At his christening, all Twelve Fairies came to give the young Prince Gavron gifts. But Malinka saw that his birth would be the beginning of the downfall of her kind. And so she cursed Gavron with a peculiar blindness, that only let him see in complete darkness, but not within the light.
When Malinka's sister, Rhianna, confronted Malinka about her curse, Malinka cut off Rhianna's wings and enslaved Rhianna in time, allowing the Fairy to age. Ashamed, Rhianna abandoned her Lighthouse, and went to live by the Moon's Eye deep within the Dark Wood. Prince Gavron grew, outcast from his own people, and rumors spread that he would be unable to rule. Frustrated with this, Gavron set out to seek Malinka to lift the curse. He only travelled at night, and even then with a cloth across his eyes to shield out the moon and stars. In his travels, he came across Rhianna - whom he perceived as an old crone - who instructed him how to reach the Perilous Strait and undo Malinka's curses. She gave him a piece of the Wolf King's mirror, as well as one last shard of the Shadowblade with which to cut off Malinka's own wings, thus reversing her magics. Gavron travelled southerly to the Citadel at the Perilous Strait where Malinka lived. He was welcomed by a young woman, Imordda, who was studying the dark arts with the Fairy. Imordda, in fact, was a distant cousin of the Prince's, going back to an incestual tryst between the bastard Iorwyrdd and his cousin, Wynne. The family tree had not fared well after that, and at last Imordda had decided to reverse her family's fortune and seize the crown herself. Malinka, distrusting Gavron due to her vision, had readily obeyed. During Gavron's stay there, Imordda grew fond of the boy who could only see at night, and offered her hand to him if he would make her Queen. Gavron, being more enamored with Rhianna in the wood, despite her appearance, refused Imordda, and on that same night discovered where Malinka hid, trapped her with the mirror, cut off her wings and fled the Perilous Strait. As Gavron sped through the night, he was surprised to find his eyesight growing weaker. And by the dawn, for the first time he saw as other men do. He found his way to Rhianna's cottage where the ravages of Time had undone themselves - although Rhianna herself never regained her wings. Rhianna agreed to marry Gavron, and the two ruled well as King and Queen for many years, having one daughter, Niamh, whose story rivaled her father's own. |
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(c) Emily C. A. Snyder