The Uncaged Lark
Nyssara Rosdeaux

23rd Sun, 3rd Astral Moon, 1560 of the Sixth Astral Era (14 Before Calamity): 'Nyssara Rosdeaux' is born Isabeau Delacour, into a midborne family of respected Duskwight performers in Foundation. From her earliest days, she displays a remarkable voice and poise, hinting at the performer she will become.

1565 (Age 5): She begins formal training in the performing arts, focusing on harp, singing, and traditional Ishgardian ballet. This instruction is intended to prepare her for life performing among high society, instilling discipline, refinement, and etiquette alongside technical skill.

1570 (Age 10): Isabeau discovers a small magic shop near her family home in upper Foundation and begins learning sleight-of-hand illusions. This extracurricular training allows her to experiment with tricks, misdirection, and stagecraft beyond the bounds of her formal lessons, fostering the independence and creativity she will later rely on.

1572 (The Calamity, Age 12): Her family home is destroyed during the Calamity. House Fortemps patrons provide her family with a residence in the Pillars. While grateful, Isabeau is introduced to a structured life under the guardianship of the house - a life where her movements, performances, and future prospects are increasingly guided by others. This marks the beginning of her tension between duty and personal freedom.

Year 1: Her parents die in a draconic attack near Falcon’s Nest. Isabeau is taken in as a ward of House Fortemps - expected to live under their care and guidance, her future tightly managed. The house’s influence is immediate: tutors, etiquette instructors, and overseers fill her days, leaving little room for choice. While she performs dutifully in music and dance, she quickly senses the invisible chains of expectation pressing against her spirit.

Year 2: Isabeau Delacour de Fortemps continues her training in music, ballet, and social etiquette, each movement scrutinized for propriety. Life under House Fortemps is structured and gilded, yet increasingly suffocating. She learns the subtleties of conversation, the nuances of noble gestures, and the weight of appearances - lessons designed to mold her into a perfect ward. Beneath the refinement, however, a spark of defiance emerges: a glance held too long, a whispered joke to a fellow pupil, a small flourish in her performance that is hers alone.

Year 3: House Fortemps introduces Isabeau to eligible suitors, carefully curated matches meant to secure alliances or favor. She meets each with polite grace - and swiftly rejects them all, even those she genuinely likes. The choice, she silently asserts, must be hers, not dictated by social obligation. Meanwhile, her public performances continue under the house’s oversight, appearing in salons and private gatherings where her skill dazzles, but her presence is measured. Her rebellious streak begins to simmer: subtle improvisations, playful misdirections, hints of personality slipping through the expected polish.

Year 4: Isabeau’s musical skill deepens, but she keeps the harp - her heart instrument - private, a tether to herself and a small act of ownership in a life ruled by others. Publicly, she plays instruments favored by common audiences, charming listeners while maintaining control over what she reveals of her talent. Her independence grows quietly; she begins walking streets unchaperoned when permitted, observing the world outside the Pillars, learning the rhythms of life she cannot yet fully inhabit. Each secret act of self-direction strengthens her sense of identity.

Year 5: The first signs of full autonomy emerge. Isabeau begins adopting the name 'Nyssara Rosdeaux' in public life, deliberately separating the persona controlled by House Fortemps from the woman she wants to be. She works to earn her own money, performing, teaching, or entertaining as she sees fit, independent of the house’s coffers. Social expectations are still met when unavoidable, but she quietly tests limits - skipping high tea, smoking at dinner parties, adding her own flair to performances - small rebellions that signal her growing refusal to live solely for others. The tension between duty and freedom becomes a defining thread in her life, setting the stage for the more daring acts to come.

Year 6: Believing she will never be granted full autonomy, Nyssara begins to push back against House Fortemps’ expectations. Nights are spent walking streets unchaperoned, lingering in taverns, or disappearing for hours under the guise of social calls. She takes overnight trips within the city and beyond, relishing the thrill of choice and the small rebellions that come with it. House Fortemps expects at least an effort to maintain appearances, but she resists, following her whims and desires instead. Each act of defiance - a smoke behind closed doors, a laugh too loud at a formal gathering, an improvised flourish in a performance - strengthens her sense of self and confirms that the life she wants is not theirs to dictate.

Year 7: House Fortemps introduces Nyssara to Ser Aurenaut Dzemael, a knight of a cadet branch she has long known and enjoyed as a companion. The two share many interests, and among her suitors, he comes closest to a “perfect match.” Yet, as much as she likes him, Nyssara refuses the match. That choice, she asserts silently, belongs to her alone. The refusal is firm but polite; her independence is nonnegotiable, and she demonstrates that even personal affection will not compromise it.

Year 8: Nyssara expands her range, taking overnight trips to nearby cities and towns, performing for taverns, minor nobles, and local gatherings. She hones her craft in new settings, adapting her performances for varied audiences while continuing to keep the harp as a private, personal touchstone. House Fortemps disapprove strongly, issuing reminders and attempting to enforce limits, but begin to understand that no amount of supervision can fully govern her choices. Each journey beyond the Pillars, each night spent away from their watch, strengthens the understanding that Nyssara will always chart her own path.

Year 9: Nyssara stages her most dramatic act yet. During a performance in which her character disappears in a swirl of smoke, she quite literally vanishes - leaving Ishgard under cover of night. House Fortemps’ knights track her down, finding her at a tavern in Tailfeather days later, mixing drinks, spinning tales, and carousing as though it were a normal Windsday. She is fully independent, fully in control, and unapologetically herself. The incident cements her reputation: Nyssara Rosdeaux is no longer a ward to be managed - she is a force that must be acknowledged, respected, and, for all practical purposes, tolerated until she chooses to return.

Nyssara slips in and out of Ishgard like a tide, never gone forever but never still for long. She travels wherever opportunity takes her -taverns, courts, alleyways, barges, even a Thavnairian wedding she still recounts with wicked amusement - earning her keep through performance and, when needed, a night’s work serving food or drink. Each journey takes her a little farther from the city, each return a little more her own, though House Fortemps always manages to find her eventually.

Along the way, she builds a life entirely separate from the one that waits for her in the Pillars. In Limsa Lominsa, she stumbles into the orbit of Syenna Shalda, a Viera who sees through the layers of stagecraft and charm to the woman beneath, offering an ease and understanding that Nyssara hadn’t realized she’d been craving. Her world widens further when she meets Mina Angura, whose bar becomes an unexpected anchor. What begins as a few shifts behind the counter turns into a trusted position overseeing the day-to-day operations of Emberbough Solutions and the Mog Cafe operated by Mina's friend Elorraine. It’s responsibility, yes, but on her terms - roles that grant her the means to chase other ambitions without sacrificing her independence.

Through it all, her relationship with House Fortemps settles into a tense but enduring rhythm. She pushes the edges of her autonomy; they weigh how much they can allow before obligation forces their hand. Her new role with Mina - a responsibility they would have fully approved of, were it for the House rather than a competitor - gives them a measure of reassurance, a way to loosen the reins without feeling they’ve lost all control. Love and respect keep the bond intact, but it thrives best at a distance: too close, and tempers spark; too far, and questions arise. And so the cycle continues - departure, return, and the fragile balance held in the spaces between.