Borderline Nobility
Aurelius Brandt was an elf of fine taste. An elegant upbringing and a secured spot in Nobility were beautiful things. Though all this aristocratic nonsense... it was lacking. A lot. And Aurelius knew that well. He needed a family to call his own; not that his own family was not around or anything. Merely that he had a desire to be a head of family in his own way. His parents used to scold him when he was younger; he never cared about matchmaking or about relationships. He was there to study, and his studying rewarded him well. So naturally, when a woman meets someone as successful as he was... they'd fall head over heels. And this is precisely what happened to one Berenice Straub.
Berenice was as middle class as they come. She did not enjoy the things that Aurelius did. And she very much let herself get swayed by the matchmakers and whatnot... except it just did not work. Berenice always wanted more and that made her a tough partner to have. But when she met Aurelius... she felt her heart flutter. He was everything that she wanted. An awkward question later and the two found themselves on a date.
Said date... went better than expected. Aurelius and Berenice had more in common than they would have thought... a curious thing since neither was nowhere near the other's matchmaking list, if those are anything valuable. But in this case, they're as valuable as dirt, because it doesn't matter. To Aurelius, love is love, and love should not be defined by lists. To Berenice, love means a chance at a new life. The sparks were there. But the circumstances turned backwards very quickly, when Berenice became pregnant... while they were still at a dating stage.
Nevertheless, Aurelius stood firm by Berenice's side, even after the revelation that Berenice was pregnant with not just a single child. No, she was pregnant with triplets. But it was what it was. Aurelius might have been in awe of the happening, but never questioned it nor did he choose to think differently. If that's what was meant to be, then it was meant to be. Aurelius and Berenice got married two months before the birth of the triplets, to make things official once and for all.
But when Berenice went into labor... things took a turn for the worst. The first triplet, Rhianna Juliet, was healthy and well. But the next two... were not so fortunate. It took a toll on Berenice as well, as she struggled to get through. Ultimately, everything was solved by the timely intervention of the doctors, but it was a scare that would etch itself onto Berenice for life. Her mind broke as a result of the terrifying fear that she will not survive her pregnancy, and it hit home for Aurelius too; Berenice was not the first elf to have a mind break in his lifetime. One of his siblings did too. He was young at the time, so he does not recall it well.
But that was in the past. Now for the present. Rhianna was the gem of the family. As the first triplet, she was often regarded as the eldest in the family and was given responsibility at a young age, though not the intense kind. As Berenice was struggling during the triplets' first few years, Aurelius found himself learning a lot to watch over them, and Rhianna was instrumental in that. She bonded a lot with her father, and he taught her a great many things as she grew older. She used to get curious about how Aurelius did a lot of what he did at the time; which, as far as most were concerned was alchemy. Though, he had a shadier side which he no longer affiliates with; being a former scion of a more than ordinary family had its price. Rhianna grew up knowing nothing of it though, and she'd be told not to let herself be overtaken by others' desires.
As time grew near though, Aurelius had Rhianna sit in on some tutoring, as a pre-Foxfire kind of deal. After all, he did want his daughter to go into Foxfire with appropriate expectation. And Rhianna felt ready for it... until she didn't. After beginning her first year, she manifested merely a month in as a Polyglot. It seemed like that was okay though, because Rhianna got into it very quickly; she likes to claim that it just seems natural, which it is. But then... towards the end of her first year, she proceeded to manifest as a Beguiler as well. Now that one, she was not ready for at all. Let's just say that special ability sessions got progressively weirder from there.
But like all things, practice does improve things, and Rhianna gradually warmed up to her ability. It got her weird looks at home, since neither parent has any Beguilers in their immediate most bloodline, so how Rhianna got that is a mystery to just about everyone. Her fellow triplets both manifested as a Shade and an Empath respectively, and Rhianna supposedly was meant to be the odd one out. But hey, it gave her heaps of confidence, knowing that she'd be a first at something. But all in all, everything was fine.
Rhianna's basic level years went very well, but of course, there was always the expectation that she'll do well and go into the elite levels. Now she's 17 years old, and in hopes of pleasing her parents, she is making the attempt to get into the elite levels...
