Alkina (meaning ‘the moon’) Jaara

Female

17

Alkina stands in stark contrast to the rest of the Ansharin-tribe’s dark and prominent features. Her Name ‘Alkina’ perfectly envelopes her appearance as she stands at around 5,7 feet, with a slim profile and almost paper white skin. This together with her long white hair means that no matter where she goes she stands out with her almost alien appearance.
She has long smooth features, and while she doesn't have a curvaceous body she is definitely a woman. While her body is athletically trained from long sessions of dancing, Alkina is by no means physically strong - in fact her light complexion is often an annoyance to her as it makes her more sensitive to the sharp desert sun.
Her eyes are another prominent feature regarding her appearance: much like her fair skin her eyes are a creamy white color, opaque in appearance as if her eyes were filled with a ghostly mist. The reason for this is because she was born without the ability of sight.
Alkina usually wears her white hair in some form of ceremonial style with various accessories attached to her hair. It is, in fact, quite rare to see her without any form of hair style as the elders in the tribe makes her dress up any time she leaves her “home”.

While her appearance definitely makes her appear alien to the otherwise dark features of the rest of her tribe, Alkina cannot be called ugly, she is just different -in fact it is quite the opposite: she is seen as one of the tribe’s beauties, despite her deviant features.

On specific areas of her body her her alien white skin has been tainted by black and red markings of religious origin, with the most prominent one being the tattoo she has on her forehead: a red crystal-shape is encompassed by two opposing lines.While the red diamond in the middle symbolizes Kedalup, the world, the two opposing lines stands for The Dream and the Ansharin.

Alkina wears the same form of outfit as the rest of the Ansharin tribe, however, it is of lighter materials and not made for hunting or battles. Because of this she never wears any more garments than she has to, and has in fact never worn any form of armor. What is a different is what she wears over this classic outfit: she wears a white ceremonial cloak of rich material that seems to radiate with her light features. She can at times be seen wearing a series of bandages made out of a similarly white material wrapped around her eyes in a decorative manner.
One interesting detail regarding Alkina's clothing is that she is one of the few individuals to wear a form os footwear in the tribe. The reason for this is because of her light skin that is more sensitive towards to hot earth beneath their feet. The design of her footwear is a simply designed type of sandal that consists of a thick leather sheet underneath her foot with leather strings attached around her foot to hold it in place.

Alkina appears to lean more towards the silent type. Because she grew up in an almost quarantine like situation where the elders of the tribe decided her every move, she has learned to stay silent and do as she was told. However, despite this silent and thoughtful appearance that she shows to the outside world, she hides an energetic and curious about the world around her. In fact, despite her disability she craves to experience the world beyond the borders of the tribe and she dreams of what adventurous wonders that waits for her outside her small world.
This curiosity is blended together with an energetic personality that yearns for adventure and new experiences - however, Alkina has learned to suppress her own desires as she has come to terms with the realization that she is less likely to ever experience the life outside of her small world that is the tribe. Because of this the persona she usually allows the outside world to see is a calm, almost emotionless and quiet persona. She appears thoughtful and obedient to most (especially the elders), but at times she cannot hide her own desires and let the world get glimpse of her real persona that she tries to hide away. This is usually seen in her mischevious night adventures where she sneaks out of her home and drains her energy through physical exercise.

Dreamweaver: Alkina is one of the tribes most important and proficient weavers of The Dream: She had been taught the different layers and variables of The Dream and Kedalup since early childhood.

Music: Alkina is one of the tribes best musicians as she has been trained since childhood to use music to connect to The Dream. She has proven to be skilled in the arts of the voice, flutes, and string-instruments among others and her skills have said to be able to calm the wrath of the terrible Na'gu.

Advanced sensory system: Because Alkina was born without the ability of sight her other senses has been sharpened since her birth - and further developed as the years went by and she began to develop them herself. This means that while she cannot see, she can most definitely ‘feel’ the world around her through her acute senses to such an extent that she doesn’t even need her sight to see anymore. Her sharpened senses has also developed into an ability where she can ‘feel’ and almost ‘understand’ the world to such an extent that she almost feels as if she is connected to it.

Dancing and acrobatics: Through her many years if studying The Dream, Alkina has become incredibly skilled in connecting to The Dream through dance - and what most of the tribe doesn't know is that despite her disability she has developed an incredible talent for acrobatics.

Staff she uses to walk and find her way

Flute: Alkina possesses a ceremonial flute.

Bone dagger: The only real weapon she has is a dagger, however, it has only been used for ceremonial rituals so far and she has little knowledge about using it in a real fight.

Alkin was born on a night where the only thing that was painted on the darkness of the night sky was a few bright stars and then a giant full moon. This should have been a warning sign to her parents, but the happiness of her imminent birth extinguished any concern they might have had for their child and her unfortunate birth.

Perhaps the close proximity of the full moon was not just a sign, but the very cause of the unfortunate disability child now known as ‘Alkina’ was born with. You see, on this perfect night young Alkina was brought into life, but the cruel moon had taken away her eyes before she could fully develop them - not only that, but it also took the color of her hair and her skin, making the small child an abomination - an oddity in the Ansharin tribe.
Despite the best efforts of the Ansharin’s best healer: Jarrah Korindji the unlucky child couldn't be cured of her blindness nor her moon-touched features.

The elders in the tribe saw Alkina’s birth into their tribe as a sign from The Dream itself: perhaps this child born of the moon was a herald of The Dream and Kedalup itself. It was decided that Alkina was to learn the arts of The Dream and to become a bridge between the Ansharin and The Dream.

This training began as soon as Alkina could stand: she began to learn from the best in the tribe and showed remarkable skills from an early age. However, it soon became clear to everyone around her that she wasn’t just a crippled girl: she seemed to move as if she knew what was actually happening around her. Most were surprised at this seemingly disabled girl’s effortless movements, while others saw it as a miracle from The Dream itself and a sign of her connection. Alkina herself, however, knew better.
While she had never seen the world around her with her own eyes, she began to notice the minute shifts in temperature, smell, touch and sound. While she had been born with only four senses, these senses had become amplified to such an extent that she didn’t really required the ability of sight: she could sense and experience the world around her through her other senses - and in ways that others simply couldn’t fathom.

Even at a young age Alkina knew that these discoveries weren’t something you should go speak carelessly about. Instead she kept her mouth shut and accepted the world she was born into: a world that could almost be described as a prison. While she was free to move around, she was always watched over and taken care of: she was, after all, a young girl without the ability to see for herself. This meant that she was kept locked up for most of the time, only being released to train in the arts of The Dream and to perform ceremonies - in fact: she became almost a myth in the tribe. While everyone knew she existed and what she was capable of, she was such an oddity within the norms of the tribe that some feared her, while others looked up to her, or looked at her in wonder.
This also meant that she didn’t really speak to a lot of the tribe other than those that surrounded her and she was never allowed to go on hunts or help the tribe in the daily routines.

For a young girl all of this meant that she felt a yearning and a craving for friendship and experiences of the world outside of her own sphere: she dreamed of what adventures and people lived outside of her own little world and yearned for the day that she could be free of these chains that kept her in the tribe and discover the wonders of the world.