Princess Elspeth
Elspeth is the daughter of Queen Selenay of Valdemar and Prince Karathanelan of Rethwellan.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Her father died shortly before her birth when he attempted to kidnap Queen Selenay and gain the throne for himself; murdering her uncle and aunt in the process. Though Selenay planned to raise the orphaned daughter of her brother, Seraphina, and Elspeth together, a message was received from King Faramentha that he was sending Elspeth their family nurse maid, Hulda, to help care for his niece. A woman claiming to be Hulda showed up from Rethwellan to care for the young princess but refused to have anything to do with Seraphina. Trying to keep the peace while dealing with trouble at the Karsite border, Selenay provided a separate nurse maid for Seraphina.
Under Hulda's influence, Elspeth grew into a spoiled, arrogant, and self-righteous Brat. The Knights and her mother despaired of her ever being Chosen, so Queen's Own Talamir planned to have Elspeth fostered with a minor noble family away from the palace to see if they could change her. However, before anything was finalized, he was poisoned.
The new Queen's Own, Talia, took on the task of taming the Brat. When she couldn't get close to Elspeth, due to Hulda's interference, she enlisted the aid of her friend and fellow trainee Skif to spy on the royal nursery. He soon discovered that Hulda was drugging the chief nurse, Melidy, and effectively isolating Elspeth from all others, all the while being paid by some mysterious lord. When Talia and Skif took their revelations to Knight Jadus, Hulda fled Valdemar before she could be caught and questioned.
Talia then befriended Elspeth to undo all of the manipulation that Hulda had done, and taught her how to be the kind of person that could be Chosen. Talia taught her to respect her servants and her possessions, and to understand the responsibility and meaning of friendship. Part of this was rekindling the sisterly affection between Elspeth and Seraphina, especially once Seraphina was Chosen and named Heir at the pressure of the Council. In addition, Talia cured Elspeth's fear of Companions which Hulda had instilled into her with horrifying stories. With Talia now guiding her, Elspeth was soon well-behaved enough to attend classes and Council meetings with Talia. Then, one night while on Companion watch, after helping Talia deliver a Companion pup, Elspeth was the Brat no more.
When she was thirteen (nearly fourteen), a marriage proposal was offered by Hardorn for Elspeth to wed their prince, Ancar. Selenay overruled the council with the decision to table the motion until Elspeth was older as there was the chance she might be Chosen and would have to go through training as well.
Much to Selenay's, and those closest to the throne, Elspeth was finally Chosen by the winged serpent Companion, Gwena, a few years after her cousin and completed her Knights training shortly after the border dispute with Karse was halted with a truce. Selenay advised the relieved Seraphina that the title of Heir was being passed to Elspeth before sending Seraphina off on a special mission at Lake Evendim.
