hunger, however, a wild hare bounded over and leaped right into the pot.
Arc-kaya
Her yellow eyes ablaze, this gray-haired eaglewoman healed Scree after he was badly wounded by a deadly shard from Rhita Gawr . Despite her fierce yellow eyes, her heart is deeply kind. Scree learns just how kind as he observes her helping others in Stoneroot 's Iye Kalakya clan. He also learns that she lost a son, named Ayell, when the young eagleman threw himself into the path of an arrow that had been shot at his mother. Irrationally, Arc-kaya blames herself for her son's death. She wishes, above all, that he were still alive to follow her clan's ancient blessing: "Soar high, run free."
Ayanowyn (Fire Angels)
… Any hope they may rise again is merely a spark blown upon the wind.
The Ayanowyn people—the fire angels—live deep inside the trunk of the Great Tree (a region called the Middle Realm) . Inhabiting the caverns and tunnels near the upward-flowing Spiral Cascades , these people have painted the walls with spectacular murals that tell the story of their lives in Avalon . Theirs is a story that is truly glorious: Centuries ago, they traveled far rootward, to the realm of Shadowroot , and founded Dianarra, the City of Fallen Stars (called today the Lost City of Light). Yet their story is also truly tragic: As the fire angel Gwirion explains to Tamwyn , his people have declined terribly since the Age of Great Light, the Lumia col Lir.
Nothing reveals the fire angels' decline more clearly than their own withered forms. When healthy, their winged bodies flame bright orange with llalowyn, the fire of the soul. But when body and soul are ailing, as they are now, the fire angels can no longer fly—and resemble smoldering charcoal.
The last seer of Gwirion's clan, the elderly woman Mananaun , prophesied that, one day, the fire angels would return to wisdom and glory. They would regain the power of their wings and the flame of their soulfires. Then, the seer proclaimed, they would fly back to the stars from whence they came long ago, in the time before storypainting began. The fire angels would be greeted by the great spirit Dagda himself. At that moment, their story would be renewed and they would gain, at last, their true name as a people. But when Gwirion first hears this prophecy, he dismisses it as wishful thinking. He is convinced that his people have fallen too far; he is sure that any hope they may rise again is merely a spark blown upon the wind.
Babd Catha, the Ogres' Bane
Never have the ogres of Avalon met a fiercer foe in battle than Babd Catha. While still a child in Stoneroot , she lost both her parents as well as her sister to marauding ogres. According to bards, the ogres attacked during a sudden snowstorm, and ever after, Babd Catha felt an irrational fear of snow. Even in her later years, as a famous warrior, it was said that she would stop fighting and retreat if even a single snowflake fell upon her.
Although she was very young when the ogres destroyed her family, and despite the fact that her own leg had been so badly injured that she would always walk with a limp, Babd Catha vowed to do whatever she could to prevent such tragedies from happening again. By the age of ten, she had become an accomplished swordswoman, and in that very year she fought her first ogre. While she was not able to kill the enemy, she did manage to frighten it so badly that it turned and ran off toward the high peaks of Olanabram. What distinguished Babd Catha was not just her ferocity, but also her tenacity—which is why she tracked that ogre for over two hundred leagues before she finally caught and killed it. Taking a lock of its hair, she wove the lock into her shirt, thus beginning a simple victory tradition that she would continue her whole life.
At thirteen, she had felled more than a score of ogres, usually during their attacks on human settlements. Although broadswords remained her weapon of choice, she also perfected the skills
Arc-kaya
Her yellow eyes ablaze, this gray-haired eaglewoman healed Scree after he was badly wounded by a deadly shard from Rhita Gawr . Despite her fierce yellow eyes, her heart is deeply kind. Scree learns just how kind as he observes her helping others in Stoneroot 's Iye Kalakya clan. He also learns that she lost a son, named Ayell, when the young eagleman threw himself into the path of an arrow that had been shot at his mother. Irrationally, Arc-kaya blames herself for her son's death. She wishes, above all, that he were still alive to follow her clan's ancient blessing: "Soar high, run free."
Ayanowyn (Fire Angels)
… Any hope they may rise again is merely a spark blown upon the wind.
The Ayanowyn people—the fire angels—live deep inside the trunk of the Great Tree (a region called the Middle Realm) . Inhabiting the caverns and tunnels near the upward-flowing Spiral Cascades , these people have painted the walls with spectacular murals that tell the story of their lives in Avalon . Theirs is a story that is truly glorious: Centuries ago, they traveled far rootward, to the realm of Shadowroot , and founded Dianarra, the City of Fallen Stars (called today the Lost City of Light). Yet their story is also truly tragic: As the fire angel Gwirion explains to Tamwyn , his people have declined terribly since the Age of Great Light, the Lumia col Lir.
Nothing reveals the fire angels' decline more clearly than their own withered forms. When healthy, their winged bodies flame bright orange with llalowyn, the fire of the soul. But when body and soul are ailing, as they are now, the fire angels can no longer fly—and resemble smoldering charcoal.
The last seer of Gwirion's clan, the elderly woman Mananaun , prophesied that, one day, the fire angels would return to wisdom and glory. They would regain the power of their wings and the flame of their soulfires. Then, the seer proclaimed, they would fly back to the stars from whence they came long ago, in the time before storypainting began. The fire angels would be greeted by the great spirit Dagda himself. At that moment, their story would be renewed and they would gain, at last, their true name as a people. But when Gwirion first hears this prophecy, he dismisses it as wishful thinking. He is convinced that his people have fallen too far; he is sure that any hope they may rise again is merely a spark blown upon the wind.
Babd Catha, the Ogres' Bane
Never have the ogres of Avalon met a fiercer foe in battle than Babd Catha. While still a child in Stoneroot , she lost both her parents as well as her sister to marauding ogres. According to bards, the ogres attacked during a sudden snowstorm, and ever after, Babd Catha felt an irrational fear of snow. Even in her later years, as a famous warrior, it was said that she would stop fighting and retreat if even a single snowflake fell upon her.
Although she was very young when the ogres destroyed her family, and despite the fact that her own leg had been so badly injured that she would always walk with a limp, Babd Catha vowed to do whatever she could to prevent such tragedies from happening again. By the age of ten, she had become an accomplished swordswoman, and in that very year she fought her first ogre. While she was not able to kill the enemy, she did manage to frighten it so badly that it turned and ran off toward the high peaks of Olanabram. What distinguished Babd Catha was not just her ferocity, but also her tenacity—which is why she tracked that ogre for over two hundred leagues before she finally caught and killed it. Taking a lock of its hair, she wove the lock into her shirt, thus beginning a simple victory tradition that she would continue her whole life.
At thirteen, she had felled more than a score of ogres, usually during their attacks on human settlements. Although broadswords remained her weapon of choice, she also perfected the skills
Similar Books
Behind the Yellow Tape: On the Road With Some of America's Hardest Working Crime Scene Investigators
Jarrett Hallcox, Amy Welch
