The Crippled Boy

A young man dragged into the Veykar's kitchens with a twisted leg — fire and wind personified, foolish and stubborn and full of whispers about escape, freedom, and the routes north of the Deyune Steppe. He carved a tiny wooden fox from kitchen scraps and gave it to the silent cook who would become The Girl With the Scar. It was the first gift she had received since the burning of her village. He was caught with a half-drawn escape map tucked into his belt, dragged to the centre of The Wheel, and executed by the Draethan in front of the kitchens he had tried to leave. His death is the moment the girl's grief became a plan; the wooden fox sat on her shelf for every meal she cooked afterwards, including the last one she served the Veykar.