Aaaand I'm also rehoming Aurora soon, so here's the (original, old as hell) draft of her backstory.
Much like that of the clan's founders, Aurora's story is not a happy one. Her parents, both Pearlcatchers, nested in the Shifting Expanse, where the pair had spent much of their lives. All was not well in the family, however, as Aurora was just beginning to flap her wings when her parents split. Velika accompanied the rest of her clan to the Sunbeam Ruins, where the group languished and faded into obscurity; Aurora's father, Tempest, moved to the opposing domain, and took up residence in Clan Nightshade.
For a brief period, there was peace in the young Pearlcatcher's life. She and her father were treated well as guests, and she even began courting a handsome young Guardian in the clan. She and Praedor nested, and raised a handsome clutch of three.
Aurora, now a young adult, scarcely had the time to see her children off to new homes before her father was on the move again. With some sorrow and some eagerness, the two left the darkness of the Shadowbinder's domain for the Sea of a Thousand Currents.
Though the Tidelord's ocean was peaceful, it served mostly as a backdrop for the growing tension between Aurora and her father. The Arcane-born Tempest, fascinated by the Water Flight's scrying magecraft, quickly immersed himself in it, and began drifting further and further away from his daughter. When she finally confronted him about it, the resulting blow-up sealed her decision: she couldn't stay any longer.
She fled the clan, taking some supplies from their stores when she went. With no useful magic and no place to call home, she quickly resorted to stealing from nearby Water clans in order to get by, and swiftly gained a reputation as an infamous, if petty, criminal.
When word of this got back to Clan Nightshade, only Praedor thought much of it. Concerned by the apparent drastic shift in Aurora's character, he implored clan ambassador Aeolus to help him track her down. A bit reluctantly, the Skydancer agreed, and joined forces with a reclusive Earth clan, who managed to apprehend her.
The terrified Pearlcatcher was less than relieved to find herself in custody, no matter how familiar her captors were. (She would later confess that it had been so long since she'd stayed with them, she scarcely remembered that she had never wronged them.) Thankfully, matriarch Nightshade and clan recordkeeper Cetus both remembered her, and were more than happy to welcome her back.
The Spiral in particular had an interest in Aurora's abilities, and hoped that the pickpocket Pearlcatcher could assist the clan's Nocturne spy in keeping covert tabs on the goings-on in their area. Aurora, equal parts grateful for the refuge and glad her ill-gotten abilities could be of use, agreed.
Since then, Aurora has slowly been readjusting to clan life. Rather than claim a den of her own, she's been staying with counselor Heza, who hopes to help her be more at ease with her new life, and her mate, Nigate. Aurora has also begun nesting again with Praedor, but their relationship is not as close as it once was, and neither refers to the other as their mate.
Occasionally, travelers staying with the clan seem concerned that the presence of such an outlaw nearby may put them all at risk of attack by vigilantes or bounty hunters. Nightshade seems strangely unwilling to speak on the topic.
