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Petrina Whitesky
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Petrina Whitesky was a promising young sergeant of the tree wardens, the Great Forest Land enforcers of logging and forestry laws, until ambushed by a crew of rogue loggers near Brinacia. Petrina and her companion fell dog put up a good fight, but odds of 14 to 2 spelled inevitable defeat. Her dog was killed, and Petrina was badly injured and left for dead. Found by a fellow warden, she underwent a long convalescence and ended up badly scarred, slightly crippled, and blind. On the left you see Petrina as she appeared before that fateful day. |
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After being treated by a local healer, Petrina underwent a painful journey to the Royal Hospital in the nation's capital, where the best healers in Great Forest Land did what they could to patch her back together. Unfortunately, it wasn't much. She was left sightless, with a weakened left leg and a sizable collection of scars. After a month in the hospital, the healers had decided they'd done all they could. The day before Petrina was due to leave the hospital for a hospice, the place received one of its regular visits from Lady Gnola Leafhawk, the chancellor of the realm. She was introduced to Petrina by one of the healers, and the two struck up a conversation. Petrina was naturally despondent over the loss of her sight, her career, and — truth be told — her good looks. But something about her struck Lady Gnola as special. She ordered that the girl be brought to the royal palace instead of the hospice, installed her in a small but comfortable room, and told her she was welcome there until she was ready to face life outside the walls. For two months Petrina worked hard at learning to make her way around with a blind person's cane, strengthening her leg as much as possible with exercise, and patching up her attitude. Lady Gnola was a regular visitor, providing warm encouragement when appropriate and harsh criticism when necessary. Then, during an evening of tea by the fire with Lady Gnola, Petrina burst out: "Look, I'm a blind girl with a gimpy leg and a chopped-up face, but that doesn't mean I have to hide away here forever! It's time I found myself something useful to do." "Almost," Lady Gnola replied. She advised Petrina to "give it a couple more weeks." The chancellor had a plan. Over the months of Petrina's recovery, she'd discovered that the girl had a quick and insightful mind, and seemed always to have some worthwhile ideas about problems around the palace that the chacellor would mention. She had an idea what that "something useful" might be. |
A couple of days later, Lady Gnola invited Petrina to join her for dinner with King Paolando. It was to be a "working dinner," where the monarch and his chancellor would talk over some of the problems that had come up. The king was polite and pleasant, but Petrina could tell he was wondering why on earth Lady Gnola had brought her along. She sat silently, listening carefully, eating little, overawed by the royal presence and feeling completely out of place. Then after Lady Gnola and the king had spent some time discussing a thorny issue, the chancellor turned to Petrina. "Petrina, what would you do?" Petrina was stunned, but managed to stumble out a reply. The king was stunned in turn. The young dwelf had recapped the issue clearly and succinctly and offered an excellent suggestion for working toward its resolution. He stared inquiringly at the chancellor. She just grinned.
Over the next few days, Petrina was summoned regularly to visit the king. Sometimes they'd just talk — about any subject that struck the king's fancy. Other times though, he'd bring up a problem facing the realm and discuss it in some detail with the girl. At the end of Petrina's "couple more weeks," she was summoned again to the king's study. This time Lady Gnola was there too. "I'm not going to ask you what your plans are," the king began. "Instead, I'll tell you what I would like your plans to be. This is not a royal command, you understand. It's a royal request."
"Yes, your majesty," Petrina replied, waiting for the drop of shoe number two.
"I would like you to stay here at the palace so I can talk over problems and issues with you. And you can do the same with Lady Gnola. We both feel you have a fine mind for sorthing through complexities and coming up with valuable suggestions. That can be a great help to us. Sometimes we're too busy to really think things through properly. You won't be. Gnola can think up some sort of official-sounding title for you. She's good at that sort of thing. I'd like your answer within a day or two."
Petrina fought hard to hold back tears, but managed. "You can have my answer right now, your majesty. It couldn't be anything but 'yes'."
The next day, Petrina Whitesky was appointed by royal edict as Special Confidential Advisor to the Chancellor of the Realm. (Lady Gnola outdid herself with that one!) She serves as sounding board, problem solver, and issues analyst for the king and the chancellor. and she's very, very good at it. She's happy as a clam. (Why do people think clams are happy?) She also putters around the palace and listens. That often enables her to bring a perspective to an issue that wouldn't otherwise be available. Petrina noted, "It's amazing how many people seem to think that somebody who can't see can't hear, either!"
At first, Petrina was treated with some suspicion by other members of the court, but that soon changed. They realized that she wasn't the king's "spy", and was always extremely careful not to undercut other officials of the realm. Besides, she has a marvelous grin that makes it awfully hard not to like her. Much to her surprise, Petrina found herself becoming close friends with King Paolando and Lady Gnola. In private, they call her "Pet" and she calls them "Paol" and "Gnola". She was quite uncomfortable calling the king by his nickname until he decreed that he would fine her five coppers every time she said "your majesty". (The occasional rumors about some sort of romantic relationship between king and advisor are probably totally unfounded.... Maybe.)
We should also mention Petrina's unfailing and sometimes waspish sense of humor. She has a particular aversion to self-important and snobbish people. When one of them condescendingly asks what her position at the court is, she always replies: "I'm the king's pet cripple". Her only regret is that she can't see the expression on the person's face when she says that.
Oh, yes.... We almost forgot about the cat. The cat's name is Opal. She "adopted" Petrina when the girl was stumbling about, learning to use her cane for navigation. Opal accompanies Petrina everywhere, and lets out an ear-splitting yowl if she thinks she's approaching danger. Some say this shows her love and concern for her mistress. Others claim the cat just got tired of the messes Petrina would make knocking things over. Most everyone agrees that Opal is the meanest, most obnoxious feline ever seen on the face of the earth. She works hard to maintain that reputation.
The Great Forest Elves
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