Ebony

The eldest daughter to one of the wealthiest arms merchants of the land, Ebony knew that a harsh road lay ahead of her. Despite being born to a life of privilege, she took nothing for granted. Her family had very few advantages beyond their fortune, and many, many enemies--to say nothing of the uncertain alliances that they possessed. Her earliest success was a pact between her and a raven familiar who would later serve as her constant companion and ever-vigilant watcher over the years. Leisure was something she envied other children her age for, yet she understood why it was a necessary sacrifice. Instead of playtime, she spent her days being tutored in war and espionage--but she would find her own small ways to be herself, whether it was in her outfits or her axe. She found people's reactions to both rather amusing, and she used them to her advantage whenever she could. After years of scheming, she finally found an opportunity to meet a young scion of an aristocratic family under the pretext of having a clock fixed. At first she was planning to recruit him for her own ends, but she soon discovered that behind his odd personality was a formidable prodigy whose genius rivaled hers. It would be the beginning of a relationship that would be more than just romance... Everyone at the Academy thought that Ebony was a haughty, arrogant girl who flaunted her status and wealth with every chance she could get. They were half-right. With her companion and her skill in reading people's attitudes--plus the services of a young boy and his leviathan from the snowy north--Ebony amassed a treasure trove of knowledge that she would use to blackmail her enemies and advance her family's agenda. With the end of the conflicts, her family's profits were slowly slipping--thus, a new war had to be ushered in. Discreetly, of course. Soon she had contacts and allies of all shapes and sizes, many of them unaware of her actual involvement in these matters. It was a simple matter to get the engines of war rolling, but she missed the simple, unassuming time she spent with the young man that she knew. Of all the people in the world, she felt that she could be herself with him, a freedom that she sorely wanted more of. Her time in the Academy, though, came to an end--and with it, her machinations finally begun. As the conflict began to spill over into the open, she found that her progress in some areas was being slowed down by a mysterious party--or redirected elsewhere. It would be at a rift between worlds where she found out who was behind these moves, much to her surprise. Her raven's caws of delight would mark the day forever in her mind, for the war it yearned for had finally come.