Taranee Cook

Pet:
In the comics she adopts two dogs, a very big and furry one called Flea and a cute little puppy. Flea becomes very good friends both with Irma and We and is even allowed to come into the Pink Bus after eating the Cook's furniture. The other dog is bought later on and doesn't appear in later issues.

Home:
Taranee and her family moved from Sesamo to Heatherfield the same year as Will. The two girls start school together. Apparently Taranee didn't want to move and it was hard for the family to find a home that would please her. When they entered their later house, Taranee saw a fire in the dusty fire place. In reality there was no fire but the parents took this incident as a sign and bought the house.

School:

Same as the other girls, Taranee goes to Sheffield Institute. She's in class 2B at the start of the comic, together with Hay Lin and Irma and sits behind the two girls. Taranee started school one day earlier than Will. Being new in town connects the two quickly and they easily become friends. 
Taranee's favourite subject is math. She's generally very good in school and has good grades. She likes to study, though not too hard, and being at school in general, too.

Traits:

When the comics start, Taranee is a calm, almost quiet girl. She seems reserved and overwhelmed by the many changes of her life and the responsibilities and dangers magic brings with it. After a few issues however she blossoms and becomes bolder, stronger and speaks her mind. She's shy, though not as shy as Will and seems to have no trouble connecting with others. Taranee is very clever and easygoing. She's also the one to have the last say in a discussion or is asked for her opinion to resolve one because she's fair and thoughtful. Unlike the other girls, Taranee has no problem with boys and quickly gets to know them or is up for a flirt. Should she ever loose her temper though, she explodes like a vulcano! Beware, he or she who angers her!  That is also why some people describe her as "difficult". Apart from that, she has the ability to look at a person and know what they're thinking. That is not just due to her magical powers but because she's observant and smart. She's honest and loyal and sometimes a little thick-headed like her mother.

Style:

Taranee loves warm colours, browns, reds or oranges and usually wears something ethnic styled. She has pierced ears and an unusual hair style with colourful pearls in her short hair. Generally, the clothes are loose but fitting for her size and she wears dresses and pants equally often.

Hobbies:
Taranee is very interested in photography as the comics start. On the Isle of Enchantment it is explained that she once met a photographer and was fascinated by his love and passion for cameras. Despite his grumpy attitude, he inspired her to the hobby. Later in the comics, however she isn't seen with a camera any longer and instead returns to her former passion: Dancing. In Sesamo she used to dance a lot on stage and with the new opened dance academy in town, Taranee spends most of her free time training.

Habits:
Though the reader rarely sees it happening, in the Annual book of 2007 it says that Taranee tends to loose her glasses a lot.

Likes:
Taranee likes classical music the most and is interested in Basketbal, probably because of Peter. She never plays herself but is often shown at the basketball court, watching the boys play. Her favorite clour is red, but she also likes other colours of the sun. Furthermore, she likes books. The thicker, the better.

Dislikes:

Taranee despises bugs. "Flying monsters", she calls them. Whenever she spots one she jumps or squeals and hence it's a harsh punishment when the biology teacher asks her to take pictures of bugs in macro.

Friends:

Apart from the WITCH girls, Taranee is good friends with Sheila, the daughter of the owner of Jensen Dance Academy. She helped Sheila settle in after moving to Heatherfield. Also, Taranee often befriends boys, though these are usually flirts that just don't lead to any seriouse relationship.

Love interest:

At first Taranee is very much in love with Nigel, a boy from her school who is actually part of Uriah's gang. Her mother is against the relationship because of Nigel being mixed up in some of Uriah's trouble-making. Also Nigel's older brother is a criminal of sorts. After some back and forth, her mother is finally convinced and Nigel and Taranee date for a while. Later Taranee loses interest in Nigel and falls for Luke, a boy from Jensen Dance Academy. The relationship however seems to be rather fleetingly. It takes the two a while to get to know each other and at first it's not clear if Luke is interested in Taranee in a  romantic way or just as a friend. He's often seen with Sheila, too. After a few issues, he disappears without another word.

There are flirts with other boys:

Hamza (issue 77), a young boy who Taranee meets at a kind of language school/ski lodge. He doesn't speak her language but the two connect easily and Tara imagines them having fun, meeting her friends, but she quickly realizes that it won't be more than a summer flirt.

Francis (issue 98), a piano player that also goes to Sheffield.

Dagobert (issue 112), who she meets through visiting her aunt Louisianna one day. 

Jason (issue 114), a new neighbour and son of a new teacher at school. He has a strong build and Tara has a big crush on him, until she finds out all he talks about is his muscle training.
Sean (issue 115), a "servant" to the countesses, who she meets when W.i.t.c.h. travel to the past. There are other flirts in specials or short comics so in general, Taranee is the one with the most boyfriends or flirts.

Brad (issue 137), a trainer for children of some sort. Taranee writes her friends she's having the "biggest crush". Still Brad doesn't last more than this one issue.

In general, Taranee shows a liking for sporty men. Most of her targets are either muscular or at least actively do some kind of sport like football or dancing, winter sports, etc.

Entrusted Artefact:
None

Element:
Fire

Basic Powers:
Taranee can control any kind of fire. She can create floating fire balls for light or use them as projectiles against enemies. She can make fire grow or die down, redirect it or create it anew. Taranee can also heat things up without actually making them burn with fire or melt things.

In rare cases Taranee's fire is blue, not red. It appears to be blue in the dream she has when first entering Kandrakar (though everything is blue) and also when Irma, Cornelia and her set out to get the earth gem and she is being controlled by the stone plants' smell.

Communication Powers:
Most of the girls have a way to communicate with their element, though Taranee might be the exception. The only moment where she actually communicates with fire is when she meets the fire goblin that no one besides her can see and its master. Apart from that Taranee has telepathic powers so she can hear thoughts and open a sort of mind-channel so that the other girls can communicate via minds as well. Later in the comics it seems they don't need Taranee for this channel anymore though.

Guardian Powers:

Being a guardian seems to come with a set of powers all of the team can use:

• Transformation - at first triggered by Will through the Heart of Kandrakar but later on, each girl can transform into a guardian without the Heart of Kandraka. When in guardian form, the five girls look a few years older.  Irma uses this twice to look older and impress boys and suggests it once officially for a mission the girls have.
• Translocation - Will first learns it from Caleb. Dislocation is being done by putting both forefingers facing each other, left on top, in front of the body. A small ball of white-blue magic will appear and literally dislocate the person performing the magic to a place they focus on. Later in the comics the girls even learn to use dislocation to exchange their powers.
• Invisibility - The girls can become invisible at will.
• Speed - It is easily forgotten but the very first time the girls transform, Will notices that she's a lot faster than usual. I presume that this goes for all the girls.

Gift of Xin Ying:

The gift "repairs" Taranee's bad sight so she doesn't need glasses any longer. Instead of being happy, Taranee sees this as a direct and unwanted intervention in her life and refuses the gift completely. The same matter resulted in Taranee leaving the guardian team temporarily. 

Other Powers:

Telepathy - Taranee can read thoughts and contact other people through it. She can even create something like a communication channel through which the 5 girls can reach each other even over long distances.

Traumata:

This part is free interpretation. There is never a moment in the comics where it says: This is a trauma! However I imagine some events that happened to the W.i.t.c.h. girls on their adventures have left mental scars.

For Taranee, I can only imagine how horrible it must have been not having a mouth to speak with. She has her telepathy and maybe this power was developed so quickly because of her imprisonment by Elyon. After all, it is one of the first moments, where Taranee's power shows. Still, not being able to speak, being held captive in a tiny floating bubble in a dark place, psychologically tormented by a person she once trusted, must have been terrible! She was broken enough to not being able to recognise her friends when they were right before her. After she saw through Elyon's game her fury was so overwhelming it melt down the prison bubble that should have drained her powers and attacked Cedric and Elyon with immense fire power. Only thanks to Will she didn't go after the two.

When the guardians first enter Kandrakar in a later issue they are confronted with their hopes and fears. In Taranee's dream Elyon is back and Cornelia is happy, supporting Elyon. But Taranee actually unleashes her power on the girl, setting Elyon's house on fire in her anger. When she wakes up she looks at her hands in a similar way she has done when she first used her powers in the comics. She seems worried or scared maybe.

Every oracle gifted the readers with a vision of the future. While Will was the only one to see Endarno's (who was really Phobos at that moment), all of them watched Himerish's possible future, the first one and they even had a choice with Yan Lin's, the last one.