Tesni Greenblade

When Tesni was born, none but her mother knew who her father was. The girl was born not breathing, but Agrona, who had helped Cliona through her labor, unwound the umbilical cord from Tesni's neck and breathed life into her.

Tesni was a happy child. Her first word was "apple," and as soon as she could climb, she did so, right out of the window of the room she shared with her mother and into the apple tree outside of it. Cliona, not wanting to frighten Tesni and possibly cause her to fall, climbed out onto the branch with her and helped her find a large, ripe apple, which they shared.

For Tesni's fourth birthday, Cliona had a locket made for her. It had a sunburst on the front and Tesni's name on the back, and inside were miniature images of herself and Ryder. The locket would later save Tesni's life, because on the day that Bhimar attacked, Tesni was separated from Cliona.

Scared and upset, the four-year-old wandered the streets until a strange man scooped her up. The man took a look at her necklace, soothed her, and took her to a cave where he introduced her to several others and introduced himself as Knives. That night, Tesni took all their apples and hid with them. The men she had been brought to just laughed once she was found, and she gained the nickname Wits.

For the next four years, Tesni was a part of the Thieves Guild, until she got caught by a woman in a Ranger uniform. The woman introduced herself as Arya Summerbreeze and invited Tesni to camp. Tesni refused at first and went back to the cave, where she told Knives, also known as Alastar, what had happened. She was surprised when he encouraged her to take Arya up on her offer, and with a hug, Tesni left to do just that.

In camp, Tesni stayed with Arya. Like the Rangers, Tesni did chores, and fell in love with the horses. She also went for a run with Arya every morning. It was on one such run, when Arya sent her back to camp early, that Tesni injured herself, breaking her ankle and sustaining a head injury that resulted in memory loss.

Before regaining her memory, Tesni was kidnapped by Agrona, who wanted Tesni to steal the Orb of Linwood for her. Tesni refused, however, and escaped with Fiona Rainsong, with help from Ryder, Arya, and Alastar.

At the age of nine, Tesni had an argument with Arya, which resulted in Tesni running away. She found an emergency shelter and hid out there until Ryder and Arya found her. With Tesni's urging, the two finally confessed their love for each other. Then, at the age of ten, after another encounter with Agrona, Tesni learned the truth, that Ryder was her father, and was given the gift of being allowed to train early.

At about the same time, Ryder took a protege by the name of Rowan, and he and Tesni became fast friends. Even after Aeron Windrunner persuaded Tesni to run off when she was sixteen so that they could get married, and then betrayed her, Tesni knew that Rowan would always stand by her. The two began courting, and it was in Rowan that Tesni learned what true love was.

It was also when she was sixteen that Tesni learned the truth about her mother. Though Cliona had died when Tesni was ten, it wasn't until Tesni was sixteen that the law allowed her to receive her inheritance, including dresses, jewels, and a letter. The letter asked Tesni to find the daughter and granddaughter of Ithel and Rhiannon.

Tesni realized it was written in code, though, and managed to figure out that she was the daughter of the lost princess. To test this theory, Ryder took Tesni to the last room of the Bow Course and gave his daughter the Orb of Linwood. It glowed in her hands, showing the truth of Cliona's last letter. Knowing that Agrona wouldn't give up without a fight, Tesni prepared for war. First, though, she had to inform others of who she was. Ryder took her first to Gwydion Eaglewing, the royal chamberlain. Gwydion overwhelmed Tesni a little, poking into her education and readiness to take the throne.

Knowing his daughter well, Ryder then took her to see Lucas Bluewater, head of the royal guard. Lucas was easier to deal with and immediately swore loyalty to the young queen. The third person who had to be alerted was Eadric Emeraldleaf, head of the royal council. He and Tesni took an instant disliking to each other.

At the advice of Allaria, the court weathermage, Tesni picked her battles, and her battlegrounds, carefully. With the palace not yet ready for use after more than a decade of no rulers, Tesni held her first council meeting in the Ranger camp, informed her counselors to dress informally, and then dressed in the most formal gown she had inherited from her mother.

The power play worked, and Tesni was able to push for the right to marry Rowan instead of a nobleman of the council's choosing, with pressure from her councilors to marry either Rhys Darkstar, who had been one of her grandfather's closest friends, or to wait until Ash was of age and marry him. Tesni was stubborn, and while she agreed to a traditional, formal ceremony in the temple, she got the groom she wanted, and even managed to win for Rowan the title of king instead of prince consort.

Before either coronation or ceremony could happen, however, Tesni had to defeat Agrona. It was during these preparations that she learned that Agrona and Lucas had once been lovers. She stored this information away for later, and with the help of the royal guard and of her fellow Rangers, Tesni defeated Agrona in what became known as the Battle of Linwood

Five years after their marriage, Tesni presented Rowan with a daughter, whom they named Nia. She was followed five years later by Eogan, born a month early, the day his older sister disappeared. Tesni fell into mourning for her missing daughter, and failed to properly mother Eogan, often ignoring him even as she groomed him to one day become king should his sister never return.

When Nia did eventually return, she rejoiced. She was startled, however, by the arrival of a son-in-law as well as her son-in-law's mother and two women who claimed to be her husband's mother and sister. Further upheaval was brought into her life when Eogan managed to bring Agrona back from the dead by means of magic. Her grandaunt proved invaluable, though, in proving that Rhosyn and Nisha were, in fact, Rowan's mother and twin sister, and that Rowan was no orphan, but in fact the son of King Ruslar of Seos.

With Nia's return, Tesni learned that the real threat had never been Agrona, but was truly Bhimar, Eskander's father. She also learned that there was a traitor on her council, Doran Redleaf. Having never paid attention to history, it was also only now that she learned, from Agrona, that Doran and, thus, Alastar, was her granduncle. With Ash now head of her council and more than willing to help flush Doran out, Tesni made all of her counselors drink the same truth serum that she and Aeron had taken when proving that their marriage had happened under false pretenses.

During this time, Aeron fell in love with Nisha, and the two were married. It was from their wedding in seos that Arya and Agrona disappeared, kidnapped by Bhimar's son, Drusus. It was this event which prompted the search for the traitor and Doran's arrest.

In the interest of building alliances to fight against Bhimar, Tesni sent out ambassadors to the other kingdoms, including her friend Adamina to Halmar and her younger brother Finn and his beloved, Aysun, to Fannar. When these attempts brought no further success than part of the Shield Maidens of Fannar and a promise of material aid in case of evacuation from Yewsel, Tesni knew that they would have to work harder than ever if Bhimar were to be defeated.

Despite the crises, Tesni saw one gain when Arya and Agrona were rescued. With them came a mute young woman who, once the potions wore off, regained her true appearance and the ability to speak. The woman was not human, but Elven, and it was Tesni's mother, Cliona. She had never been actually dead, but poisoned enough to make her appear dead and then taken as a slave by Bhimar.

There was also much loss, however. The palace in Seos was forced to evacuate with the help of Shadow Walkers, and Tesni and Rowan met Rowan's youngest sister, Nasrin. Shortly after, Tesni was attacked by an assassin, though she survived. Nia lost her child but then got pregnant again before Eskander was taken away as a spy. It was revealed that Tanith was framing her youngest son. And then, finally, Tesni became a grandmother, when Nia gave birth to Drystan.

Light and dark continued to mingle in Tesni's life. Arya and Alastar were killed. Two months later, Finn married Aysun and Tesni took her as a protege. Then Ryder and Cliona married and Tesni facilitated the reconciliation of Ruya, who admitted to being Bhimar's mother, with Drusus and Eskaner.

But then Bhimar invaded, and Tesni was forced to lead the evacuation of Linwood to Yewsel, where they finally convinced Yewel to give full military aid and add the strength of the Wind Talkers to the Rangers, Shield Maidens, and Nia's Saryamata'a. It was there that she and Eogan got into their first argument, though they reconciled that same day. It was also there that she lost her sister-in-law and protege when Aysun died in childbirth.

And it was there, on the battlefield, that Tesni lost a friend and, worst of all, her beloved Rowan.

Tesni fell into a deep grief that made it difficult for her to rule, forcing Nia and Eskander to take care of much of the day to day runnings of the kingdom until two years later, during a ball to celebrate the twenty-fifth year of her rule,Gareth Oakwood, a member of the Shadow Guard, confessed his love for her. Overwhelmed, Tesni ran from him, straining their long friendship.

Their relationship remained strained another three years, until he escorted Tesni through the shadows to Seos for the marriage of Tesni's former sister-in-law, Nasrin, to a young guard by the name of Adir, a marriage arranged by Aeron before his death and enforced by Eogan after he became king of Seos in his uncle's stead. That night, Gareth drew her into the shadows to talk, and talk soon turned into lovemaking as Tesni finally acknowledged that she shared her guard's feelings.

There was a problem, though, as Rhys Darkstar, one of Tesni's counselors, intended to wed her, himself, partly out of a promise to Tesni's grandfather, who had arranged the marriage before his death, and partly out of a lust for power. Thanks to Ash's daughters, though, the plot came undone, Rhys was defeated, and Tesni was free to marry Gareth at the same time that Seren Emeraldleaf earned her bow.

The following summer, Tesni and Gareth traveled to Seos with the Emeraldleafs, where Seren married Eogan.