Name: Pinja Esposito

Sex: Female

Age: 18

Race: Human

Occupation or Trade: Formerly Seamstress Apprentice

Family (If any): Parents still living but chosen to no longer associate with them

Marital Status: Recently divorced

Possessions/Weapons: A red pony named Russ. But like many things, her horse was lost in the raid.

Strengths/Skills/Powers: Skilled dancer

Weaknesses/Flaws: Easily intimidated. Painfully shy. Afraid of most men, even those she know won't hurt her because she does not want to lead them on.

Appearance-
Hair: Blond - Update: Her hair had recently been unevenly cropped close to her skull. It is still growing back. She is now wearing a knit hat.
Eyes: Blue
Height/Weight: 5'2", 105 pounds

Updated appearance:
Pinja has scars on both cheeks- from the corner of her lips that extend almost to her ears. Because of these scars she tries to keep most of her face hidden. She also has many scars on her body- originally each scar was a rude word but Aalyssa had been able to make the letters less clear so the words are hard when not impossible to read. Not that Pinja would show off her scars to anyone.

Personality: Friendly, but very shy towards men. She had not always been so shy, though never forward, but Jack Hollihan has made Pinja almost afraid of men... Update: What Jack and his family did to her during the raid has sent her over the edge so she is terrified of all men, including the few she was friends with before the raid.

History:
Born to an upper class family Pinja had an easy life. After her debutante ball she had the eye of nearly every eligible man in or near Boville. There was no rush to marry so Pinja took her time getting to know several beaux, at 16 she was not serious about any but did like the attention. Jack Hollihan was just one of the young men she had danced with at several functions and Pinja had not considered him any more than any other man for marriage.

But Jack clearly had plans of his own for Pinja. With the help of a few friends and family Jack kidnapped Pinja and brought her to a cabin in the woods. A midwife who had served the Hollihan for generations was there. Pinja had an idea of what Jack intended to do to her, when she saw a woman at the cabin she hoped she would help her. But the midwife was only there to make sure Pinja was healthy and to tell her submit to Jack to avoid being hurt. Then the midwife left.

Jack's friends, who spent the following weeks guarding the cabin, brought in hot water and prepared a bath for her. A screen was set up in front of the tub and Jack presented Pinja with a fine dress. He told her to bathe and put on the dress. Pinja told him she wanted no gifts, only to go home. She told him that no damage had been done to her, not yet, and if he just let her go home she would tell no one that he had kidnapped her. Jack's face got hard and he told her if she did not bathe and change he would make her. Pinja bathed quickly and put on the dress. A fancy dinner had been prepared, Pinja could barely manage to pick at it. She tried to talk Jack into letting her go home, even offering to let him court her, but he would not hear of it.

After dinner Jack forced himself on her for the first time. Pinja pleaded with him to stop, tried to get away and even put up a fight. But Jack was much stronger than her, caught her at the door (which was locked anyways) strangled her and had his way with her when she regained consciousness. Jack kept up an illusion of romance while keeping Pinja a prisoner. He presented her with gifts, nice clothes, candies, flowers and the like. At first Pinja rejected the gifts, but that only made Jack angry and he would hurt her. Pinja learned to stop resisting Jack's advances because he hurt her less when she submitted. Jack's touch alone made Pinja feel ill but she was afraid to even tell him no.

After a month of this Jack took Pinja out of the cabin. Pinja thought about trying to escape but Jack's friends accompanied them and Pinja feared what he would do to her if she tried to get away. To Pinja's surprise Jack brought her home. Pinja had stopped asking Jack to let her go home weeks ago, she thought he was bringing her to another isolated location, or his own family home. When Pinja saw her parents she threw herself into her mother's arms, weeping. Pinja's father told her she did not need to cry because they had given him their blessing. It turned out that while Jack was holding her in the cabin, raping her, his family had been negotiating with her own parents for her marriage.

Pinja's mother went with Pinja to her room to try on a wedding dress. Pinja told her mother she couldn't marry him, didn't want to marry him, that he had kidnapped and raped her for weeks. Pinja's mother told her coolly that was why she had to marry him, not only was she no longer a virgin she was probably pregnant. If she did not marry him she would be ruined, no respectable man would want to marry a woman who already had a child not his own. Besides, relatives were coming from far away to attend her wedding. They could not be disappointed. Pinja saw no way out of it, she numbly went through the wedding ceremony.

The wedding took place in winter, during the reception it began to snow. Pinja noticed the snowing and thought how she would rather freeze to death tonight than to live as Jack's wife. Pinja excused herself to use the privy, with his ring on her finger Jack no longer suspected that Pinja would want to escape and let her leave the party alone. Instead of going to the privy Pinja wandered outside without even a shawl against the cold, wearing only her wedding dress and jewelery. Pinja found herself at her family's stable. Pinja had enjoyed riding when she was younger, she had little time for riding since her debut. But she remembered how to saddle her favorite mount, a pony named Russ. Russ was small but high spirited and loved running in the snow which was turning into a blizzard. Pinja realized that she did not want to die if she did not have to, but she was not going to be Jack's wife.

Pinja rode to Buckley Village and checked into the inn. Pinja sold her jewelery and wedding dress to pay for her room at the inn and more practical clothes. Pinja had only planned on staying in Buckley until the snow cleared but her ride in the blizzard had given her bad frostbite driving Pinja to see the village's healer and forced her to stay in Buckley Village long after it was safe to travel. The healer, a young woman named Difyr, probably noticed the fading bruises on Pinja's wrists and had to know that Pinja was running from something merely by the fact that she rode in a blizzard, but did not pry. Pinja needed to visit the healer several times for treatment of the frostbite, during one visit Difyr unknowingly touched a mark Jack had left on Pinja's shoulder. Difyr could not pretend to not notice Pinja's reaction and asked what it was. Pinja was ashamed but bared her shoulder so the healer could see the mark. It was what Jack had called a 'love bite' which had broken the skin and Pinja realized it had begun the fester. As Difyr treated the wound Pinja told her everything, from Jack kidnapping her, what he did to her, the marriage and running away. Difyr was sympathetic, promised to keep her secret but suggested that she speak to the local guard who could protect her if Jack showed up. Pinja doubted that the guard would be on her side, besides that she was too ashamed and did not want anyone else to know.

It turned out that Jack did not get Pinja pregnant, much to Pinja's relief. Difyr told Pinja that there could be many explanations for why she did not get pregnant, all that Pinja cares is that she did not wind up with Jack's child. Pinja does not think she would ever get close to a man, that few good ones would want her after what Jack did to her, and she feared ever getting close to one, so whether or not she can have children is not worth worrying about.

Pinja wound up staying in Buckley Village long after her frostbite had healed. She liked it there. But after she began to feel safe and think about finding a trade and making Buckley Village her home Jack showed up. Elena Buckley met him in the inn's lobby before he could find Pinja, he asked after Pinja but Elena refused to give him information even though she did not know the situation. After he left Elena warned Pinja that Jack was looking for her. Pinja wanted to run away but Elena persuaded her to go to the Healer's cottage, where Pinja always felt safe. While there Elena and Difyr persuaded her to speak with Captain Spenser about Jack. After Pinja told Captain Spenser about Jack she was surprised that he wanted to protect her, and even speak to the magistrate about the possibility of annulling her marriage since she was coerced.

But after Captain Shawn left Pinja began to have second thoughts, she was afraid someone would get hurt if they tried to arrest Jack. Pinja went looking for Jack and found him trying to kidnap another girl, Millie Gerthrim. Pinja promised Jack that she would honor her vows if he would let the girl go. Jack agreed he would let Millie go as soon as they were free of the village. They went to the inn's stables where Jack made Pinja tie Millie up in a stall so she would not cause him trouble. Jack then brought Pinja to another stall but was interrupted by Captain Spenser. Pinja did not want anyone to get hurt and convinced Jack to let the Captain take Millie and the Captain to leave Jack alone. Pinja and Jack rode out of the village and set up camp after the horses had nearly been ridden to exhaustion. Jack had Pinja change into a skimpy negligee and was about to consummate their marriage when he was interrupted again, this time by a wicked woman named Galina. It turned out that Jack was not kidnapping Millie for himself, but for Galina who had a grudge against Millie's mother. Because Jack had let Millie go Galina took Pinja from him. Galina was not rescuing Pinja from further abuse, she took Pinja for her followers to use, evil sadistic men. Shawn managed to rescue her, but it was traumatic.
Pinja became friends with Millie and began helping Millie in her shop. Millie was teaching Pinja how to become a seamstress.

Update: The raid on Buckley Village was Jack and his family taking revenge on Pinja and those who helped her- mainly the Spensers. Jack and many of his men captured Pinja in Millie's shop. Jack and his family spent days torturing her- mutilated her face, carved words into her flesh with scissors, had their way with her, dehumanized her. Despite all the abuse it was evident that the raiders did not want Pinja to die- they fed her and poured water down her throat so she would survive until a search party came to the ruins. When Pinja was rescued no raider tried to stop them.
Difyr and Aalyssa healed her as best they could though Pinja is still badly scarred physically and emotionally. She felt so guilty about what happened to the other victims she starved herself. She only was able to make herself eat when she realized that Jack was going to do to another girl what he had done to her and she wanted to stop it. She convinced Aalyssa to take her to Jack's cabin- Pinja was the only one who knew how to find it. With the help of a few knights that accompanied them Jack was stopped and the girl was rescued. Pinja was so weak that it was thought her trip to Jack's cabin would kill her, but helping to rescue that girl made Pinja want to live again.
Pinja was brought back to Difyr's healing room. She wanted to live, to eat to build her strength back- but she had trouble keeping down broth, just the smell made her feel sick. Aalyssa examined Pinja and discovered that the raiders made Pinja pregnant.