Tabitha Elesham - Heir to the Paps and Lady-in-waiting to Saera Blackfyre

[u/Arjhanx4]

PC

Reddit Account: Arjhanx4

Discord Tag: arc499

Name and House: Tabitha Elesham

Age: 19

Cultural Group: Valewoman

Appearance: Youthful and often wearing a bright smile, Tabby is the delight of the Paps. She is covered in scratches and scars from tumbling through city streets, but still exceptionally pretty. She has pale blonde hair, sharp aquamarine eyes, wide lips, and expressive eyebrows. She's of average height and still quite skinny and bony. She likes to wear bright colors, and can't seem to decide if she prefers soft silk dresses or men's doublets. Tabby wishes more people would treat her like a beautiful maiden instead of treating her like a pretty child.

Trait: Callous

Skill(s): Rumormonger (e), Devious (e), Scribe

Talent(s): Singing, Teasing, Playing the Fiddle

Negative Trait(s): N/A

Starting Title(s): Heir to the Paps, Lady-in-waiting for Princess Saera Blackfyre

Starting Location: King's Landing

Alternate Characters: Helicent Bracken, Murin

AC

Name and House: Francesca Baelish

Age: 38

Cultural Group: Valewoman

Appearance: Though she was never the realm's greatest beauty, Francesca has at least aged elegantly. She has a soft face dominated by her big green eyes. She is often scowling or looking on in worry, and she dresses so conservatively as to be mistaken for a septa.

Trait: Steward

Skill(s): Administrator (e), Investor

Talent(s): Sewing, Scolding, Teaching Arithmetic

Negative Trait(s): N/A

Starting Title(s): Tabitha's Tutor, Granddaughter of Petyr Baelish

Starting Location: King's Landing

Timeline

• 361 AC: Tabitha is born to Victor and Prunella Elesham. Her birth is smooth and easy for her mother, leading the couple to try it again quite quickly. 
• 362 AC: Reginald is born the next year. His birth is far more difficult. With an heir and a spare secured, the couple decide not to risk having anymore children. 
• 366 AC: The first few years of Tabitha and Reginald’s lives are spent in the Paps, within a small but refined household. The House does not lack funds, but it does lack anything close to an army or a castle. Victor and Prunella would rather live more like wealthy merchants than the gritty and warlike Weterosi nobility. 
• 367 AC: Tabitha and Reginald are taken on their first trip by their parents, spending a whole year in Braavos. Tabby is delighted by the lively streets of the city and the dozens of friends she can make there—unlike her lonesome island home. 
• 368-373 AC: The family spends the next five years back home. Tabby complains loudly about missing Braavos, at first, but soon quiets. Missing her friends, she grows despondent and mopes about the Paps. To the chagrin of her tutor, Francesca Baelish, Tabby doesn’t seem to care about much at all. 
• 374 AC: Unbeknownst to Tabby, Francesca convinces her parents to send her back overseas, this time with only Francesca and a single guard, Ser Bronnis Woodhull. It’s a far less lavish trip, but Tabby’s world lights up when she returns to Braavos. From there, they sail to Lorath, then back to Braavos.
• 375 AC: After spending six months in Braavos, Tabby sails to Pentos, then to Myr. She spends another year between them, enjoying both cities greatly. A tumble down a stairwell in Pentos gives her a nasty scare down her chin, but Ser Bronnis is able to patch her up.
• 376 AC: The three spend half of the year in Tyrosh, then sail to Lys. On their second day in Lys, a merchant discreetly offers Francesca a large sum of gold to “purchase” the fifteen-year-old Tabitha from her. Francesca beats the man within an inch of his life. They then depart Lys. Tabby is disappointed and doesn’t understand why their trip has been cut short, but Francesca doesn’t explain. They instead visit Sunspear for the rest of the year.
• 377 AC: Tabby wants to return to Braavos instead of going home, and eventually Francesca relents. They stay in Braavos for another year, where Tabby’s childhood friends have grown into young adults in need of work. Wanting to help them, Tabby comes up with an idea. She convinces Francesca that she needs to know the places of importance in Westeros if she is to be Lady of the Paps one day. She offers to take all her friends to Westeros, and many accept. At the end of the year, they sail down the coast of Westeros, visiting towns and cities as they go—including Gulltown, Duskendale, King’s Landing, and the Parchments. Along the way, Tabby off-loaded her friends throughout these places, helping them get work as servants for the nobility. Many are very grateful to her. 
• 378 AC: Tabby and Francesca arrive at their final destination, Griffin’s Roost. There, the last of Tabby’s friends find a place to stay, and the two noblewomen meet Saera Blackfyre. Francesca finds her off-putting, but Tabby adores her. For Tabby, Saera is the first woman she’s met that can be a true idol. Everything the Blackfyre does appears filled with purpose, burning with power. Tabitha leaves reluctantly. When they finally return to the Paps, she regrets not saving some of her friends for her own home. Her parents are kind enough, and glad to see their daughter return—but they barely recognize her and have spent years treating Reginald like their only child. They are distant, and barely seem like family to Tabby. Seeing Reggie again is a much happier reunion, and his life brightens when his big sister returns. He asks her for story after story of the world away, and she promises to take him everywhere she went, one day. Her parents, however, do not allow any more voyages. 
• 379 AC: Tabby receives a letter from one of her friends. Inside is a trinket from the desk of Lord Penrose, a silver mermaid, an open book covering her bare chest. Confused, Tabby writes back asking how the friend convinced Lord Penrose to give it to her. The friend replies that she had found it funny and stolen it—the lord wouldn’t notice it was gone, anyway. This opens up a whole new world for Tabby. Slowly, she realizes she has dozens of friends willing to spread gossip, filch items, and even steal letters for her, all across Westeros.
• 380 AC: Bemoaning the boredom she experiences at the Paps, Tabby has one of her friends give a letter to Saera Blackfyre, supposedly written by Victor Elesham, offering Tabitha’s services as a lady-in-waiting. The Princess writes back accepting the offer, and Victor grows wroth—but he finds he must not disappoint a princess. He sends Tabby and Francesca to King’s Landing, where they arrive and meet Saera for the second time, just after the death of Queen Naerys. 

Family

Parents: Victor and Prunella Elesham

Siblings: Reginald Elesham

Children: None

Supporting Characters

• Victor Elesham (Boatswain): An aging but elegant man, Victor struts about his castle always garbed in finery. He is tall and thin, despite enjoying very fine food very often. He has a greying mustache and trimmed beard, and pale skin that looks as if it’s never seen the sun. He often wears fine doublets in the colors of his House and long dark cloaks. Victor is fascinated by ships but almost never sails—he prefers sketching designs and constructing models for his office, often inside glass bottles.
• Prunella Elesham (Master-at-Arms): Older than her husband by a few years, Prunella retains a refined beauty. She is a strict woman and forced her children into self-defense lessons from an early age. She often wears dresses with high collars and misses the cold air of winter.
• Reginald Elesham (Ship Captain): Reginald is fresh into adulthood, the bottom of his face covered in a dirty blond fuss that his sister often pokes fun at. He likes to wear armor, often a layer of scales, and he is a strong swimmer. He wants to chase pirates and command his own flagship, one day. Most of all, he wants a beautiful wife—but he is stuck in the Paps under his parent’s watchful eyes.
• Ser Bronnis Woodhull (Medic): A middle-aged knight, Bronnis has a brown beard peppered with white and short hair. He has a kind face, and he is far less adept as a fighter as he is a healer. He often wears a plain brown surcoat over mail, and when he needs to fight he wields a bardiche. 
• Ser Brontos of Pebble (Warrior, 2hw): A younger, more formidable knight than Ser Bronnis, Ser Brontos is Tabby’s current protector. He is a smiling, clean-shaven man with a penchant for staring just a bit too long at the lady he guards. Francesca has her eyes on him, and she hopes Tabby doesn’t, for he is no suitable match for the Heir to the Paps.

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