Kiira Kerym's page

About Kiira Kerym

Kiira Kerym

Meditation. Self-Reflection. Hours of both of these had still not revealed to Kiira why she came to the desert lands. She came from a family of merchants, traveling by boat or caravan to wherever the coin was. As she understood, she was from Varisia, though they had never returned there in her lifetime, though it was constantly discussed. Many years ago the traveling came to an end after an even-tongued, but brutal trade disagreement with her parents. She felt there was more to existence than that of haggling over the price of baubles or trinkets.

After parting ways the Elf traveled from her families trade route in south Osirion, on foot, through the land. A pilgrimage of sorts, with no destination. Days of travel were filled of memories, studies of magic, the sword. It had been many years since there had been anything meaningful in life, just disputes over when to stop traveling, or the best route through land or sea to some distant place that they may or may not even have any business being.

Some would call it random, stopping in Katapesh, questioning a passerby about where to find some guidance from the gods... (at this point it didn't matter which) Irori seemed to be watching, perhaps he had always been watching, as the doors were open to her before she had even requested entry. Kiira wandered , aware of ever watchful, but polite gazes as she cautiously entered.

Quietly, an older monk came to walk next to her. They spoke quietly about Kiira's questions. The short conversation left no question in the traveler's mind that this was where she was to be. She thanked the monk as they came back to the entrance to the temple, and departed.

In the passing years she would often visit the temple, usually for nothing more than a brief walk around the courtyard a few times while she asked questions about the order. Outside of this she found herself using her meager savings to help others, usually children or young adults. She would offer food, shelter or the occasional loan to those down on their luck. The speed of which some of them grew did not pass her notice, of course as time went by, few of those small children were adults also helping the community. There was no profit, no gain per se, just a sense of doing exactly as she should be doing. This even included time in the Nightstalls, collecting information, attempting to talk fool slave traders out of their goods with complicated explanations about the market and how morals would corrupt it. It worked from time to time, however most of the time words were replaced with coin, pesh, or information. Just as there were many shifting merchants in the nightstalls, she became a part of it, selling what useless goods she could to attempt to preserve what, to her, was priceless.

Kiira didn't detest the slave trade, but at times it would trouble her deeply. She understood the idiocy of poor judgment and foul motivations, and accepted this as life in Katapesh, she would meditate on it regularly. At times people would bring her their young, and more than once, she had found herself attempting to explain why she kept trying to talk down the price on food while attempting to buy more and more with less and less to trade.

A few of her wards came to her aid, growing sometimes to become traders, or craftsmen, or... well sometimes she didn't care to ask so many questions about what her children were doing, only that they were alive and well. Some were headaches, but she would not turn any person away if she had some meager means of helping them. Sometimes she would give lessons in local history, or even about the teachings of the gods, or how to negotiate the price of produce with a vendor.

The more she helped these people the more she felt less and less relied upon. Before she knew it others were cleaning their flat, cooking the meals, even teaching the lessons. She became more of an adviser as families came and went, moving to their own homes, sometimes also taking others in. With an increase in free time, studies became more important. In the decades since arriving, there had been many conversations with many followers of Irori, always with questions and sometimes answers.

After many years of helping others, and asking many questions of Irori, Kiira left her home behind to dedicate herself to self-perfection, to use the years to better herself mentally and physically. She became a monk of Irori, serving in the temple, sometimes engaged in long conversations themed with deep questions of the mind, body, and spirit. She would always remember the people who she helped over the years, the bottles she had prepared, and the departure of those ready to write their own story, and would serve them now by becoming closer to enlightenment, closer to attaining the wisdom she had sought for so many years.

But that wisdom was to be tested. One of the merchants had mentioned that one of the more "Troublesome" youths to come from Kerym's Home had nearly knocked someone's teeth out awhile back, babbling about Kelmarane and a damned camel. It struck a nerve for some reason, she hadn't seen many of her children over the years, surprisingly Haleen had even departed with nothing but a poorly worded note, but this one sounded kind of like Hasam.

Some would say it was random that Hasam and Haleen both came to mind that day, some would say that it shouldn't be surprising that Hasam was chasing after Haleen, wherever it may be. But Kiira didn't believe in random events, she knew there was more to be seen. When she was approached with questions about traveling to Kelmarane, there was no chance the Monk going to stay idle when there were so many questions to be answered.