Appearance

WIP

About

Valvayas had two fathers, Khalarrin and Reykr. He was born to a surrogate mother, their close friend Luarria, with Khalarrin as his blood father. Luarria always insisted she never be called Valvayas’ mother, just wanting to help her close friends in creating the family they wanted.

Reykr isn’t originally from their homeland, but never really spoke about where he actually originated. He met Khalarrin on the surface before returning with him to his homeland and never looking back. The two were never formally married but never corrected people who presumed they were.

Valvayas was very young when his parents went missing after a cave-in. It was quite a large incident resulting in a lot of people dying or going missing, with rescue efforts taking months until things were cleared. Some people were never found afterwards, with the presumption their bodies had either been swept into an off-shoot tunnel system or down into a ravine.

After that Valvayas was raised by Luarria. She was harsh and blunt but very caring. She taught him everything she knew, from basic education lessons to how to fight and how to use the forge. Despite not wanting to be called mother, she was everything a mother could be to him.

He was barely a teen when they went to the surface for the first time. In his excitement he’d run ahead of Luarria, dashing up the tunnels far ahead of her to see things for the first time. It was to be his last, however. The moment he reached the surface, the bright sunlight blinded him and he was unable to see.

Luarria thought it was strange that it would affect him in such a way, only seeing people react like that if they were exposed to bright light very suddenly, whereas the growing light in the tunnels should’ve helped prepare his young eyes for the difference. They returned to the depths once more, and after a short while Valvayas regained his eyesight back, but found it was far different to what he was used to.

His vision was severely limited. Before he could see far into the distance in the dark tunnels they called home, but now he could barely see a few feet in front of him before it all turned dark. Luarria brought healers in to look at him and eventually they deduced that no damage had actually been caused by his exposure to the sunlight, but something arcane or divine had occurred.

“His eyes are healthy.” They had said with wary expressions. “But they’re clouded by a means that we on this plane cannot understand. It’s magical for certain, but from where it came is the question.”

It was obvious that his vision wouldn’t improve any further, but Luarria wouldn’t treat him like an invalid or a lost cause. She taught him how she had always done so, only this time focusing on senses that didn’t rely on sight.

Valvayas wasn’t completely blind, but blurred vision and a limited range of sight was still a hindrance. Luarria taught him how to forge based on how blades sounded when knocked on stone or with tools, how to feel the forge was at the right temperature without judging the appearance of coals. She taught him ways to fight without relying on sight, how to judge where a foe was based on sounds and movement, how to keep balanced and not lose track of his bearings if he was turned around. And most importantly she taught him how to traverse the tunnels of their homeland, judging landmarks by touch and smell, how long it took to walk certain distances, and the importance of familiarising himself with a route without having to make multiple trips along it first.

They travelled together, staying in some locations for a long while in order to set up a forge and smithy to make money selling weapons. Luarria would source their materials, or customers would provide them as part of their payment, and they would make their coin working their forges.

So life continued this way until the day when Luarria turned to him and told him she was leaving.