Role

Chapter 1

Ahinu does not know where he was born. Only dim memories remain of his
mother and father, and those are disconnected. He remembers the smell
of horses, for instance, but not what his parents looked like, or their
names. He can remembrer the sound of his father's growl, but nothing
more about the man. There is a vague sense that his family traveled
around a lot, but he has no idea why or where they called home.

None of this is surprising, of course, as he was separated from them at
a very young age. Like most everything else the details are a mystery
to him, but he remembers shouting, and being afraid, and running away.
He remembers how hungry he was, when he became lost, and how it tastes
to eat rats. Never again.

And he remembers Ashana. She is never far from his mind, even now, but
of that time he mainly remembers her keeping the two of them alive. At
least, she kept them them alive long enough to stagger into Balator and
find their way to the orphanage half-dead from starvation and exposure.
It would have been better had she not.

They didn't see it, of course. The nurse maids simply thought him a
quiet child. Shy, perhaps. He never cried in the dead of night as
some of the other orphans often did, but every child is different. He
did as he was told and, while he didn't interact much with the other
children, there was no conflict between them.

Jaragh, however, did see it. The faint red aura that surrounded Ahinu
when he looked at the boy with divine sight. He had to believe,
though, that his path was not set in stone, so he said nothing and let
him stay at the orphanage. Besides, the fela that arrived with him
radiated goodness like few others he had seen, and the two of them were
thick as thieves. Surely some of it would rub off on the boy.