Kennar

Kennar had been wandering alone for a long time before he met Caoimhe. When he was young his birth clan, a warrior tribe, was wiped out in a raid gone wrong. Only Kennar survived, and he has carried the weight of that guilt ever since. He moved from tribe to tribe, hiring himself out as a sort of mercenary in exchange for a place in their den and a share of the loot.

While helping a clan in the Shifting Expanse raid another tribe for their food stores, the tide of battle turned against them. Abandoned by the rest of his temporary clan, Kennar fought on, but was eventually beaten and left for dead in the Highland Scrub. Severely injured and dying, Kennar had made up his mind to accept the poetic justice of his end, when his plans were spoiled by a small, cheerful Tundra.

Caoimhe found him, bandaged his wounds, and shared with him what little food she could glean from the surroundings. She sat beside him for hours, talking cheerfully about nothing in particular and completely ignoring his alternating surly silence and brusque orders to leave him alone. Very slowly, and almost against his will, Kennar's wounds healed and he began to grow fonder and fonder of the pesky little dragon that wouldn't leave him alone. When his wounds had healed, Caoimhe decided that it was time to move on and just sort of assumed that Kennar was coming too. So he did.

In personality, Kennar is generally reticent and undemonstrative; he keeps his thoughts and emotions to himself, and only rarely lets others see how he is really feeling. When he does speak, he tends to be gruff and rather abrupt, which can irritate dragons who aren't content taking orders. He can sometimes say quite cutting things without really meaning them. Caoimhe almost never notices, but some of the others do and are not always pleased with him.

Unlike Caoimhe's instant acceptance, it takes a while for another dragon to earn his trust. Once they have, however, he considers them one of the family and they will be under his protection for life, whether they move on or not.

Caoimhe is his chosen Charge, though he has never actually told her this. She doesn't realize it, being rather oblivious and not too informed about other species' customs, but the other clan members have guessed. He has appointed himself protector of the clan and enforcer of Caoimhe's orders when necessary. As Caoimhe is his Charge, and the clan is under her leadership, Kennar views the members as a sort of extension of his charge, and will do everything he can to make sure they're safe.

His warrior upbringing and his many years as a mercenary have made him a strong and skilled fighter. He has almost supernatural endurance, and is able to take amounts of damage that would kill another dragon. When his clan is threatened, he is always the first into battle and the last to leave, making sure that everyone else has gotten to safety first. He frequently takes reckless risks that no one else would which, in his mercenary days, got him labeled as slightly crazy.

Kennar is rather too willing to put himself in harm's way - guilt over surviving his birth clan's extermination and a lack of self-worth that he would never admit - but he is willing to do whatever he needs to in order to protect his new clan.


Art by Jakkilyn