Kell
PUBLIC INFO:
Kell Patsakos is a local society lady, an heiress. Every year, tickets to her birthday party are sold for charity. The soiree is held all night at a Middle Eastern restaurant called "Shaherazaad". She endorses political candidates who support marijuana legalization and sponsors the local farmers' market.
Shaherazaad's Kell founded an unlikely group of culinary friends in Prospect. Hailing from different places in the Middle East and the U.S., they bring together cuisine from Algiers, Iraq, Israel, Turkey, Greece, and other places. They pooled their skills to create the progressive restaurant Shaherazaad's. Kell works there diligently from 4 am to 10 am.
Currently...
Two Sides Kell's personality is a tug-of-war between aspects that may be characterized as the Princess and the Gypsy. One side of her is deeply steeped in feudal hierarchy and autocracy. The other extolls freedom and equality. One side is duty-bound, diligent. One is hedonistic and free. One side is privileged and elaborate, the other, rugged and minimalistic. One lives in a fairy-tale world of peace and plenty; the other is haunted by war and violence and squalor. Where the two sides agree is in self-determination. She will not be another's vassal. She must rule, and she will have none at her side who do not truly wish to be there.
PERSONAL HISTORY: Dual Citizenship Kell's father Coron was Greek, and his wife, by arranged marriage, was American of Greek descent. The wealthy families trace their heritage to the region once called Sparta. Hidden When Kell was around five years old, civil unrest broke out. In desperation, Coron entrusted her to a family of Rom (Gypsies) who were also smugglers. With hair colored darker, no one looked twice at the girl. The arrangement was only supposed to be for a year but Coron was murdered. Kell remained with the Kumpania for almost a decade. During this time she lived, as they did, on meager scraps. She learned to ride a horse, and to play violin and busk for coins. She grew up believing she was bad luck because the other children were not allowed to touch her. Highborn Kell was eventually found, and forced to attend a school for girls. Her sole source of sanity was the local high society "Pony Club". Skill with horses begun amongst the Rom needed no improvement. By age 19, she was married (by arrangement, as her mother before her) to a wealthy man (again, of a family claiming to trace its roots back to ancient Sparta). Kell birthed two children. Then her husband found a younger, prettier girl and divorced her. To get custody of the children, he hired witnesses to claim that Kell had been unfaithful. Inheritance and Emigration Kell's mother Dictyna died soon after. By hiring top lawyers, Kell was able to claim the money that had belonged to her father. Her reputation in Greece was ruined, however. Feeling there was nothing left for her in 'the old country', she traveled to San Francisco where she became the protege of a kindly and respected man named Etienne.
