"A girl named for finding home, yet feeling without one, agile and quick yet with stubborn resolve, always hoveringly poised, and yet mildly bashful, her demeanour is like the turning of the moon, stable and yet changing, torn and yet whole, perfectly equanimous and yet ever-confused."

About

Her name is Kümisay (Күмісай), meaning silver moon in Kazakh. She is very fond of her name, which her grandmother gave to her. However, she also has a nickname, Kümi (Күми), which is what Shams calls her.

When Kümisay was born, her grandmother was in the hospital, which she had to travel very far to reach. In an unknown place, looking out through the window, the only familiar and comforting sight she could see was the pale, strangely bright full moon. And so, she resolved that she would name her first granddaughter after it. Her name, thus, was born from finding home in somewhere unfamiliar. Later, in her teenage years, when she heard the story, she loved the name even more.

Her family is originally from Katonkaragay District in East Kazakhstan. However, a long time ago, when her parents were young, they moved to Almaty to attend the KazNMU medical school. Despite this, she loves the nature and the mountains above all else, the Southern Altai Mountains are very beloved to her.

As a child, she was bright, intelligent and curious, however she was shy and would feel very uneasy with people who she did not know. When she first started attending school, she would sometimes hide in the bathroom and cry. One of the reasons for her nervousness was that her school taught partially in Russian while she could only speak Kazakh.

However, over the years, she gained confidence, and eventually developed a talent for speaking persuasively, partially due to her mild demeanour, which makes her seem calm and innocent. Still, she never ended up extroverted, and prefers to be alone, or with the select few who she cares for and trusts.

She loved to visit Katonkaragay District, where her grandmother taught her to make tea, and her grandfather to ride horses. To this day, when she looks at the mountains, she thinks of them.

In the mountains, her quiet and graceful persona changed entirely. While in Almaty she is beautiful, in the mountains she is fast and skilled. She knows the place well, all the trails and rivers, all the valleys and the trees, how to care for the horses and find the plants and how everything changes in the turning of the years. She loves to run and ride and climb, to swim in cold rivers and to play in the snow. She disappears for hours on end, exploring and looking at the animals, and can always make her way home.

This side of her would be unimaginable for most of her friends and teachers in the city.

In the city, she topped her class in many subjects, and was talented at art as well. She aspired to be a doctor, or if she does not get the grades, then a scientist. However, her parents never pushed her to follow in their footsteps, she just loved medicine and admired her parents’ care. Her parents often taught her about medicine, especially her mother, who was a paediatrician, which she especially loved. She was always proud, growing up, to announce her parents' professions. However, despite her love for paediatrics, she was naturally inclined to be more talented at surgery. Her seriousness, determination and precision complemented the career very well. So did her quick fingers, which made her brilliant at playing instruments and drawing.

As she grew older, however, from speaking Russian and English daily and living a highly urban lifestyle, she began to grow nervous about being disconnected from her home. While she liked to identify with Katonkaragay District and introduce herself as being from there, eventually she felt like she was only pretending. And as much as she loved her grandmother, she had not seen her in a long time. Despite being her grandmother’s favourite, she began to believe she was not, as her distance made her grandmother’s care less obvious, and her cousins seemed so close to her grandmother, always being physically there.

Gradually, she began to feel divided between the two worlds, the world of Almaty, of her parents and their medicine, of expectations and of school, and the world of Katonkaragay, of horses and mountains and the wide open skies. While loving both, they both began to feel like different versions of herself, what feels to her as the future her parents love and the past her grandmother cared for.

Her personality is very calm, kind and hospitable. She is open with those she knows well, but with those she is unfamiliar with, she is quiet, sweet and modest. Her voice cannot help itself but sound very melodious, crisp and sincere.

Her mannerisms are extremely graceful and beautiful. Hence, my own motto, "forever in a state of youthful equanimity," applies to her. Indeed, her equanimity is moon-like and radiant.

The only disruption to this equanimity is her stubbornness. While she is not argumentative or angry in any regard, she does not lose her convictions to her extraordinary mildness. She is obedient, but not to those who are cruel, and she is loving, but not at the expense of her kindness and morals. She is willing to endure pain before causing others pain, but will not do something she believes is wrong if she is commanded to.

In arguments, her stance can become unwaveringly passive. She listens and never raises her voice, seemingly conceding, while quickly and privately refusing to change and deciding what’s best for her. Therefore, she may disregard others' advice in secret, while seeming extremely polite to their face. In fact, she can be extremely upset and hurt by someone, but not show it whatsoever, and act equally as kind to them when she meets them.

She is very healthy and in good shape. She is tall, slender, flexible and a fast runner and strong horse rider. Her fingers, as previously mentioned, are precise and agile. She loves to drink tea, often while reading. Her guilty pleasure is Shirchay, which reminds her of her grandmother and of home.

She is very fussy about Shirchay, however, and dislikes the taste of it made by anyone else. Hence, most people do not know she likes it, as she only ever drinks it made by her own or her family’s hands.

She has dyed hair and contacts, which annoys her parents immensely. While she doesn’t mind how she looks naturally, she simply likes looking how she does as she prefers it, and does not feel she needs a reason beyond that.

Trivia

If she was a dog, she would be an Afghan Hound.

She reminds me somewhat of Shirin from Khosrow and Shirin.

Her style of speaking is so eloquent, melodious and lyrical that she has been hailed by her teachers as a gifted poet since childhood.

I feel like she would enjoy Alyosha Gorshok, Kholstomer and Smert Ivana Ilyicha by Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy as well as many short stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

She would definitely like the feeling of cool breeze in her face and hair, and the sound of wind, sort of like the swishing of a tennis racquet.

She has a very good musical ear and artistic eye in terms of composition and harmony. She knows how to arrange things to evoke immense emotion.

Her motto is my motto from the first half of Year 10: "Forever in a state of youthful equanimity." About

Her name is Shams (شمس), meaning sun in Arabic. The reason for this name is because when she was born, her father was reading Surah Ar-Rahman and was up to Verse 5: "The sun and the moon travel with precision." Her nickname in my head is Shamsi (شمسی).

She is simply from Lahore, Pakistan. She grew up in the Old City, with a chaotic upbringing, of running around on the streets and in random houses playing chupan chupai with all the children, and jumping on the roof trying to catch kites. She was highly skilled at this, catching hundreds and never needing to buy one in her life. As a result of her upbringing she is skilled socially and street smart.

She is extremely observant and intelligent, however she acts very warm rather than calculative. She seems like a slightly reserved yet calm and charismatic girl. She dresses in a masculine manner (which some people tried and failed to tease her for), and likes warm clothes, regardless of the true temperature. She has an extremely freakishly high heat tolerance.

She is secretly and constantly pacing back and forth with a cigarette, daydreaming, despite the fact that she knows it might kill her before she turns 50. She secretly loves mangos and mango juice.

Trivia

If she was a dog she would be a Samoyed dog.

Coincidentally, her name is the same name as the album that has Ras Alsanna by Nabeel, my favourite song while writing this.

Her favourite book would be Bratya Karamazovy by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky if she were to read it. She would also probably like political satires and old plays, and unironically laugh at them. I feel like she would find Sobachye serdtse by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov absolutely hilarous.

Her personality reminds me somewhat of Andre-Louis Moreau from Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution by Rafael Sabatini and Ramiz Rafi "Ramy" Mirza from Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang.

Her favourite type of mango juice is Shezan mango juice (the bottles, not the juice boxes) but I feel like she might also enjoy the Saudi mango juice called Santé Alphonso Mango Juice. She would also love shaved ice with the mango and milk.

If you really jumpscared her, she might shriek a little bit and even jump or fall backwards.

She is very interested in the French Revolution, and revolutions in general.

She cares little for her health and buys semi-toxic food from random street vendors.

Her motto is my motto from the second half of Year 10: "Die and be born anew."

Both these characters are extremely personal and dear to me, an extension of myself and those who I love. For this reason, please treat them with love and care. Thank you!