Eldest of the five daughters of a skilled Varisian Harrower Calandra spent her first five years of life travelling with her family until the day their caravan was attacked by bandits. She doesn't remember much about that day, just the panic, the upset and having to run away quickly. She lost her father and her second youngest sister that day and it took the Varisian family a great deal of time to recover. They moved to the grand city of Korvosa to start afresh, her mother working as a fortune teller, entertainer and barmaid to keep the young family supported. As the oldest child it often fell down to Calandra to take care of her siblings whilst their sole parent worked.
Following in their mother's footsteps Calandra and the youngest of the Oriana girls, Kizzy, both took to fortune telling, often borrowing the family's Harrow deck to practice sure that one day they would both be renowned Harrowers.
Unfortunately life wasn't destined to be so kind to the Oriana girls and a few short weeks before Calandra's thirteenth birthday she was called to the scene of a crime by the Korvosan Guard, a Varisian woman had been beaten to death in what was suspected to be a mugging gone awry. A beautiful woman battered and broken, despite the cuts and bruises there was no doubting that the woman who had lost her life was Calandra's mother.
That day Calandra's dream of devoting herself fully to becoming a Harrower fell by the wayside as she took on the heavy burden of providing for her three remaining sisters. Working mostly on the streets she took to busking; dancing and singing for money and running with some of the seedier members of Korvosa. Despite her hatred of violent thugs and muggers she needed to support her family and in addition to being an entertainer she became the other kind of 'dancer', picking pockets or distracting marks whilst an ally cuts their purse.
She isn't entirely proud of her life but it keeps her and her family fed and clothed and that's the most important thing. Besides, her sacrifice has meant that the family Harrow deck has been passed onto Kizzy who continues to devote herself to the study of the cards and tells Calandra her fortune each morning before she leaves for 'work'
Calandra hadn't expected to ever find her mother's killer, that was until she spotted something in a store window one day. A gold charm bracelet with eight charms, a butterfly, a sun, a moon and five stars. It had been her mother's and for a while she had been sure that it had merely been misplaced it only took one look to know that this was her mother's bracelet. The five stars represented her children, the sun her husband, the moon herself and the butterfly Desna, she knew instantly she had to buy it back.
Unfortunately she couldn't afford it and she is still saving up to afford to reclaim the piece of family history. Until then she is acting on the information she managed to extract from the shop owner, the name of the man who had sold him the bracelet - Gaedren Lamm. If he isn't her mother's killer he surely knows where to find the culprit.
Surviving family:Sisters; Sadira (16), Taletha (15), Kizzy (13)
