The fourth-born daughter of Lord Aurane Velaryon and Princess Baela Targaryen, Vaella Velaryon is a merchant and a magnate, operating a shipping business out of King's Landing and Hull. She is married to Symond Darry, who is ten years her junior, and she is the mother of four children.

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Appearance and Character

Silver-haired and violet-eyed, Vaella alone among her siblings bears all the markings of Old Valyria. As a child, she was dainty, fae, and delicate, but the blossom of maidenhood brought with it unwanted changes. Always a shy and withdrawn girl, she became quite plump, and her confidence shrank down to nothing. Acne plagued her, and her chubby face rarely bore anything resembling a smile.

On the cusp of maidenhood, Vaella grew bitter and morose, blaming others for her loneliness. Puberty was long and difficult, and a part of her still bears the wounds of it - her ego is fragile, her temper quick and sharp, and her scorn for others nearly endless if they should somehow attract her ire.

Today, she is a plump and voluptuous woman who has fully come into her own: never beautiful, but with a certain majesty and confidence. Her smirk is ferocious and her tongue withering, and what she lacks in beauty she makes up for in nerve. She flaunts her wealth openly, her fat fingers encased in precious rings and her lips and cheeks always carefully rouged. Unlike her sisters, Vaella does not have an athletic bone in her body, and prefers the comforts of parlors and winesinks.

History

Vaella was born into the brood of Lord Aurane Velaryon and Princess Baela Targaryen, another unwanted daughter in her father's constant quest for a male heir. She is the last among her siblings to remember her mother as an elegant, stately beauty, and was wounded deeply by Baela's descent into madness and neglect. She regards her sister Aelora Hightower as her primary parent, given that the girl, still a teenager, was the one to see that Vaella and her younger siblings were fed and clothed and given some degree of affection.

Her childhood was lonely and alienating, and she sought refuge in sweets and books in equal measure, largely left to her own devices without supervision to curb her impulses. Few suitors showed interest in the prospect of a betrothal, and her father - preoccupied with his new son and daunted by the cruel fates that had befallen his eldest daughters - never made a serious effort to find a husband for Vaella. By her teenage years, she was a fat and unpleasant maiden with a deep and abiding grudge against the world, blaming all around her for her miseries and failures in love.

Aurane attempted to reform his daughter by sending her to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, a role she occupied for many years. Vaella was as reclusive at court as she was at home, and found a special affinity for studying sums and business in her spare time. She also became adept at forging letters and seals, an insidious pastime that earned her a tidy income on the side once her skills became known to nefarious sorts of men and women.

In her twenty-eighth year, long past the age when a woman of her station ought to have been married, she became acquainted with another quiet misfit at the royal court - young Symond Darry, secondborn son of Lady Amerei. Tired of years of romantic failure and misplaced hopes, she decided quickly to cultivate the boy and make a husband out of him, and for his own part, Symond was perhaps too bewildered to resist. Her father felt such relief that she had managed to find any husband at all that he did not object to the match, and they were wed within a year. Vaella's sly and vicious mind paired well with Symond's competence and work ethic, and together, the pair began managing a handful of merchant ships and seeking contracts with the Free Cities. Over the years, their business grew to encompass a full fleet and interests on both sides of the Narrow Sea. Vaella is an obsessive micromanager of her assets and resources, gleefully seizing whatever power and influence she can in a world where the name Velaryon still carries weight and dignity - no matter who, exactly, is behind it.

Shortly after the birth of their first child, Mariya, Vaella and Symond were invited by her younger brother, Lord Vaemond Velaryon, to take up residence on Driftmark. There, Symond serves as castellan of High Tide, and the couple are among Lord Vaemond's most trusted friends and advisors. Their four children mingle freely with his own, forming a ragged mob of flaxen-haired babes who run wild and unsupervised throughout the corridors of the castle. The family splits their time between a manse in King's Landing and an estate in Hull, and continue to oversee operations for their trading company.

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