Tafa

Species: Yofu

Yofu Blue skinned, eyes on the side of her head,, looked away from a person by turning their face directly at them (so eyes turned away)

TVC 03/8, 10 First mention in book is as a slave on Challus' ship, along with Jeltor. Scars from manacles, collars. She and Jeltor were the only two surviving members of a raid on a passenger ship. The mercenary captain, a Shrillexian named Drakuz, had graciously offered to enslave them rather than leaving them to die in the wreckage.

Taken by Barnabas as an unknown, to be investigated when he had the time. Put in Pod-doc for healing, aboard Shinigami. Tafa Boreir was a problem. More accurately, she was a question. The more time she had to be alone with her thoughts, the more Barnabas saw images flashing through them—strange landscapes, stylized portraits, abstract splashes of color so vivid that he almost got the sense of music from them. When Tafa thought about what kind of a person Barnabas could be her mind was suddenly flooded with images of torture. The methods were very inventive and had the weight of old memories, not just imagination. She had seen these things done to people. “My aunt had my parents punished when I was young.” The images that accompanied this memory were brutally clear in Barnabas’ mind. “They weren’t executed until a few years ago, though.” Tafa had become an artist to make herself unworthy of notice. She had worked hard to make sure she was not a threat to Mustafee, and she had also spent a great deal of energy not thinking about the parents she couldn’t save.

A Yofu, a Boreir. Hates Mustafee Borier, and the feeling is mutual. Scrawny, an artist (painter) Her parents were a family embarrassment. They joined a group of troublemakers. A little terrorist group called the Hyo-Tein.” (No info available to Shinigami, so she knows that they were wiped off the map by the Boreir group.“They haven’t been around for decades at this point, because of her parents. Not that they wanted the group destroyed, no. But Boreir Group was particularly harsh because members of their family were involved. They’re the ones who got it classified as a terrorist group after they killed everyone. If you find stories about them, they’ll be the stories Boreir Group planted.”“Her mother’s parents were clerics,” the Jotun explained. “So I guess she had some ideas in her head about how the universe should work—and of course, then she fell in love with one of Mustafee Boreir’s brothers. Now, Gedden Boreir—that’s her father, you know wasn’t ever going to inherit. It was always Anafee, and her son after her. So I’ll bet he thought he could just do anything he wanted. Maybe he wanted to mess with his sister a bit. So he joins this group, and they start lobbying to disallow the sale of munitions to a few of the larger planets.He probably thought he was going to get a talking to. They didn’t bother. His mother told Mustafee to take care of it. It was a test; her first big test for her heir. Let’s just say he passed with flying colors.” But they kept Tafa alive?

Barnabas thought back to Tafa—earnest and defiant, cloaking her feelings in black humor and resolutely shoving away thoughts of her family. She had chosen to be a painter. What did that say? What did it say that she still tried to make something beautiful, even after her early experiences? He told her to stay around until after she had decided. "I'm of no use to you."

You don't have to be. The measure of a person isn’t how useful they are. With me, people don’t earn their lives, they earn their deaths. You’ve spent your whole life trying to be nothing, but you found beauty even in that. What could you do if you weren’t always looking over your shoulder? I think you should get a chance to answer that question.”

TVC 03/12 When Tafa bought paints, brushes, etc., the smells brought her back to a larger universe, that still held beauty.

TVC 03/30 Tafa wants to do a series of portraits of Barnabas in his moods, including when he is "dispensing justice". He doesn't think so!

TVC 05/01 Tafa and Gar want to learn more about Shinigami's capabilities as a ship, so Shinigami is allowing her (teaching her) to navigate, and to pilot.

TVC 05/12 Barnabas at first hadn't thought of adding Tafa to Shinigami's crew. she'd been useful, however, showing a talent for a surprising range of things from data manipulation to piloting. When Barnabas had returned to Helen’s workshop on Station 7 he’d found Tafa wedged into the compartment with the human mechanic, learning about the Shinigami’s internal workings and fixing a hose under Helen’s watchful eye.

TVC 06/05 Tafa's disguise on Jotuna: blue coveralls that had a respectable number of grease stains on them. She had gotten them on a nearby station, She now had a uniform that looked well-worn, with a name stitched on the chest: Kila. Had an implant so that she could speak silently to Barnabas.

TVC 06/7 Tafa’s parents had been part of a family that produced weapons and had worked toward peace—against the family interests. When she was young, they were taken away. The family held them in a prison far away and had them tortured for years until they finally died. Tafa had always known that the same could happen to her. Over the years, she had grieved her parents and sometimes resented them for their principles. After all, those principles had resulted in them being taken away, and in her living under the shadow of suspicion. She had begun to make her peace with it, but she felt like she’d spent her whole life learning to be boring and forgettable, and she’d gotten so good at it that her own relatives had failed to pay attention to her most of the time.