#althea fairchild

[anghraine]

...The other reason I didn't finish my P&P fic for yesterday was that I started by writing a different fic, taking the ultra-niche option of OC / OC GW2 femslash fic that's an AU of a previous, unfinished GW2 fic. The other fic isn't super important to the part I was trying to write, though.

Anyway, an excerpt:

She said, “This is my partner from the Order of Whispers, Lightbringer Althea Fairchild. She’s a valuable servant of the Pact.”

Understanding crept over their faces, though Gwen wasn’t sure just how much they understood.

“It’s an honor, Lightbringer,” said one of the explorers earnestly.

Althea shook hands with them in her turn and, always more scholarly than Gwen, chatted with them about their latest findings. Before long, Gwen and Althea smoothly extricated themselves and continued the rest of the way to the chamber holding the asura gates, the charr-made door spinning closed behind them. 

They glanced at each other. To Gwen, Althea looked different in ordinary clothes—less the frivolous noblewoman and more the dangerous mage she really was. Not more appealing, but differently so. Then the corner of Althea’s mouth tugged up.

“I don’t think anyone’s ever called me a servant of anything before,” she said.

“Do you mind?” said Gwen.

“Of course not. Would you care if I did?” Althea asked.

Gwen smiled back at her. “No.”

[ascalonianlightbringer]

It's been a long time since I first fell in love with pre-Searing Ascalon in Guild Wars: Prophecies. But I'm still nostalgic enough that I periodically visit Ebonhawke just to go home to human Ascalon, and I loved this view of it :)

[figurelifeflirt]

My Birthday!!!

Today is the greatest day. It's my BIRTHDAY! I am 29 today. Originally I had planed a season review on my birthday but as I am nowhere close, here's some important characters that I love.

Strong female characters: Violet Baudelaire, Catherine Willows(CSI), Calleigh Duquesne(CSI Miami), Aelin Galathynius(TOG), Lysandra(TOG), Emory Scott(Devil's Night), Bryce Quinlan(Crescent City), Aphrodite Lafont(House Of Night), Mary Dinunzio(Lisa Scottoline) Marimar(Orquidea), Faith Mitchell(Will Trent), Helene(Ember Quartet), Emma Carstairs(TDA), Drusilla Blackthorn(TDA), Maddie Kendall(911), Sharon Leone(Fire Country), Buffy Summers(BTVS), Dawn Summers(BVTS), Cordelia Chase(Angel), Winifred Burkle(Angel), Faith Lehane(BTVS), Willow Rosenberg(BTVS), Audrey Hope(Gossip Girl Reboot, HBO), Mulan, Althea Shen(Kung Fu), Maggie Vera(Charmed, CW Reboot), Cordelia Goode(AHS), Toph(ATLA), Polly Marks(Claws), Maize(Lucifer)

Honorable mentions: Stella(Winx), Maryse Lightwood(TMI), Ryan Wilder(Batwoman), Tecna(Winx), May Grant(911), Chelsea Arrington(Night Agent), Diane Faar(Night Agent), Christina Rosales(TDA), Duela Doe(Gotham Knights), Kiki Hope(Gossip Girl Reboot, HBO), Elyon(WITCH), Nancy Wheeler(Stranger Things), Violet Par(The Incredibles), Eve(Lucifer), Maureen Jonson(Rent)

Characters that give off Alpha female energy: This one, I haven't talked about. These characters aren't necessarily strong fighters. But they know how to command a room and do it stylishly. That is a skill all by itself. They are: Chanel Oberlin(Scream Queens), Madison Montgomery(AHS), Massie Block(The Clique), Clay Collins(Tryst Six), Stephanie Brown(Gotham Knights), Blair Waldorf(Gossip Girl), Nadia Morales(The Cleaning Lady), Shiv Roy(Succession) , Mimi Marquez(Rent)

Excellent male Characters: Klaus Baudelaire, Jude(The Darkest Minds), Cole Stewart,(The Darkest Minds), Musa(Ember Quartet), Matthew Fairchild(TLH), Alistair Carstairs(TLH), Julian Blackthorn(TDA), Ty Blackthorn(TDA), Spencer Reid(Criminal Minds), Deacon Kay(SWAT), Evan Buckley(911), Wesley Wyndam-Pryce(Angel), Dono(Big Sky), Tharion Ketos(Crescent City, Ithan Holstrom(Crescent City), Sylvain Gautier(FETH), Rosado(FEE), Jimmy Darling(AHS), Steve Harrington(Stranger Things), Yuri Leclerc(Fire Emblem), Zuko(ATLA), Roman Roy(Succession), Darren Cody(Animal Kingdom), Joshua Cody(Animal Kingdom)

Honorable mentions: Ben Pownall(Siren), Xander Harris(BTVS), Stone Barrington, Jesse Mcdermitt, Brandon(Winx), Walter(Big Sky), Max Wolfe(Gossip Girl Reboot, HBO), Will Grayson III(Devil's Night), Iden Kadir(Devil's Night), Aaron Hotchner(Criminal Minds), Bobby Nash(911), Mike Wheeler(Stranger Things), Lucas Sinclair(Stranger Things), Connor(Angel)

The villains need love too: Sebastian Morgenstern(TMI), The Seelie Queen(TMI and TDA), Randall(Monsters Inc.), Pollux(Crescent City), Pippa Spetsos(Crescent City), Zira(Lion King 2), Morgana(The Little Mermaid 2), Yzma(Emperor's New Groove), Conrad(Seneca Rain), Hubert Vestra(Fire Emblem), Gris(Fire Emblem), Azula(ATLA), Clancy Gray(The Darkest Minds)

Honorable mentions: Odran(Dragonheart series)

This is an ongoing list, it gets added to all the time. And I probably forgot some. But I'm 29 today, YAY

[heckofabecca]

If it's permissible, Althea+"High Fashion"?

send me palette requests! (alt palettes)

[writeouswriter]

@writeouswriter actually writes: A masterpost of all my currently posted WIP/OC Intros, Excerpts, Quotes, Graphics, Aesthetics or Moodboards.

[Photo ID: A cyan blue bulletin board with various sticky notes holding the same information as the above text. End photo ID.]

(An attempt at some sort of organization so my thousands of WIPs don’t get lost in the void of memes, and so you can check out my work because I do write sometimes, I swear)

This post will be pinned and updated as new content is added. Keep checking back for more stuff and feel free to ask to be added to any taglists!

Last Updated: July 12th, 2023

All WIP information/links under the cut.

—————

Have You Ever Dreamed of The End of the World?

A contemporary low fantasy thriller about psychic visions, tragedy, hope and fighting against fate.

WIP Intro+Graphic+Excerpt: The Phone Call

Graphic+Excerpt: The Gift

Graphic+Excerpt: The Tarot Reading

Graphic+Excerpt: The Hospital

Graphic+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line 1

Graphic+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line 2

Graphic+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line 3

Graphic+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line 4

Picrew of the MCs

Umbrella House Mysteries

A contemporary new adult mystery/adventure series about a young college girl forced to move to an eccentric building with an even more eccentric group of tenants. Found family galore. Tag: UHM

WIP Intro

Moodboard+Character Intro: Lydia Tell

Moodboard+Character Intro: Gabriel Ingram

Moodboard+Character Intro: Steven “Tag” Taggart

Moodboard+Character Intro: Nora Di-Ramirez

Moodboard+Character Intro: Isaac Rosenbaum

Moodboard+Location Intro: The Middle Cafe

God Hunt

A contemporary urban fantasy about a tired young supernatural bounty hunter turned bartender recruited by the angels to track down God himself.

(Formal) WIP Intro

Comic Sans Powerpoint WIP Intro

The Hermes Project

A contemporary low sci-fi/urban fantasy about a secret government project used to create people with unique and unnatural abilities, but with a price and a twist.

(Slightly Outdated) WIP Intro+Moodboards

Moodboards+Character Intro: David Elliot Scott

Moodboards+Character Intro: Asa Nix

Moodboard+Character Intro: Olivia Fairchild

The Gods Are Alright

A contemporary urban fantasy about fallen gods, humanity and hope. Tag: TGAA

WIP Intro+Graphics+Short Excerpt

Character Moodboard+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line: Ronin James 1

Character Moodboard+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line: Ronin James 2

Character Moodboard+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line: Juliet Delacroix 1

Character Moodboard+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line: Juliet Delacroix 2

Character Moodboard+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line: Ellery Quinn

Character Moodboard+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line: Althea

General WIP Graphic/Aesthetic+Short Quote/Line: Humanity

General WIP Graphic/Aesthetic+Short Quote/Lines: Gods Don’t Die.

Cast No Shadow

A contemporary Southern Gothic urban fantasy/horror about some deals made with the devil in small town, Georgia and the time coming to collect.

Moodboard+Short (Unofficial) Character Intro: Thaddeus “Fletch” Fletcher

Moodboard+Short Character Intro: Lilah Woodrow

Moodboard+Short Character Intro: Alydia St-James

Moodboard+Short Character Intro: Bishop Hunter

General WIP Moodboard+Short Quote/Line

Ask I answered that gives a lot of WIP details

My 1st Terrible Attempt at drawing Fletch

Nowhere Town

A contemporary mystery/thriller (possibly urban fantasy) about dangerous cults, prophecy and the secrets hiding in a strange desert town.

Graphic+WIP Teaser

WIP Bingo

Graphic+Short Quote/Line

Another Graphic+Short Quote/Line

Way too Specific OC Bingo: Elizabeth

Way too Specific OC Bingo: Adrian

Way too Specific OC Bingo: Ryland

Random Side Character Sketches (Which I’m quite proud of)

Ask where I Kind of Unofficially Introduced It

Dear Delirium

A contemporary urban fantasy/dark academia/mystery/horror about weird experiments, strange doors in the woods, people vanishing into thin air and a house where nothing is ever as it seems.

WIP Intro+Moodboard

WIP Graphics/Banners+Short Quote/Line

Cari Croft Wants to Believe

A modern-ish suburban gothic low sci-fi about a girl desperate to prove that her mother was abducted by aliens so many years ago. Tag: CCWTB

(Slightly Outdated) WIP Intro+Graphics

Graphics+Short Dialogue/Quotes/Lines: Memories

Graphics+Short Excerpt: Do you smoke?

Graphic+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line: Hope

General WIP/Character Moodboard+Short Excerpt: The Lights

(Gif) Graphics+Short Dialogue/Quote/Line: Do you ever dream...

WIP Bingo

This is Your American Dream

A sci-fi/suspense about corrupt governments, rebellion, and the dark conspiracy behind a Stepford-esque Suburbia and the American Dream. 

WIP Intro+Graphics+Excerpt

GIF Graphic+Excerpt

Static House:

A horror/suspense set in the 80s about a paranoid horror movie fan who believes he’s receiving warnings through the static of his TV.

WIP Intro+Movie Poster Art

OC Intro+Moodboard: Jack Lanelle

WIP Playlist

Location Intro: Zhang’s Video

Gif Art + Short Excerpt

Gif Art + Short Excerpt 2

Gif Art 3

An Ask Where I Ramble About Theme and Stuff

Another Ask About It That I Forgot Existed but Really Like

More Art (Jack at Zhang’s Video)

In the Eye of the Storm:

A contemporary mystery/magic realism/low fantasy about a storm chaser and the strange small town she finds herself waking up in after a hurricane.

WIP Intro+Cover Art+Other Art That I Adore

Blackout Poetry

Creation

The Void

Hope

The End of the World

And in the chaos...

A Note on Blackout Poetry

The Cosmos

Miscellaneous (No Formal Intros or very little information shared yet)

Checking Out: Graphic/First Lines

Before I Sleep: Moodboard+Short Quote/Line

Your Local Haunt: Moodboard+Short Quote/Line/Teaser

The Chosen One is Dead: Moodboard+Short Quote/Line/Teaser

Rural Route Red: Horror Novella WIP Intro+WIP Covers

The Nightmare Heist: Horror Novella WIP Intro+Graphics

Undecided WIP: Moodboard+Location Intro: St. Cajetan’s

Untitled Clairsentience WIP: Graphic+Short Quote/Dialogue/Line: The Fool

Untitled Werewolf WIP: Unofficial WIP Intro+Moodboard

Untitled Hitman WIP: Opening Excerpt

Asks From a Writeblr Ask Game Where I Unofficially Introduced Some WIPs:

Kamran Nazari Lives on the Moon

We Have Always Been Listening

Small Comic Art:

I received a package in the mail today...

I probably forgot some, but here is the list for now. No doubt it will grow exponentially though.

[icecreamesmoved]

›   @darlcng​ sent in    ‘  🎰  ’    𓆩 ♡ 𓆪  ⊹ ˚˖⋆    from this ask meme

jules kaminski  &  laura ward

althea gallagher  &  alexander del rosario

ophelia fairchild  &  chloe huntington

naz özdemir  &  noah evans

josie clarke  &  violet seo

[huntingorbits]

Works I've Read

All of the works I've read related to my studies are listed below by formatted category and in alphabetical order by author's last name. Some of these were read quite some time ago, but I'll be rereading them soon. I'll link to full book reviews as I share them.

Academic Articles & Papers:

Coming soon.

Books:

Basile, Lisa Marie. The Magical Writing Grimoire. Fair Winds Press, 2020.

Blackthorne, Adam. The Master Works of Chaos Magick. The Gallery of Magick, 2016. Full review in progress.

Brown, Karen McCarthy. Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn, Updated and Expanded Edition. University of California Press, 2001.

Brown, Tonya A. The Door to Witchcraft: A New Witch's Guide. Althea Press, 2019. Full review in progress.

Evans-Pritchard, E.E., & Gillies, Eva. Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande, Abridged Edition. Oxford University Press, 1976.

Fairchilde, E.M. Chaos Magic & Sigils Beginner's Guide. Self-published, 2019. Full review.

Greer, John Michael. The Occult Book: A Chronological Journey from Alchemy to Wicca. Union Square & Co., 2017.

Horne, Roger J.. Folk Witchcraft: A Guide to Lore, Land, & the Familiar Spirit for the Solitary Witch. Independently Published, 2019.

Horne, Roger J.. The Witch's Art of Incantation: Spoken Charms, Spells, & Curses in Folk Witchcraft. Independently Published, 2021.

K., Amber, & K., Azrael Arynn. How to Become a Witch. Llewellyn Publications, 2018.

Matlins, Stuart, & Magida, Arthur. How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook. SkyLight Paths, 4th Edition, 2006.

Pals, Daniel. Eight Theories of Religion. Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 2006.

RavenWolf, Silver. To Ride a Silver Broomstick. Llewellyn Publications, 2nd Edition, 2016.

Talboys, Graeme. Way of the Druid: Renaissance of a Celtic Religion and its Relevance. Moon Books, 2005.

Weisman, Richard. Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion in 17th-Century Massachusetts. University of Massachusetts Press, 1985.

Booklets & Pamphlets:

Native Hope. How to Address Native American Issues as a Non-Native: a Resource for Allies. Native Hope, date unknown. Available for free at https://www.nativehope.org/

Zines:

Anchor and Star. Witches, Pagans, and Cultural Appropriation: Considerations & Applications for Magical Practice. Self-Published, 2021.

Anchor and Star. Witches and Pagans From the Frame of Whiteness. Self-Published, 2021.

Kirkbride, Yunan. Practical Paganism: Tipes for pulling yourself out of a spiritual slump and forming a stable, consistent worship. Self-Published, 2018.

~~~

Have a suggestion for me to read? Let me know! I'm always looking for more resources.

~Archer

[brontefairchild-blog]

okay so i’m finally posting an intro. a lil bit about bronte and althea.

bronte fairchild

has lived in sh her entire life

she is a twin and if u hurt him in any way, she will have ur head on a platter. same goes for her older sister

speaking of her sister, she slept with her fiancé (and is still is to this day) and unknowingly to her, bronte was the other woman

she knows what she’s doing is shitty but she can’t bring herself to put an end to whatever it is they are bc she has feelings for him although she’ll never admit it out loud, big commitment issues right there.

studied three years in paris after graduating high school in a fancy parisian culinary school

she opened a restaurant when she returned to town and it’s pretty successful

she’s determined af. anything she puts her mind to, she accomplishes.

she's a very sociable person and loves to go out and go on crazy adventures

also brutally honest -- verbal filter? never heard of it

connections wise, i’d like a best friend / ride-or-die for bronte (someone she’s known her entire life and they’d be the christina to her meredith), an ex (messed her up p much & is the cause of her commitment issues), some close friends, frenemies bc those r so much fun, enemies, everything & anything tbh.

althea mcdonell

althea’s real name is nova kingsley

she was born in england but grew up in nyc

family was wealthy af, and involved in some shady mod / drug business which ultimately caused their death

her parents were very strict and althea rebelled against p much anything they told her bc she was done being someone they wanted her to be rather than herself. she drank to excess, fuck anyone with a pulsive, experimented with drugs -- yes she was a bit of a mess before her parents passed on

speaking of, she witnessed their murder and it changed her radically (obvi)

after the murder, she was provided with a false identity by the fbi and sent to live with one of their agent. he was in charge to look after her until she was eighteen but she still lives with him and considers him a brother (pls bring that connection to me)

althea isn’t the outgoing person she once was, now she’s withdrawn, paranoid, and closed-off -- she never, ever talks about her past to anyone

legit if u ask her about her childhood or sth she will not utter a word and stare at you blankly until u back off

she doesn’t get close to people

if she gets too close to someone she cut ties, simple as that

and that’s it.

connections wise, i’d like a friend or two for althea (they wouldn’t mind much her aloof attitude and wouldn’t get offended when every once in a while she stops talking to them), maybe someone that has ties to the mob her parents were involved with?, or even someone that worked for her parents (could be interesting.)

[anghraine]

I've been having fun with my new computer now that it's here, and decided to look at my favorite GW2 characters with the appearance settings dialed up.

Here's my main, Althea:

And these are my other faves among my characters (in order, Xiulan, Gwen, Siobhán):

[anghraine]

My mother likes to change her GW2 outfits depending on the weather of the area she's playing in, which I find adorable, but couldn't do myself, since I'm very set on Althea being fancy At All Times and the winter outfits are either a) not fancy or b) don't look very, uh, warm.

Anyway, my mother surprised me with this today:

[anghraine]

Oh, important GW2 update: my mother was actually so overwhelmed that she insisted on at least getting me a nice glider (I’ve always been too stingy and picky to get one beyond the ugly original one), and there was one for sale with proper mesmer colors (purple lights, yay!). Of course, that clashed with my previous red and gold outfit, so I finally switched to an outfit that seemed appropriate for my main’s background as a wealthy human aristocrat and a flashy mesmer:

[anghraine]

High end GW2 characters are usually super flashy with all the legendary and infusion effects and special outfits and stuff, but one of them complimented my character’s comparatively muted appearance as I was waiting for an event to start. <3

(This cost me nothing in either real or in-game money; I just used exotic drops, materials/crafting, and an anniversary reward light armor skin +a greatsword skin I got as a daily reward.)

[anghraine]

I haven't written any fiction of substantial length for ages, and then suddenly wrote four pages of GW2 fic today. It's a pro patria AU in which a totally different character is the proto-Pact Commander and Althea is a random Lightbringer:

Gwen Velazquez regretted many things about her time among the Bloodcrow bandits. Robbing aristocrats was not one of them. 

It wasn’t hard, between her flair for illusions and the way their gazes flitted past the struggling poor among them. What was one more overworked servant to a noble? She’d disliked them for years before that, as long as she could remember—disliked their indifference to the suffering around them, disliked their cushion of wealth and greed for more, disliked the way they hoarded so much of Kryta’s land that after two centuries in this country, nearly all her people were still crowded into two cramped districts and one distant settlement. A year of close proximity to them, keeping watch for the Bloodcrow gang and seizing opportunities, had only deepened her dislike to quiet hatred.

Except for the charr, she loathed no one more. And her parents had died fighting for Ebonhawke.

[...]

“Who was that?” Gwen asked Tybalt in a low voice. “The woman who was here?”

“You’ve got a good eye,” he said, and even the low growl of the charr sounded somehow amiable.

Gwen frowned.

“A new Lightbringer,” he said. “Althea’s the name. You’ll probably work with her sooner or later—you’ve got some important things in common.”

Her scowl deepened. “I doubt that.”

[anghraine]

I was searching for an unrelated-to-the-Ascalonian-grudgeblogging GW2 thing, but ended up reading a grumpy recap of the core storyline from someone playing a Charr Vigil member. Surprisingly, they were like, "you know, honestly, all these people wondering why Ascalonians still have a grudge against Charr kind of need a slap in the face. Also, why do Krytans have so much say over what happens to Ebonhawke, anyway? Does it have sovereignty or not?"

I do support slapping every person who is like "why don't they just get over a 250-year long attempt to eradicate them? What a silly grudge" but I don't often see actual players saying so!

I also find the sovereignty issue genuinely interesting.

My impression is that Ebonhawke is nominally an independent city-state, but the alliance with Kryta has been critical enough (esp recently) that they weren't in a position for direct conflict over this "regent of Ascalon" business. So the people of Ebonhawke don't accept Jennah as sovereign—there are even Ascalonian residents of Divinity's Reach who don't—but they also can't afford an open break with Kryta and this is where a lot of their resentment is coming from.

Ebonhawke drawing so much of the Charr's attention in the war was pretty beneficial to Kryta, so I suspect their support was not purely altruistic even without the claim to sovereignty. It's made clear in various storylines that Ebonhawke falling would be disastrous for Kryta. Additionally, the Krytan government offered valuable support and supplies to Ebonhawke, but couldn't really spare much direct military support, so Ascalonians are also conscious that they suffered most of the direct casualties of the war, to the benefit of Kryta. So it makes sense that the relationship is complicated and ambiguous!

Honestly, the tensions surrounding the Ebonhawke-Kryta alliance, the various political maneuvers involved, and the effects of all this on the Ascalonian diaspora are some of the most intriguing aspects of the game to me. The writing is definitely skewed towards the Krytan perspective, to be sure—PCs of any background will remark that Kryta is generous(!) to allow Ebonhawke its own representative in the peace negotiations, for instance. But it's not so skewed that you can't see why Ascalonians insist on their independence from Krytan rule.

[anghraine]

Meanwhile in GW2: I'm too busy to complete the Ascalonian reward track before it expires (;_;), but I did manage to get this kickass dagger out of it:

[anghraine]

I'll put most of this under a cut because GW2 headcanons are irrelevant to most of my followers' fandom experience, but I've been thinking more about headcanons for my two main versions of the GW2 PC.

The storyline does not actually allow for two Pact Commanders to exist simultaneously, so in your character's story, all other people's characters are ... I guess, AU non-Commander versions of themselves you can cooperate with, and I figured the same could go for different PCs of your own. So there is a Xiulan in the Pact Commander Althea verse (pro patria), but an AU version where her backstory doesn't conflict with Althea's.

So stuff about pro patria!verse Xiulan:

Xiulan is tall and rather lean, with brown hair, brown skin, and nearly black eyes.

Although she's descended from both Canthan and Orrian immigrants, and she identifies equally with both peoples, she physically resembles the Canthan side much more and typically presents/describes herself as Canthan (especially when it's assumed she's Ascalonian).

Her last name, Azar, comes from her mother's Orrian family, but the Orrian diaspora is so small, and their culture so unknown to most Krytans, that few can recognize it.

Both sides of her family have managed to quietly scrape by in the Salma District of Divinity's Reach for generations, and Xiulan only knows Cantha and Orr through family accounts passed from her parents.

She's an only child.

Her mother, Judith Azar, came into a little extra money in her youth and promptly gave it to her bff Andrew to help keep his tavern afloat. He never forgot this, and he took Xiulan under his wing when her parents died in an accident when she was fourteen.

His sensible, spirited daughter Petra was Xiulan's best friend as they grew up, and all the more after Xiulan became effectively part of their household.

Xiulan's first kiss was with Petra, though more as a matter of curiosity than romantic feeling. She is 100% lesbian, but she and Petra were too much family at that point to feel altogether comfortable, and they laughed about it afterwards.

Strangers often have the impression that Xiulan is smaller than she really is, both in height and build, and even when they do correctly judge her size, they typically underestimate her strength.

Unusually for someone of her strength, she also has some magical ability with fire—as a child, she would breathe little flames when she got angry, and every weapon she touches becomes encased with flame.

Between these and her flair for strategy, those around her have often said she must be blessed by Balthazar, god of war and fire.

At fifteen, Andrew and Petra convinced an embarrassed Xiulan to ask the local priest of Balthazar if he could tell if it was true. After questioning her and observing her, he assured her that their suspicion was correct, which only deepened the already very devout Xiulan's devotion to the gods, and especially to Balthazar.

dun dun dun

Additionally, the priest offered to recommend her for free training in the military arts, as a way of honoring Balthazar. She eagerly agreed and proved sufficiently gifted to catch the eye of local members of the Vigil.

No members of the Vigil spoke to her yet, but they noted their observations about the local girl in their reports to their higher-ups, and Almorra Soulkeeper herself ordered them to keep a close eye on Xiulan.

Xiulan is privately very fond of "the finer things of life"—fine jewelry, clothes, armor, and weapons, though she doesn't have the resources to actually own much. However, she does own and wear a fine hair piece of Canthan design, which her father had managed to combine with two (very) small heirloom Orrian stones from Judith's family. (It isn't cursed, since her ancestors emigrated before the Cataclysm.)

Xiulan becomes acquainted with Logan Thackeray just after she would in the canonical timeline—that is, not through the battle at Shaemoor (in which Lady Althea Fairchild rushed to his rescue), but in the conflict with local bandits, the rescue of the Queen's Heart orphanage (she has a soft spot for orphans), and their maneuvers against the aristocratic Commander Serentine's plots.

Xiulan has seen Althea before, usually accompanying Faren in the tavern and trying to keep him from getting too drunk. She doesn't know her and has rarely had cause to say much in her presence, but she can recognize her even before Althea's heroics catapult her to local celebrity status.

Xiulan looks vaguely (very vaguely) familiar to Althea, but when their paths cross in a way that involves actual interaction, she can't pin down where she's seen her before.

They meet by chance in Ebonhawke, which Althea is visiting after her induction into the Order of Whispers, while Xiulan has just been successfully recruited into the Vigil and is there to help safeguard the peace talks with the Charr.

The Vigil members stationed at Ebonhawke tend to be disapproving or even bewildered about the Ascalonians' ongoing resentment of the Charr, especially non-human Vigil members. Xiulan, on the other hand, was raised with stories of Orr and the Charr invasion ultimately leading to her people's eternal undead servitude to Zhaitan. She doesn't make a point out of it and she understands their value as fighters and their contributions to The Cause, but she gets the Ascalonians' towering resentment over the 250-year attempt to obliterate them and pride in their own survival.

This becomes relevant when a Vigil member is cluelessly talking to a visibly frustrated Althea about how the people here just don't understand, they're so short-sighted, blahblah, and Xiulan's tolerance finally snaps and she quietly sticks up for Althea and the people of Ebonhawke. It's not flashy, but it's enough for her to be dismissively addressed as "Recruit Xiulan" by the other members.

Althea doesn't forget her name again.