Ansella
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ANSELLA pron. ANN-sellah
Ansella of Whithorse (b. 949 KY) is a character from An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom. She is the wife of Harsin IV, married in Spring's Beginning of 967 KY, and is Queen of Tremont. She is the mother of Sedra, Ellika and Temmin. She is the only daughter of the late Duke of Whithorse. Her brother was Patrin, Duke of Whithorse after their father's death. Her nickname is Annie.
Ansella is close to her childhood friend Standfast Jenks, now Temmin's bodyguard under cover as his valet. Ansella's longtime lover at Whithorse is Sister Ibbit of the Sister's Temple; Ansella is a devotee of the goddess Venna. Their relationship continued once they moved to Tremont Keep. Her marriage to Harsin was arranged, and Harsin gets his way on almost everything, not bothering to consult with his wife until after the fact. She resents his mistresses and has long nursed a resentment over the arranging of their marriage. Both their hot tempers, and a long physical separation, have come between what might have been a loving marriage.
It was part of Ansella's marriage contract that she be allowed to raise her children at Whithorse Estate, away from the politics and worldliness of the capital. She raised her children herself with only the assistance of her own former Nurse, something that is unusual in modern times for the nobility and especially the royal family. She returned to Tremont Keep to live for the first time since just before Temmin's birth when Temmin turned 18 and had to go there himself; both Sedra and Ellika were born in the City.
While for the most part she is gentle and reserved, that demeanor came after years of work. Ansella has an explosive temper that stores itself up until she lets go or something provokes her beyond endurance. She considers it a great personal flaw. She has passed that temper on to Sedra, who hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet.
Ansella is quite religious. She is a devotee of Venna but makes regular rounds of all the Temples and was the only one of Temmin's family to attend his investiture into the Lovers' Temple as Supplicant.
Ansella loves to ride, a trait she shares with her son. She is an expert on horses to the point where even her father and brother often deferred to her judgment. Her riding horse is Flor, a little white mare.
At the time the main story begins, Ansella is 41. She is petite, almost doll-like, with the golden-blond hair she passed to both Temmin and Ellika, and blue eyes. Ellika favors her almost entirely but for Harsin's brown eyes. She is very pretty, and a little too thin. Of all her children, she is attached the most to Temmin, with whom she shares a particularly close relationship. She herself has told him that of her three children the girls will be married off but she will be allowed to "keep" him.
original entry
Ansella is a character from An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom. She is the wife of Harsin IV since Spring's Beginning of 967 KY, and is Queen of Tremont. She is the mother of Sedra, Ellika and Temmin. She is the only daughter of the late Duke of Whithorse. Her brother was Patrin, Duke of Whithorse after their father's death. Lady Donnis is her cousin and lady-in-waiting at Tremont Keep.
In her youth, Ansella fell in love with a friend of her brother's named Standfast Jenks. While their relationship had to end, they remain close. Ansella prefers women, generally, and her longtime lover at Whithorse was Sister Ibbit of the Sister's Temple; Ansella is a devotee of the goddess Venna. Her marriage to Harsin is friendly enough, but is not a love match, and Harsin gets his way on almost everything, not bothering to consult with his wife until after the fact.
It was part of Ansella's marriage contract that she be allowed to raise her children at Whithorse, away from the politics and worldliness of the capital. She raised her children herself with only the assistance of her own former Nurse, something that is unusual in modern times for the nobility and especially the royal family.
While for the most part she is gentle and reserved, that demeanor came after years of work. Ansella has an explosive temper that stores itself up until she lets go or something provokes her beyond endurance. She considers it a great personal flaw. She has passed that temper on to Sedra, who hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet.
Ansella loves to ride, a trait she shares with her son. She is an expert on horses to the point where even her father and brother often deferred to her judgment. Her riding horse is Flor, a little white mare. Cappel is also training a young strawberry roan gelding named Rhubarb to run in harness, specifically to pull Ansella's curricle.
At the time the main story begins, Ansella is in her late 30s. She is petite, almost doll-like, with the golden-blond hair she passed to both Temmin and Ellika, and blue eyes. She is very pretty, and a little too thin.
Early on in the History, Ansella becomes pregnant again with a daughter after accepting Harsin's invitation during Neya's Spectacle in 990 KY. Ashamed of her return to Harsin's bed, she tried to keep the pregnancy a secret, but when she went to the Sister's Temple in the capital for a supervised visit with a now-estranged Ibbit, her pregnancy becomes obvious to Ibbit as well as Embodiment Sarra and Eldest Sister Imvalda. Ubeknownst to Ansella, Ibbit promptly sent her a slow-acting poison and abortifacient in the guise of a morning-sickness draught. The truth wasn't discovered until Ansella began to miscarry. The Sisters have managed to save Ansella and her pregnancy so far, but it remains a precarious situation. During the miscarriage crisis, Ansella's pregnancy was revealed to the rest of the royal family and their immediate staff.
