"Don't worry too much about it. Just follow your heart."
"The heart's just another organ."
Amaranth could be cynical all they liked, but their heart had led them here for guidance at the right moment to begin with. He had a feeling they had more intuition than they realized.
Amaranth appears to be rather quiet and timid at first, but can reveal a surprising amount of willpower when pushed, or when they’re curious and determined to get to the bottom of something. They can also be very guarded. They don’t trust Asra in the beginning, ever frustrated yet intrigued by his secrets. Over the course of their adventure with him, they learn to be more confident in their abilities and to be more open with their heart.
Long Backstory (mentions of abuse and mental illness)
They’re originally from Deslin, a country based on the US southern Appalachian region. Their parents separated early in their life, and they lived with their mother Maia. One day she met Augustus, a Vesuvian nobleman who was visiting the area. They got along well, kept in touch, and eventually she was engaged to him, which is what led her to move to Vesuvia, along with Amaranth, who was around 8 at the time.
For the sake of image, Augustus claimed the two of them were related to Deslini nobility. Maia happily agreed to this pretense.
Amaranth, however, didn’t enjoy having their mannerisms retrained, and they didn’t interact with their new peers that much, not wanting to be something they weren’t in order to fit in.
So instead, when they began learning how to read, they latched onto that. Being a quick learner and a bit behind their peers on education, they were put on a faster pace.
Maia also took advantage of the resources now in her reach to educate herself. Eventually, she became a doctor, something she’d always wanted to do.
This caused some strain in her marriage. As she became no longer so dependent on Augustus for security, he turned to other methods of feeling in control. He’d never been the type to accept criticism from anyone he saw as below him, but as his nature became more obvious, Amaranth became even more passive and withdrawn.
As depression and anxiety took hold, it became harder to maintain the academic pace that had once come easily, and upon which most of their self esteem rested. They also didn’t know what they actually wanted to study to do. Maia wasn’t very understanding about it, pride long invested in their child’s intellect, and defaulted to putting medical texts in front of them and having a free assistant.
One day, Amaranth was in the right place in the market at the right time to help stop a thief from getting away with stealing from a fortune teller. It was just a deck of cards, and yet, he seemed incredibly relieved to have them back and offered Amaranth a free reading in thanks. It felt more meaningful than anything they’d done in a long time.
They kept coming back to Asra for readings. One time they traded him a blue pendant (yes, that one). After a few times, he told them it was fine if they just wanted to come chill with him sometimes. They became friends. Amaranth was fascinated with magic, which he was happy to talk about.
Their drive for knowledge returned, but only for the things they chose to study. Asra and the cards gave Amaranth the much needed advice to listen to their heart and make their own path. These things eventually led to a confrontation between Amaranth and Maia that resulted in her banning them from talking to him.
It hurt, but fortunately, the masquerade wasn’t too far away. Amaranth, of course, recognized a genderqueer fox with a blue pendant, despite some touches of disguise magic for good measure.
On the last night, Asra asked them to run away with him. It was tempting, but also frightening. They set a time and place to meet, but Amaranth didn’t decide for sure if they were coming or not.
But in the end, they did. Briefly, they lived with Asra and a disgruntled Muriel in the forest, but pooling together what Asra had earned selling masks, and Amaranth’s most valuable jewelry, they were soon able to make a deal on the shop. By that time, they had agreed to be queerplatonic partners.
And they lived happily ever after… until the argument about the plague.
