Role

Chapter 5

Worst of all, she knew that if her beloved mother could see her now, she
would not recognize what had become of her daughter. Ioxia was a cold-blooded
murderer. She was sharp-tongued and sarcastic in a way she'd never been. She
was purely evil, with little hope of redemption.

She didn't deserve her family name. Her village had been small and last names
were rarely used, but they did have them. Ayn'al'arana had been hers, but
that name was as dead now as all her kin. She thought of what to call
herself. Her heart was as black as her feathers and that seemed as good a
start as any. She was also a killer.

Ioxia considered the options. Blackkiller? No, too on-the-nose. Blackfeather?
Blackwing? That sounded like something an unimaginative boy would come up
with. Maybe ebony something... Ebonyblood? No, that wasn't quite right. Maybe
something for her talons? BloodTalon? Ugh, so second age. Maybe not
black...maybe "ebony". EbonyTalon? No way, that one was just plain weird.

"Ah!" she said aloud, "I've got it!" Swap a couple letters for the apostrophe
in arial custom and you've got "Ebon'alon". Now that had panache. When she
met Lord Panmorne she'd say, "Hello, sir. I am Ioxia Ebon'alon and I've come
to dedicate myself to you."