Reekeekle

Reekeekle is a Reeyekeet. She is one of the main characters.

Background
She is approaching 16 years of age, and has not found a mate, which is rare and frowned upon in Reeyekeet culture. This is in part due to the social functions in her brain not functioning in the same way as most of her species. This is not to say she is broken or wrong, just different. In an ideal society, no one would think less of her and people would accommodate for how she is, but her society is far from ideal. Instead of accepting her as she is, her parents and matriarch have tried to fix her. This has had a huge impact on her, causing her to develop intense feelings of anxiety and low self-worth, which only makes everything worse. ''[note: this is a topic I will have to be careful with when writing. She may be her species' equivalent of autistic, though I hesitate to use the term because the other things at play in her life cause unhealthy and potentially violent behaviors which I would not want to wrongly associate with autism or any mental health issues. Essentially she is a character who is both not neurotypical, and also suffers from probably depression and anxiety, living in a society that does not understand or even acknowledge that such things exist, nevermind being equipped to accommodate for them. The bad things she does are due to the damage caused by an (unintentionally) abusive upbringing/society, NOT due the way her brain differs from the average Reeyekeet.]''

Role in Story
Reekeekle's summoning story begins with an argument with her parents, about her "unwillingness" (inability) to find a mate. She turns to her sister Kirrikeek for comfort, the only person who makes her feel loved and accepted. Her parents then arrange for her to speak alone with Skedeelli, who sounds a lot more compassionate than her parents, but is still distinctly misguided in her approach. Reekeekle runs and hides to skip meeting a potential mate her parents convinced to come to her, which leads to another argument. She turns again to Kirrirkeek, but she is also stressed and overwhelmed by the tension and argument that constantly takes place, and so she snaps at Reekeekle. Suddenly, the only person who support her seems ashamed and angry with her, and Reekeekle breaks down. She does not know what to do, just that she cannot take it here, so she flies out of the cave, and just flies away. This is an irrational act, with no goal or direction in mind. She continues her journey as long as she can hold out, but worsening weather and growing hunger make her weak. She is on the brink of death, and when she thinks is fading away, she sees the Eirae, and is brought to Fort Raimar.

Of the main squad, Reekeekle has the hardest time adjusting. After an initial hard time with Fogg failing to notice her fear of him, and the Cromsidians being angered at an outburst she has, Reekeekle eventually settles in and starts to like her squad. Over time they become the first people to not expect her to be something she is not. Her performance in training exercises goes from bad to decent, but she does not particularly excel at all before the battle.

In the battle, she saves Estevahl with a swoop attack, and manages to hurt and hamper a few enemies before being clubbed aside, and left unconscious on the ground. Her body landed far enough from the brawling that she is not harmed further. The squad come to find her at the end, and carry her back with them. [maybe she should come to in time to help out more, i don't know if i want her to be so pathetic that she spends most of it unconscious...]

Not currently planned exactly what role she will play in later scenes, but it needs to show significant development from this, and I do NOT want to fall into the trope of the mentally unwell character gets constant bad shit happening. She has enough tragedy in her backstory and deserves better in the main storyline. She will develop a friendship with Fogg in particular, and also well with the cromsidians. Her relationship with Estevahl will probably be one of mutual respect and I'm sure she would admire Estevahl, but not sure how close they will be become to start with. Perhaps she sees her as a strong protector, not a person she could talk to and be herself around?