Fennes

BACKGROUND

When Fennes is 4 years old, she watches her mother bleed out in front of her from a knife wound inflicted by her own wetnurse. From that point on she refuses to trust anyone on their word. The only people she can trust are those who have more reason not to betray him than to do so.

When she is 13 years old she picks a slave out of the kitchens and pays off their debt on the condition that they be hers. They accept, and take on Fennes' family name and become her protector.

When she is 14 years old, she is told that her father has passed away from illness and she doesn't believe a word of it. Colors and shapes begin to blur at the edges of her eyes, her ears ring, and her sleep becomes dreamless in the time that follows and she knows that something is amiss.

When she sits atop the throne for the first time she feels as though she is seeing everything through a fog, like the feeling of having just woken up. The couriers bring her messages of peace treaties to sign and speeches of a prosperous future to read to her people. It takes her a few weeks to realize what's happening when Cephei becomes mysteriously tightlipped in response to Fennes' complaints of illness, tells her to lie down and brings her cream soup.

When she figures out he's being duped, she does nothing. She never wanted this inheritance, this war-torn country of feuding lords and backstabbing nobles. If this is simply another facet of Cephei's protection, then Fennes will not protest. Good enough to put a little slack in Cephei's leash so they think that they've some degree of freedom.

It isn't that she wants to sit by and let the people of the kingdom suffer. But just the thought of fixing the wreckage of this country overwhelms Fennes. She convinces herself that there is nothing she can do, no way that she can regain control over her life and her destiny, and lets Cephei take the reins. Cephei is the only solid and true thing in her life, and she lets their protection wash her away.

PERSONALITY

giving, caring, perfectionist, defeatist, neurotic

Fennes would be a fantastic king, except that she cares too much. Hers is a gentle soul, and she cannot bear to be the one to cause the loss of a single life, even if it were to save a hundred more. She freezes under pressure and altogether cannot handle the responsibilities of being queen. She does not feel that she deserves to have so much power, or that she is able to decide what to do with it. She feels that it is wrong for her to make decisions that would affect so many.

Though she is aware that many lives are lost through her inaction, she has convinced herself that things would be in no way better if under her direct rule, and so she allows Cephei to bear her burden, take the blame and bloody their hands so that Fennes' conscience may stay clean. She denies to Cephei and to herself that she has any knowledge of what goes on outside the castle walls so that she may have an excuse.

"I didn't know they killed all those people. I didn't know the country was out of my control. It's not my fault. There was nothing I could have done."

These thoughts bring Fennes comfort. Fennes feels that if she can abdicate responsibility, then it is a blessing. She does not want this responsibility, she does not want to die on the sword of a noble who wishes to wrest it from her grasp. She makes herself believe that because her fate is unfair and beyond his control, she is within her right to run from this birthright.