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The third child of Emilisia Igniseri and the first daughter, she was born shortly after her father, the Count, died; not subject to bastardy, since her mother was pregnant when he died, but still in that window of time where there was no father to celebrate her. The Countess of the March found it vastly frustrating to have another child at this time, and the pressures of having three very young children were more or less shunted onto her staff while she focused on ruling. Emilisia's sister had a child at roughly the same time, so Quenia went and stayed with her cousin and, both wetnursed and nannied in the lesser house, was more or less forgotten at home until she returned beneath her mother's wing when she was six years old. Her new half-sister Iovita was born, and Quenia regarded the baby as an object of curious interest more than as a family member; she felt closer to her cousins, even as she grew older and was trained with the boys. When she was ten and the twins were thirteen, their stepfather died suddenly, and supposedly it was her mother's fault somehow, which Quenia didn't really believe. But during the uproar over this, the twins were suddenly fostered with Duke Rubino's household. Quenia and Iovita were sent to foster with Duke Zaffria's household. Quenia spent her teen years watching young Iovita make a mess in the ducal garden and watching young Sylvie grow and flower. It was easy to see which of these sister figures it made more sense to attach herself to. Quenia followed Sylvie more or less like a duckling. When her mother's third husband died, Quenia gravely advised her not to marry again, and stayed as her support and assistant in Granato while the twins went to Arx. Her mother abdicated, but still served as castellan for Castle Granato, working in a quiet retirement. Quenia served as her brother's agent in the Lyceum proper, keeping track of all the rumor and scandal and gossip happening at home for him.

Quenia cuts a lean figure, toned and trim, with clean athleticism to her sculpted muscle and tawny skin. The dusky warmth of her skin tone is frequently enhanced by her clever eye for color, in makeup and dress. Her eyes are wide and dark, framed by a sooty thickness of eyelashes, beneath suggestive, communicative eyebrows. Her facial shape is a classic heart shape with high cheekbones and a narrow chin. The bow of her mouth is full and soft, often caught in the midst of a smile. Her hair is a riot of lush black curls, clouding around her face and neck.

Curiosity is the curse of the Igniseris and Quenia has it in spades, tempered by a level of sensibility and thrown into sharp relief by an active sense of the ridiculous. Clever, quick and full of sass, her sense of humor is her mask rather than any cooler or starker reserve. She is warm and easy to relate to, slipping smoothly through most social situations with the grace of a dancer through the dance floor. Flirtatious without being licentious, irreverent without being outrageous, and nonchalant without being untouchable, she is a balanced, smooth young woman who applies her wink as a weapon as often as her will.