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When Don was ten, his mother Anasle left Tarian (his father) and begged her son, Don to come with her. But Don could not bring himself to go, because she was returning to Quan’rath (home of the Elves), where he would never be accepted as a half-elf. She left, weeping, and never explained to Don why she left.

When Don was eighteen, he decided he would look for his mother and made his way to Quan’rath.

In his travels, he’d encountered orcs, bandits, and their ilk – and never hesitated in killing them, then taking their supplies to survive. He knew killing those who would commit evil made the world a safer place; and it also helped him quell the idea that the evil in him might break free, if it was there, by destroying evil.

He learned to become fearless in the face of evil; the greater the evil slain, the more peace he found in his soul.

While camping in the woods, half asleep, he heard someone approach his dwindling campfire and quickly grabbed the out stretched hand. His eyes met that of a human woman named Lourna Mauthtar, whose emerald green eyes, and gentle brown curls caused him to pause. She yanked her hand free and growled, “I wasn’t going to hurt you. I just wanted some of your stew. I’ve not eaten for a few days and could smell it.”

When he asked what she was doing, she explained that she was hiding from the law and that she’d been falsely accused of a crime (a theft – which, Don found ironic, since she was just trying to steal his food – though she wasn’t good enough to get away with it, so perhaps there was some truth in the matter). The two became friends, then eventually romantically involved, living off the wilds. While passing through a small hamlet, they’d heard news of relics being discovered at a new continent. This seemed to excite Lourna, but Don had no interest. He should have known, come the morning, Lourna was gone, with a note explaining that she knew he’d never come, but that she’d wanted to see this new continent, these new relics, and perhaps start a new life for herself.

This had devastated him and cut him deep; he’d trusted her, just as he had trusted his father, and now she easily left him. Despite traveling the woodlands, the next time Don was coming through the small hamlet of Pinevale, one of the men in the town said they had a message for him from Lourna. Surprised, he’d taken the note – and it had definitely been her writing. Had she anticipated he would come through here? In the note, she mentioned that she’d found something – and that she’d joined an Order of Dragons, though she noted that Don would not approve of some of the choices she had made.

Don crumpled the letter in his hand and made for Moontide Port where he booked passage aboard the Skytide. Arriving in the Ivory Vale, Don began asking about Lourna, which he traced to a band of brigands known as The Shadow Knives. It was then he encountered others also in search of those brigands.