Deku

He had been on his way to become a warrior against the Shade, trained by his Clan as part of a mandatory job for all those not employed elsewhere. But Deku had never been a good fighter and each day brought him closer to what he knew would be his eventual demise.

Admittedly, he was a coward. He fled his clan and evaded the guards sent out to find him - there would be jailtime for abandoning his post. He lived in the wild for a long time, and out of desperation for food, began to capture and keep bees in a portable hive. After several hundred stings, he even built an immunity against the bee stings! And honeybees became his all-time favourite snack, especially since he could feed them well enough that his colony would essentially produce a while new colony every year, which he captured as well, to replace the old one, while he preserved the older honeybees for consumption.

With only his pets for company, he traveled Sornieth, even finding different breeds of bees that would survive better in different climates. Eventually, after decades of traveling, he had been certain any dragons tracking him must have lost interest by now. And when Dianthus approached him, asking to buy some of his honey for his shop, he took a chance and offered to end his travels and become a part of the Dann-j'noss Clan, working to produce honey specifically for him. With the sweet promise that he was an expert who knew exactly what to do, to make his bees make all kinds of flavours of honey.

Dianthus accepted whole-heartedly, though he had to convince his wife a little. Nightshade still does not approach Deku's corner of the garden, too intimidated by his bees, and in turn, by him. A few of his buddy's always tended to stick to him these days. He works in the garden behind the teashop now, under the watchful eyes of Ahyi, the head gardener. Deku has made friends with the florist FightnFlight, with whom he has even started an experiment with his bees and a new breed of flowers in an isolated field far from other blooms. RotnCore, who is FightnFlights older relative, takes care of any infestations in the gardens, including the tiniest mites, which had actually been a danger to his bees each year before.

And once Cynthia arrived at the gardens to work - just a gardener, helping where she can - he knew for certain he had made all the right choices, for no other path could have let him to the most beautiful drakaina in Sornieth.