Taena Zalyne

Lady Taena Zalyne is the daughter of Queen Visenya and her late husband, Luco Zalyne of Braavos.

The only living child of their short-lived marriage, Taena was born in the Free City of Braavos, but lived there for only two years before crossing the narrow sea with her parents.

Since her father’s death and her mother's second marriage to King Aegon VII, Taena has grown very much away from the spotlight, being almost hidden from the court and brought up mostly by nurses and septas. This changed, albeit for a short time, when the Lady Gael Targaryen, a distant cousin of hers, took an interest in the girl and offered her a job as her cupbearer.

Though her sheltered upbringing and lack of affection from her family had made Taena a shy, silent child, Lady Gael’s tutorage was succesfully showing her how to to act with propriety and dignity, how to overcome her shyness and, most importantly, how to observe and learn from the world around her.

Appearance & Character
Halfway through her twelfth year, Taena is blooming into a beauty in her own right.

For a less-than-careful observer, the girl might bear little resemblance to her mother, with her long chestnut curls and a timid, awkward demeanor to counter her mother's expansive nature, but as one studies Taena more attentively there is much that evokes the Silvermoon: her voice, her deportment and, most stikingly, her eyes - of a darker hue than her mother but with just the same intensity.

Few words, and exclusively kind ones, ever leave the little lady's lips - the disagreable ones are always concealed. As eager to please and weak-willed as she may seem, however, the reclusive child has a very well-formed opinion about the world - a word she observes quietly, with a critical spirit that was sparked by her time with Lady Gael.

Quite precociously for her age, Taena understands the rules and contraddictions of the world she inhabits and acts accordingly, hoping to cause as little fuss as possible.

In the East
Lady Taena was born as dawn broke on the 12th day of the 10th moon, in 426. As the firstborn grandchild of the elderly Zalyne Sealord, great celebrations were held in honour of her birth, with banquets and shows of dancers, acrobats and puppeteers all over the city. Little did the oblivious baby know, however, that as the Braavosi feasted in her honour, the city was teeming with tension and discontent: the marriage between her parents had been a part of a negotiation for the infamous Zalyne conspiracy, and the Braavosi ruling class was just starting to realise the effects of that scheme.

Nontheless, the first years of Taena's life would happen far away from such political turmoil. She spent her days in her family's manse with her Mother, before Visenya, Taena and Luco finally moved to the Seven Kingdoms.

Though she has obviously little recollection of that time, Taena thinks of those first few years as a perfect, ideal life, where she has her mother's undivided attention and when she lived in a place where she truly belonged. Of course, this projected image is quite untrue: her mother spent her days melacholic and pensive and crossed the Narrow sea whenever she could, while the Zalyne's political position only worsened.

At the Court of the Dragon
The Zalyne's visit to King's Landing during the Springtide Celebrations turned into a permanent stay, with Taena's father becoming the Braavosi envoy to the Seven Kingdoms. What seemed like a moment of newfound happiness for the family - with a new child, Tregar, being welcomed in 429 - lasted very little: the baby succumbed to an illness and, shortly after, Luco followed him, dying in mysterious circumstances.

From that moment on, the young Taena and her mother only drifted further apart. With her remarriage, Visenya's position at court incited gossip and controversy and though Visenya had been an affectionate mother thus far, Taena was an uncomfortable reminder of her time in Braavos, her previous husband and many other things that were whispered amongst the lords and ladies of the court.

Taena's appearances at court were fewer and father between, as were the hours spent with her mother. She was left mostly in the care of Septas and with near to no companion of her own age.

The girl met the births of her half-siblings with mixed feelings: on one hand, she was glad to have little children to play with and pretend to look after, on the other she was saddened by the evident attentions that were reserved exclusively to them as children of Visenya-the-Queen - rather than Visenya-the-Sealord's-son's-wife. Despite her loneliness, Taena never bore a grudge to her mother or her siblings, loving them unconditionally and was especially delighted with the birth of her little sister.

She followed her Septa's instructions to a tee, trying never to argue or contaddict the royal princes and being especially mild and well-behaved around them.

Under Gael's Wing
As she turned nine, young Taena was noticed by Lady Gael Targaryen. A grand dame of the Royal court, Lady Gael knew from personal experience what it meant to be a lonely child in the harsh court of King's Landing. Feeling compassionate towards the girl and percieving her intelligence, Gael decided to take her in. With her mother's consent, she welcomed Taena into her King's Landing Manse, where the girl took the role of her cupbearer.

Though her duties seemed menial, at first - pouring wine for Gael and her guests, announcing them, taking Lady Gael's dictations - she soon found that she was learning a great deal, certainly more than what the Septas had taught her. Soon enough, she began to recognise the sigils of many noble houses of Westeros, capture the meaning behind courtly traditions and behaviours and understand how Lady Gael's ledgers were read and compiled. Her new mistress showed her kindness and, most importantly, genuine attention and concern, and the girl relished in it, opening up to the dragonrider and maturing with ease under her tutelage.

Whenever she returned to the Red Keep to visit her mother and her siblings, however, she returned to be her old, shy self.

Recent Events
The death of King Aegon VII has thrown the realm into chaos but it's not her step-father's disappearance that fills Taena's heart with grief: Lady Gael has been lost as well, her demise shrouded in mystery.

Taena now resides in the Red Keep once more, deprived both of that little fun and excitement she had been allowed to have and of her only true friend. With the upcoming Great Council of 439, her future has never been more uncertain.