History (Pre-Creation)
Beginnings
Penri was born in
Avanthal, to a comfortable family. Both parents were of the Kelvic race; both, in their animal shapes, were Dire Polar Bears: her parents were part of Avanthal’s Icewatch, bonded each to a skilled Vantha member of the group. Her parents were cubs near in age, her mother a month ahead. Their bondmates had been childhood friends, then sweethearts, then lovers, before they joined the Icewatch. Their relationship quietly continued as they trained and each (separately) bonded with a Kelvic. The four set up a household of sorts, eventually forming into a tight family with two romantic couples (one of the two Vantha, one of the two Kelvic), but of course between each set of bondmates closeness.
She was conceived outside Morwen's influence, for her mother would have felt guilty to so openly take time away from Icewatch, knowingly and in advance; why, looking back none are sure. Later, all were delighted at the news of a child, and Penri’s birth was an occasion of joy in the household. Four anxious parents huddled around the baby, who was announced to be a healthy girl. None in the room could know, of course, whether she would be a human or a Kelvic; but for the time, none of the parents cared. She was small but sturdy and soon bundled up and brought to the Queen Morwen, to see if their child would follow in their footsteps as Dire Polar Bear mounts in Icewatch; they had not told her of their news, feeling it beneath her notice, until the potential of their child became a reality. They came to Morwen’s assistant, Jenna Aviak, and proudly showed the child; she brought them to Morwen, who happened to be free.
In a smaller room of the palace, sparse, will little furniture but a low bench, the queen greeted her subjects. There was an exchange of words, the two Icewatch pairs not completely flustered but honored by their queen’s attention. They brought the baby to herattention, carefully wrapped in blankets for her first day of life.
“Shall she change into one like us?” asked Penri’s father.
The queen took a moment, and shook her head.
“She shall not,” came the gentle but clear reply.
When it became apparent to the waiting mother that no more information was forthcoming, she looked at Morwen. With the directness that she so often showed, she put forth the obvious next question.
“If I may ask, what then is Penri?”
Was that a look of…
puzzlement, on Queen Morwen’s face? Surely not.
“A goat. An Alpine goat.”
A silence hung in the air for a moment before they bade farewell and made their way home.
ChildhoodPenri’s life from then on quite simply continued. She grew up fast, much faster than the Vantha children, due to her race; as such, while she made friends with some of them, she grew out of their companionship too soon for the friendship to mean much. In a city composed racially of about 3% Kelvics like herself, one might think she would find companionship there, but she shied away from the Icewatch families, many of whom were Dire Polar Bears. Although of course not nearly all children followed the race of their parents, there were very few who were
goats, and there were not very many anyways, near her age. Her parents and their bondmates played with her and taught her and cared for her and taught her the basics of reading and writing and fighting (as much as one—or rather four—could do in so short a time for so much development). She tried to run with other children sometimes: they encouraged it, though never hiding the difficulties it might present. She learned that it presented problems to do so, and sometimes that she ought not to shirt between her two forms during their games. What she wished to do, though, always seemed to be for “older” children, no matter how she grew. Her parents consoled her, reminding her that her growth was different from human children, but Penri grew determined. One thing she wished to do was on her parents forbade as well: go with them on Icewatch duties. She knew she would not be allowed to go as they did with a bondmate, due to her species (after all, who could ride a little goat out like they did a huge polar bear? She couldn’t even be outside long enough).
One day, when she was about a year and a third old (the approximate equivalent of an eleven-year-old human child), after a bad streak with her fellows in the community, both of Penri’s parents and their bondmates were urgently called on Icewatch duties. She was told to stay around their home, but she waited for a minute and then decided to follow, stubborn, determined she too could be part of Icewatch and protect her city. She instead got separated from them as she tried to follow and found the confusion of a fight, got lost, and was found by slavers and taken from Avanthal to Ravok, where she was sold as a slave.
Details of thisI’m planning to describe this incident in a flashback, maybe even as my first thread.Pen had an advantage over some female slaves: goats aren’t seen as very alluring. However, in a bit worse shape a visibly much older (though only a matter of months older in reality, as it took some time for the slavers to finish “collecting” and then to get to Ravok, and then to sell—a Kelvic is after all expensive), she was put back on the market when her owners decided an overly curious and stubborn Kelvic who didn’t seem to be bonding wasn’t a good investment (and would just about cover their gambling debts). Up for sale she went. She had been bought briefly and then returned to be sold
again (perhaps she shouldn’t have eaten the vegetable garden just because they forced her to stay in goat form)…and there ends the pre-played history.
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Penri 
by Penri on March 30th, 2013, 8:24 pm 
Penri’s eyes set her apart as a Kelvic child among Vantha. Her mother once said, half in jest, that all it meant was she had a 
