Post by haukea on Mar 6, 2008 10:42:30 GMT -5
Name: Haukea Harta
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Group: Water Tribe Citizens
Nation: Northern Water Tribe
Bender?: Yes
Physical Appearance: Haukea face is oval shaped, with a nose that's a little bit on the broad side. Whenever she smiles, she has dimples that stand out on either cheek. Her eyebrows are a bit on the thin side, but are nicely curved over her almond shaped carolina blue eyes. Haukea's hair is fine, with not much thickness to it at all. The sepia shaded locks fall to the small of her back, with bangs that sweep across her brows, almost coming down enough to get in her eyes. Generally, her tresses are styled into four braids, with simple bone beads to secure them at the end. Her skin is a warm shade of ochre.
Haukea is very petite, a source for teasing from all ends. She stands at a great whopping...5'1"...and weighs an impressive 104 lbs. She doesn't have much in the way of womanly curves either...I mean...they are there so that she doesn't look like a guy...but they are barely there. She's mostly kind of just skin and bones, with just a hint of muscle tone to her Aside from just the barest hints at muscles though, she looks like a breeze could blow her over. Her knees are on the knobby side, and her fingers are slender and kind of bony looking.
Clothing/Armor: As is the fashion among the Water Tribes, Haukea's clothing consists of layers. Covering her upper body is a brocade (a heavy cloth fabric) long gown, with a high mandarin collar and frog style buttons at the neck and over her right shoulder. The gown hangs loose on her form, thanks in part to her slender frame, with a hem that reaches down to her ankles. The material is a rich shade of cerulean blue, with raised wave patterns embroidered in silver. The sleeves are wide, and end with a white cuff around wrists. Across her waist is a perwinkle sash, tied so that the knot is situated at her right hip. It's apparent that the garb is not of water tribe make, despite the coloring and wave pattern to it. In actuality, it was something her father acquired during a trade run to the Earth Kingdom...a gift for her 16th birthday.
Her lower body is clad in cerulean blue brocade trousers, a match to the gown that her father gave her. Two frog style buttons are situated at her waist, and the legs of the pants are tucked into a pair of calf length boots. The boots are made from seal skin dyed to a dark shade of sapphire. The inside of the boots are lined in a soft white fur for warmth.
Overall of this is a sapphire shade parka made from tanned caribou skin. The parka is lined with white fur for added warmth, with a great deal of that fur exposed around the hood. The hood itself, rather than being rounded at the top, is pointed, giving it a cone sort of shape. A rounded tuft of white fur is attached to the point. The hem of the parka falls at her hips at the sides, but as you move toward the front center and the back center, it dips down into a triangle shape. The dips in the hem extend down to her shins. At the ends of these points are small rounded tufts of white fur. Three stripes run down the center of the chest of the parka, running the full length of the coat. The center stripe is cornflower blue, while the stripes to either side of it are perwinkle. The stripes are roughly an inch and a half each. Toggles fashioned from bone run down the center stripe. Worn with her parka are cerulean blue shawl and mittens.
Weapons: None
Personality: Haukea is...well, she's a very good natured individual. She's very bubbly, and practically radiates optimism. Her positive attitude is practically infectious, generally rubbing off on those around her...unless they have a thing against bubbly/happy people...in which case they'd probably be annoyed. She is happiest when her family and those she considers to be friends are getting along. While she may not be the one leading the way, Haukea often is the glue that holds a group together. She brings to light the positive in everybody, reminding them of the reasons why they got together in the first place. There is a downside to this bubbliness: she is percieved as a ditz and an airhead. And...that assumption is very much correct. She is definitely not the brightest bulb in the box. Sarcasm is totally lost on her, often sailing right over her head. She knows that people fight, but she doesn't understand how someone can be deliberatly cruel to another individual. She hates it, with a passion...and often faces such people with a pout and a 'you shouldn't do that' sort of comment.
In a group setting, you'll see Haukea kind of standing back in the crowd, sort of longingly looking at everybody. It's not that she's a wallflower or that she's shy or antisocial. Haukea has a hard time relating to her peers since she has become an apprentice to Taartoq. Many believe that the only reason why the only daughter of the Harta family even HAS that position is because of the merchant family's wealth. The more prudish members of the water tribe think that she shouldn't be there to begin with...and this attitude has affected most of the girls her age. She tries not to let it hurt her too much, and thankfully her duties to the archives occupy most of her day, leaving her with little time to think on it. When negative comments or sentiments regarding her employment are lobbed her way, her first reaction is to simply duck her head and try not to cry. Depending on the severity, she might end up in tears right there on the spot.
If somebody does choose to talk to Haukea, they'll find she's very talkative. She tends to giggle a lot, and she will treat that person as if she's known them for years...even if she's only known them for five minutes. If she's nervous about something, she has a tendancy to babble...and that nervousness really comes out when she's talking to the opposite sex. 'Babble mode' turns on full force when talking with a boy her age or older...even more so if she finds him to be attractive.
When it comes to family, Haukea is really only close to the triplets, Pika and her mother. Her other older brothers were already out at sea when she was born or when she was very young, so there wasn't much time for her to bond with them. There really isn't much of a relationship between Haukea and her father either, for the same reason. He was always gone. While many young people her age would find this a source of angst, anger, etc, Haukea handles the absence well. When the Harta fleet is in port, she gets to spend time with the whole of her family...and when they leave, things simply go back to normal as far as she's concerned. Of all of her immediate family, she is closest to Pika. They were so close in age, and often the victims of their older siblings' pranks, and thus formed a close bond. In Haukea's book, Pika can do no wrong...and she'd believe anything he told her. Though Haukea is the only daughter in the Harta family, it is surprising that she and her mother don't share a great bond. Then again, with 9 children, the love and attention as pretty much spread all around, with no single child garnering more than the other.
When Haukea is at the archives, she generally is flitting from one task to another, rarely completing any of them before moving on to something else. Her attention span is short enough that the longest she is able to stick with something before getting distracted is an hour...two if she can force herself ot focus (which is rare, I assure you). If she is doing something she enjoys, such as curling up with one of her precious books from the Earth Kingdom or a romantic Water Tribe tome, she can stay focused on it longer. Often she is scolded by Taartoq and other archivest for not completing her tasks before moving on.
As of late, Haukea has been assisting healers in tending to the seriously wounded from the second seige on the North Pole, those that require multiple healing sessions for their wounds. While she's not a very good healer, she's got a good bedside manner. Her positive attitude tends to infect the person she's attending to, so for a short while, whatever weight they might be bearing is lifted temporarily. Either that...or they're just irritated and ready for Haukea to finish up.
Background: Haukea is the youngest child of the Harta family, the only daughter among 8 sons. Kaimana, Haukea's father, along with her two oldest brothers, Kai and Ikaika, was rarely home. The Harta family serves as the major merchant family for the Northern Water Tribe, and as such her father and older brothers spent most of their time on the sea or in the Earth Kingdom. This left her mother, Noelani, alone with 8 children to tend to. Luckily, Haukea was a pretty relaxed child. She rarely cried just for the sake of crying, and as she grew from infant to toddler. As she got older...well...her brothers helped her get into her fair share of trouble.
Iakopa, the third eldest son, was often too busy helping his mother with the day to day running of the household, as was Kaleo, the fourth eldest (though he often helped in a much more reluctant fashion). The triplets, Keoni, Kimo and Kakani (the fifth, sixth, and seventh oldest), however, were the ringleaders. Often they had their youngest brother, Pika, and Haukea tag along. The three of them, with their poor younger siblings in tow, managed to pull of all kinds of pranks over the years, most notoriously being when they managed to cause a caribou stampede in the middle of one of the major marketplaces in Shai City. More often than not, poor Pika and Haukea would be the ones who got caught, as the triplets were experts at escaping trouble.
When Haukea reached the age of 4, Noelani began teaching her only daughter how to read and write, and to go about simple domestic duties. As Haukea grew older, her mother began to show her how to cook and to sew. It was discovered early on that Haukea had absolutely no skill in the culinary arts, and she was horrible with sewing. Anything she tried cooking usually came out tasting just as horrible as it smelled, and as far as sewing was concerned? Her needle found her thumb more often than she made a perfect stitch. She had excellent penmanship though, and quickly caught on to reading. The boys took part in these lessons as well, with next to no enthusiasm. Pika, being that he was the only waterbender among the Harta family, was subjected to not just his mother's lessons, but to the tough as nails Master Pakku as well.
Compared to the grand time she had been having with her brothers, schooling was boring...horribly horribly boring. To Haukea, it was a chore...nothing else. This changed, however, when her father and older brothers returned home one day. Kaimana had brought presents home for the younger children: books that he'd traded for in the Earth Kingdom. Her brothers were less than impressed. Haukea, however, loved the stories. If she wasn't practicing calligraphy, helping her mother, or getting into trouble with her brothers, she was curled up in some corner, reading a book.
When Haukea hit the age of 8, it was discovered that she was a waterbender. Haukea, Pika and the triplets had been given an afternoon off from studies, while Noelani went to check in on a neighbor who had just recently had a baby. The triplets managed to convince Pika and Haukea to play a game of dodge ball...with Pika forming hard chunks of ice to serve as the ball. Haukea wasn't pleased (I mean come on...getting hit with something like that hurts!), and began to whine and cry about it. Like usual, the triplets managed to talk their baby sister into playing anyway. The girl was standing there, shaking in her boots, when the ice ball was sent her way. She cringed, let out a little squeal...and the ice cracked just before it hit her, splitting away so that it impacted the wall of the house behind her. Curiousity piqued, Pika took Haukea inside and drew some water before him and asked her to do what he did. With a shrug, Haukea complied. Mimicking her older brother's movements, she brought a very small glob of water up before her. It floated shakily before her...and when she let out a peal of laughter, it promptly splashed down to the floor. Pika quickly ran off to get his mother, to let her know what had happened. The very next day, Haukea was sent to start healer training under Yugoda. At first, she was very excited about it all...but as with her home schooling, she grew bored and began to dread her sessions in the healer's hut.
Eventually, Iakopa and Kaleo went on to join their father and the rest of the Harta family, sailing off to the Earth Kingdom. When the triplets hit 16, they joined Kaimana and the rest of the Harta's on the merchant ships, leaving Haukea and Pika to step up to help their mother out more fully. Most of the domestic duties fell to Haukea...with the exception to cooking and mending, as she still was horribly lacking in those areas. Pika helped with the more heavy duty work when he wasn't taking lessons from Master Pakku.
When Haukea was 14, a position as apprentice to the master archivist became available. A call went out to the youth of the tribe, looking for those with excellent penmanship, a very necessary skill at the archives. Though the Harta traders didn't hold a position of power among the tribe, their considerable wealth was enough to persuade those in charge that Haukea should be considered as a candidate. In the end, the girl was chosen, which caused a bit of a stink among the more obstinate who felt a woman should not hold the position. Despite this opposition, she's been working for Taartoq ever since. Though her short attention span and ditzy nature tends to be frowned upon by her master, Haukea manages to perform well enough to keep herself from getting dismissed. Added to this, Haukea has a knack at deciphering old, relatively illegible writing from the older documents housed at the archives. This ability to read the faded writing means she spends a lot of her time making legible copies that can be circulated in place for these old scrolls and books (and thus preserving them from succumbing to further harm). Haukea was happy working at the archives. Despite becoming relatively bored, there is usually something to do, something to keep her going. She knows that many of the tribe feel she shouldn't be there...and knowing that there are plenty who feel she should be removed from her position does weigh on her. She tries her best just to keep moving, keep her head low (ie not draw too much attention to herself), and do as she's told. She began spending her morning hours at the healer huts, but her afternoons and evenings were spent at the archives.
Haukea had been an apprentice for only a year when the Fire Nation, under the leader ship of Admiral Zhao, invaded the North. She was a healer (though mediocre at best) and was assigned to one of the healing huts. Her job was to assist the more experienced healers in treating the injured and to make sure the wounded were taken care of (given food, water, etc). To Haukea, this was by far the most frightening experience of her life. More than once, the girl burst into tears and locked up, freezing where she stood. Luckily for the injured, a couple of the older healers, who had little patience for Haukea's hysterics, reigned the girl into control, harshly scolding her to remember her duties as a healer and to her tribe.
Haukea turned 16 on the winter solstice and now can be considered ready for marriage. She's not unwelcome to the idea...but she's not exactly looking forward to it either. Whoever Haukea marries will find a wife with no cooking skills whatsoever and who couldn't mend clothing if her life depended on it. Then again...they would be marrying the only daughter of the wealthy Harta family, and would have the chance to share in that wealth. She's also finally been allowed to begin learning to 'inkbend'. It took awhile, as there was a great debate over whether this would be in violation of the Northern Water Tribes traditions or not. Finally, it was decided that since inkbending was definitivly noncombative bending, Haukea should be allowed to learn it. She is having a difficult time in her lessons, to the point that her master has forbade her to use inkbending to scribe until she gets a better grasp on the art.
Her father recently returned from the Earth Kingdom, bringing a gift of some new clothes for his daughter. The Harta merchant ships were forced to stay home during the most recent attack on Shai City, with the hope that they can leave once the city has been repaired. During this second seige on the north, Haukea found herself forced to once again assist the healers in their duties. Ikaika (now 29), Kai (26), Iakopa (25) and Kaleo (24) volunteered to help in the battle, serving to help as support to the various groups of warriors defending the city. Keoni, Kimo, and Kekani (all age 20) also did their part, by helping unload some of the civilian ships so that they could be outfitted for use in the fighting. Pika (18) was assigned, along with some of the other younger benders, to defend the shelters...those benders ended up spending a lot of their time ensuring that bombs from above didn't split the bunkers wide open.
With the Seige over (yes, I know it's still happening RP wise...but by the time this profile gets approved, hopefully it'll be over), Haukea has returned to her apprentice duties. Right now, she and the others at the archives are simply assessing the damage, but it will be up to her and some of the other archivists to restore documents that were damaged and resort what's been knocked into disarray. She know longer takes her healers courses, but she is part of a contingent of healers that are helping to treat the soldiers with wounds so severe they require more than one healing session.
Sample RP:
The apprentice let out a sigh of relief, her carolina blue eyes drifting first from the book she'd pulled from the archives...and then to the stack of parchments she had spent the last 4 hours on. Why...why was it necessary to make 20 copies of 100 Ways to Stew Sea Prunes? Haukea Harta, who had meager cooking skills at best, didn't know that there were even 100 ways you could stew sea prunes in the first place. Bony fingers reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, then spread to rub at her tired eyes. She needed a break...but her luck would be that Master Taartoq would show up with more scribe work for her.
"I can't take anymore scribing!" the girl whined, bring her forehead down hard on the desk before her, the sepia shaded braids spilling out around her.
Haukea Harta, lone daughter to the Harta trading family, let out an overdramatic moan, before sitting up quickly. If she wanted the break, she would need to hurry and drop this off with one of the journeymen, before her Master could find her. The petite girl rose to her feet, gathering the sheets of paper into her arms and setting the cookbook on top of them. It didn't take long to find Journeyman Manta, as he set about rolling up a waterbending scroll to be reshelved.
"Here are the copies Master Taartoq had me scribe, Manta."
Manta gave her a stony glance. He'd just recently been promoted to Journeyman, and had become a stickler for being referred to by his new title. The other apprentices had quickly caught on, but Haukea...while...
"What? Is there an ink smudge on my cheek?" Haukea asked, with a bit of a deflated look on her face. The apprentice set her sheets down on the desk beside the Journeyman and took the cookbook back into her arms.
Manta cleared his throat...hoping maybe the young woman would remember. After a few long and awkward moments passed, Haukea still didn't get it, as she stared at him with the same blank expression. In the end, the Journeyman gave up.
"I'll bundle these and deliver them to Master Taartoq. Go on and take a break..."
Haukea's face lit up brightly with a smile and ecstatically wrapped her arms around the taller boy's waist, as she cried out, "Oh, thank you thank you thank you Manta!!"
Manta's face turned red as a look of annoyance crossed his features, "Yeah, yeah, just...just go on, before the Master finds you and gives you more to work on."
A slight giggle escaped the girl's lips, before she darted off. Finally, something dawned on her. She stopped dead in her tracks, and dipped down into a quck bow.
"I'm sorry, I forgot you got promoted Man-...uh...Journeyman Manta."
...and then she was off again, pausing only a moment to reshelve the cook book, before darting off to the section of the archives that contained Water Tribe lore. A happy tune hummed from her lips as she ran her index finger over the spines. Finally she settled on a story she'd read many times over the past couple years...the tale of Tui and La. Another giggle escaped her lips as she sought out a quiet corner of the archives. She settled down in the floor, taking care to tuck the length of her brocade gown under her. A contented sigh escaped her lips as she opened the book...and soon, she was lost in the romantic tale of the ocean and moon spirits.
((Just on a side note, I got permission from Ryota for Haukea to be his apprentice...poor poor Taartoq...))
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Group: Water Tribe Citizens
Nation: Northern Water Tribe
Bender?: Yes
Physical Appearance: Haukea face is oval shaped, with a nose that's a little bit on the broad side. Whenever she smiles, she has dimples that stand out on either cheek. Her eyebrows are a bit on the thin side, but are nicely curved over her almond shaped carolina blue eyes. Haukea's hair is fine, with not much thickness to it at all. The sepia shaded locks fall to the small of her back, with bangs that sweep across her brows, almost coming down enough to get in her eyes. Generally, her tresses are styled into four braids, with simple bone beads to secure them at the end. Her skin is a warm shade of ochre.
Haukea is very petite, a source for teasing from all ends. She stands at a great whopping...5'1"...and weighs an impressive 104 lbs. She doesn't have much in the way of womanly curves either...I mean...they are there so that she doesn't look like a guy...but they are barely there. She's mostly kind of just skin and bones, with just a hint of muscle tone to her Aside from just the barest hints at muscles though, she looks like a breeze could blow her over. Her knees are on the knobby side, and her fingers are slender and kind of bony looking.
Clothing/Armor: As is the fashion among the Water Tribes, Haukea's clothing consists of layers. Covering her upper body is a brocade (a heavy cloth fabric) long gown, with a high mandarin collar and frog style buttons at the neck and over her right shoulder. The gown hangs loose on her form, thanks in part to her slender frame, with a hem that reaches down to her ankles. The material is a rich shade of cerulean blue, with raised wave patterns embroidered in silver. The sleeves are wide, and end with a white cuff around wrists. Across her waist is a perwinkle sash, tied so that the knot is situated at her right hip. It's apparent that the garb is not of water tribe make, despite the coloring and wave pattern to it. In actuality, it was something her father acquired during a trade run to the Earth Kingdom...a gift for her 16th birthday.
Her lower body is clad in cerulean blue brocade trousers, a match to the gown that her father gave her. Two frog style buttons are situated at her waist, and the legs of the pants are tucked into a pair of calf length boots. The boots are made from seal skin dyed to a dark shade of sapphire. The inside of the boots are lined in a soft white fur for warmth.
Overall of this is a sapphire shade parka made from tanned caribou skin. The parka is lined with white fur for added warmth, with a great deal of that fur exposed around the hood. The hood itself, rather than being rounded at the top, is pointed, giving it a cone sort of shape. A rounded tuft of white fur is attached to the point. The hem of the parka falls at her hips at the sides, but as you move toward the front center and the back center, it dips down into a triangle shape. The dips in the hem extend down to her shins. At the ends of these points are small rounded tufts of white fur. Three stripes run down the center of the chest of the parka, running the full length of the coat. The center stripe is cornflower blue, while the stripes to either side of it are perwinkle. The stripes are roughly an inch and a half each. Toggles fashioned from bone run down the center stripe. Worn with her parka are cerulean blue shawl and mittens.
Weapons: None
Personality: Haukea is...well, she's a very good natured individual. She's very bubbly, and practically radiates optimism. Her positive attitude is practically infectious, generally rubbing off on those around her...unless they have a thing against bubbly/happy people...in which case they'd probably be annoyed. She is happiest when her family and those she considers to be friends are getting along. While she may not be the one leading the way, Haukea often is the glue that holds a group together. She brings to light the positive in everybody, reminding them of the reasons why they got together in the first place. There is a downside to this bubbliness: she is percieved as a ditz and an airhead. And...that assumption is very much correct. She is definitely not the brightest bulb in the box. Sarcasm is totally lost on her, often sailing right over her head. She knows that people fight, but she doesn't understand how someone can be deliberatly cruel to another individual. She hates it, with a passion...and often faces such people with a pout and a 'you shouldn't do that' sort of comment.
In a group setting, you'll see Haukea kind of standing back in the crowd, sort of longingly looking at everybody. It's not that she's a wallflower or that she's shy or antisocial. Haukea has a hard time relating to her peers since she has become an apprentice to Taartoq. Many believe that the only reason why the only daughter of the Harta family even HAS that position is because of the merchant family's wealth. The more prudish members of the water tribe think that she shouldn't be there to begin with...and this attitude has affected most of the girls her age. She tries not to let it hurt her too much, and thankfully her duties to the archives occupy most of her day, leaving her with little time to think on it. When negative comments or sentiments regarding her employment are lobbed her way, her first reaction is to simply duck her head and try not to cry. Depending on the severity, she might end up in tears right there on the spot.
If somebody does choose to talk to Haukea, they'll find she's very talkative. She tends to giggle a lot, and she will treat that person as if she's known them for years...even if she's only known them for five minutes. If she's nervous about something, she has a tendancy to babble...and that nervousness really comes out when she's talking to the opposite sex. 'Babble mode' turns on full force when talking with a boy her age or older...even more so if she finds him to be attractive.
When it comes to family, Haukea is really only close to the triplets, Pika and her mother. Her other older brothers were already out at sea when she was born or when she was very young, so there wasn't much time for her to bond with them. There really isn't much of a relationship between Haukea and her father either, for the same reason. He was always gone. While many young people her age would find this a source of angst, anger, etc, Haukea handles the absence well. When the Harta fleet is in port, she gets to spend time with the whole of her family...and when they leave, things simply go back to normal as far as she's concerned. Of all of her immediate family, she is closest to Pika. They were so close in age, and often the victims of their older siblings' pranks, and thus formed a close bond. In Haukea's book, Pika can do no wrong...and she'd believe anything he told her. Though Haukea is the only daughter in the Harta family, it is surprising that she and her mother don't share a great bond. Then again, with 9 children, the love and attention as pretty much spread all around, with no single child garnering more than the other.
When Haukea is at the archives, she generally is flitting from one task to another, rarely completing any of them before moving on to something else. Her attention span is short enough that the longest she is able to stick with something before getting distracted is an hour...two if she can force herself ot focus (which is rare, I assure you). If she is doing something she enjoys, such as curling up with one of her precious books from the Earth Kingdom or a romantic Water Tribe tome, she can stay focused on it longer. Often she is scolded by Taartoq and other archivest for not completing her tasks before moving on.
As of late, Haukea has been assisting healers in tending to the seriously wounded from the second seige on the North Pole, those that require multiple healing sessions for their wounds. While she's not a very good healer, she's got a good bedside manner. Her positive attitude tends to infect the person she's attending to, so for a short while, whatever weight they might be bearing is lifted temporarily. Either that...or they're just irritated and ready for Haukea to finish up.
Background: Haukea is the youngest child of the Harta family, the only daughter among 8 sons. Kaimana, Haukea's father, along with her two oldest brothers, Kai and Ikaika, was rarely home. The Harta family serves as the major merchant family for the Northern Water Tribe, and as such her father and older brothers spent most of their time on the sea or in the Earth Kingdom. This left her mother, Noelani, alone with 8 children to tend to. Luckily, Haukea was a pretty relaxed child. She rarely cried just for the sake of crying, and as she grew from infant to toddler. As she got older...well...her brothers helped her get into her fair share of trouble.
Iakopa, the third eldest son, was often too busy helping his mother with the day to day running of the household, as was Kaleo, the fourth eldest (though he often helped in a much more reluctant fashion). The triplets, Keoni, Kimo and Kakani (the fifth, sixth, and seventh oldest), however, were the ringleaders. Often they had their youngest brother, Pika, and Haukea tag along. The three of them, with their poor younger siblings in tow, managed to pull of all kinds of pranks over the years, most notoriously being when they managed to cause a caribou stampede in the middle of one of the major marketplaces in Shai City. More often than not, poor Pika and Haukea would be the ones who got caught, as the triplets were experts at escaping trouble.
When Haukea reached the age of 4, Noelani began teaching her only daughter how to read and write, and to go about simple domestic duties. As Haukea grew older, her mother began to show her how to cook and to sew. It was discovered early on that Haukea had absolutely no skill in the culinary arts, and she was horrible with sewing. Anything she tried cooking usually came out tasting just as horrible as it smelled, and as far as sewing was concerned? Her needle found her thumb more often than she made a perfect stitch. She had excellent penmanship though, and quickly caught on to reading. The boys took part in these lessons as well, with next to no enthusiasm. Pika, being that he was the only waterbender among the Harta family, was subjected to not just his mother's lessons, but to the tough as nails Master Pakku as well.
Compared to the grand time she had been having with her brothers, schooling was boring...horribly horribly boring. To Haukea, it was a chore...nothing else. This changed, however, when her father and older brothers returned home one day. Kaimana had brought presents home for the younger children: books that he'd traded for in the Earth Kingdom. Her brothers were less than impressed. Haukea, however, loved the stories. If she wasn't practicing calligraphy, helping her mother, or getting into trouble with her brothers, she was curled up in some corner, reading a book.
When Haukea hit the age of 8, it was discovered that she was a waterbender. Haukea, Pika and the triplets had been given an afternoon off from studies, while Noelani went to check in on a neighbor who had just recently had a baby. The triplets managed to convince Pika and Haukea to play a game of dodge ball...with Pika forming hard chunks of ice to serve as the ball. Haukea wasn't pleased (I mean come on...getting hit with something like that hurts!), and began to whine and cry about it. Like usual, the triplets managed to talk their baby sister into playing anyway. The girl was standing there, shaking in her boots, when the ice ball was sent her way. She cringed, let out a little squeal...and the ice cracked just before it hit her, splitting away so that it impacted the wall of the house behind her. Curiousity piqued, Pika took Haukea inside and drew some water before him and asked her to do what he did. With a shrug, Haukea complied. Mimicking her older brother's movements, she brought a very small glob of water up before her. It floated shakily before her...and when she let out a peal of laughter, it promptly splashed down to the floor. Pika quickly ran off to get his mother, to let her know what had happened. The very next day, Haukea was sent to start healer training under Yugoda. At first, she was very excited about it all...but as with her home schooling, she grew bored and began to dread her sessions in the healer's hut.
Eventually, Iakopa and Kaleo went on to join their father and the rest of the Harta family, sailing off to the Earth Kingdom. When the triplets hit 16, they joined Kaimana and the rest of the Harta's on the merchant ships, leaving Haukea and Pika to step up to help their mother out more fully. Most of the domestic duties fell to Haukea...with the exception to cooking and mending, as she still was horribly lacking in those areas. Pika helped with the more heavy duty work when he wasn't taking lessons from Master Pakku.
When Haukea was 14, a position as apprentice to the master archivist became available. A call went out to the youth of the tribe, looking for those with excellent penmanship, a very necessary skill at the archives. Though the Harta traders didn't hold a position of power among the tribe, their considerable wealth was enough to persuade those in charge that Haukea should be considered as a candidate. In the end, the girl was chosen, which caused a bit of a stink among the more obstinate who felt a woman should not hold the position. Despite this opposition, she's been working for Taartoq ever since. Though her short attention span and ditzy nature tends to be frowned upon by her master, Haukea manages to perform well enough to keep herself from getting dismissed. Added to this, Haukea has a knack at deciphering old, relatively illegible writing from the older documents housed at the archives. This ability to read the faded writing means she spends a lot of her time making legible copies that can be circulated in place for these old scrolls and books (and thus preserving them from succumbing to further harm). Haukea was happy working at the archives. Despite becoming relatively bored, there is usually something to do, something to keep her going. She knows that many of the tribe feel she shouldn't be there...and knowing that there are plenty who feel she should be removed from her position does weigh on her. She tries her best just to keep moving, keep her head low (ie not draw too much attention to herself), and do as she's told. She began spending her morning hours at the healer huts, but her afternoons and evenings were spent at the archives.
Haukea had been an apprentice for only a year when the Fire Nation, under the leader ship of Admiral Zhao, invaded the North. She was a healer (though mediocre at best) and was assigned to one of the healing huts. Her job was to assist the more experienced healers in treating the injured and to make sure the wounded were taken care of (given food, water, etc). To Haukea, this was by far the most frightening experience of her life. More than once, the girl burst into tears and locked up, freezing where she stood. Luckily for the injured, a couple of the older healers, who had little patience for Haukea's hysterics, reigned the girl into control, harshly scolding her to remember her duties as a healer and to her tribe.
Haukea turned 16 on the winter solstice and now can be considered ready for marriage. She's not unwelcome to the idea...but she's not exactly looking forward to it either. Whoever Haukea marries will find a wife with no cooking skills whatsoever and who couldn't mend clothing if her life depended on it. Then again...they would be marrying the only daughter of the wealthy Harta family, and would have the chance to share in that wealth. She's also finally been allowed to begin learning to 'inkbend'. It took awhile, as there was a great debate over whether this would be in violation of the Northern Water Tribes traditions or not. Finally, it was decided that since inkbending was definitivly noncombative bending, Haukea should be allowed to learn it. She is having a difficult time in her lessons, to the point that her master has forbade her to use inkbending to scribe until she gets a better grasp on the art.
Her father recently returned from the Earth Kingdom, bringing a gift of some new clothes for his daughter. The Harta merchant ships were forced to stay home during the most recent attack on Shai City, with the hope that they can leave once the city has been repaired. During this second seige on the north, Haukea found herself forced to once again assist the healers in their duties. Ikaika (now 29), Kai (26), Iakopa (25) and Kaleo (24) volunteered to help in the battle, serving to help as support to the various groups of warriors defending the city. Keoni, Kimo, and Kekani (all age 20) also did their part, by helping unload some of the civilian ships so that they could be outfitted for use in the fighting. Pika (18) was assigned, along with some of the other younger benders, to defend the shelters...those benders ended up spending a lot of their time ensuring that bombs from above didn't split the bunkers wide open.
With the Seige over (yes, I know it's still happening RP wise...but by the time this profile gets approved, hopefully it'll be over), Haukea has returned to her apprentice duties. Right now, she and the others at the archives are simply assessing the damage, but it will be up to her and some of the other archivists to restore documents that were damaged and resort what's been knocked into disarray. She know longer takes her healers courses, but she is part of a contingent of healers that are helping to treat the soldiers with wounds so severe they require more than one healing session.
Sample RP:
The apprentice let out a sigh of relief, her carolina blue eyes drifting first from the book she'd pulled from the archives...and then to the stack of parchments she had spent the last 4 hours on. Why...why was it necessary to make 20 copies of 100 Ways to Stew Sea Prunes? Haukea Harta, who had meager cooking skills at best, didn't know that there were even 100 ways you could stew sea prunes in the first place. Bony fingers reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, then spread to rub at her tired eyes. She needed a break...but her luck would be that Master Taartoq would show up with more scribe work for her.
"I can't take anymore scribing!" the girl whined, bring her forehead down hard on the desk before her, the sepia shaded braids spilling out around her.
Haukea Harta, lone daughter to the Harta trading family, let out an overdramatic moan, before sitting up quickly. If she wanted the break, she would need to hurry and drop this off with one of the journeymen, before her Master could find her. The petite girl rose to her feet, gathering the sheets of paper into her arms and setting the cookbook on top of them. It didn't take long to find Journeyman Manta, as he set about rolling up a waterbending scroll to be reshelved.
"Here are the copies Master Taartoq had me scribe, Manta."
Manta gave her a stony glance. He'd just recently been promoted to Journeyman, and had become a stickler for being referred to by his new title. The other apprentices had quickly caught on, but Haukea...while...
"What? Is there an ink smudge on my cheek?" Haukea asked, with a bit of a deflated look on her face. The apprentice set her sheets down on the desk beside the Journeyman and took the cookbook back into her arms.
Manta cleared his throat...hoping maybe the young woman would remember. After a few long and awkward moments passed, Haukea still didn't get it, as she stared at him with the same blank expression. In the end, the Journeyman gave up.
"I'll bundle these and deliver them to Master Taartoq. Go on and take a break..."
Haukea's face lit up brightly with a smile and ecstatically wrapped her arms around the taller boy's waist, as she cried out, "Oh, thank you thank you thank you Manta!!"
Manta's face turned red as a look of annoyance crossed his features, "Yeah, yeah, just...just go on, before the Master finds you and gives you more to work on."
A slight giggle escaped the girl's lips, before she darted off. Finally, something dawned on her. She stopped dead in her tracks, and dipped down into a quck bow.
"I'm sorry, I forgot you got promoted Man-...uh...Journeyman Manta."
...and then she was off again, pausing only a moment to reshelve the cook book, before darting off to the section of the archives that contained Water Tribe lore. A happy tune hummed from her lips as she ran her index finger over the spines. Finally she settled on a story she'd read many times over the past couple years...the tale of Tui and La. Another giggle escaped her lips as she sought out a quiet corner of the archives. She settled down in the floor, taking care to tuck the length of her brocade gown under her. A contented sigh escaped her lips as she opened the book...and soon, she was lost in the romantic tale of the ocean and moon spirits.
((Just on a side note, I got permission from Ryota for Haukea to be his apprentice...poor poor Taartoq...))