Character 100-ish 105: Princess Aké

[annarti.livejournal.com]

I believe this is a milestone character, last of the historical figures group, yay! Excluding Yan of course, but he's top-eight and doesn't count. He's also a current character. So yeah, group finished! NO WAIT I haven't done Qewir, I'm sure he's in the box. Damnit. False alarm.


Mina is her twin sister so I've tried to make them identical. They look like sisters, I think, but not sure thy're identical enough. I didn't save the original reference for Mina or I would have just reversed the two of them. Ah well.

NAME Princess Aké
WHO IS THIS PERSON Daughter of King Yan and Queen Aliah, twin sister to Crown Princess Mina and older sister of Prince Noku
GENDER Female
AGE deceased age 60-ish; pictured, as all Yan's family, as he remembers her in her late teens

BRIEF BIO Aké was always second best in her father's eyes. Even though they were twins, she was always competing with Mina for Yan's approval. The big difference, which Aké never realised as a teenager but did later on in life, was that Mina was genuinely trying to be the best for her people, whereas Aké was just trying to better her sister and win her father's approval.
In the end none of that mattered. When Aké was a teenager, Yan's advisor Qewir killed him in the night, and Aké's mother escaped with her children into the desert. With the focus of her life dead, Aké lost much of her competitive streak, and especially with her mother and sister fighting for control she pretty much gave up and turned into a follower. It was about then that she realised just why Mina was the favourite: when things got tough, she didn't give up when Aké did.
It was decided, mostly by Mina, that they would use the magic they'd learnt from Yan to bring him back to life. Aké, still wanting that focus back in her life and to prove to him that she'd learnt, agreed with this. So that was pretty much the rest of her life. The four of them practised on animals--when they finally managed to bring a bird back to 'life' their mother didn't survive, and their brother Noku, now an adult and no longer the little boy who had fled Ni-Yana, left in anger and frustration.
And then, one day when they were both into their sixties, their attempts bore fruit. Aké saw her father's fingers twitch, his brow crease, but the effort of keeping life in him was too much for her and she died. She never even knew that technically they didn't succeed, because of course Yan is still dead anyway. LIFE WASTED.

CHARACTER Aké always thought of herself as a strong leader, but really she was just headstrong and stubborn. She tried hard to please her father without realising exactly why she was always second best until it was too late. Yan's death brought out Aké's true character, when she pretty much gave up on everything and drew in on herself. Since then she's mellowed and taken on the role more of supporting Mina, and probably would have made a good councillor to her if things hadn't gone the way they did.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Ironically, Aké was probably the more sane of the two sisters by the end. Mina was slightly insane and completely consumed by bringing Yan back; Aké was thinking about how they'd march back triumphantly into Ni-Yana and take back control.

Her name was originally Waké and she was a younger sister, but I've ditched the W and bumped her up to Mina's age since then.

Comments

[drazzi.livejournal.com]

She's interesting, in the many personality changes she's had in her lifetime I think.

[annarti.livejournal.com]

She is rather. She's kinda the only one who's properly changed over the course of her 60-ish year life.