✦||Seraphim||✦ (She/Her) Seraphim Agnes, to anyone you should ask around the palace today, is the ideal choice for a Royal Advisor. Competent, Loyal, Kind, and holds no bias, having confronted or called out even the Queen herself on her actions or behaviors whenever it was needed. Despite, however, holding the highest rank in the kingdom under being royalty herself, Seraphim did not originally hail from Zanaitia at all. Born of a wealthy goldsmithing father and a servant mother of a Chamberlain in the Kingdom of Ikramore, Seraphim is the youngest of three daughters (Cherub, Virtue and Seraphim herself), disaster struck when she was only a small pup. Seraphim was born blind, so her only memories of that night was the sound of her mother's heartbroken wails, and the Sentries at the door to their home delivering the news of how her Father was killed in a robbery of his store. Her mother, in a desperate attempt to provide for her daughters now that they could only rely on her meager wage alone, took all of the assets that their father left behind and uprooted their lives, immigrating to Zanaitia in hopes to find better work. In the end she did, but had to take up a job in the frigid mines of the icy kingdom alongside servantry to afford stability. She worked day and night, only able to come home from one job for enough time to sleep a few hours before going to the next. With her mother's absence, Seraphim's upbringing was left in the paws of her oldest sister, Cherub, who was less than thrilled by the notion. Needless to say, taking care of her young, blind sister was the last thing she wanted to do, given that she was still only a pup herself, grieving the fresh loss of the father that she was far closer too than Seraphim ever was, and angry about the loss of everything she had ever known, and it being replaced with a cold foreign world. While Virtue was indifferent, Cherub was less than kind to Seraphim, taking out all of her emotions onto the poor pup. She would constantly berate, yell at and punish her younger sister at any given moment, even in cases where she had done nothing wrong, or couldn't help what she did do wrong on account for her lack of sight, which was more ammunition that Cherub used in her bullying. Cherub drilled it in home throughout Seraphim's puphood that because she was blind, Rasyn would never give her a Order of meaning, especially since when Cherub herself turned 13, she was given a rank in the 5th Order like their mother. The poor treatment affected Seraphim's self worth a lot, so much so that on the day of her 13th birthday, the day she was finally presented before the Amulet of Judgement, her first question was what house she was to be assigned to serving, sure that she was destined to receive an Order like 5 or even 6. Imagine her shock when she was introduced to the old Royal Advisor of the time, Invierno, as his apprentice. Her mother had wept of thankfulness and joy, happy that her youngest was ensured a life free of the hardships she had to endure herself. Virtue had congratulated Seraphim, probably the most she had ever spoken to her. Cherub? Well, she was not so pleased. Instead of happiness for her sister, or congratulating her, the last words that Cherub had ever spoken to Seraphim before she was taken away to the palace was how Rasyn must have chosen Seraphim "as a clown to amuse him with her failures than as a Felnine that can actually hold a candle next to the Royals" and that she "would laugh along side him." 54 years had since passed since that day, and the last time she had seen her sisters, especially Cherub. During the early years of her apprenticeship under Invierno, she was terrified of her sister's omen coming to fruition, terrified of making mistakes and being yelled at, terrified of being thrown out, but Invierno was a kind, gentle old soul. He ended up becoming the father figure, and the parent figure she never had. Whenever she made a mistake, he would never yell or scold Seraphim, instead saying, "You've lived it , you've learned it." He taught her that despite her blindness, she was not helpless or any less capable than anyone else. He taught her to find and use the strengths she had, rather than fixate on what she did not. With each passing year, the pain and scars of her puphood began to heal and fade, and she began to let go of the insecurities of the past. Invierno eventually passed away peacefully in his sleep about 30 or so years ago, but not before transforming the skittish, anxiety-ridden pup she was before into the confident, capable Felnine she is today. A good portion of her pay had gone to her mother, helping to finally alleviate the crushing pressure she had been living under for decades.
(cont) Now she upholds her mentor's legacy by continuing the job he left her, and strives to be the best Advisor she is capable of being in his honor, living by the values of truth, kindness and forgiveness that Invierno taught her, even in times of war. Her kindness is what led her to meeting her current husband, Sirius. Then he was a soldier standing injured at his post before Seraphim found him and ushered him to aid, defending him from the angry General that insisted that he was standing there as punishment. Now Sirius is a general himself, and a rather well-known one at that, and not just because he's the husband of the Royal Advisor. Together they have a daughter, Winter Rose. Even though she is content at where she is today, sometimes she cannot help but look back at the family she cut ties with after her ranking ceremony, especially after her mother passed away due to black lung from her work in the mines, even after Seraphim had tried getting her the best medical attention money could buy. A part of her that is still bitter about the past holds her back, but another part wants to hesitantly reach out to her estranged kin, questioning if Cherub too deserved forgiveness.
