Clara the Donkey

long-suffering Clara among the orphans

Of all the livestock in Elothnin, none has more character and cleverness than Clara the donkey. Unfortunately, being a donkey and all, Clara has been virtually unable to share her wit and charm with those around her. Confined to a life as a pack animal under the charges of comparatively squishy and weaker creatures than herself, Clara has taken joy in comfort in tiny acts of rebellion, such as dragging poor Lem around by his pants.

Clara spent most of her life in the Fethil, being traded from farmer to farmer for a few acres of land here or several pigs there. Eventually, one farmer traded her to his wife's cousin's brother-in-law. He was a religious sort of man who rode her down to Perejin where he founded an orphange for children who had lost their parents to the Border Wars. Why he decided to found it in Perejin and not the Fethil (which had more orphans in both absolute and relative terms) was never explained to Clara and always irked her.

After being forced to bear the brunt of the work during the construction of this orphange, Clara spent 10 or so years milling around it. She was content with this, since she had little work to do save carry a few of the grubby children around the courtyard every now and then. But all good times come to an end, and Clara was sold to Bess Crabblenathy during a period when money was short.

Clara could not have been happier to get out of Crabblenathy's clutches, even if it meant dealing with two dimwits trying to ride her all the way to Susselfen. Clara hated the stables she was forced into, the lack of sunlight and fresh air, and most of all she hated being left in the company of horses (creatures notoriously lacking senses of humor).