The man who stands before them appears hearty and hale, whether through manual labor or some other exercise they do not know, about late middle-age, his light brown hair flecked with gray tied back in a long braid and with a tidy beard ornamenting his jawline and chin. His sea-colored eyes sparkle as he takes […]
Albrýndaer. Vælírian Year 1150 “Father, I have read the book that you shared with me,” says Albrýndaer to Daeran one evening, “and I was intrigued by it. Thank you for requesting it for me. I learned much from it, even as it revealed to me how little of our history, and of the history of […]
Hældáris’ sleep is tormented by nightmares, though upon waking they flee from consciousness into the dark recesses of his mind and all that remains is a dull, gnawing dread. When he sits up and looks around, he is surprised to see that Aeyósha is still asleep, curled almost in a fetal position beside the dying […]
Albrýndaer. Vælírian Year 1150 Stirred to reflection by the pain that he witnesses, by the combat and slaughter that are now happening all around him, and by the loss of the person most precious to him in the world, Albrýndaer’s thoughts turn inward once again. He also sees cropping up like shoots from the soil […]
Hældáris. 3rd T.A. 29 (V.Y. 1174) He finds himself engulfed in darkness and deafening silence, and he is at first aware of nothing but pain: a deep ache across almost his entire body and a sharper throbbing from the area of his left shoulder to his lower back. Even before he fully realizes that he […]
Hældáris’ mind passes in and out of thought and awareness, in and out of dreams and reality, tasting hope and tasting despair, tasting reality and tasting the fear of nothingness. And all throughout he seeks for the light beyond the darkness, for life beyond death, for an end to this story different than the one […]
Albrýndaer. Vælírian Years 1147-1150 (2nd T.A. 990-993) The taste of death during his first hunt was difficult to stomach, and especially the act of killing. For Albrýndaer had a deep and abiding sense of the preciousness, indeed the sanctity, of life—of all things that lived and breathed, acted and grew, brought forth young and died. […]
Albrýndaer. Vælírian Years 1146-1147 (2nd T.A. 989-990) One unavoidable part of growing up in a prison, even as unusual a prison as this, was the fact of criminals. For not all who were cast into the subterranean dungeons were condemned only for political motives; there were also many who were doers of evil in its […]
Hældáris is stirred from his thoughts by the hand of Relmaríndë upon his shoulder. She crouches down before him and looks into his eyes with tenderness and concern. “Something is occupying your mind,” she remarks. “Many things fill my thoughts,” he says in reply, pushing himself to his feet and standing face to face with […]
Albrýndaer. Vælírian Years 1134-1146 (2nd T.A. 977-989) He was born in the darkness, far from the light of sun, moon, or stars. He knew not the elegance and nobility of mountain, valley, tree, and flower, or even the richly woven tapestry of the culture and artifice of humankind. But even so, he was born in […]