Tekari was once a slave under a wealthy Raikonian businessman who used her as one of his personal bodyguards (learning that she had an Auran power was the main reason why). As a result, Tekari was taught from a very young age how to fight and defend with ruthless efficiency. Yet her very personality seemed to contradict such a harsh way of living. The young mouse still maintains a shy, cautious demeanor and is constantly plagued by a lack of self-esteem (having been seen only as a fighter resulted in a lack of proper emotional development, despite the caretakers that tried to raise her while off-duty). Akosha and her crew happened to learn of this when they visited the businessman on invitation. Since the very idea of enslavement (especially the enslavement of an Auran) was rather unsettling to her, Akosha cleverly managed to trick Tekari’s owner into giving her up over a fixed gambling match, and the young mouse has since been traveling with the group.
Even at the age of eighteen, Tekari has shown to have fighting skills worthy of an aged master, but at the terrible price of a scarred emotional development from it (having the Auran power of invisibility hasn’t helped, as she is prone to hiding when scared). Thankfully, Akosha and Mai Tao have proven themselves to be gentle and caring to her and have been helping her through her insecurities.


Okie, first submission of 2007 and it happens to be a full-color work on the FIRST day (technically the 1st, though due to 502 errors last night this one's uploaded on the 2nd :p ).
I'm still not satisfied with the way she's holding her left weapon (the one on the right side), as it is more a resut of a shoddy mirroring-job that I tried when I couldn't duplicate the other one. Still, I suppose I tried what I could from where I was at. I also might've over-did the shiny effects on her leg armor. Heh, still, I'm kinda proud of it. The brighter colors of her outfit really came out better than I was expecting.
Oh, the background? That's actually a manipulated photo from Mexico that I took while on a cruise. Visiting ancient ruins of the Mayans was really neat! They fit in with the background of Raikonia's 4th age (which is where the story here takes place) so it was great to put young Tekari in the middle of them.

Tekari Aia copyright Nick Hardin