Info Post
All about Vanessa...
Vanessa has undergone some huge changes just prior to her arrival here. Her grandfather was the elf, Varden, (though she did not know this) and it was from him that she inherited her ability to see and (eventually) change the patterns in the lattice of the future by manipulating the strands of starlight as elves do. Even as a small child she would talk to the river and the animals and birds and behave as if they spoke back to her. She also would often tell people what their future - near and far - would hold and was always correct. As she is from a land in Europe during the 1400's in the middle of the Inquisition, this was clearly a problem and made all the people of her hamlet very nervous and uncomfortable around her. She is a low country peasant girl, bright, but without much formal education.
Her father sent her away from home in an effort to protect her from the Inquisition, hoping that distance from him and the woods would make her more normal somehow. On her journey to her new place, she refused the advances of a powerful man and was beaten nearly to death by him in retaliation. If she should end up in the clinic, x-rays would show multiple breaks to her ribs, arms, and legs, as well as signs of a skull fracture that should have been fatal. She nearly died and would have died had not two of the remaining elves in the world arrived and healed her. Their healing pushed her even further towards the elvish, but also helped her learn to control her abilities.
Just prior to her arrival here, she used her abilities to go into the starlight and make some large changes in the lattices of the future to save the village and peoples of St. Brigid. This experience changed her, leaving her not entirely an elf, but definitely no longer human. She changed physically - face and hands becoming more delicate, ears developing points - as well as emotionally and mentally. She no longer speaks with a low country accent and she has been connected into some of the long wisdom of the elves through the grace of the Lady. People might notice a glow about her and would definitely be able to notice the starlight in her eyes.
She is still adjusting to these changes and trying to reconcile who she was with who she is now as in some ways they are very different. She is also aware that her decision to change the patterns resulted in the death of a number of people who otherwise would have gone unharmed and she can't avoid the fact that she knew the consequences of her actions from the start and went ahead with her plans, choosing to trade their deaths for those of the people in the village.
Vanessa's ability allows her to see the patterns of the future and know what is going to happen as well as what could happen based on the possibilities and choices that people make. When she was younger she was unable to control this ability in any way or to prevent herself from telling others what she saw. It nearly drove her insane - especially if someone did something terribly unexpected and caused the patterns to change as she watched. She still sees the patterns, but is able to ignore them and doesn't tell people what she sees.
That said, if, for a plotty reason or some such, you would like Vanessa to see something for you, feel free to contact me and let me know and I'd be glad to have her accomodate you.
I highly recommend Gael Baudino's books in the Strand's Series. The link to the series also contains information on the physical aspects and powers of the Elves - their ability to change reality in nearly any way (though anything in depth of far-reaching greatly drains them so Vanessa certainly wouldn't be doing anything large), their extreme coordination, supernaturally keen senses, etc. - should anyone be interested or need to know for purposes of interaction.
Vanessa has undergone some huge changes just prior to her arrival here. Her grandfather was the elf, Varden, (though she did not know this) and it was from him that she inherited her ability to see and (eventually) change the patterns in the lattice of the future by manipulating the strands of starlight as elves do. Even as a small child she would talk to the river and the animals and birds and behave as if they spoke back to her. She also would often tell people what their future - near and far - would hold and was always correct. As she is from a land in Europe during the 1400's in the middle of the Inquisition, this was clearly a problem and made all the people of her hamlet very nervous and uncomfortable around her. She is a low country peasant girl, bright, but without much formal education.
Her father sent her away from home in an effort to protect her from the Inquisition, hoping that distance from him and the woods would make her more normal somehow. On her journey to her new place, she refused the advances of a powerful man and was beaten nearly to death by him in retaliation. If she should end up in the clinic, x-rays would show multiple breaks to her ribs, arms, and legs, as well as signs of a skull fracture that should have been fatal. She nearly died and would have died had not two of the remaining elves in the world arrived and healed her. Their healing pushed her even further towards the elvish, but also helped her learn to control her abilities.
Just prior to her arrival here, she used her abilities to go into the starlight and make some large changes in the lattices of the future to save the village and peoples of St. Brigid. This experience changed her, leaving her not entirely an elf, but definitely no longer human. She changed physically - face and hands becoming more delicate, ears developing points - as well as emotionally and mentally. She no longer speaks with a low country accent and she has been connected into some of the long wisdom of the elves through the grace of the Lady. People might notice a glow about her and would definitely be able to notice the starlight in her eyes.
She is still adjusting to these changes and trying to reconcile who she was with who she is now as in some ways they are very different. She is also aware that her decision to change the patterns resulted in the death of a number of people who otherwise would have gone unharmed and she can't avoid the fact that she knew the consequences of her actions from the start and went ahead with her plans, choosing to trade their deaths for those of the people in the village.
Vanessa's ability allows her to see the patterns of the future and know what is going to happen as well as what could happen based on the possibilities and choices that people make. When she was younger she was unable to control this ability in any way or to prevent herself from telling others what she saw. It nearly drove her insane - especially if someone did something terribly unexpected and caused the patterns to change as she watched. She still sees the patterns, but is able to ignore them and doesn't tell people what she sees.
That said, if, for a plotty reason or some such, you would like Vanessa to see something for you, feel free to contact me and let me know and I'd be glad to have her accomodate you.
I highly recommend Gael Baudino's books in the Strand's Series. The link to the series also contains information on the physical aspects and powers of the Elves - their ability to change reality in nearly any way (though anything in depth of far-reaching greatly drains them so Vanessa certainly wouldn't be doing anything large), their extreme coordination, supernaturally keen senses, etc. - should anyone be interested or need to know for purposes of interaction.