story of Madorra... and a little on my siblings

My siblings and I have sought to find the history of our adopted mother since the time of her death some years ago. She never told us much about her past, except that she was born to poor parents somewhere in the Western Kingdoms. Occasionally, she might mention the most common dishes they ate and her favourite foods or the trading system, but not much else.

We have travelled the entire Western World searching for somebody who knew something about her, but to no avail. Maybe she is as nameless and faceless as she says she was. It's strange how a person, nobody knows exists, can leave their own country and become a famous figure recorded in history. If she hadn't come to the Eastern Kingdoms, she would have died nobody - and nobody would have cared.

What we do know about Madorra is that being born to poor farmers during a time of famine in the Western Kingdoms, they lost their farm to their creditor. Her mother died not long after during childbirth to her younger brother who did not survive. She was brought up by her father, until he disappeared one night, leaving her alone. The time spent with her father had taught her many skills and she travelled to wherever there was work. Then during the Boom Year (a year of excess in the Western Kingdoms, so much that they didn't know what to do with all the extra food and money), she met somebody, cut some sort of deal with them where they became relatively rich... before they 'disappeared' her. She was given some money and banished from the Western Kingdoms. Heading through the difficult mountain passes - which she says took almost 5 years to cross, she emerged in the Eastern Kingdoms.

We suspect that after her arrival in the Eastern Kingdoms, she continued to keep a relatively low profile to get a hold of the current situations and get over the culture shock of what was the beginning of Maguiren's tyrannical reign.

It was during a raid by the Breakers for all the eligible females in a certain town, that she was spotted and protected by Queen Esthoria. This is how they became firm friends. Officially, she became one of the queen's handmaidens. Unofficially, she was the queen's eyes and ears in the kingdoms, often going on long journeys to obtain a fabled bottle of 'pure' air-water or to have a new dress made out of rare materials. She accidentally bumped into Maguiren on one such excursion, while he was out recording the success of yet another one of his experiments. He noticed her intellect, so the story goes, and after attempting to apprehend her, she scolded him and told him off - and he was unable to do anything about it. Because of that one scolding and her ability to avoid capture by him, Maguiren came to highly respect Madorra. An invitation was often sent to her through the queen to have dinner together with them, where he would discuss his experiments and ideas with her. The history books say that she mostly argued against him and made him lose his temper, nevertheless became a firm favourite and friend of the royal court.

Mother never told us what the discussions were about. It wasn't worth talking about, she'd tell us.

When she and the queen discovered my siblings and I, they decided they had to do something about Maguiren, because it was through the logs and records in the underground laboratory that they discovered what kind of a man Maguiren truly was. Before, they had been unable to make up their minds about whether he was a good-but-misguided man or plain evil. After our dramatic rescue, of which every sibling, except for Dugan, played a part, Madorra took us into hiding. Queen Esthoria was locked up in her apartments for the next 5 years, during which Crown Prince Gavin Eugene Fallon Otissaphir was born.

We, the Rebellion, discovered the Unseen Realm and used it to communicate and plan. Later on, during the Battle of the Cliffs, it became one of our main battlefields as well. The Unseen Realm is another plane of reality in which those with the correct gifts, with enough strength, are able to operate and move in. Generally, it just looks like a dark void and people from far away can meet together in the realm, although not moving from where they physically are. It makes distance shrink somehow. Nobody really knows. We don't really understand the laws that govern the Unseen Realm and so never stay there any longer than is needed. There are stories of people who have tried staying there for extended periods of time and they... they were never found again.

Come to think of it. I've never introduced any of my siblings. Here we are in order of age:
- Marcie - the strongest and wisest of us. Everyone goes to her with their troubles.
- Dugan - dark, silent and mysterious, nobody is sure of his gifts, but he is the only one who can truly stop a Breaker.
- Clarissa - funny and bubbly, she and Tamilo are a bit like twins.
- Tamilo - a practical joker, partners with Clarissa to make everyone laugh.
- Gideon - serious fighter type, big muscles, etc, you get the idea.
- Verity - like her name, can tell whether you're telling the truth or whether someone has cast an illusion. She has this thing about wires and mazes.
- me - you know.
- Jamiel - can run and move as fast as the wind. He is also the most attuned to danger and can sense if any of us are in danger, so he's like our messenger and watchman.

Yes, we all have exceptional gifts, but not all the gifts have names, so I can't tell you and if I did, we'd be here forever... or a few weeks, minimum.

What gifts did Mother have? I'm sure you want to know. I wish I did know. Not even Queen Esthoria can tell us exactly what sorts of gifts Madorra had.