Adereth Character Sketch

by Yukio Shinozawa

A sketch for Adereth I did a while ago. I find that she's a lot harder to write for...her personality has a lot of nuances, so it's kinda difficult to keep it all straight. At the same time, she has the funniest interactions with the other characters.

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Adereth Character Sketch:

Name: Adereth Tashuäwen

Age: 17

Born/Raised: Vandor

Height: 5'7"

Eyes: Dark purple

Hair: Dark brown chestnut

Build: Thin, unbelievably flexible.

Fighting Style: Fights with lightning speed. She keeps her blows coming so fast some people mistake her as a berserker, when in reality every strike is calculated well in advance of its execution. She seems to fare better when faced with multiple opponents than with only one, although she rarely loses a fight.

Weapon: Metal tipped full-body staff.

Personality/History: Very outgoing, Adereth seems to know virtually everyone. Once she has seen someone's name or face, she will never forget it. She speaks in a manner more formal than most people, but this often serves to set her apart from the rest, so they remember her. She is a very thoughtful individual who thinks a project all the way through before starting it. Possessing a very sharp eye for details, she can often tell when someone is lying.

Adereth redefines the term "tactically brilliant." When her government hosted a scouting operation for potential officers, she signed up for the program under the name "Ïnÿm Elalän" – "Star of War." The program consisted of a mock battle – each potential commander was given a division of troops (armed with training weapons), and had to command these troops against enemy forces led by a real general. The government expected most of the newcomers to lose, but would have taken anyone in that gave a serious fight. Adereth single-handedly maneuvered her unit around and shamed even the most seasoned generals her government had – wreaking total chaos while sustaining minimal casualties. Her strategy was so good, and caused so much confusion, that she herself got to duel the opposing commander. She utterly defeated him, knocking him out. She then vanished, as far as the government was concerned, gone without a trace.

Since then, Adereth's father, a wealthy merchant, moved her family to Tärmoth, where she crossed paths with Sauske. She had caught him poking his head around, trying to figure out who the "newcomers" were - her family. One thing that Adereth cannot stand is nosing around, so she and Sauske are always at odds with each other. If Sauske always turns up where people don't want him to be, she always turns up where he doesn't want her to be – ready to thwart his inquisitive activities. To date, she is also the only one that has beaten him in a one-on-one duel in the first round. Final score: 5-0. The pair exists as good friends on most occasions, and as a set of friendly rivals when a chance for a battle of wits presents itself. Adereth usually wins, however.

Although not official, Adereth has become a sort of tutor for Hwenumïr on battlefield tactics. Contrary to what most people might think, Hwenumïr is not haughty enough to dismiss the advice of the young girl. He does not look down on her suggestions…he often absorbs them and uses them as his own. She tries to hide it, but Adereth enjoys watching the jumping game Sauske and Hwenumïr constantly play, and she is always the one most up-to-date on the current stats. Of course, Sauske knows her true feelings on this, but he wisely decides not to press the issue. Perhaps she enjoys these fights so much because Sauske gets beaten occasionally, something which amuses her to no end.

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"Hello, Morn! Greetings, Sareth!" Adereth raised her staff to the shopkeeper and his wife in greeting as she walked down the street. They warmly waved back.

Sauske gazed up at the sky and whistled. "You've been here less than a year, and you know everyone….how? Mm?"

Adereth turned to face him. "Because I go through the front door and talk to them, instead of trying to sneak through the back door to pry into their lives. You should try it sometime."

Sauske huffed. "Where's the fun in that?" He raised an eyebrow and shot a wide grin at her.

She just waved him off and kept walking down the street.

Mmm…Sauske groaned inwardly. For some reason, it always annoyed him that she could dismiss him so easily.

Heh…Adereth sensed his discomfiture and couldn't help but smile.

How does she always know just how to drive me over the edge? he wondered.

He'd already given up on trying to figure her out. Perhaps this was because as far as the city was concerned, he was chaos incarnate. Looking at her as chaos, then, gave him the closest thing he had to feeling like he understood her.

What confused him more than anything else was that he enjoyed being around her. She won the wit battles they always held with regularity, and the subtle victory smirk she would get on her face infuriated him. He hated to lose at anything…so he always tried – badly - not to show his frustration, but they both knew it was hopeless. Of course, Sauske knew that losing always made him try harder the next time. Maybe that's what keeps bringing me back? He didn't know.

She didn't give him long to muse on this. Giving him a mischievous smirk, she asked, "So…have you prepared for the big show today? I would not want to make you look bad in front of the whole town."

Sauske just stared straight ahead, obviously amused. Suuuurrreee you wouldn't. "I'm always ready."

Adereth tapped her staff on the ground. "You do recall what happened the last time we did this?"

Sauske snorted. As if he needed any reminder. He'd been the undefeated sparring champ until she came along and beat him 5-0 in a single round. Well, it won't happen again. He'd been training harder than he ever had before (all in secret, of course) to make sure the fight went differently this time. He'd even extended the length of his chain by a few links to give him an edge.

They rounded the corner to the main marketplace. "Look there they are!" "I can't see them!" "Where are they?" The crowd began to murmur excitedly and point. She and Sauske had become the favorites for the tournament. This wasn't surprising given their reputations. There true skill, though, had yet to be fully tested.

En Wonÿm Othornÿm Maïn, Adereth thought to herself. The Battle of the Month of the Wind. It was a legendary tournament held once a year in Tärmoth, just before the season changed to winter. The fights were so famous that people come would from the other side of the nation – indeed, even from other nations – to witness the best fighters duke it out with one another. She and Sauske proceeded to the fighter's special lounge building. She pushed the door open.

Crrrreeeaaaaakkk

The door swung wide, revealing many forms scattered throughout the various rooms. Some looked eager, ready to fight. Others appeared to be resting after surely hard-fought rounds. All looked extremely dangerous, ready to thrash the next victim on the list. I will never understand how Sauske manages to defeat these people... they look like they could tear a ceiling beam apart with their bare hands! Maybe he has too thick a skull to get knocked out? she thought, bemused. If only she could be the one to do it…

She turned around to ask Sauske where the registrator was, but he had disappeared. He did this on purpose…just to make me angry, I suppose. It will not work. She simply turned to the nearest fighter and asked him.

The gruff looking man turned, and looked at her with some surprise. He had obviously heard of her, and seemed shocked that she would even consider talking to him…"Ah…upstairs…s-second door on your left," was the halting reply.

Adereth bowed. "Thank you."

She quietly made her way up the stairs, and located the registrator's office. She knocked, but no response came. Unusual...She tried the doorknob. The door swung open easily – but no one was inside. There was a note scribbled next to the registration list:

"Eating lunch, will return later. Please feel free to sign your name.

-Garen"

Sauske had just been here…his name was the last one on the list. Sighing quietly, she added her name, and went to find some lunch.

Halfway down the stairs, she spotted Hwenumïr laying on a couch, possibly asleep? I was not aware that he had entered the tournament…She also saw Sauske sneaking up on him. She pretended to sigh disapprovingly, but kept her eyes focused in eager interest. These games had always interested her - there was always the chance that Sauske would get the short end of the stick. He can always use a few blows to his ego. She could not help but smile, and positioned herself behind a support beam to watch what happened.

Hwenumïr was lying on the couch with one arm across his eyes, seemingly totally oblivious to his surroundings. Sauske was coming from the back of the couch, slowly and quietly, obviously trying to be as sneaky as possible. He slowly stood up…reached his arm over…a victory smile spread across his face….and then Shing! Hwenumïr had rolled off the couch, drawn his blade, and put it's back against Sauske's neck in one swift motion. Sauske stood there dumbfounded.

"Dead, my friend," Hwenumïr chimed. "Better luck next time?"

Adereth had to fight hard to stifle a laugh.

"Mmm….." Sauske tried to hide his disappointment. "How'd you know I was coming?"

Hwenumïr smirked. "Did you really think I was asleep? I'm fighting next, after all!"

"Really?" Adereth almost slapped her hand over her mouth…she hadn't meant to say anything.

Both men spun around to look at her. Hwenumïr seemed unphased. Sauske, however, knew she'd just seen him get beaten…he clenched his fist behind his back in an odd mix of humiliation and frustration.

"Indeed." Hwenumïr smiled. "Actually, I was just about to leave for it…care to join us?" He extended a hand in invitation.

"Sure." She smiled back at him.

Hwenumïr led them to the fighter's waiting area. It was a tent close enough to the battle ring that the three had to use raised voices and lip-reading to understand one another – the clang of steel on steel and the roaring of the crowd was deafening. A pair of soldiers guarding the gate nodded as they entered.

Sauske immediately made himself at home near the weapons rack. He eagerly inspected them, running his fingers across the blades and hafts. "Whoa…nice setup this year, mm?"

Adereth didn't understand a word. "What was that?" she practically shouted.

Hwenumïr tried to explain. "He said, 'Nice setup this year!'"

The cheering got louder.

"Oh. So who is…" The cheering immediately stopped, but Adereth kept shouting, "…your opponent?"

Sauske swiveled around. Pretending to be a grandpa, raised a finger and rasped, "Now, now, no need to scream, young one."

At first, Hwenumïr wasn't sure what was funnier to watch…Sauske making a fool of himself, or Adereth's reaction. He decided he liked Adereth's better:

Clonk! She rapped Sauske on the head with her staff

"Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ooowwwwwww!" Sauske started hobbling around, holding his head in both hands.

Never mind, Hwenumïr thought to himself. That trumps 'em both. He burst out laughing.

Suddenly, a short, plump little man came bursting through the tent doors, huffing and wheezing. He merely waved at them and sat down on a chair, remaining silent until he caught his breath.

"Ah, Hwenumïr, here you are! I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Garen! How you doing, old friend?" Hwenumïr replied.

"Not too bad, considering. I see both of your friends here are signed up?"

"Indeed."

"Well, I'd put my money on that one, if I were you." He pointed at Adereth.

Sauske's jaw dropped open. "Hey!"

Garen just laughed. "Well boy, she beat you once, she can do it again!"

Adereth couldn't resist shining a playful smile at Sauske. This one, I like. "So…are you going to introduce us, Hwenumïr?"

"Oh! Yes. Forgive me." Hwenumïr brought her over. "Garen, this is Adereth. Adereth, Garen."

"Pleased to meet you," Adereth chimed.

Garen nodded his head. "Likewise."

Hwenumïr continued. "Garen is the local registrator here. He helps coordinate the tournament battles, specifically the duel tree."

"Yes, and that's part of the reason I wanted to talk to you," Garen said. "It seems that a few people have dropped out, so we have some open positions that can be filled immediately."

Sauske jumped over, assaulting the poor man with questions. "Who? Where? When?"

Garen was quite familiar with Sauske, and stared at him like he had fully expected this to happen.

Adereth tried not to smile.

"Actually, Sauske, there's one for you over in the east field…an axe fighter by the name of Mauzïl."

Sauske bounded out of the tent well before Garen finished his sentence.

Garen watched him go, and laughed.

"It's always the same with that one."

Hwenumïr couldn't help but chuckle.

Adereth just stamped her staff into the ground. "Never a dull moment, at the least."

Garen grunted as he tried to stand up. "Well, one last detail: Adereth, there's a challenger waiting for you on the north field. Good luck to both of you!"

He gave one final wave, and then disappeared.

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About two hours later, Adereth found herself fighting a pole-arm warrior in the last semifinal round. It took her less than ten blows to knock her opponent out. Sad…

As expected, she and Sauske now found themselves as the last competitors in the final round. At last, a real fight. She smiled at the thought. Well…almost.

Hwenumïr had not fared so well…he had defeated three of his opponents, but got hit by a lucky blow of some staff fighter, and was sent sprawling out of the ring. Never down for long, he gracefully acquiesced the battle, and then watched some of the other fights.

As part of the final ceremony, the last two fighters would walk side by side down "the aisle," as some called it. Soldiers stood on either side of the road, proudly holding their weapons and keeping the road clear for the celebrated warriors.

Adereth wasn't much of a ceremonies person, but she realized she didn't have much choice. As they walked, she noticed that the arena had never been so crowded. People had brought chairs, stools, or whatever they could find to get a better view of the fight. Others were sitting in large numbers on rooftops. Adereth waved as she and Sauske made their way to the center ring. "You enjoy your audience, mm?" Sauske teased.

"No more than you do."

"True," he said with a laugh.

They climbed a small staircase, which led to the top of the battle platform. As the audience fell silent, they turned and bowed to once another. A trumpet sounded, signifying the start of the battle. The crowd roared.

"Let's make this look good." Sauske smiled.

"It does not have to look good if it is good," Adereth retorted.

Sauske immediately did a sideways aerial flip into the ring, drawing his weapon and striking an aggressive stance, challenging her. She effortlessly jumped over the small railing and pulled out her staff.

Let us see if we can make it two blows in one day.

Sauske counted slowly. 3…2…1… He charged. So did Adereth. She swung her staff in front of her, seeking to cut his drive short.

No sweat, Sauske thought. He rolled forward to her left side, and attempted to snare her arm with the chain. She drew the staff back with a seemingly effortless flick, and the weight bounced off the staff harmlessly.

Now that she held the initiative, Adereth swung to bring the back end of her staff up to meet Sauske's chin. He brushed it aside with his arm and jumped backwards, lashing the chain out. Once again, Adereth blocked it.

"Not this time."

She brought the staff out to full length, swinging low at the foot level. Sauske backflipped away just in the nick of time. He had scarcely landed when Adereth thrust forward at him. Sliding to the right, he wrapped his chain around the end, and pinned the staff under his left arm. Try as she might, Adereth could not pull it free from his grasp. The crowd gasped.

"Gotcha," he said, giving her a mischievous smirk.

"Sadly, you do not."

To his surprise, she slid forward, and tapped her end on the ground. She then put one foot on the staff and stood up on it. The staff acted like a lever, and slammed Sauske to the ground, immediately releasing his grasp on her weapon. He rolled to the side as she brought it up and down right here his stomach had been not a moment earlier. Noise erupted from all sides as the crowd cheered.

A referee shouted from the sidelines. "Point Adereth!"

He flipped himself up, and nodded. "Very clever!"

Rushing at her again, used a handless cartwheel to dodge her upwards counter-swing. Flicking the chain out in midair, he caught it around Adereth's arm. He pivoted once he touched down, throwing her to the ground.

Gasping as she felt her body connect with the mat, she watched as Sauske brought the chain around, obviously attempting to snatch both her wrists at once. She used her free arm to bring the staff around. The chain wrapped itself around the weapon instead, making a dull chink sound when the weight ran out of chain and hit the metal tip of the staff.

"Point Sauske!"

The cheering increased twenty-fold.

Sauske reached out with his right hand, now grabbing the stick and the chain at the same time. She brought her foot up, kicking and throwing him over herself. She did manage to free herself…but Sauske held firmly to the chain, which tore her staff out of her grasp.

"Point Sauske!"

She smiled in semi-mock gratitude as he unwrapped the staff from his weapon and threw it back to her. "You still wish to make this look good, I see."

He laughed. "Not just look good…this is good."

This time, she charged him. Raising her staff above her head, she brought it down in a feint down-strike, then suddenly pivoted and brought the back end around at chest level. Sauske was taken completely off guard – she bowled him over.

"Point Adereth!"

She apparently knocked the wind out of him, too…he struggled some to get up. Or at least, it looked like struggling. He suddenly flicked the chain out around leg level, wrapping around her ankle. She responded by giving him a good crack in the wrist, but she lost her balance and fell over. He immediately looped the chain around, catching her other foot and dragging her forward. Despite the seemingly bad situation she was in, she used his effort to her advantage, holding her staff out like a lance as he reeled her in. It sent him sprawling.

"Point Adereth!"

He still held onto the chain, and she found herself unable to get free. More stubborn than hard oak. She tried to bring the staff down on his back again. It was just what he had been waiting for. Grabbing it with a firm hold, he released her feet from the chain and pulled upwards, once again wrenching her weapon from her grasp.

"Point Sauske!"

A new wave of cheering broke over the arena.

Once again, he gently tossed the staff back to her. "Why haven't we done this until now?" he asked.

Not missing a beat, she waved him off, and sarcastically droned, "Because you are too afraid to lose."

The remark had its intended effect…Sauske fell into a small rage and struck too early. She whipped the staff up, catching the chain by the side, and pulled backwards to tear it from his grasp.

What happened next, neither fully understood. Sauske held the chain so tightly that instead of it coming free of his grasp, he lost his footing and was pulled towards her. Indeed, sent flying at her. As they connected in a heap, he rolled, and pulled hard to get up.

His chain, now snared around Adereth's staff, pulled her up and around, and as Sauske tried to stand, she was thrown into the air….and out of the battle ring! For no more than a moment, Sauske and Adereth caught each other's eyes in disbelief. But only for a moment. Sauske realized too late that the spinning momentum between his arm, the chain, and Adereth's staff had not stopped with the rest of him.

Aw..cru-!

CRACK!

The staff had pivoted around him, whip-lashed by his long chain. It squarely caught him in the back of the head.

There wasn't even enough time for the crowd to cheer.

Sauske thought he heard the referee shout, "Duel, Sauske!" but he couldn't be sure. The swirling colors of the world around him weren't helping much. Slowly, the world faded to blackness as Sauske collapsed and passed out.

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MMmmmmmmmmmm…ooooh…my heeeaadd……He mumbled to himself as he came to. Suddenly, it all came rushing back to him. The duel! What happened? Who won? Is Adereth okay? Where am I?

He tried to snap up, only to have his head connect with the bunk-bed above him with a solid CRUNCH! He moaned again as he laid back down. It's just not my day…

Someone came flying into the room, alerted by the noise. It was Hwenumïr.

"Sauske! You're awake?"

All Sauske had to offer was a soft groan in reply as he stroked his damaged forehead. Hwenumïr looked down in shock as he examined the point of impact. "You just…split a lateral support beam of the bed," he muttered in disbelief. Then he started laughing.

Sauske tried to laugh with him, but he couldn't; it hurt his head too much.

Adereth appeared at the door a few moments later, and quietly walked in.

"Hello, Sauske. Are you all right?"

It took him a moment to reply. "Yehhh…I thin' so. Wha happen?"

Hwenumïr sighed. "You single-handedly managed to defeat both Adereth here and yourself at the same time."

"Nnnnhhh….that's not exactly how I'd put it, but okay," Sauske said, slowly.

Adereth sat down on the bed next to him. "Well, the judges were unsure as to what truly happened. Since you knocked yourself out, they wished to declare me the victor."

Rising energy mixed with a quiet resignment in Sauske's voice. "…and?"

Hwenumïr piped up. "Well…she managed to lean their opinion away from her. They were still anxious to hand you the victory though. So…they called it a tie." Hwenumïr bit his lower lip, worried about how Sauske would respond.

Silence.

"A tie, huh?" Sauske finally asked.

Adereth's response was warm. "Yes."

Sauske let out a long, relieved sigh. "I think I can live with that."

Hwenumïr started. "You? Accept a tie? Since when?" He burst out laughing. Sauske was too tired to offer much resistance.

"So, what do you call that move, oh great warrior?" Adereth teased.

"Hmm….how about the 'Mind-Shattering-Accidental-Double-Suicide Technique'?" Sauske said, sounding much more like himself. He smiled at her.

Adereth paused to consider the meaning, and grinned back at him.