by etony33 » Tue Feb 14, 2017 3:42 am
In Sari's case, I think quite a bit of her backstory and personality was implied more than it was explicitly stated.
Rhys left Landen and married a Layan. There was no descendant of Orakio to become King of Landen. Lena was heartbroken, and she died young, leaving Sari on her own. Satera was, in all likelihood, destroyed by the time Ayn meets Sari (we know it was destroyed by the third generation, and we also know that Lune started a war with the Orakians in either timeline), leaving her mother's kingdom in shambles. When Ayn arrives in Landen, it is a ghost town, though it isn't clear whether the people were gone, or whether they were simply hiding.
Anyway, Sari was, by all accounts, very bitter (and with good reason), and also very strong, as she had to essentially assume the King's role. When she sees Ayn, the son of the turncoat who abandoned his kingdom, come into Landen castle with the Orakian cyborgs, she loses it and wants to kill Ayn.
After getting to know Ayn, she falls in love with him, and absolutely hates herself for it. If Ayn marries Thea, she was probably doubly heartbroken, but she still does a great job of rebuilding Landen, and by the time Sean arrives with the terrible news about Ayn and Thea's fate, she has developed a softer side and better understands what is going on.
If Ayn marries Sari, Sari likely has very high expectations for Crys, because if she could succeed despite having (by all accounts) a pretty awful life, Crys had damn well better be successful as well.