Lady Dotis Mardoul Freghan (Tathiel)

-Age 29

-Wife of Lord Patrick Freghan

-Mother of Tathiel Freghan

-Was left permanently frail and sickly following the birth of her daughter, Tathiel

-Scholarly and free thinking

-Performs religious duties though without fervor

-Lenient with servants

-Target of rumors and accusations, especially regarding faith

-Considered a noble

-Resides in Moorton Castle with her family

-Secrets:

-Her birth name was Tathiel

-She was the youngest child of a large peasant family. Unable to provide for her amongst her many other family members, her parents begrudgingly offered the toddler to the care of the local lord. Lord Mardoul accepted the child and had her raised as a dedicated servant among his castles private workers. Given their close ages, Lord Mardoul wished for the girl to grow alongside his daughter, Dotis Mardoul, and act as her personal maid. Dotis and Tathiel grew up together as he wished, and had a bond closer to that of sisters than servitude. Dotis treated Tathiel as an equal (in private, where such behavior would not cause embarrassment), and Tathiel was fiercely devoted to serving her. Dotis taught Tathiel to read, and this was kept as a secret between them (they enjoyed leaving notes for each other to find). At an early age it was decided that Dotis would later leave her home in southern Quarrisun to marry the upcoming Lord Freghan. As her confidant in all things, Tathiel read and even critiqued the written correspondence between Dotis and Patrick. When they were 16, the girls were sent on a trip aboard an imperial trade ship carrying goods to the colonies of Quarrimoon. The captain of the ship was a personal friend of Lord Mardoul, and they entrusted him to get Dotis to a coastal port where she would be escorted by an imperial caravan to Moorton. As soon as they were free of her family, Dotis insisted that Tathiel wear her noble clothes and act the part (since no one would know that she wasn’t a noble). On the crossing they encountered a hurricane that decimated the ship. The girls were separated, and Tathiel was carried aboard one of the life boats with a handful of sailors. She had with her a satchel carrying the identification and documents of Dotis. The boat washed ashore, and a day later the small group finished the hike to their port destination. Tathiel maintained silence, and the lowborn sailors presumed she was a noblewoman. She found the caravaners waiting that were to take the girls to their new home. Tathiel waited a week for Dotis to arrive, regularly checking with travelers and local officials for any word of the ship crew. As far as she could tell, the only survivors were her and the handful of sailors in her dinghy. Emotionally destroyed by the loss of her only friend, and her only connection to world, she became deeply depressed. Realizing that she would soon need to find a way to make a living, she concocted a plan to assume the identity of her lost friend, Dotis Mardoul. She introduced herself as such the caravan company, and was escorted to Castle Moorton. She knew as much about the young, newly appointed Lord Patrick Freghan as her friend had. She came to him in a sorry state, clearly distraught and missing the luggage and trapping one would expect for a young noblewoman traveling to marry. She half lied about her depression, explaining the loss of her dear maid Tathiel at sea. Patrick was familiar with Tathiel through written correspondence, and empathized with her loss. Patrick allowed her a long period of recovery, rather than forcing her to marry immediately. Over this period of about a year, a true relationship between the two blossomed. They were happily married in a humble ceremony amongst the Freghan family. Later, when pregnant with their daughter, Dotis requested that if the baby were a girl she’d like to name her Tathiel after her lost friend.

-To the present Patrick, and seemingly everyone in Moorton, vehemently believes that Lady Dotis Mardoul Freghan is exactly who she says she is. No one from the Mardoul family had made the long trek to Moorton, and she regularly wrote to the family as if she were their daughter to assuage any fears or doubts. (Emotionally, Dotis Freghan came to believe that her friend would have wanted her to take her place in this position. Dotis Mardoul had always lamented that her friend was treated so poorly as a servant. Dotis Freghan believed that Dotis Mardoul would have been charmed at the idea of Freghan’s daughter and her sharing the names that the friends once had.)