Laelkii Takara Lifeweave

A portrait of the character

An Asanii Healer aboard the UAV Stardancer, and long-time friend of Alysha Forrest. Affectionately referred to as "Snowhide" by friends.

Physical Characteristics

An Asanii with dark brown eyes and "oodles" of long, straight hair, usually collected in a braid. Her coloring is "white on white, stars and snow and sugar," with fur rather than bare skin on her face and body. She has a "petite and matronly" figure and more wrinkles than usual for her age. When on duty her hair is habitually worn in a long braid. She is shorter than Taylitha Basil (and definitely shorter than Alysha Forrest).

History and Family

Widow of the tam-illee Healer Nathan Lifeweave, whose FoundName she took. She met Nathan in medical school, and took a break to settle down and have children, but never did. She sees something of a daughter, or the daughter she would have wanted to have, in Alysha.

Laelkii with Alysha and Angel

Laelkii met Alysha Forrest while Alysha was at the Fleet Academe and working as a dancer and prostitute at Phantasies; their first encounter was when Alysha brought the Malarai Liset Line Insendere (then known as Angel) to have her broken arm and wing, and other injuries, healed. Laelkii and Nathan made it clear that Alysha was welcome whenever she needed to visit, and that they would simply keep a tab open (without any real expectation of being paid). She provided emotional support to Alysha while her husband provided both emotional and medical support to Alysha and some of her fellow abused dancers. It was at Laelkii's husband's clinic that Alysha acquired her breathnache claws. Laelkii also helped provide emotional shelter and a sense of normalcy to Angel, welcoming her and Alysha in for cookies and a girls' night.

Nathan was suddenly and unexpectedly killed when returning from a medical conference. The shuttle carrying him from Selnor's orbital platform exploded in midair, resulting in the deaths of all aboard. In the immediate aftermath, while Laelkii was traumatized by grief, Alysha reversed their roles, providing her emotional support and helping her to see the possibility of a new life in the aftermath.

Service History

At Fleet Academe

After her husband's death and her own reassessment of her life's purpose, Laelkii joined the Fleet Academe as a cadet, training in her own right. She also became friends with Alastar Virgil, who aided her in uncovering Harroway Sloan's treachery and rescuing Alysha Forrest and Matthew Brighthaven from disgrace and death.

Interstitial Assignments

Alysha Forrest and Laelkii remained in contact during Alysha's ensign years.

Laelkii served some of her first years after the Academe on a starbase, not a ship.

Stardancer Career (Chief Medical Officer)

When Alysha Forrest took command of the UAV Stardancer, Laelkii joined as Chief of Medical; Alastar Virgil had already been there six months. In that role, as one of the older members of the crew (having joined the Fleet late in life), Laelkii serves as a listening ear, expert medical officer, and person who attempts to remind Alysha to eat.

On Gledig

Six months after Laelkii joined the Stardancer, the ship was sent to investigate possible civil war on Gledig, as well as the disappearance of Svetlana Karishenikov. Laelkii joined the advance party, along with Alysha Forrest, Taylitha Basil, and Alastar Virgil in investigating the planet. She was subsequently present in the Gledig governor's mansion during the bombing by Gledig#Secessionists Secessionist terrorists.

After the advance party was rescued by Svetlana Karishenikov in the wake of the bombing, Laelkii spent the night with her compatriots at Svetlana's family's home. She had a heart-to-heart with Svetlana, in particular telling her a little more about Alysha and what Alysha's interest in Svetlana meant.

When Alysha and Alastar returned to the Stardancer, Taylitha and Laelkii remained on-planet, where they were taken to speak with Maire, the leader of the pro-Accords, at their base. Maire was unhappy with their presence, but allowed them to stay and help; Laelkii went to work in the clinic. While there, she did help at the clinic, and was dismayed by the lack of medical personnel and technology she found there, as well as the staff's unwillingness to allow her to Pad some of the more seriously injured to the Stardancer for better care. Following instructions from Alastar, she found the base's local computers, which were cordoned off the world's network, and searched them for the raid statistics, which shocked her. Maire found her in the computer room, who confirmed that the colony had asked the Alliance for help, but received no response, and also that the pirates repeatedly hitting a poor colony made no sense. Laelkii attempted to comfort her and reassure her that they were on the same side.

That night, the Secessionists attacked the Pro-Accord base. Taylitha insisted that Laelkii stay with her rather than going to help at the clinic, because she felt responsible for having split with Svetlana earlier, which resulted in her capture. When they reached the base's main cavern, Taylitha volunteered them to be the ones to scout the Secessionist encampments and activity outside the base.

Laelkii and Taylitha discovered the Secessionists mining the tracks, and that he had a large number of people near the entrance. Svetlana got in touch with them and they arranged to regroup at the track close to Daleth. They also saw a ship--the pirate shuttle--heading toward Gledig. When they met up with Svetlana, they saw, from a distance, the base collapsing. Its munitions had been deliberately detonated by the pro-Accord faction to kill the Secessionists trapped inside and prevent them from claiming it. Svetlana led them to the warehouse where the pro-Accords who had fled before detonating the base were holed up. She defended Svetlana when Carey, Svetlana's cousin, accused her of being a traitor.

Laelkii was the one who arranged--via Felsha Rennagan and Darya Darteriov--for the duel between Alysha Forrest and Dylan Brushnie to be broadcast. She also put Alysha back together after the duel.

At Cat's Eye Station 40

When the UAV Stardancer was on its resupply mission to Cat's Eye Station 40, Laelkii served as Taylitha's confidante regarding her conflicted feelings about Avram Hancock. Before Taylitha's dinner with Hancock, she listened to Taylitha's worries about her interest in Hancock. Laelkii was surprised that her issue was that Hancock was human, and by Taylitha's significant distress in being attracted to a human, but listened and advised her to rest and attempt to avoid spend the evening obsessing. When Taylitha returned distraught that she and Hancock had kissed, and that she had then rejected him for being human, Laelkii comforted her.

Trivia

• Makes excellent chocolate chip cookies.
• Swears, in the Asanii fashion, by "NiiAna," "sun and stars," the Balance, "stars and sunlight," "sun and starlight"
• Constantly ("every week") reminds Alysha that she needs to either eat more calories or exercise less.
• Has a sweet tooth and is forever adding more honey, syrup, etc., to her beverages.
• Tells Svetlana Karishenikov that her strongest goal for joining Fleet was to follow Alysha Forrest, as "She needs a mother."
• Her familiarity with her captain, Alysha Forrest, is shocking to junior Fleet members even by the comparatively lax standards of Fleet.
• Considers herself "no good with a weapon."
• Smells like mint.

Body Language

Laelkii displays "...feistiness of spirit that lets her joust with people without meaning any harm by it."

Quotes

• "And I'll get to you in a minute after I finish cleaning up the hack job Dylan "He Had Memorable Eyes" Brushnie did on Nerves of Steel here."

• "Ah-ah-ah. They made our ancestors centuries ago. Sun and stars, Taylitha, that was before space travel was even common! It's not like humans are gods. They were just tinkering, playing at it."

Quotes and Observations by Others

• "The eldest, the one with the white braids, had a remark for everything, just flippant enough to amuse but with enough bite that only her obvious age excused her."

--Dylan Brushnie

Story Appearances

Alysha's Fall (Fiction)

Dark Lighthouse (Fiction)

Either Side of the Strand (Fiction)

Faith in the Service (Fiction)

In Good Company (Fiction)

Leadership Lessons (Fiction)

Sword of the Alliance (Fiction)