Taerlyn Byrne

"'With all due respect, your majesty? All my life, I've been doing what other people would want me to do, instead of what I wanted. And after everything that's happened, I honestly can't see myself in the Crownsguard anymore. So... I guess this is my resignation.' -Taerlyn, to Queen Aylanur after her rescue."Taerlyn Byrne is the wife of Arusa Homura, the stepmother of Andrea Homura, and the central protagonist of the second arc.

Biography
Taerlyn was born in Nmon Lau to Nainoxu, an Ursisan shopkeeper, and Lóegaire, a Scottish immigrant. Her parents had a strained relationship with each other and often competed with each other over Taerlyn and Vander's affection towards them. However, because the parents were more concerned with surpassing each other than actually watching over their children, Taerlyn grew much closer with Vander than either of her parents.

As a child, Taerlyn gained high scores in school but showed little to no ambition in life. She often spent her free time either playing the few video games in the house repeatedly or watching YouTube videos. She was barely seven when the Bombing of the Capital occurred, shaking the government up and prompting the Byrnes to move to Wales. When Taerlyn was nine, he moved back to Ursisa, which caused a great deal of friction between the two siblings and nearly broke their bond in half.

Throughout her teen years, Taerlyn showed high intelligence and was pressured by her mother to start college early. Though she finished High School with an Associate's Degree, Taerlyn felt a crushing sense of failure at not living up to her parents' expectations of her, and the pressure of having to be successful. When Taerlyn was nineteen, she had a mental breakdown and was unsure of what to do in her life. Vander invited her to come back to their homeland, which she reluctantly accepted, and she spent the next several months recovering with her brother. The two rekindled their old friendship, especially once Taerlyn realized that she and her brother had been abused throughout their childhood. Once she was able to work again, she dusted off her resume and applied for the Crownsguard. With a bachelor's degree beneath her belt, she was able to go through Crownsguard training in six months instead of nine and joined the ranks.

Taerlyn spent the next four years in the Crownsguard, showing skill and talent but never really advancing her station. When Taerlyn was assigned to watch over Arusa Homura for a few weeks, she found a kinship with the woman, especially after the woman she was supposed to be protecting dragged her out of the way of an out-of-control truck. By the time her shift was finished, the two had become quick friends. For the first time in her life, Taerlyn had something that she wanted.

Taerlyn began to spend more time visiting Arusa and her daughter, Andrea, bringing gifts and just helping around the house. She hit it off almost immediately with Andy, who loved the energy her mother's friend brought and especially the way that Taerlyn kept making her mama smile. By the second week, Taerlyn had a wardrobe set aside for her, because she often would head to Arusa's homestead before going home to her brother. This went on for several weeks, and the two grew much closer than either was used to.

One night, shortly after getting off her shift Taerlyn was abducted by Elizabeth Booker, the former Head Scientist of the Facility. The young Crownsguard was drugged and dragged back to a bombed-out factory that had never been repaired, where she was held for several weeks and horrifically tortured; Elizabeth was doing this partly to see if the SYR-M could be replicated in a shorter period of time, and partly as a sort of petty revenge against Arusa. When

Taerlyn was escorted to an intensive care unit where she remained for several weeks. At one point Arusa tried to come in to break off relations between them, but Taerlyn reacted to this idea very negatively, and she nearly had a panic attack at the idea of losing Arusa. Once Taerlyn was finally able to leave the hospital, she stayed with her brother for all of two days before Arusa asked her to move in with her and Andy. The three have lived together ever since.

Personality
Taerlyn has very little ambition in life, often coasting along with whatever life threw at her. Even in the Crownsguard, she merely did what was expected of her and little more. The most initiative she's been known to show is her relationship with Arusa, which she pursued despite Arusa's emotional unavailability and awkwardness in regards to her. She has very few close friends, though she has been described as a good acquaintance and there when people need her.

As a result of her parents' abuse, she is desperate for affection, and the few people she's close with have to contend with her high need for affection. She is very clingy, and when she doesn't receive the love she wants, she views it as a failure on her part and will throw herself into 'earning' the love of the people around her. This was only exacerbated by an abusive girlfriend she had a few years before meeting Arusa, who would withhold affection and even leave Taerlyn alone for days at a time, sending the young woman into a nervous wreck, before she would come back and act as though everything is normal. Even after being informed that her ex was cheating on her, she blamed herself for the woman's actions, and it took a mental breakdown for her to finally cut ties with the woman. She is currently receiving therapy for her issues and is slowly getting better.

Taerlyn is also very selfish, arguably more than any of the other protagonists. She will put what she wants and the people she loves over the lives of those around her. While she has made efforts to curb this behavior, there are still moments where she slips, such as one notable incident where she didn't want her wife to go help after an earthquake despite Arusa being the most likely person to survive and the most skilled rescue worker. Nowadays, she often donates blood and will put in long hours on the farm, due to the relative stability of Ursisa compared to other first-world countries.

Arusa
Taerlyn adores her wife, almost to an unhealthy degree, and is willing to go to great lengths to make her happy. She also values her wife's opinion over her own, and when the two disagree Taerlyn will often go back on what she believes in to gain Arusa's approval again. Arusa is unaware of how deeply this desire for approval runs and has on more than one occasion accidentally hurt Taerlyn deeply by leaving her for long periods of time without much explanation. Taerlyn also has a long-running jealous streak, and while she never voices this Arusa has noticed to a degree when Taerlyn becomes more clingy and possessive.

Andrea
Taerlyn is very close with her stepdaughter, in part due to the girl's acceptance of her odd quirks. Taerlyn has been described repeatedly as a mama bear in reference to Andy and does not take lightly to those threatening her. She is often the parent who goes to see the teachers, or who signs permissions slips, and as such has more familiarity with Andy's teachers. Taerlyn's high need for affection gels well with Andy's easy giving of affection, and it's not uncommon for the two to curl up on the couch together and watch a movie when Arusa is away.

Vander
While the two siblings had a strained relationship in their teen years, in the last five years the two have reconnected, and are very affectionate with each other. Vander is often described as his sister's keeper, and when she was going through emotional rough patches he was often there to pick her up. Likewise, she is very protective of her brother and does not take kindly to those who wish to push him around.

Trivia

 * Taerlyn has often been speculated to be a self-insert by the author, who has refuted this by saying that Taerlyn has a loving wife and a stable career.
 * Taerlyn's favorite color is a deep royal purple, her favorite book is The Borrowers, and her favorite food is Fish and Chips.