| Name Tamin | |
| Age 14-15 | |
| Appearance Tall and reed skinny, with a mop of dark brown hair and dark eyes that seem to be caught in a perpetual scowl and grimace: Tamin is not shy of expressing his emotions, and most of it is angry, resentful and ugly. What clothing he has is neat, it is clean, and it is well mended: not entirely due to his own antics (really, he would look just like the lost child he was if it wasn’t for Simya). He carries with him a well sharpened blade and ointment for burns: and the littlest Death Court horn that he wears on a necklace around his neck. | |
| Personality Regardless of the Death Court wars, had Tamin grown up in a much more peaceful environment, most people do not think his personality would have deviated too much. It is not the Death Court wars that made him the way he is; it just sped up the process. Tamin is pessimistic, he is dark, and he is always angry. There is so much death and repression and injustice in the world, and his answer is the lash out and try to fight to keep possession of what little family he has. He is the first to crack a slightly dark and morbid joke, the last to apologize or thank someone for their time and support, but he is always there, always willing to save other lost children, and always looking for a way to kill a Death Court. | |
| Ability Tamin is human, we think. But he has the uncanniest sense of knowing when someone else is in trouble. |
The Beginning
- Tamin does not talk of his childhood. He had parents who were killed by Death Court dragons: this is something he admits freely, uses as the base for his anger and righteous fury. But what they used to do, whether he has siblings, if there are dragonriders in his blood, no one really knows.
- What people do know is that he was 6 when his parents were taken from him, and he took to the streets.
- There were foundations set up by the council, homes opened by the ordinary, places of safety and hope that Tamin could have run to; but he ignored it all to continue living on the streets, a little bitter boy looking for a way to get back at the Death Court.
- He does not have trouble living on the streets, scrapping by for food, and slowly, somehow, Tamin makes a little name of himself. A scrappy little lost child who fends for himself and is always there just at the nick of time to save another lost child.
The End of the Death Court Wars
- Tamin does not like the Golden people: tall and strong with molten gold eyes who come and fight the Death Court. They make the buildings roll, stone and brick rearranging themselves into stronger, sturdier structures. The people who walk through the crowds and with just a hand or two, manage to heal wounds and douse blue flames.
- He does not like how easy it seems for the Projects to fix and fight the Death Court dragons: here he is, surviving by the skin of his teeth and these… these Projects turn the tide as if it costs them nothing.
- He does not like it, but some tiny little part of him admits, it is because he wants to be like them.
- The arrival of the Scientist and his monsters (Projects. Tamin needs to remind himself that they are Projects, not monsters) signals a change. Tamin does not need to live on the streets. The Death Court do not attack with as much persistency as they had in the past. There is less for him to do, and he finds himself lost.
- Enter Simya.
- A quiet little girl with dark eyes he had seen every so often, living under the shelter of the Varos couple. She brings him clean clothes and in exchange, he brings her people. Other children who are lost and hurt and in need of care.
- To him, it feels like a good exchange. Feed me, clothe me, and I will bring you others who need our help.
- But Tamin finds it harder to find people to ‘trade’, and one day, he finds himself in front of the home of the Varos couple, fists clenched around his treasures: spiny Death Court horns he had found in the battle.
- “I will give you my treasure.” he tells the little girl.
- The little girl watches him with blank brown eyes, shrugs, and heads inside.
- Tamin does not know what to do: is she saying no?
- “Come in then” she calls out, her back still turned towards him. “There is food, and mother needs help in the kitchen. You can stir.”
- That is how Tamin finds himself adopted into the Varos home.
The Checkerboard Ball
- It is happenstance that Tamin hears of the Checkerboard ball. Hvar is back, visiting his parents and laughing about this very prestigious ball that the Lab is fighting over: who would go with Shy, and who would represent the Vella Crean?
- The Raptor Queens (Tamin had seen them from a distance, they were quite an unusual group of sisters) had decided that they would represent the Labs: and had been turned down.
- They had volunteered to represent the raptors; and had been asked why, in all that was holy, would raptors need to be represented at a fancy function?
- (Because, the Raptor Queens had sniffed quite indignantly, because it is fun and we like fun).
- There were rumours that many royalty would attend, and bets taken on if the Death Court would also make attendance.
- “He styles himself a King” Hvar noted. “He would probably attend, with his Queens.”
- Tamin decides he too, must attend. He would sneak in with the Raptor Queens, and find a way to kill the blue dragon who had killed his parents.
- It would be easy, he told himself. He was bigger now, and a dragon was still just a giant lizard with wings. He would kill the Death Court King and he would win.
- One day Tamin packs a little bag of snacks and food, his ever trusty large knife and a necklace made with the horns of Death Court dragons. He slips into the Labs and cajoles and flatters the Queens who are simply delighted to have another one of Hvar’s ‘siblings’ to coddle and spoil.
- He almost does not notice the little girl with blank brown eyes until it is almost too late.
- “What are you doing here?” he hisses.
- “Keeping you out of trouble.” she hisses right back, and for a moment, those blank brown eyes are less blank, and full of annoyance. “This is stupid. You can’t win against a Death Court dragon. Alone.”
- Tamin scowls. “Just watch me.”