Alyssa Arryn

Alyssa Arryn is the sixth and final child born of Osric Arryn and his wife, Princess Saera Targaryen. She is younger than her twin Jon Arryn by mere minutes.

Appearance and Character
Crafty but difficult in temperament, the youngest of the Vale brood is best known as the stark contrast to her twin. Where he is jovial and good natured, Alyssa is endlessly droll and prone to judgemental mannerisms.

Black-haired and blue-eyed, the twins share full and rounded features, yet Alyssa is noted to look more similar to their father Godric in her brand of beauty.

Long has her reputation preceded her in the Eyrie, infamous as a troublemaker and perhaps even more so for her flighty temper. Alyssa is often brash, and has no talent for making friends. She is disobedient and wilful to most, taken to doing as she pleases with little regard for consequence. Despite this wider belligerence with most, keenly does she obey her eldest brother when so forced, and will often heed the advice of Jon begrudgingly.

To some, her quick wit and pretty face are enough to make her tolerable, but in truth Alyssa has maintained no particularly meaningful relationships outside her own family as a result of her trickster tendencies. Eventually, she manages to drive any and all away, for at her core she remains bitter and spiteful over her family's tragic past.

Childhood
Primarily raised by Princess Saera Targaryen, a woman famed for a silver tongue and diplomatic grace, these traits took no root in her youngest daughter. She was a child of the Vale through and through, but in her younger years was Alyssa as sweet and tender as any.

When Osric Arryn returned from the War in the Mountains that the twins had been born into, he was a foreign figure. By such a time Jon and Alyssa had grown into bold children, and in the latter's case defiant.

Physical pursuits always held far more appeal than the intellectual, and Alyssa took longer than most to study her letters and numbers. Her speech however developed quicker than most children, owing to the influence of her elder siblings since birth.

Storm's End
When the Blue Winter receded in 428 A.C, under the blanket of a new Spring the Arryn twins were for the time separated. Jon was to be fostered in Winterfell, and Alyssa in Storm's End.

Even by eleven, Alyssa had formed with her brother a deep dependence, one he did not necessarily share. Once parted, Alyssa became only more troublesome. She had always been a rambunctious child, but with Jon to keep her entertained she was kept reasonably well in check. Now alone, and owing to the emotional distress and confusion in her young age, she was no easy charge to House Baratheon at Storm's End. For company she had only her Winged Knight, Ser Horton Redfort, as a constant reminder of home. Dutiful and loyal, he endured the worst of Alyssa's poor behaviour - a fact she never forgot as she grew and matured. The Knight carved his own place, for what it was worth, in her esteem.

Lord Gwayne Baratheon, however, proved an ill chosen adversary for Alyssa. He in fact indulged the interests she had been ushered away from at the Eyrie, and saw to finding a teacher to nurture her interest in archery. The activity was enough to tire her out daily and was combined with horse riding, climbing and other physical pursuits. She proved to have a preternatural talent for coordination, and hitting marks was an easy feat.

When Alyssa returned home in 432 A.C at age fifteen, from beneath the martial tutoring of the Stormlanders she had come well on her way to mastering the bow and arrow. Though she was not built to wield a sword or bear the weight of armour - and it was clear she never would be - a deft and nimble stature lent Alyssa well to more agile pursuits. Denying her continued training would have been folly, and so beneath the watchful eye of Ser Ulric Templeton she expanded upon and honed her skills.

The Gulltown Massacre
In 435 A.C, the first true tragedy of Alyssa's life would forever change the course of the Arryn family. The death of Saera Targaryen and her dragon, Blue, in the Gulltown Massacre irrevocably changed her daughter. A woman whose influence was all that shaped the kind and empathetic facet of Alyssa's personality was ripped too soon from the world, and too soon from a child who needed further guidance. In quick succession did Osric Arryn succumb to suicide, and the damage done was sealed with his blood.

Where Sharra and Godric became withdrawn, even despondent in the latter's case, the scions of the Vale were sure Alyssa had been imbued with Baratheon fury from her many years in their care. With her brother Jon she took to setting rights in the Eyrie, and in time, the Vale. By his side she toured the holdings, stopping at every hold and keep required. Though she had no talent with people, Alyssa was appreciated for her cold logic and decisive decision-making. In war, and in its aftermath, there was little room for sentimentality. Despite her sardonic nature, Alyssa took to helping the small-folk where she could, picking up an affinity for botany as they traversed the Vale.

Having never been well-suited to traditional academia, she took well to the practical exercises of learning plants as she went, making her own compendiums and concoctions. Much of what she learned came from the small-folk themselves who she helped, happy to lend her arrows to assist foraging and hunting parties.

Learning to brew up winter remedies quickly lead into learning poisons, an art that served all well when finally Alyssa's arrows could be coated in deadly venom, providing more utility than ever before from the back lines. Since 435, at age eighteen, Alyssa has been an active combatant in skirmishes across the Vale.

Recent Events
As her brother Godric stirs in his ancestral seat, Alyssa remains at large in the Vale proper. In recent years she has found an appreciation for the simpler things on her tours, and is often seen milking goats or skinning her catch. Inseparable from her brother as when they were children, she has grown fiercely protective of Jon, perhaps owing to the many losses House Arryn has already suffered.

Yet times of peace have drawn forth aspects of her personality that grew reticent, and once more has the young falcon become a troublesome thorn; while she does her duty, ever does she do it in her own way. Bitter towards many parties, even those who are in truth innocent, for the Gulltown Massacre, her guileful nature already begins to prove itself a catalyst for trouble in adulthood.