Nieske, from Aaron & Nieske

Nieske and Aaron were born and raised in the village of Brandeheuvel. They played together when they were children. Nieske's father Rien worked as a lumberjack in the forests around Brandeheuvel. Mother Marjorie worked as a maid for a rich farmer. Her cooking skills were widely known, and Aaron came to steal cookies from the windowsill, until he was chased away by Nieske and Johannes, her brother who was four years her junior.
One sad day Nieske and Johannes were playing in the woods and they ended up near where the lumberjacks worked. Too late did Nieske realise that they were playing in forbidden territory. Before she could take Johannes away, a large tree came crashing down and Johannes was crushed. He died in the night and was buried behind their humble house.

When Nieske was 14 her mother fell ill. She coughed a lot and it didn't stop. Nieske helped out with household chores and now was forced to take over from her mother completely. She tried to do everything as quickly as possible but because she had to take care of her mother too, there was little time left for other things. Nieske dreamed of adventures, but was trapped in a web of obligation and family. Marjorie died within a month.
The farmer Marjorie had always worked for gave Rien a pouch with an extra, crets to pay for a funeral. Rien carefully tucked the pouch away and thanked the farmer. Once home, he dug the grave himself, laid his wife to rest and covered her with earth. The crets were saved in a jar on the mantlepiece. Two days later he returned to work, Nieske took over her mother's old job.
Nieske struggled to overcome the loss of her mother. All chores they had done together she had to do alone. Her father became more drawn and introvert, and many evenings went by in complete silence. On these nights, Nieske would go outside and run through the forest, wishing for freedom. Her mother and brother were dead, her father was drawn and silent, and even Aaron was gone for weeks on end.

Father became more and more silent and depressed, and Nieske fled the house as often as she could. Each week she brought her wages home to her father, but because she kept a few cret behind, she could do fun things too. She sometimes visited the inn to drink some wine with her friends, but they all had other things to talk about, and Nieske didn't enjoy their company very much. She saved some crets too, in the hope to one day have an adventure. She dreamed about leaving.

One day, when Nieske was 19 years old, her father returned home early. She was still doing the dishes of the night previous and was startled when her father was carried inside by two other lumberjacks. Her father had slipped with his axe and there was a large wound on his leg. It had been cleaned, but it would take a while before he could return to work.
The wound festered, and Nieske asked for a physician, a gnome who healed everything from cows to people in the village. The gnome cleansed the wound again, but it was in vain. Two days later the infection had spread further, and within a week Rien too had died. Nieske dug the grave herself, next to that of her mother, behind their humble house. She prayed quickly to Karnun, and buried the last living relative she had.

Within a day, the lord of the lands knocked on her door. He told her to marry within a month or else lose all her possessions. The lord took all the money that was in the jar on the mantlepiece, and wrote a not that supposedly said (Nieske never learned to read) what he had taken and what money her husband would inherit if she were to marry.

A year later she met Aaron again in an inn on the other side of the Baronie. They got talking, and Nieske said she had left home and worked to survive now. She was patient and knew how to pry open simple locks. She didn't tell Aaron her father had died though.
Aaron asked her if she would come with him, and Nieske accepted. It was the beginning of a rather peculiar cooperation.
Next to their relation, which was stormy, they worked all sorts of odd jobs to get some crets. They were tight-fisted and slept wrapped in their cloaks in the forest where it was safe to do so. Finally they returned to Brandeheuvel, where Aaron found out Nieske's father had died. He immediately asked her to marry him.

Nieske suspected the only reason Aaron proposed was her dowry, a considerable sum as both Rien and Marjorie had worked and lived humbly. Nieske was not about to commit herself to another home with its troubles, and knew that she could no longer claim her dowry. She refused flatly.
A huge row followed. "You'd rather let the money go than marry me?!" Aaron called, and Nieske answered that she'd rather eat mud the rest of her life than marry for something as stupid as crets. This was the end of their relation.

Some years later, when they had cooled down some more, Nieske ran into Aaron again in an inn. Aaron had obviously forgotten the reason they fought, and offered her a drink. After a jug of wine he proposed they worked together again. Nieske accepted. A whole new adventure evolves....