Yinan

From her earliest years, Yinan has been solitary. The ice is an inhospitable place, and in her own family all were expected to fend for themselves. Her survival was no one's concern but her own, and from the moment she could hunt for herself, she was alone.

However, from the moment she was hatched, Yinan felt deeply the rushing tide of magic that ran through Sornieth. As she grew up, it became her weapon, her teacher, and her friend in her solitude. For many years, there was nothing else, and it was her deep relationship with magic that led her to leave the frozen wastes of her family and pursue more and deeper knowledge of the magic of the world around her.

Yinan traveled across the realms of the world, always alone, always observing, and the sheer volume of knowledge overwhelmed her with adrenaline. Though she missed the simple harshness of the land from whence she came, her drive to know more, to go deeper, was more than enough to sustain her. As in the rest of her life, she felt no need for the company of others, and she drifted in and out of settlements, occasionally pausing to trade or simply to observe the dragons there.

While traveling in the Ashfall Waste, however, her solitude was broken. There, a young dragon named Yzun became enamored with her. Though they spoke little, his interest did not wane, and when she left, he followed not far behind. His pursuit gave them opportunity to speak, and although Yinan did not understand, she came to love him in her own way. Their first clutch was hatched in the Windswept plateau, and it was there she stayed for a number of years.

It was never in her nature to settle, though, and as time went on Yinan began to roam and to return to the pursuit of magic that had been her haven for so long. As Yinan was more and more frequently gone, engrossed in her quest, Yzun grew bitterer and bitterer, unable to accept that she would choose it over him. As he became more aggressive, Yinan became more cold, returning less and less to the windswept plateau.

In a turn she could never have anticipated, her last and youngest daughter, Leilana, was born a Pearlcatcher, touched in the shell by the Shade. Though she could sense the dark influence on the unborn hatchling, Yinan kept it a secret, even after Leilana had hatched. Yinan sheltered Leilana for as long as she could, but for all her best efforts, they were discovered by Yzun.

Though Yinan knew he hated the magic that made up so much of her being, she didn't anticipate the violence of his reaction. He condemned her as a witch, an acolyte of the shade, bent on destruction and death, and called the young Pearlcatcher an unforgivable mar on his bloodline. For Leilana's safety, she had to spirit the child away to a place where where Yzun would not follow.

Though it had been a long time coming, the incident drove a wall between Yinan and her mate. They have not spoken since, and Yinan has pushed herself deeper into her solitude and studies to understand why Leilana was so touched, if there is any sense at all.