Zara Niikhavod - District 7

The first thing you'd notice about her is her smile. It shouldn't even be considered a mouth anymore, it's almost always just a smile. She has almost no muscle tone, and is very thin and wiry. She weighs about 125, and is about 5'8" tall. Her brown eyes match her hair, which, when down, goes to the middle of her back. She enjoys cool weather, and even in that, prefers to wear light clothes, and gets hot easily. She enjoys wearing leather occasionally, especially for boots, and owns a few different pairs of almost knee-high leather boots.

For being a bit of an out-doors person, her skin still stays light and young, but she does sunburn occasionally. Her hair, when undone, is thick, wild, and goes wherever it wants to, so unless she's alone, she usually keeps her hair up behind her head. Her face, as said before, is nearly almost just a big grin, as though life was some kind of comedy show, but behind her eyes, she holds a secret. Something that very few know.

Zara's one true passion in life is music. She's almost always happy, yes, but music is the only thing which can calm, sooth, and re-assure her. After her mother was executed by peacekeepers for allegedly being outside the district fences, Zara ran until she was alone and played her precious violin for hours on end; then her father found her asleep under a tree, clutching her instrument like it was her own soul.

She has never really 'dated' anyone before, but like most 13-15 year old girls, she has spent many hours sitting outside the school after it had ended pointing out boys and giggling with her friends. After her mother died though (when she was 14), it stopped, and she never bothered with boys much again. Mainly because before her mother was executed, the peacekeeper condemning her to death said some sexist things about women that were many and cruel. Since then, Zara has assumed most males thought that they were superior over women, which angered her greatly.

She tries hard not to seem stiff or artificial, because even when she seems so very ecstatic, inside her mind, she can't forget some terrible things. But on most days she can get out of bed, and jog down the street of her hometown and lie to herself that everything is okay. And, oddly, it works.

Zara's skills are limited, but handy. First, she can climb any existing thing that can hold her weight (which isn't much). Second - after using them for months on end, Zara began to experiment throwing hatchets just for the heck of it. After a couple of weeks, she had nearly mastered the skill, and enjoys throwing hatchets at trees in her backyard in the waning hours of the day. Thirdly, she has a useful knowledge of plants. Her father took her on a 2-week away-from-home logging trip to a far edge of District 7, where, when not working, he taught her which plants were edible, and which were not. Which animal print left claws, and which didn't. Which ones will lead you to water, and so on. A fourth minor skill/hobby is wood working. Zara enjoys carving little things out of wood with a jackknife, and has even made a few District Tokens for the tributes of 7.

Zara's violin, isn't anything specially made, but musical instruments were incredibly rare. Zara and her father Matthew made a deal one day - he would make her a violin out of wood, and she would work and save her money until she could order strings from District 1. it took nearly 6 months, but since then, and since Matthew taught her how to play the violin as his mother taught him, she has never regretted it in any way. If she had to, she would go back and re-live the days she spent with a hatchet, carving bark off of logs and helping with little things here and there for money many times over again. After her father taught her how to play, she took off and began to compose her own pieces and put common poems to music.

She received her violin fully assembled by her father on her 14th birthday, and it left her only 5 months to learn and play for her mother before she died. She dreams of living outside the fence someday. Inside her, a very rebellious and free spirit, most likely from her mother, longs to be outside, in the woods, away from Panem, forever.

Zara has only her brother Mark and her father Matthew for family. They live in a mid-sized 2-story home, where Zara spends rainy days up in her room looking out the window, and every other type of day outside doing anything and everything. There was a rumor that the Niikhavod name held a victor, many years ago, but none believe it. Zara's brother spends little time at home, and lives a very quiet, personal life. He has his own story to tell......

Well......this is my first female character, and I like it!
Last name pronounced NEEK-HAVE-ODD