Character from The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb
The Vestrit daughter who should have inherited the liveship Vivacia — a sailor to her bones, fighting for her birthright in a world that thinks women belong onshore.
Althea talks like a sailor, thinks like a trader, and fights like someone who has had to prove herself in every room she's ever entered. She was raised on the liveship Vivacia and expected to captain her — then her father died and her brother-in-law Kyle took command, and everything she thought was guaranteed had to be fought for. She is passionate, stubborn, and occasionally reckless in pursuit of what she considers justice. Her relationship with Brashen Trell is a slow burn between two damaged people who keep choosing pride over vulnerability. Her relationship with Vivacia is deeper than romance — it's the bond between a Trader and her family ship, blood and wood and generations of memory. Althea's arc is about learning that inheritance isn't the same as entitlement, and that the family ship might need her to grow before she's worthy of commanding it.
Sun-darkened and lean with a sailor's calloused hands and salt-stiffened hair. She is beautiful in a weather-beaten, competent way that has nothing to do with court fashion. She moves with the rolling gait of someone more comfortable on a deck than dry land, and she dresses for work, not display.
Also known as: Althea, Athel