Hokulani Uilani Emerswing

Image Source: Jennifer Miller www.featherdust.com

Name: Hokulani 'Uilani' Emerswing

Species/Race: Gryphon

Height: 4'5" at the shoulders. 

Age: Youngish

Build: Wiry

Strengths:

• Eyesight - Being part eagle, Hokulani has eyesight so precise she can see the hairs move on her prey from up to three kilometres away.
• Excessive Flyer - Raised in a creche with other flying Narnians, Hokulani spent every day of her life] in the air. Many of her days were spent mastering the skies with her friend and creche-mate Éimhín the Owl (Éimhín), and then later with her mate Gizrich. Hokulani is an aerial acrobat which has saved her from many a scrape.
• Courageous - Even now Hokulani is a courageous and powerful ally in battle, throwing herself into any attack she can to protect her allies. 
• Geographic Knowledge - Having flown through much of the Lone Isles, Narnia and Calormen (by cloak of night), Hokulani is a pristine navigator who has intimate knowledge of the lay of the lands surrounding Narnia. 

Weaknesses:

• Grief - Hokulani lost her mate and their pup as they taught the pup to fly. Too close to Cair Paravel, Hokulani and Gizrich had made their roost overlooking the Castle that was prophesied as the hope of all Narnians. In that moment of hubris, Gizrich and Hokulani made their adolescent mistake. The hatching of their first pup had brought many joys for the new couple, but the wolves of the Secret Police were ever vigilant and in teaching their pup to take flight, Gizrich and the pup lost their lives, shot down by the Servants of the White Queen.
• Mate for Life: Gryphons are fiercely loyal to their mates. After losing Gizrich, Hokulani will never mate again. 
• Lame Paw - In the flurry of arrows which took her mate and pup, Hokulani's left hind paw was shot through with an arrow. Although mercifully not a poisonous arrow, the wound healed like her heart: with a painful scar. The once majestic creature walks with a limp when on the ground.
• Brash - Hokulani has a big beak and an even bigger mouth.

Allegiance: Loyal Narnian in Exile in the Lone Isles

Home: Hokulani wanders from ship to high mountain roosts as she finds them.

Special Skills: Navigation & Geographical Awareness - Hokulani has an innate ability to discover the lay of the land and best locate fresh water, roosting grounds, food and appropriate routes of entry, escape and battle fields both in the air and on the ground. In times where food, water and shelter are scarce, the ability to seek and find new places can be key. 

Weapons of Choice: Talons, hind legs & beak.

History: Hokulani 'Uilani' Emerswing was hatched in the mountainous region of the Lantern Wastes. Placed in a creche with other loyal Narnian flying creatures, including Éimhín the Owl, Hokulani lived a puppy-hood of open skies and shushed voices. She watched her parents and the other adults enter skirmishes, get taken by the Secret Police and flee to safer skies at the mere whisper of Aslan or Prophesies. Hokulani stood firm, as she always had and continued to keep the name of Aslan in the forefront of her mind. After all, she'd think to herself between gobbles of rabbits and dumb beasts, Aslan was the Great Lion and she herself had the body and powerful hind legs of a lion. It was fate. Hokulani would be there to save Narnia. Her offspring would touch grass and fly in warm summer winds. 

She travelled as was her want, taking work as a navigator and spotter on merchant ships across the seas. Having found her way South as far as Calormen, Hokulani watched the harbour of the Southern Men from the Crow's Nest and a curious shape arced across the sky. Down in the most unlikely of places another Gryphon flew toward her. In defence of her ship, Hokulani took to the sky and such a squabble! On and on they flew and dove until the combat became an intricate aerial dance. Gizrich came aboard the good ship Maasbane and the two Gryphons worked as navigators and protection for the merchants and their goods. 

Eventually falling in love, Gizrich and Hokulani mated as Gryphons do with a life long bond forged in affection and acceptance of their skills and needs. They left the ship only when it was time for Hokulani to roost. Perhaps the couple had been out of Narnia too long, for it had seemed the best of ideas to roost within sight of Cair Paravel. Upon the hatching of their pup Swiftwing, life felt a little bit warmer in their wintery roost. Yet, in teaching Swiftwing how to fly, the couple flew too near Cair Paravel and were shot down by the White Witch's loyal forces. Gizrich died taking those who had murdered his son with him, yet Hokulani was grounded by an arrow through her back paw. 

Fleeing to the Lone Isles, Hokulani has lost her spark and now searches for Eimhin to reconnect with her childhood friend and other loyal Narnians.