Legends of Belariath
Diandra Hayden
It is impossible to describe Diandra without also describing her sister.
You see, Diandra was born a twin. She and her sister Seraphim were born on the night of the new year festival. Seraphim was born first in the moments just before the end of the old year, and Diandra was born second in the very first moments of the new year. Once they grew old enough, Seraphim would often tease Diandra about how she was older, born the year before Diandra. She would always make it seem like their age difference was the whole year, and with how slow Taurian age, the implications quickly became widely trusted, and Diandra became known as 'Seraphim's weird little sister'. Her sister was as different from her as day was from night. Where Diandra's coloring was plain, and dark, Seraphim's was extraordinary, and bright. Seraphim had hair the light violet of a dissipating storm cloud. Diandra's was brown. Seraphim had pale skin of the purest alabaster, while Diandra's skin held to it's olive tone no matter how careful Diandra was to stay out of the sun. Even their interests differed greatly. Seraphim enjoyed training with the other young Taurien, she was in fact something of a social butterfly. Diandra however? She would wander the city, and the surrounding area alone, attempting to learn as much as possible about the natural world. She lived her young years on her own, curious about the nature, and actively avoiding her peers, and Taurian society. She had a good reason for doing so. Many in fact....
Children can be cruel.
Before relating this next tale, I need first to describe Diandra's parents. Diandra's mother was tall, and fair with wings of white and speckled with grey. Her hair was long, and violet, a rare color among many species. Her skin was pale and her figure shapely. Her father was tall as well, with pale blond hair, and bright blue eyes. He had a proud figure for a male Taurian, with more muscle and a wider wingspan then most men could boast. His wings were the purest white. Diandra's mother was named Sirene, and her father was Michael. Sirene was a kind and gentle soul. She was the head of the healers of her clan. A most powerful magic user, and she devoted it entirely to healing. Micheal was the strategic leader of the clan's band of hunters. (when they hunted as a group anyway.)
One day a young Torian who was Seraphim's friend overheard Diandra speak of Sirene and Michael as her parents and he scoffed, and said, "They're not your parents!" Seraphim tried to silence him, but Diandra insisted he explain, and explain he did. He explained all about how they learned that day from one of the elders that children are a mix of their parents, and how Diandra couldn't possibly be Sirene and Michael's daughter because the only way she looked like either parent was her body shape to her mother's. The dark hair, her complexion, and her wings color could not possibly be a result of a union between her two parents. Of course Diandra denied it. She didn't want to believe, that her family was in fact, not her family. They wouldn't lie to her, and besides, she was a twin, how could that be a lie? She tried to just ignore the boy, but that day a seed had been sewn in her mind. She began to have nightmares, and her observational demeanor began to work against her. She noticed how every child of a family did indeed look like a mixtures of their parents. Even the qualities the children had that were not similar to their parents could be traced back to some relative or another. Eventually she was so unsettled by this that she decided to confront her parents...
Diandra walked into her family's part of the clan encampment quietly, which was not unusual. When she saw her parents they were laughing together. Sirene and Michael turned to Diandra still smiling. Sirene: "Hello dear..." Diandra was looking at her feet, her long eyelashes sweeping across her cheeks, and a pout upon her lips. Her back was hunched over, and she was wringing her hands in from of her. Her wings were pressed tightly against her back, betraying her discomfort. Sirene's smile disappeared as she realized something was upsetting her daughter. Sirene: "What is wrong Diandra? Are you alright?" Michael looked at his mate curiously, a bit slower to realize than his wife, before he looked back towards Diandra, the arch of his brow showing his concern. Diandra: "Mom. Why don't I look like you or dad?" A look of pain immediately came over Sirene, and Michael looked alarmed. Michael unconsciously put himself a little in front of his mate, and touched her, as if to protect her from some harm. Sirene: "What makes you say that?" Diandra: "The elders say that children should look like their parents. I barely look anything like you, and I look nothing like dad. What is wrong with me? Are you really my parents?" Sirene: "Of course..." Sirene was interrupted by Michael. He held his arm across her body, palm out, to stop her from speaking further. Sirene looked shocked, and a little scared as she looked up at your husband. Michael: "Diandra. Take a walk with me." He then turned around, kissed Sirene on the forehead, and said something softly to her that Diandra didn't quite hear. Sirene nodded and turned to go into the room she shared with Michael. Michael watched her until she had disappeared around a corner, before slowly turning around to face Diandra again. He walked past Diandra, out the doorway. Michael: "Come." Dinadra followed him, her wings not so tightly pressed against her back now. Her father was acting strangely. He sent her mother away. Diandra is still apprehensive, but she is now also quite curious. She had been on walks with her father before, and knew they also came with some sort of lesson or story. She cherished her walks with her father. When they had gone far enough from their home, he began to speak. Michael: "Truth be told, I have known you would ask us about this for some time now. You are too smart not to notice, and too curious not to ask. In order to answer your question, I must first tell you a story." Diandra: "But, why did you send mom away?" Michael: "You will know when I am finished telling you the story. It begins about thirty five years ago, before you were born. It was during our mating migration, your mothers, and mine. When we were first mated, we went on a migration together, just the two of us. While we were migrating together, we met someone unpleasant. It was when we decide to stop at an inn. The man saw her, and seemed possessed by an urgent need. He wouldn't tell us his name, but he tried to buy your mother from me like she was property. He said he wanted her, and that if I wouldn't take payment for her, that he would kill me and take her. I was outraged. I told him that he wouldn't lay a hand on her, that she was my mate, and no slave. Sirene and I left the inn that night. We didn't stay. It wasn't long after that when I realized that we were being followed on our migration. The man trailed us, never challenging me, urging me to push us to greater speeds, and diverting us from our path in order to try to shake him. I asked Sirene never to leave my side without telling me so that I may guard her. She did not heed me. One night, I heard her scream. Sirene had left our bed, and hadn't woken me to guard her. He saw his opportunity and took her. The bastard did something then, used some powerful cloaking magic, or took a hidden passageway or something I never found out. I couldn't find a trace of him. You must understand Diandra, I combed those hills. I searched everywhere for her, and I, the clans lead hunter, could not find a single trace of either of them! After a full month's searching I returned to the clan without her. I was heartbroken. I couldn't find joy in my role any longer, and I did not think I was fit to lead our hunters since I could not even track a man carrying an unwilling captive. It was months before Sirene found us. She was... well she was pregnant when she returned to us, and she was not very healthy. She had traveled a long way to find us, by herself, and heavy with child. I wanted to use what information about her captor that I got from her and go after him! I wanted to avenge her honor! She was too frail, and afraid to leave my side. She blamed herself for her capture, because she did not wake me to guard her when she left our bed. She gave birth to your sister, and to you. It was almost a full year before she was well enough for me to leave her to try to avenge her honor, and by the time, the trail had gone cold. Haven't you ever wondered why your mother never leaves the clan encampment alone? She hasn't left camp, without someone to guard her, once since before you were born. I think your mother is still afraid he might find her, come for her. I tell you all this because, I'm sure you noticed how different you and you sister look." Diandra: "Yes, she looks like she should. She looks like a perfect mix between you and mom... but me..." Michael: "Exactly. You are definitely your mother's daughter. I watched her birth you. I was there, holding her hand. I will always consider you my daughter. I was the first person to hold you when you were born, your mother was already nursing your sister. I taught you as you grew up. I was your father, and there for you your whole life, and that is never going to change." Diandra: "But..." Michael: "But I do not think you are a child of my blood. You look nothing like me, you barely even look like your mother. You take after the man who took her. You look just like him. You have the same color skin, the color of your eyes. He had black wings too. It was hard for her sometimes, watching you grow up to look just like him. She would never say anything about it to you, but she would get quiet sometimes, and she wouldn't talk to me about it. I think she was ashamed that it hurt. That is why I sent your mother away to talk to you about this. We never spoke to each other about you, and whose blood made you. It would be too painful for her to remember. I need to ask you not to mention it to her again. She is your mother, and in all the ways that really matter I am your father. We will always love you, the both of us. Can you do that for me, can you spare your mother that pain?" Diandra: "Yes, father."
The knowledge continued to eat away at Diandra. She felt like she didn't know who she really was. The only reason the clan didn't cast her out, because of her wing color, when she was born, was because she was a twin. Her clan had a long standing tradition of never separating twins. It was thought, in her clan, that because twins were lucky, the good luck of having twins in their clan might counteract the bad luck of having one of the dark winged-ones in the clan. Then she found out that she wasn't fully of the clan. Part of her was strange, unknown. How could she know who she was, if she didn't even know her birth father? Her rolebirth was coming ever closer, and her parents were pressuring her to find a skill, or decide what she wanted so that they might speak for her at her rolebirth.
She decided to make a journey away from her clan. To find out who she was, what she was good at, and maybe, just maybe, find out who her birth father was. So she left the clan, and came, to the lonely inn.