed soil of the road. The woman smiles up at you, jade eyes sparkling in the sun.

"Thank you, but I'll go on alone from here. I need to do this for myself."

Early Life

Hoshii was born to a Human mother and an Elven father and was raised in her mother's village in northern Therengia. She has never met her father's family and knows very little about his history, as he was always reluctant to speak about it and pushed her to focus on the present. Her parents were fiercely in love with each other and enamored by their little girl.

Her parents owned the village bakery, and she had a happy and joyous childhood, surrounded by loving family and a close-knit community. However, she recalls one birthday in her early teens as a turning point. Her mother had baked her an elaborate cake as usual, but as she looked up at the crowd of friends packing their small home, she realized that they were all growing and changing, while she was simply...not. The following years were a challenge as her friends matured and entered a new phase of life, while she, with her Elven blood, remained a child.

After decades of trying, her parents gave her a sister when she was in her late twenties. This child, however, was human. Hoshii left home the day after her thirtieth birthday without great fanfare, travelling south to Riverhaven and gaining admittance to the Bard guild. Her adjustment to "city life" went relatively smoothly, and she rejoiced in feeling less like an oddity among the varied races and backgrounds of Haven compared to her almost entirely human home. She trained slowly but steadily under the guidance of Ezruh and other Bards, taking time to study Ilithic and the history of the Realms for the first time as well. However, despite close friends and the support of her guild, she continued to spiral into depression.

Roughly ten years after her move to Riverhaven, her sister Ashauntae, whom she'd seen only a few times a year since moving, arrived on the back of a wagon with a note. Her mother was not as strong as she had once been, and her parents felt that it was Hoshii's duty to help Ash find a place in the city and begin her education and training early--despite having required her to stay home many years longer. Hoshii helped Ash find a place in the Haven Empath's guild, after which she was mostly hands-off, feeling for her more as a distant niece (and admittedly, a bit of a burden) than a sister.

Sever years later, a letter arrived from their parents. Their mother was very ill and not expected to live much longer. Abandoning their training, both Hoshii and Ash rushed home to be with her. She survived her illness, though she remained weak and prone to relapses, so the girls stayed close while the village healers warned them that the end was likely not far off. With Ashauntae's Empathic training and Hoshii to help tend the shop and care for the house, her mother lingered for several more decades.

Ash found her place as a much-needed (if poorly-trained) Empath in their small community, eventually marrying a local boy and producing a fine flock of children. Their father, emotional and devoting all his time staying by his wife's sickbed, left the running of the bakery almost entirely to Hoshii, who also cooked, cleaned, and cared for the three of them. This status quo remained after her mother eventually passed away, having made it to her elder years despite all the warnings, and her father was too distraught to function.

Hoshii looked on as her childhood friends grew, married, and started families. Their own children did the same. Eventually, very few from her generation were left, and those were ancient and wizened. She, however, was "forever young," looking no older to their human eyes than she had been when she had moved away. When Ash eventually died, Hoshii quietly made arrangements to pass the bakery on to one of her great-nieces and contacted a caravan driver who passed through the village frequently. Her father had wandered away years before, and she no longer had any ties or obligations to stay in the village where she was treated as "exotic" and felt like a stranger.

Present

Upon her return to Riverhaven in 435, Hoshii found a far less populated town than she had left behind and almost no one she knew from her previous life there. A fellow Bard eventually found her and convinced her to come south to Crossing, which Hoshii had previously avoided due to its overwhelming size and constant business. Upon finally arriving, she met Nilme and Jycanth, who welcomed her and helped her replace her worn and outdated gear and introduced her to a thriving but motley crew of Bards, as well as the Tavern Troupe.

The following year, after embarrassing herself more times than she could count at various social events and subsequently running off to Aesry to hide, she met Wintidal Karanoi, a cleric of Kuniyo. They soon tied their ribbons on the tree in Aesry Surlaenis’a and announced their engagement. They said their vows and were married in 437, braiding their ribbons and beginning their lives together in a cottage on the cliffs above the town.

She recently reached her 100th circle despite her claims of being "the worst bard ever" due to her dislike of performing in public. She is insatiably curious, loves books and flames in equal measures (preferably far apart), requires strong but sweet coffee to start her morning, and prefers to live simply, the way she was raised. Equal parts awkward and enthusiastic, she loves stories and lore, wrapping herself in them like a blanket against the harsh realities of the world. She's never particularly adjusted to the hustle and bustle of Crossing, but she happily visits for Tavern Troupe events--she's vying for a #1 fan pin--and Bard guild meetings.

Hoshii now lives in Fayrin’s Rest in Ilithi with her husband, their kittens Kami and Dame, and puppy.

House

A twisting path winds a lazy route through the brush and bracken. Nearby, several small homes encircle the base of an elderly oak, like tiny acorns shed by the massive tree. The delicious smell of fresh bread wafts from one of the homes, mingling comfortably with the cool scents of the surrounding woodland. You also see a cozy grey fieldstone cottage with a willow basket filled with multi-colored gourds near the door.

A mild scent of brewing tea fills this small room. Its rug-covered polished riverstone floor supports an overstuffed feather bed on which sits a plush black cat pillow shrouded in nightsilk and a storyteller's quilt stitched with colorful scenes. A long silverbirch table painted with a field of flowers holds an elegant jade teapot and pair of matching teacups as well as bouquet of Romantic Ballad peonies arranged in a silver lyre vase, and a carved brick hearth burns near the far wall with a cast-iron skillet painted with dancing silvery blue forks hanging above it. Fancifully depicted unicorns, dragons, faerie, centaurs, welkins and other mystical creatures have been carved into every brick, each pose unique. The carvings have been coated with a clear substance that causes the designs set into the inner hearth to glow a brilliant yellow whenever the fire is lit, making the will o'wisps, stars, and sprites chiseled there dance to the beat of the flickering light. You also see a blue-eyed ebony kitten, a lop-eared chestnut puppy, a wooden door with a sitting wren knocker, a delicate redwood weapon rack carved into the likeness of a bowing tree, an elegant dark red applewood bookcase with delicate openwork filled with books stacked two deep in places, and an overstuffed maroon leather armchair. A small Elven woman is stretched out in front of the crackling fire, a cookie in one hand and a book in the other, humming a quiet tune.

Goals

• To visit every library in Elanthia
• To be permitted entrance into the Sentinels and encourage Karovaas to formally open the Aesry Bard guildhall and share his research
• To tame her incorrigible black kitten, Kami
• To either conquer her stage fright or convince people to never make her perform in front of others again
• To live up to the courageous examples of historical Bards
• To discover the secrets of her sparkly mystery rock on Aesry, which she's convinced might be a faerie hill and portal to another realm

Custom Items

an azure shadesatin gown snugly laced with dove-grey ribbons

The azure fabric is exquisitely cut to create a fitted bodice with a softly scooped neckline edged with tiny silver stars. A watch of nightingales are embroidered along the garment's skirt and sleeves in shades of grey and silver, their fragile feathers captured in exquisite detail. A single bird has left the flock, its body leaping upwards toward the delicate stars scattered across the folds of fabric, its beak open in song.

a polished tamboti cittern inlaid with two mother-of-pearl nightingales inside your musician's case.

Crafted from red-brown tamboti, scented oils used on the body of the instrument linger long after application, giving a slight spicy smell with sweet undercurrents. Shards of green jade have been inlaid around the body of the cittern, wending up from the board to the fret. Around the sound hole, the vines branch out, giving perch for a mother-of-pearl nightingale, head thrown back in song. On the sound hole itself, a second nightingale with wings outstretched, gazes down at the sweet song of its mate.

a sana'ati psaltry inlaid with a duet of kittens in a sea of geshiloira inside your musician's case. (wedding gift)

Delicate shards of flame opal are masterfully inlaid to form shimmering white blossoms strewn across the finely-grained soundbox. A pair of ebony kittens add to the design, captured as they frolic and tumble amid the iridescent flowers. Strung with twenty-four strings of varying lengths, the intricate instrument bears a graceful arc of tuning pegs that frames the top, while a flowing inscription appears above the protective saddle. There appears to be something written on it. A sana'ati psaltry reads: "Two notes joined in harmony, two hearts joined in love -- Wintidal and Hoshii -- 36 Nissa 437"

a twining wedding ring of platinum geshiloira cradling a luminous moon pearl.

Reminiscent of Xibar's placid moonlight, the large pearl is nestled amid the delicately-sculpted flowers. The soft blue sheen reflects upon and enhances the oceanic hue of the myriad tiny sapphires sparkling at the center of each blossom. Two thin bands support the elaborate jewels, twisting loosely around one another and sprouting exquisite silvery leaves at every juncture that binds the pair together. There appears to be something written on it. A twining wedding ring reads: "One, he loves."

Awards and Achievements

• Tied for 3rd Place in the Guildfest 438 Glaes Spatula Cooking Competition: crispy fried potato skin generously stuffed with spiced vegetables
  • Appearance: Crunchy flakes of sea salt enhance the potato's perfectly baked exterior.
  • Taste: You take a bite of the skin. Fresh peas from the filling burst in your mouth with a bright pop of flavor, while the onions are silky and sweet. The tastes of cumin and curry permeate the dish to delight the tongue.
• First Place in a very sketchy pirate cooking competition hosted by the Tavern Troupe in an even sketchier bar
• Actually sang a song out loud for TART's Inaugural Historical Romp: A Concert and did not faint on stage

Fun Facts About Hoshii According to Nilme

• Hoshii has lived a relatively quiet life. She worships Murrula and believes firmly in the power of potatoes
• Favorite flower is the geshiloira
• Loves to bake all sorts of things, including potatoes.
• Loves potatoes
• Loves fire, which is handy for cooking potatoes
• She once killed and/or maimed several of her guildmates with an exploding potato
• Would spend hours in libraries and reading, likely with some sort of potato in her backpack.
• Loves cupcakes and sweets, following a hearty meal that includes potatoes.
• Lived for ages in Riverhaven where she realized how much she loves potatoes.
• Hates Dragon Priests, who probably don't even like potatoes.
• Once randomly left potatoes on the guild shelves and random benches and table throughout the realms.
• Knows where to find every kind of potato/food made with potatoes throughout the realms
• Potatoes