Ciara 'Ara' Zvezdana ~ Slayer
She was born in China, to a half Chinese, half Irish mother, Lian McKenna Chee. Then her mother met an Isreali man, Issac Ezmali, who was visiting. He postponed his going home to stay with Lian. They then wed in China with her mother carring his child, her younger sister Ilana. They then moved to Isreal when Ciara was 3. There they lived well for a while, as a happy family. At age 7 her mother and step father were killed in one of the many daily incidents of violence that are common place in Isreal, and she and her sister were sent to live with her grandparents who had long since moved from China to Ireland once their mother grew out of childhood, land of her grandfather's birth. Her grandfather, Doyle McKenna, died when she was 9, and then the following year her grandmother became ill. This was when her father, Ivan Vikenti, whom she'd never known suddenly appeared. Her grandmother, Mu Tan Chee, was too weak to protest, and her father all but kidnapped her and dragged her off to Russia, where he was formerly a KGB agent, now seemingly highly involved in the Russian Mafia. Now 10 years old she began learning yet another new language, her 4th in her life now, (Chinese, Hebrew, English, and now Russian).
For 5 years she lived in Russia, separated from her sister, and everyone else she ever knew. Her father never explained why he took her and brought her here. She thought it might have been to keep away unwanted people. That he'd hoped having a child with him would help him keep clear of anyone he didn't care to run into.
Ciara started growing up, and her father decided she needed a female presance, so he turned to his mother, Zorina, whom he never was close with. His father was a Russian KGB agent, whom during the cold war had had a fling with a gypsy woman, whom barly even knew her first name. Later in life her father, Ivan, tracked down his mother, and developed enough of a bond with her that he would dump Ciara with her when he went away. A kind woman, a gypsy, living in Romania. She taught Ciara much of the gypsy ways and how to speak Romanian. But soon enough her father would come and drag her off again.
However shortly after she turned 14, he felt she was too close with her grandmother, and did not allow her back. Finally after a few months, she became fustrated and angry, and while her father was away on 'business', she managed to sneak away, and never returned. She went to her grandmother, and asked her for help. Her grandmother while wishing Ciara would stay with her, promising safty in the gypsy life if the left onto the road and did not stay anywhere too long. However, as much as Ciara wished to stay with her grandmother, and have someone who really felt like family, she needed to leave. Go where her father couldn't find her, and hopefully find her sister again. So, using the name of her grandmother's father (Zvezdana), whom had been a good Romanian man whom didn't know the gypsy life he had gotten himself involved in meeting a strange woman, until they had already concieved a child, and then was left behind when the woman moved on. Though she had always let her daughter know her father's name, in case she ever needed to meet him. And while she never did, it now would prove handy in distancing Ciara from the reach of her father.
Ciara then went on 6 month search in Ireland, only to find that her grandmother had gone home to China, taking her sister along. Ciara then left for China, place of her birth, where she had not been since she was a baby. She discovered that her grandmother had died not long after arriving in China, and her sister had been taken in by her aunt, Lien, whom welcomed Ciara with open arms as well. However when Ciara was 16, her aunt, was killed by a man she had been seeing. Ciara and Ilana witnessed their aunt's murder, and then were subsiquently raped and beaten by this man, barely escaping with their lives. Their uncle upon coming home and discovering what had happened, promptly left them, dispite the girls peas for help, and to stay and look after them. He said he could no longer look at them or this place after they and the home had been so tarnished. After this, once they were strong enough to move on, Ciara took her sister and left China.
Fearing even passing by Russia, following some very public news of her aunt's murder, Ciara did not want to risk discovery by her father, so she took her sister south and found a boat to Australia. There they stayed for nearly six months, before they crossed paths with Ciara's father, who proceeded to chase them for 3 days down the Australian coast. When they finally lost him in Sydney. They then found passage to South America, where Ciara celebrated her 17th birthday in Argentina and then moved shortly to Brazil. Both sisters picked up some Spanish and Portugese along the way. They slowly made their way north, only passing through most places, never staying longer then a month anywhere. With the exception of Costa Rica, where they spent about 2 1/2 months in the Rain Forests. But fearing a repeat of Australia they finally decided it was time to move on again. They finally wound up in San Diego, California around the time of Ilana's 15's birthday. They actually found a safe feeling there. It was busy and big enough that they could just blend into the crowds. Ciara, now 18 was also legally old enough to care for her sister, but the authorities of the US didn't agree, and sent Ilana to foster care. After Ilana went through 10 foster homes in just 4 months, they finally begrudingly released Ilana to Ciara's care.
After this, the sisters wanted a change of scenery, so they began slowly traveling north along the coast. Stopping everywhere that was interesting, spending weeks and months when it interested them. Finally they came upon San Francisco, where each girl had a birthday not long after getting settled. Ilana now 16, and Ciara now 19, they found a place to stay, a place north of the city, a place where they had space to themselfs, but also had a large enough community around them that they could remain just another face in the crowd, and for the first time in a long time began feeling themselves putting down roots. Now a year later, they are still there, and feeling a little more comfortable in their lives.
Ciara and her sister are very close. And during their time apart as kids, they still could swear that they could feel the other's pains and joys. Ciara is a very strong, couragous, intuitive young woman who has had a long an bumpy road to overcome. She's a little bit wild, but is trying to settle into a normal life. She has a bit of diffculty forming real bonds with people as everyone in her life has died, left her, been torn from her, or betrayed her at one point or another. Now 20 she and her sister, now 17, live together near San Francisco. Ciara is just enrolling in a junior college in the city where she will discover her destiny as the Slayer, as well as friendships among others who's lives are intertwinded with the destiny of the Slayer.
