Maren Taverndatter

Maren Taverndatter is a human character who was introduced in Chapter 2, along with her younger sister, Karen, and her friend, Red. She was the proprietor of the Pinewood tavern where she had worked as a maid.

Maren had come to know the Grand Templar Trace Legacy as he passed through her town while hunting wolf Keidran. During this time, Trace and Maren became a couple, however it seems in the end she was only a rebound to distract himself from the grief of his wife's passing.

Personality
"Maren is bossy and prefers to have things go her way."

Biography
"Maren is the bossy elder of the Taverndatter sisters. She's one of Trace's current "girlfriends," though Trace and her were never seriously involved. They met at her tavern as Trace was passing by during his missions. She knew Trace still loved his wife, who had passed away years before; and she knew she was really just being used by Trace as a momentary distraction. But she stayed with him, nonetheless."

Appearance
Maren has light blue eyes, light skin, and long, purple-color hair that flows halfway down her back with a shorter, parted fringe. As time went on, her fringe grew out, complementing her luxurious locks, though her hairline now sometimes covers one eye.

Her attire usually consisted of her tavern's signature purple and white maid dress. When not working, Maren had worn a simple shirt, trousers, and a blue overcoat. While on the run from the Templar and wolf assassins, she opted for a drab pair of trousers and tunic so that her dress and Karen's could be sold to purchase supplies.

Personality
Maren's personality nears the characteristics of one with a histrionic disorder; she insists on having her way, and always strives for attention and leadership. This stems from the fact that her immediate companions are Red, an immature brute who is obliged to help, and her sister, a naive ditz who constantly needs instruction. It was often she who had to take the responsibility to make decisions and use logic and reason.

Red has called her a "demon woman" and an "ice queen" due to her often contentious and chilling disposition. Likewise, when Maren reunited with Trace, she was rather haughty and unwelcoming towards someone that she had thought dead for the last month. Even more frightening is that she reacted this way towards someone that she, up until that point, had every right to believe was still a cold, cruel, and powerful magic user.

Maren might have been fit into a role with the "Tyrant", given how following the amnesic Trace was mostly just going through the motions for her shallow loyalty to their relationship. Also, her initial idea to help Trace was just as superficial; to make sexual advances on him with the notion that it would restore his lost memories. It is likely that a series of trysts was all Trace and Maren's relationship had ever been, and the only action Maren could see connecting his memories to her was a blatant carnal act. Once she and Trace went their separate ways, Maren was concerned for his well-being, but not at all upset about their parting.

Maren has shown to have more common knowledge than average folk, exhibiting an understanding in things such as the isolated Basitin race, human-Keidran relations, the Templar Order, mythical cities and perhaps some combat as well. Red claims that Maren hates Keidran just as much as he, but Maren has not shown nearly as much direct antagonism towards other races and at times even has a propensity for showing compassion and giving her trust when it is earned.

Background
Maren's first appearance was brought about when Trace entered the tavern in an effort to begin his memory recollection. Her immediate reaction to his showing up was to slap him and complain to him of his whereabouts, particularly his month-long absence, notably because she was his girlfriend for a short period of time, although she was merely a temporary distraction since Trace had lost his wife a few years prior. To the confusion and dismay of Red and the Taverndatter sisters, Trace decided to both accompany and depart the tavern with Keith Keiser, who was in need of Trace's assistance concerning re-acceptance into the Basitin empire.

Through rather spontaneous means, Raine joined the trio fairly early in the story. Additionally, as a result of an inadvertent encounter in Chapter 3, Maren, Karen, and Red become acquainted with Sythe, who also happened to raid the tavern room of Trace and Flora at the very same time, along with Keith. Maren and Sythe were the first ones to start fighting in the ensuing confrontation. Once the dust settled and everyone realized that Flora and Trace (the objects of their aggression) had promptly left the scene, the group partook in a companionable meal as a truce. Maren and Sythe showed themselves to be on the most amiable terms. The group (sans Keith) slept within the same room until next morning, Maren having placed her sleeping roll between Sythe's and Red's.

When the wolf army invaded the human lands near the beginning of Chapter 12, Maren was forced to flee from her home and made it out alive along with Karen, Red, and Raine with the aid of Sythe, who fled with them when he was marked a traitor for helping humans escape the raid. Consequently, Maren also inadvertently implicated her group as traitors when she was caught bluffing an alibi in an attempt to cover for Sythe in the face of the advancing Templar army. They escaped once again, but became fugitives on both fronts and therefore resolved to travel to the free city of Lynn'knoll. Sythe decided to cooperatively join the group of four on their journey.

She may be the Un-Named Girl from pages 112 and 407, and as such, may have had a childhood acquaintance with Flora, whom she may have given a nickname beginning with "Tan". This speculation seems unlikely, however, given that neither Maren nor Flora recognized each other when they met in the bath house earlier, in Chapter 3. Also note, that Flora had grown up with Keiren in Edimire while Maren's family was rooted in the village of Pinewood with the tavern.

Sythe
Out of all the other members of what would become Group B Sythe seemed to get along with Maren the best on their first meeting. After tracking down Trace and Flora at a inn of their own accounts they originally scuffle over who gets to kill Trace first but when Trace takes the opportunity to slip away unnoticed the two give up and share a pleasant conversation over pizza. The next morning Sythe leaves the rest of Group B to continue tracking Trace down, while the rest seemingly give up and head back home. When Sythe and Maren see each other again, it is back at Maren's tavern, as Sythe was part of a group of wolves that attacked her village. After bargaining in to her tavern he remembered her and the rest of Group B from before, and despite his instincts desides to help them space. During the escapes they are discovered by Sythe's fellow wolves, leading him to be seen a enemy of his own tribe and despite his best efforts to dissociate himself from Group B he ends up looking more guilty. Thanks to all this he is forced to flee along with Maren's group and becomes stuck with them for good. While travelling together the two become closer, despite their odd scrap as a result of the awkward circumstances that stuck them together Sythe realises Maren is all talk and by the time they run into Trace and his group again they had become good friends. Apon arriving at the Legacy Estate, she decides to join Sythe in going to the Beach Room, while on the way she confides to him how she didn't really know what Trace saw her as when they were together. While at the beach party Karen organised the two hang out alone together at a separate pool with Sythe offering Maren some pizza, just like old times. During their talk Sythe asks her rather abruptly if she would like to go back to the rooms and hook up. Maren tells him not to make jokes like that but Sythe says that he wasn't joking. Sythe points out that Flora and Trace, the pair's ex-partners, had done it and it seemed to work for them but Maren is still unsure. She is confused becuase she had assumed Sythe as a Keidran should probably find a cross-species relationship disucting, but he states he finds it anything but, saying that it didn't have to a relationship and could just be a way to "feel things out". Sythe lays off saying if she doesn't want to that's alright, to which Maren replies she wants a drink. Sythe tells her there is one of the Legacy Estate's magic tables where she can get one down by the beach but Maren then asks him if there is one in his room she could use instead.