Jakira was the child of a nomadic Kelesh sorcerer in the Meraz desert. From a young age, it was clear that the girl had inherited her mother’s gifts. Magic made the tribe stronger, and Jakira’s mother wanted to keep her daughter’s power a secret from the other tribes that they traded with. Then none would have reason to entice her to leave, so Jakira stayed hidden in the tents when they met other tribes or stopped to trade in the cities along the coast.
The girl’s natural curiosity would have been the end of this plan one way or another. She always thought these other things were being hidden from her, rather than she from them. As soon as she was able, she slipped out of the tent while the rest of the tribe was trading in the spice market. She climbed a hill and saw something that seemed a miracle to her. A vast plain of blue and green spread out below her, moving endlessly and smelling of salt. The idea of the ocean was too foreign for her to imagine, but she climbed down the hill to investigate it.
The pirates didn’t know she was the daughter of the renowned Samara al’Shiraz. They just saw a pretty Keleshite child wandering alone by the beach near one of Golarion’s biggest slave markets. She stared at the ocean, so amazed and mystified that she didn’t notice them at all, until the bag was pulled over her and she was thrown, kicking helplessly, into the ship’s launch.
When the ship was out of sight of land, she was able to persuade the captain to allow her freedom of the deck, so she could see the ocean as they sailed. By the time they reached the slave markets in Corentyn, the crew was so friendly they were near to adopting her as a cabin-girl. The captain insisted, however, and gold was gold. The girl passed into the hands of a broker, and then to a trader heading overland, for Kerse. This man had little interest in the girl, except as a commodity, and she spent most of that journey in a cage. From Kerse she was traded to Caliphas, and here she was sold for the last time.
The woman who bought her kept one of the most notorious houses in the city, and intended to put the girl to work as soon as a client could be found who would pay the exorbitant price of taking the first bite of the exotic fruit. Jakira proved too slippery, though, and escaped before such a client could be found.
Ustalav was quite alien to her, its people strange and the accents nearly incomprehensible. She did recognize one aspect of life there, though, when she saw an old man being threatened by a gang of ruffians. With a little magic and the threat of more, she was able to make them flee, and the old man, a Professor Lorrimor was grateful. When he learned of her circumstance, he introduced her to a noblewoman who was pleased to count the foreign sorceress among her retinue.
Jakira has matured in the course of her year's service to Lady Elayne d'Baton. Her position in society is uncertain. As a woman with no family and a Keleshite, her rank is scarcely equal to a beggar. On the other hand, her Lady's patronage has brought her to the attention of many important persons, and her natural charm has earned her the admiration of some.
A year has passed since she met Professor Lorrimor, and Jakira has been busy. She has become a favorite of the Lady, and lives in comfort and ease, but at times, she longs for the desert, for excitement, for danger. Now it seems that the old scholar is dead, and she has come to bury him.
