I was born in Turia into the Clan of Warriors. My father was a warrior and my mother was a merchant. I was taught the ways of a warrior from the time I could crawl. My father ensured that My skills were honed in as many areas as possible. I was taught to ride a kaiila at a young age, taught many different weapons. I was even schooled in the ways of a merchant by my mother. When I was 15, my father took me to Ar and I was left in the tarn cages to work. I thought he had left me there forever, so I did what I could. I learned all I could about the mighty birds. On My 16th naming day, I was surprised to see both my father and mother. My father was beaming with pride. That was the first time I ever rode a tarn. I never did become anything close to a racer, but the feel of the wind and the scream of the tarn still makes my heart race. I returned home a year later, working a merchant train. Having been gone for so long, I knew it was time for me to go out on my own. The merchant train was resupplying and leaving in a moon. I said my goodbyes and went out into the wide world. I traveled all across the land, seeing many things and learning what I could everywhere I went. I met a woman and she became my free companion. I had been to many places but she was from Port Kar and wanted to stay there. My life of traveling kept me away but I had saved a lot, as a merchant guard has very few real needs. I invested in the trains I was working and amassed a small fortune. I ended up owning my own train. It was just a few carts, but it was mine. It allowed me to stay home and we started a family. We had a daughter and she was the light of my life. One day, one of drivers returned and told of a merchant in Lara who had a proposition for me. It was my daughter tenth naming day soon and My parents were at my home to visit. I thought it would be a beneficial arrangement, so I traveled to Lara to seal the deal. While I was there, news came of an attack or an uprising at Port Kar. I had to leave. I took a tarn. I have no idea how I got it, if I stole it or bought it, or rented it. I just knew it was the fastest way home. When I got there, I found that there was nothing left. My home was near the warehouses, I heard that my father tried to save my family. I went to two sets of funerals that I couldn’t tell you one thing about. I know where My FC and daughter are buried, but only because I went there years later to find them. I fell into drink. Further and further did I leave all that I knew behind. Paga houses in the worst parts of towns I can’t name were my homes. One night, someone thought to steal my purse, thinking I was too far gone to defend myself. He was my first nameless kill. After that, I put myself in situations that would lead to the fight I so desperately wanted. I never counted how many dead I left. I think that most of them were petty criminals, but I will never be certain of that. I was traveling across the Plains, when I saw the light of a fire. My tunic was worn and unclean, but it still was of the Crimson. I walked up to the fire and found an old man there. He looked up as I entered the ring of light. He asked where I was going, I told him I didn’t know. He laughed and said he had just left there. Come, you will travel with me and I will show you a new path. He was a philosophical old bird and a better friend I have never had. He was a master smith and took me in, taught me the essence of what it is to be a smith. He showed me the heart and soul of metal. I had had many weapons in my time as a warrior, but I had never actually made one. I found that, even though I had thought myself strong, a smith knows what true strength is. I wasn’t allowed to make anything better than a barrel ring. I saw the amazing weapons on his wall, and, when I asked of them, he said a babe must learn to crawl before he can climb a mountain. I was still working on my anger issues and decided that I would teach him a lesson, probably one of the worst mistakes of my life. I woke up the next day sore in places I didn’t know I had. Two years later, I made my first knife. Two years after that, a quiva. I lost myself in the mysteries of steel. My first sword was done and that is the day that Master Perrin told me I had to leave. He said that I had learned all that I could from him and that he was proud to have taught me. “When the student is ready, the master appears,” was a saying he seemed to enjoy. I left there, reborn not only in caste but in self. I went home, said goodbye to the loves of my previous life. Went to my parents garden and said goodbye to them and thanked them for all that they had given to me. I have wandered for a number of years. I wandered to the plains and came to this camp...

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