Helena
Relationships
History
Matas was initially designated as Helena's primary mentor and caretaker, since he speaks a fair amount of Polish and was the closest in cultural understanding. Artur and Fabia also speak Polish reasonably well, but Artur obviously wasn't an option when they first found Helena. Fabia already had her hands full mentoring both Matas and Katherine and was really thrown for a loop and needed to consider how they were going to handle the addition of an 8-year-old to the group. Since Matas had already lost his position as youngest more than a year ago and Helena was a literal child in need of help, he didn't feel threatened by her as he did by Katherine. Therefore, he was perfectly alright with showing Helena around for the first two months, before she adopted Artur (something Matas wholly sympathised with). Helena quite likes Matas, since he was both kind to her and pretty much just let her do whatever she wanted as long as it didn't put anyone at risk - and the list of things that were considered risky had suddenly become much smaller, compared to life before.
History
Faruq, somewhat to his own shame, is thrilled by Helena's facility to pick up a new language thanks to her age. Helena doesn't yet understand why being able to pick up new languages is so interesting to Faruq, but she likes the attention and is happy to help as long as attention span lasts. Faruq enjoys Helena's cheerfulness. He is occasionally prone to melancholy, and it makes him smile to see her running around the place. Helena quite likes Faruq, the attention he gives her and most of the games he comes up with for her (although most of them are just adapted things, with a few games remembered from childhood).
History
Helena is a little wary of Geneviève as her brazen manner and sharp sense of humor are difficult for a child to understand. Although Geneviève is very kind to Helena, the playful sniping with Matas and the way she can dissolve a conflict by drawing the attention to herself with an insult, appear as abrupt switches to meanness to Helena. Hence Helena views Geneviève with some suspicion and is quick to make herself scarce in situations similar to the above, worried about becoming a "target". All of the immortals are still completely oblivious to this (except Artur who has only just noticed) since like many children, Helena can easily disappear without a trace. Geneviève feels an intense mix of mild panic about how to handle the addition of an immortal child while the group is already kind of in turmoil, and fierce love especially since Helena decided to adopt Artur. Geneviève would never say this to Matas, because it would hurt his feelings, but to Faruq she quietly rejoices in forming the "Artur's kids" group with Helena. It makes Faruq laugh and he teases her about abandoning him as a peer and really, she should join him as an "old one" since she is now one of the mentors too. Geneviève purposefully ensures she is kind and keeps her comments in check when talking to Helena, because she does notice that Helena is wary of her. Since Helena's wariness seems to have increased rather than decreased though, she's not quite sure how to approach her now. From Helena's perspective this is because any extra kindness shown is suspect in light of what she views as Geneviève being mean on other occasions. For now, Geneviève is content to let Helena follow Artur around and figures that she should just give it some time without trying to push.
History
When everyone woke up in a different location one morning, with dreams of Helena, Fabia was alarmed. For some reason it had never even occurred to her that any of the immortals might show up while still a child. To be sure, Helena wasn't technically in physical danger, but the thought that Helena wouldn't understand well enough to hide her new ability and be captured with who knew what consequences made Fabia's blood run cold. "We bloody well have enough traumatised youngsters on our hands as it is," as she put it to Artur. This confusion and alarm were compounded by Helena's extremely quick appearance after Katherine. Fabia rapidly organised a search, determined to find the child as quickly as possible. After Artur's less than successful attempt to introduce himself, Fabia set about coaxing Helena out of her new hiding spot. It proved a little easier than expected. Some older children had spotted Helena and were in the process of cornering her, when Fabia told them in no uncertain terms to sod off. Being very scared, not to mention hungry and cold by this point, Helena was convinced of Fabia's good intentions (despite Fabia's rusty and extremely archaic Polish) and came along. Even though Artur is Helena's chosen parental figure, the sight of Fabia standing in that alley and telling those kids to clear off before turning to Helena, radiating nothing but calm and kind strength, glows warmly in Helena's chest whenever she thinks of it. To Helena, Fabia is almost a distant figure - too high up to be someone you really interact with, something that is reinforced in her view by Artur deferring to Fabia. Although she does sometimes attempt to play the "but Artur didn't say I had to" card to Fabia, this is inevitably answered by Fabia with "Artur listens to me" (and backed up by Artur if he happens to hear, although secretly it makes him laugh every time). Fabia for her part is careful to always include Helena in the group, realising well that Helena should be an equal member even if she might always remain immature in some respects. Being originally from the medieval period, she doesn't really have a modern perception of children anyway, she quite possibly considers Helena halfway to adulthood already. Yet she's fine with Helena sticking mostly to Artur for support at the moment, as long as she also learns from the others as needed. Since that's also encouraged by Artur, she doesn't foresee any problems. Anyway, seeing Artur moving along with Geneviève next to him and Helena atop his shoulders is truly the cutest thing, as far as Fabia's concerned.
History
Katherine doesn’t quite know what to do with Helena, she’s still so off-kilter herself, even after a year and a half. Also, Helena is an upsetting proof that war will break out in Europe relatively soon after The Great War again, with little context provided and no information about how it will end. Nor does Katherine feel comfortable around children anymore, having spent the last few years avoiding them as a painful reminder of being not only later than most other girls in becoming engaged, but especially the loss of the hopes and dreams she and her fiancé had. For her part, Helena doesn’t find Katherine particularly interesting so far due to her standoffishness. She doesn't understand the way Katherine seems to look up to Geneviève or the frigid relations with Matas, both of which Helena finds suspicious. Artur, Fabia and Faruq are all well-disposed towards Katherine though, so there's curiosity as well rather than complete dismissal. Besides, Helena isn't naturally disposed to disliking people but until Katherine engages a bit more, Helena has plenty of other people to amuse herself with.
History
Artur being blond, male, and approaching her while speaking German did not make a good first impression on Helena, as her frame of reference for that category of person was "Nazi invader". So once Fabia had persuaded Helena to come with her to their residence, Helena half hid behind her as Artur was introduced. Artur had simply smiled his warm, broad, crinkly-eyed smile at her and left it at that. Perhaps it was because he looked like a threat but, upon consideration, didn't act like one that Helena became immensely curious about Artur. She watched him closely whenever he was around and would abandon Matas to sneak after him, determined to discover whether Artur was the same when he didn't know she was watching him or secretly nefarious after all. She watched him looking after their mountain ponies; tell scandalously brazen lies to their neighbours; train with Fabia, Geneviève, and Faruq; mend items and tools and the fences of the residence; knock down a man who threatened a beggar; and give the beggar their food (Matas grumbled about this until Artur joked that Matas that could come get his revenge once he found a way to starve to death). And so, quietly, Helena stopped keeping her distance from Artur. He was always full of smiles for her, ready to help when she was too small or too weak. She liked the feeling of his hands when he first took one of hers in his, when he lifted her onto a high branch she couldn't reach, when he spun her through the air until she shrieked with laughter. She stopped watching him in secret whenever she abandoned Matas and approached him instead. Artur would turn and smile and beckon her over, and she would follow him for the rest of the day or until he had some task she couldn't accompany. From the moment Artur had seen Helena standing in the street, scared and confused, more than just an alarming dream to him, he had felt such fury erupt in his chest at the world. He was no stranger to the dead children who were war collateral in every century, but the fact that it was still happening and now, apparently, in such numbers that even an immortal showed up as a child (putting her at risk of yet more trauma) infuriated him beyond measure. But Artur was no longer young and had spent his life finding his own way to deal his revenge to such cruelty. So he welcomed Helena with open arms and when she started to seek his company, gave her all the attention she wished. To his delight, she was bright and cheerful and funny. She quickly captured his heart and seemed to enjoy his company equally well. Artur encourages Helena to spend time with the others as well, to try things out for herself. They're all still very much figuring out how to introduce a child to the concept of immortality and the skills they've built. But so far, Artur figures the main idea is to get her through the first few years in a reasonable mental state and let her figure out she's safe with all of them.
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