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Growing up in a mixed county, Irisa's family were river people who worked boats, and she had a lot of opportunity when she was young to see how the Greenblood children played. She was fascinated by them, even as a little girl, and tried frequently to get herself involved in their games, to learn their language and to become one of them despite the fact that she looked different, acted different, and was raised different. Her parents disapproved, and so did her brothers. But there was just something about being other than she was that wildly appealed to her. Not all of those she tried to befriend were people who were good for her, and the more and more frequent time that she spent hanging around as far away from her family as possible -- particularly in her early teens -- took her to some dark places. When she was rejected by a tribesman boyfriend at the age of 15, she fled from that familiar source of solace to hurl herself into the kind of nasty, bad troublemaking that any family would be dismayed by. Running with a mob that called themselves 'river rats', she ended up addicted to Dust by the time she was old enough to really be an adult. One of Thesarin's knights ran a raid that captured several of these malcontents, including Irisa, but it was her youth that saved her from the worst of it. First the knight brought her to a priest, and they healed her of her physical harms as best they could; and then the knight, being herself Dame Esoka, whose history was with the Greenblood people, brought her to a different kind of healer, who walked with her in the forest and helped her, with martial and spiritual training, to overcome her addiction. Irisa swore off drugs and swore off violence except in aid of others. She learned to be excellent with a weapon, and to return to her love of the different and strange that had first charmed her when she was a child. She also learned to love honor above all things, and to find a higher purpose for herself. And there was nothing she loved more than the blended life of the Twainforts, because she felt very strongly that Thesarin -- and his knight, Esoka -- had saved her life for some higher purpose. When one of the baron's men challenged Thesarin to a duel over what came down to a cultural dispute -- whether one of the 'Shav people' of the Twainforts could marry one of the baron's sons -- Irisa leapt into the fray even though it was not her station or place to do so. She made a public proclomation that she would be Thesarin's champion, whether it was in that duel or any other, for any dispute relating to his tribal roots. Both charmed and exasperated by her impulsiveness, the Count agreed that she could fight the duel for him. She won it so handily and with such flowing grace and poise that the Twainforts elevated her and made her Dame Irisa Wainryte, and brought her with them to Arx as part of their retinue.

Wide dark eyes peer with confident interest out at the world from a field of well bronzed and smooth skin. Her dark hair falls straight and thick to the center of her shoulders. Her face is avid and open, its shape a classic heart, with high cheekbones and her chin a graceful point. She has also been blessed with a natural smile that seems to radiate warmth when it high spirits, like her face was meant to wear that expression. Her nose is a small and has an subtle imperfect balance that speaks to an ages-old break. The strong features may have given the impression of a defiant youth when younger, but give her a sharper and more patrician look as an adult.

There is a depth of quiet regret behind Irisa's warmth. Her deep compassion is born from the understanding that she has been to a dark place, and survived with the help and charity of others, so now it is hers to offer that help and charity in her own strength. It is extremely difficult to work past the flowing energy of all that giving warmth to find the quiet seed of rage and outsiderishness that first spawned her addiction. That seed is hers and never quite died away. A true believer in everything she does, with a wide, open-hearted idealism, Irisa is ready to embrace all kinds of the foreign and special as part of the new life she has built for herself. She has a dorky sense of humor and a tendency to take the mystical and superstitious extremely seriously. She also really wants happiness. For everyone. Everywhere. Ever. It's a challenge.