Rialto

"Tell me the story, Ama!" Despite the late hour, Enkidu's eyes were ablaze. "Were you kidnapped by pirates like I was?" ("Bless the Windsinger," Gallineo could be heard to mutter from the other room. "You stowed away, little one! Like we could ever forget...")

Ignoring his dam, Enkidu carried on without interruption, "...or were you overcome in battle and left for dead, or poisoned in a secret conspiracy to overtake the throne...?? Tell me!"

"Billows and Gales! Can we have a little less drama, please? I swear, you're sucking all the oxygen from the room and I cannot get a breath to tell you what actually happened...!" Rialto always seemed to hit the right note and the little snapper subsided patiently, although his tail never stopped twitching.

"Not everything worth knowing begins with a tragic backstory, Enkidu," Rialto held up a claw as their son looked fit to burst into protest and he obediently subsided. Perhaps it was her outwardly stoic demeanor that commanded his respect. Or perhaps it was her battle trident. "My upbringing was neither unloving nor filled with catastrophe in any way," she began. "My mother was a warrior, I'll grant you that, and it was under her wing that I received my early training. We lived on the edge of the sea where my sire conducted business with the local maren...."

Rialto's journey from Light Flight to find this small clan where she could train as a warrior, then her meeting with Gallineo and assignment as bodyguard for the small clan trader.