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Description

Compared to the average resident of Nottingham, Zahra looks breath-takingly exotic. Her long dark hair, usually plaited into a braid that hangs half-way down her back is hidden beneath an embroidered headscarf and her face is mostly obscured by a beaded veil beyond which only a pair of bright, kohl-rimmed eyes the colour of river stones are visible. She will occasionally rid herself of it, when it becomes cumbersome but for the most part she uses it to maintain an air of aloofness when she feels like disengaging from the strange new world she finds herself in. Beneath it, her features are aquiline, a little haughty but beautiful, with an elegant Roman nose, full pursed lips and high cheekbones.
Her dress too, is exotic. She insists on wearing a long deep red tunic hemmed in intricate patterns and matching wide-legged trousers that reach to the floor. However, for practicality's sake (and to stave off hypothermia in the chilly English weather), she has donned a thick Western-style wool coat over her Arab dress. Most people who see her assume upon first glance that she is Martin's slave- why else would an Arab woman be accompanying a knight?

Personality

Her intelligence, arrogance and impulsiveness meant that Zahra was a lot for her own family to handle, let alone a knight she seemed to have barely met before she was forced to flee her home by the very people he had previously allied himself with. Despite this, she is somewhat of an idealist and a romantic, seeing the world in black and white, judging quickly and often harshly but valuing goodness and beauty when she finds it.

Equipment

What herbs and medical equipment she could find before she left her home and a wooden amulet inlaid with gold- a gift from her father.

History

Zahra's mother died in childbirth and from then on she was mostly given free-reign over her father's extensive estate. Her schooling was of the highest standard and, unlike the vast majority of her female peers, Zahra is literate and knowledgeable of the Islamic field of science, in particular medicine. Although she took an interest in the European prisoners that her father occasionally brought into his cells from battles fought far off towards the coast, she was never really aware of the goings-on in her land until the crusader's army began to encroach upon her father's land. The reality hit home when her father was killed suddenly in a skirmish on the edges of his lands and Zahra found herself being spirited away amidst the panic that was over-taking her countrymen and woman. And her guardian? None other than one of the European knights her father had spared not two years before. With nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to, Zahra found herself travelling further and further away from home, towards cold and foreign lands.

Zahra Bint Akhtar al-Hashimi's Story