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

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.

Recent History

At Fleet Academe

Laelkii met Alysha Forrest while Alysha was at the Fleet Academe and working as a dancer and prostitute at Phantasies. 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.

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

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 go

Trivia

• Makes excellent chocolate chip cookies.
• Swears, in the Asanii fashion, by "NiiAna," "sun and stars," the Balance, "stars and sunlight"
• 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."

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."

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)