Mylena the Great Red Fox
Mylena is a complex woman. Layered like the very Earth on which she treads, she values and stands for many things, just the same way as she vehemently detests others. In her heart of hearts, Mylena is a fierce and violent warrior whose lust for battle and the shedding of blood remains powerful under the softness of age and motherhood. She is also extremely loyal and steadfast, fighting to the brink for her clan, but most importantly, her family. Mylena has grown wise in her years, finds her peace in the natural world, and values warrior's honour, tradition, and the bond of kinship.
On the outside, Mylena comes across as a wise, aged ex-soldier whose decades of war have numbed her to the horrors of the outside world. This is, however, just the illusion brought on by her self-control. She remains ever the chiefess of the badlands, born of a king-executioner and a lowly blacksmith, raised in a time when wars were fought over riverside resources and grain mills, and a time when a vicious dragon god lorded over them all, ready to strike them down at his whim.
Things have since changed, all because of her.
Mylena's daily routine hasn't changed in what feels to her like twenty years. She awakens every day to the feeling of the sun's rays across her face. A quick kiss on her husband's cheek, a bath, and a brief breakfast fills her with energy before she gets to work by 9. For hours Mylena works her fields, fells trees, makes or fixes clothes, repairs the cottage, deepens the den, checks on the tribefolk, fishes for food, hunts, and trains her body. By 5 in the afternoon, the big fox is ready for an even bigger lunch. This is usually eaten by herself on the dais of her personal altar, sequestered in a cove by the river, shaded by willows and shrubbery. After some alone time and meditation, the fox returns to work until she tires out at 8, whereupon she retires to the hearth to rest her aching bones. Before long Mylena is asleep, ready to rinse and repeat.
Mylena's ascent to godhood has not changed her outlook on life and the world very much. Indeed, despite being a minor deity in her own right, her days remain numbered, her strength has limits, and her newfound abilities are tightly bound. Lording over a domain such as hers comes with its perks and helpful attributes, however. Mylena tends to the expecting mothers of the clan, aiding them through their pregnancies, and when the time comes, she's there assisting with their long labors and births. She feeds the infants when their mothers run dry, she cradles the wailing young ones when they make a fuss, and she trains the adolescents in the ways of the warrior. One rule has been and always will be true: one cannot create life if one does not fight and kill to preserve it. It is in this way that Mylena, the Goddess of Kinship, is a walking contradiction. Her hands are stained with the blood of many hundreds, but her womb has borne countless more.
Mylena has given birth to three children during her life. Mackenzie, the eldest, and a warrior much like her mother, left home in a rush of immaturity to spite the family. Her whereabouts are unknown. Malaya, the middle child, is a scholar in the art of faith and arcane, topping her classes year after year and is currently on track to inheriting the title of Headmistress. And finally, Kordzhu, the lost boy, who died in his childhood of a rampant congenital disease. Mackenzie and Malaya were born to Mylena from her current husband, but Kordzhu was an unexpected development. Mylena and her mate had not had sex in many months, yet her abdomen swelled with life regardless. Seen as a blessing for her troubles, Mylena carried her child with great joy and expectation, but the birth was extremely troubled. He breached his mother's womb in a position that endangered his life, and by the time Kordzhu could be pulled free, the damage had been done, and it was severe. The boy was born mute and could only communicate via hand signs. He also suffered from fainting spells at times, one of which would eventually spell his doom. The loss of Kordzhu is a wound that will likely never heal, and Mylena visits his grave every once in awhile to "speak" to her baby boy, who she never got to see grow into a man. Though Mylena's relationship with her sole remaining child has experienced strain, she loves her children more than anything else in the world and will move mountains to keep them safe.
Mylena and her husband started their relationship in the most peculiar of circumstances. He was a foreigner, a trespasser on the lands of the fox clan, and when she caught him traipsing onto their so-called "hallowed land", she was ready to kill him. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he had come armed. If it weren't for a convenient mechanical failure in his pistol, Mylena would not be here to tell her tale. In their brief tussle, the big fox gravely wounded her coyote "prey", and so she nursed him to health. Weeks spent in her home and around her people led to a natural romance, and eventually, a family. He is the only man for whom Mylena has ever truly let down her walls and been her soft affectionate self. Behind closed doors they are an idyllic couple: communicative, madly in love, intimate, mature. She knows he adores her and her antics, and he knows she'd slay gods for him if it meant he'd flash that pearly white smile. It is this mutual sharing of affection and cooperation that keeps their connection strong.