Qienna Songsteel

Qienna is a human priestess, currently in service to the Order of the Silver Hand.

Description
Qienna looks younger than her age, under-developed in some areas. She has a small, light frame. In essence she's a girl. She's 5'2" and she has a small thin scar on her right cheek and fiery red, silky, wavy, long hair.  Her eyes can change colour alternating between blue and green.

Early History
Qienna Slade was born near Tyr’s Hand to Catrin and Naham Slade. Her parents were zealous Scarlet Crusaders and it is believed Catrin suffered from mental illness. The result was an extremely abusive and neglectful childhood. Qienna lived her life in fear of her next transgression as it would result in her being punished by her parents and then being sent to the Scarlet priests for confession and a violent penance.

When the Scarlet Crusaders left for Northrend, Catrin urged her husband to also go, leaving Qienna in the care of the clerics. Her parents had been making plans to marry Qienna to someone who could mould her into a ‘proper Scarlet priestess’ but they never returned from Northrend and were assumed dead. When the Scarlets in Tyr’s Hand started turning into scourge, Qienna stole money and used it to escape to Stormwind.

Life in Stormwind
Qienna arrived in Stormwind with nothing but the clothes on her back. She had no confidence in herself and was terrified of the Church and the Light. Her parents had never told her when she was born and she thought she was twenty. She didn’t believe herself to be skilled in any manner and lived on the streets, eating what food she could find and selling her services in Old Town on the worst nights. A year later, when she was noticed by Junjei Halfhill, she had become a cynical, bitter, untrusting, foul-mouthed young woman. He had noticed her yelling at someone in Cathedral Square, pouring forth a stream of profanities. It took some urging for him to convince her to follow him into the Cathedral with the promise of food with ‘no strings’.

Once Junjei had left Qienna in the Cathedral kitchen, Bishop Lilith Olethos came down and found her there. After a lengthy conversation, Qienna found herself in the very situation she was trying to avoid. She was confessing to the Bishop! She was too terrified to refuse to confess. The Bishop informed her that her guilt and suffering was penance enough and offered her a place in the Stormwind chapter of the Silver Hand. Qienna couldn’t turn down the offer of a bed and free food, not after she had just endured confession, so she said yes.

Her first few weeks in the Silver Hand was very turbulent for everyone involved. She managed to upset and anger nearly everyone she encountered and earned herself a slap from one of her new Sisters. She was terrified that Lilith would realise her mistake and kick Qienna out, but that moment never came.

The Razor Affair, and a New Home
When an ex-customer didn’t like Qienna’s refusal to take his money anymore, he began attacking and harassing her. She was left near-death twice at Lilith’s feet and Qienna was forced to spend her time hiding in the Cathedral. During this time, Lilith’s husband Sereuve started as her therapist, teaching her about trust, hope, patience and other important qualities and she slowly started to improve. When her foe was caught and imprisoned, Talarman and Shior Songsteel invited her to move into their home and she continued to flourish under their and the Olethos’ supervision.

Ordination
She was ordained as a priestess by the Council of Bishops on the 5th April 624 K.C. The following day, Lilith recommended her for the position of Order Lector of the Silver Hand, she had been waiting for Qienna to become ordained so she could take up the role. Qienna had been a very quick learner as a Novice and had already learned a significant chunk of the Holy Scriptures by rote before she had even joined.

The Return of Catrin, and the Adoption
In April the unexpected happened. Catrin Slade appeared in Stormwind and began harassing and mentally wearing down her daughter’s defences. Qienna was moved into the Olethos house during this time in an effort to protect her and she grew even closer still to Lilith and Sereuve. This went on for a week until Catrin kidnapped her daughter, tortured her and attempted to kill her, deeming her too sinful to be saved. The Silver Hand rescued her and she began her recovery.

Qienna admitted to Lilith that she didn’t know her birth date while resting in bed and Lilith learned from the records at Tyr’s Hand that Qienna wasn’t twenty, she wasn’t even eighteen yet. Lilith thought changing Qienna’s surname would help her to move on and now that she knew Qienna was still a minor she wanted to protect her legally so she adopted Qienna, making her Qienna Olethos.

Marriage, Conception and Death
Qienna then met a man called Mariek Parker. They fell in love and with the approval of Lilith, he proposed to

her. They were married on 26th September 624 K.C. and conceived twins during their honeymoon. Mariek had first met Qienna by chance when he was in Tyr's Hand under cover with a travelling caravan and although Qienna was too young and troubled to remember him, he certainly remembered her. They were both scrubbing the Cathedral floors and Qienna had been bleeding internally from a cruel trick her mother had inflicted on her earlier that day.

Qienna had never known anything about her family outside fo her two parents and it came as a great surprise to her to learn her grandparents on her father's side cared about her a great deal. They cared and worried about her enough to leave a sum of gold in their will for her that her parents had never allowed her to collect. Qienna was told that they had been merchants who made their money selling weaponry on the black market, inaccurate information. They knew Catrin was abusive but was unable to pull their son away and were cut off completely when Qienna was born.

Qienna's husband died on the 8th November 624 K.C. Seven weeks into her pregnancy. She had returned home from Tamora Brookhaven's wedding to find him dead in his favourite chair.

It was recently discovered that Qienna's Father, Naham Slade, was born Naham Morian and had taken his wife's name in marriage. This meant Qienna was related to Lilith Olethos and is the only legitimate heir they knew of. Qienna was encouraged by her family and friends to take up the title, urged to think of the greater good. After the sending of scouts, gathering reports and clearing out the 'uninvited guests' in Caltonshire, work was finally started rebuilding the land. Caltonshire's only access is via the port or a pass into the Hinterlands and it's borders were closed before any plagued grain had arrived, so the land itself is still healthy.

During this time, after much soul-searching, Qienna made the decision to join Sir Talarman Songsteel and others in rebuilding the Lordaeron chapter of the Silver Hand and aiding others already working to restore Lordaeron. She currently serves that chapter as Curate of Souls and continues to serve as Prefect of the Congregation for Seminary Education and Prioress on the Council of Bishops.

Qienna ended up on strict bed rest in Overlook Manor, Caltonshire. The weight of her pregnancy was too great for her small, light body to bear. She had developed an interest in her Regent Talarmore Songsteel, Talarman's younger brother, who apparently had feelings for her ever since he first met her in Stormwind at his brother's house. They're now married and Talarmore loves Qienna's children as his own, legally adopting them.

Philosophy
Qienna believes strongly in the Light’s grace. She’s always telling people if the Light can forgive –her- past then surely it can forgive their problems too. Her goal in life is to do everything she can to attempt to pay the Light back for everything it’s done for her. She knows she’ll never even come close but it gives her motivation when she thinks about her lost childhood and great responsibility as a teenager. She also believes no one should be left as ignorant as she was and endeavours to do her best to teach her students and give them a well-rounded education. It was her pushing that encouraged the Council of Bishops to include history and culture in their approved curriculum.