Real name
Zarine Bashere, but she calls herself Faile (
Falcon) and makes others do the same because Zarine implies a
Woman who is bred to be an ornament, which she most decidedly is not. Falls hard for
Perrin Aybara (which leads to her becoming
Faile Aybara), but not nearly as hard as he falls for her. She is actually the cousin of queen
Tenobia of
Saldaea, but left her home to become a
Hunter for the Horn.
She is one of the most controversial characters on The Wheel of Time; many fans hate her with a vengeance for turning Perrin into a boring hen-pecked husband and for being brash and arrogant, but I for one thoroughly enjoy their banter, which never (well, almost never) gets in the way of their love. Call me a hopeless romantic, but this is actually what I enjoy most in reading the series.