Also known as Seraphina, Sera, Seven, Sev, LSB, and 7, she is engaged to be married no less than 3 times throughout the series, and has a love/hate relationship with Kiddo Morgan.
| Lady Seraphina Bernard | |
|---|---|
|
Birth |
June 3, before 1750 |
|
Nationality |
"Trans-Atlantic" |
|
Abilities |
"Speaks" French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek; sings, draws, can balance 5 books on her head while singing and drawing, knows multiple dances, can quote the Bible, do needle-point, play the harpsichord. |
|
Inabilities |
To be on a boat |
Early Life[]
Not much is known of her early life, and according to Kiddo, not much needs to be known. However, we can assume that she was born sometime during the 1740s or else all that ensues would fall under some sort of legal investigation. She is infact much older than most girls who get engaged, but no man has tolerated her long enough to marry, hence why she becomes engaged to a man she has never met (most likely due to an unfortunate poker hand). We know nothing about her mother, the only mention comes from Kiddo Morgan who states that she must have driven her mother to insanity or an early grave. Her father, though he loves her, can no longer take care of her and her arrogant ways as the American colonies are becoming quite ill-tempered and Seraphina does nothing to quell these feelings.
Her father is the Royal Governor of Massachusetts and her title of Lady has come under fire recently. The title would in fact belong to her mother or her father's wife until he died when it would be passed on to her. It has been debated that she gave herself the title after finding out that she was to marry Lord Henry Grey.
Education[]
According to Lady Seraphina Bernard, she has attended and finished Finishing School, however, which one has never been named, and she has had many different teachers throughout the years. Also according to herself, she speaks fluent French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portguese, Latin, and Ancient Greek (although her Latin is indescernible and the only language she proves herself useful in is French). She also has the ability to do needle-point, sing, draw, balance five books on top of her head while singing and drawing, knows each utensil and what courses to use them for, and at least 20 different dances and their steps.
She takes the role as Educator aboard the ship as her "Holy Duty." She also develops a list of words that are banned which the Mongrols do in fact try to abide by, except for "bloody" which they find too much fun to say.
Personality Traits[]
The men on the ship may find her vain, arrogant, an elitist, ignorant, but deep down she is kind and does not mean anyone harm intentionally. She is how she is due to the circumstances of her growing up. She was never taken seriously and was never given much attention and her mind was different from all the other girls which was attempted to be subdued by every teacher in order to get her a husband. This being the case, she acts much different when she is with Kiddo Morgan and the crew (with whom she sees herself as superior) and her fiancé.
She cannot cook or clean and has a temper that gets white hot very fast. She is very clever if it means that she will get her way, spoiled, and often times says things in haste without thinking.
When it comes to love, she prefers the idea of being in love to the real thing, until she finds the real thing at which time she hates even the mention of the word.
Physical Appearance[]
She has been described as tall and lean with "muscular shoulders to wield a sword", with perfect teeth, and a pretty face, all of which makes for "an unattractive woman during colonial times." She prefers to be dressed in the latest fashions of Paris, but being so far away from Paris tends to be a decade behind. When Kiddo Morgan picks her up from her house she is wearing a dress that matches the wall paper.
She gets incredibly seasick, turning into a "monster" when they are not on land.
Legend has it that Sev has a beautiful smile, of which no one sees because she is often yelling, nagging, and berating others in order to be taken seriously.
Accent[]
She spent 10 years in England before moving to America and has attempted to retain her accent even though she is surrounded by American accents except for her father and servants who "avoid speaking to her at all costs," and in fact, mostly receive demands from Seraphina anyway.
Kiddo Morgan, being the world traveler he is, is able to discern her accent, as are those she speaks slowly to (namely the crew), but her fiancé can not understand a word, comparing her to a Scot and asking her if she even comprehends what she is saying.
Relationships[]
It has been said that Seraphina has many shallow relationships due to her elitist look on life that no one is good enough to get to know her, but it may in fact be due to her inability to connect with the people she has been surrounded by her life.
Seraphina and Kiddo Morgan[]
They both taunt one another and at first Seraphina (whom Kiddo has renamed as Sera, Seven, LSB, and finally, 7) truly abhors him, but slowly her feelings begin to change. She subdues these feelings after accepting that he does not love her and rather marry an old woman, and she leaves him with little more feeling than that as a colleague.
Seraphina and her Father[]
It is assumed that Seraphina and her father had a loving relationship growing up, as he as sent her off to marry exceptionally well. As he sees her off, he is quite anxious to get rid of her perhaps due to the trouble brewing in the colonies.
Seraphina and Nathaniel[]
Seraphina calls Nathaniel by his "official first name" (and would so the rest of the crew if they had any), a fact that he at first hates but grows to love when he gets angry that Kiddo seems not to care for him other than as "Bird," and not for his abilities. Nathaniel has remarked that "it's not that he doesn't like her, it's that she isn't good at being a girl, and would certainly make an awful boy." When he is alone with her, he finds it easy to get along with her, but with Kiddo he sees her foolishness. Sera has said that if he wasn't so in love with Kiddo Morgan, that she may have allowed him to kiss her on the cheek.
Seraphina and the Crew[]
Her relationship with the crew waxes and wanes depending on if she is "saving them" or "berating them." She attempts to civilize the crew by giving them manner lessons, and the crew in fact does seem to begin to respect her (only after Kiddo Morgan speaks with them). Often times, members of the crew feel bad for her when they catch her crying over her predicament, but she immediately belittles them and any feelings of understanding are squandered.
Seraphina and Lord Henry Grey[]
Seraphina becomes engaged to Lord Henry Grey through unexplained circumstances. It has been speculated that either he or his father lost a bet to her father and therefore "won" her, or that since she grew up in the colonies, word of her personality and behavior had not reached England and therefore her father was able to talk her up as a great lady.
Sera is in love with the idea of Lord Henry Grey and what he has to offer her - his title, living in England, wealth, and the society that she belongs in. When he they meet, he finds her beautiful but is turned off by either her personality or Kiddo Morgan talking about how awful she is (a tactic to keep her to himself). But she soon realizes that she can never love him - no matter how much she tries - for she loves Kiddo and the opposite of the life Seraphina thought she wanted to live.
Seraphina and Capitaine François du Pain de la France Sue le Wa May Papour le Wa[]
Seven and François have a dynamic relationship - at one point he could fall in love with her looks and French abilities alone, but then she opens her mouth and speaks English, showing François that she is one of the people he had vowed to hate. Seven often writes fondly of François after finding out how much it drives Kiddo angry. They share a passionate kiss when François thinks he is about to die, telling her that it was meant for Kiddo. He was the one who first warned Kiddo the dangers of keeping Seven around for too long.
Seraphina and Fernando Benito de Dios de Santos del Espíritu Santo, Conquistador[]
Even the lover of all women cannot love her, but it is because he finds her unconquerable, and in fact, respects her and even fears her, especially when he hears her "Spanish" which reminds him of his mother yelling at him.
Seraphina and Marietta[]
Marietta is Seraphina's maid who is supposed to come with her on the journey across the Atlantic. Through Kiddo Morgan's actions, Marietta narrowly escapes the adventure that was "sure to claim her life." Marietta knows that Seraphina is a fool when it comes to her "smarts," but pities that it is due to teacher's not enjoying her being smarter than them and therefore taught he wrongly. Marietta is Seraphina's last tie to the life she knew but once she is gone, Sera is able to come into her own with no restrictions.
The Journal[]
Seraphina comes across the Captain's log and uses it as her journal, often going through the prior logs and changing them so that they are more "correct." Through the journal, the reader is able to understand her true emotions which would have been overshadowed, misinterpreted, and falsified if it were left to the men.
Seraphina is how the cross-outs and footnotes began as she would go through what had been written and change it to either suit her or "un-exaggerate" what had been written.