At 15 En'Kara's, I was Xavier Datalamey the son of a merchant in Port kar. My father, a plain sort of man with few unusual aspirations, sold textiles. We argued incessantly over nearly every issue. My father expected me to take my place in the shop and become a merchant. I of course, had other plans. Enchanted by the movement of paint across canvas, I often stole away to paint at the shore and the canals. For a time, this activity went unnoticed but the day my father discovered me there painting at the canals, everything changed. Disgusted and wrathful, my father beat me severely, ordering me from the house, revoking even my name from him. Amidst the tears of my mother, The beautiful Callia, I left the house vowing never to return and never again, to utter the name Datalamey. For a time, I made my living at the Canals. I managed to do what I could , selling paintings, playing stones and dice with other boys like myself, orphaned or left to die in the dank alleyways of Port Kar. Depite any talent for art I seemed to have,little money was to be made by a boy of the canals. Perhaps I was not talented in art. I could not tell. All that I knew was that I loved to paint, and imagined myself a great artist living in splendor, gloating to my miserable father. One day, with the rays of Lar Torvis high in the sky. I was painting near the southern docks. Mistaking me for another I suppose, The Oar Master of a nearby ship asked me if I could play the Aulus. I was only too glad to say that I did. I remember being beaten often on that trip, at least until I actually learned to play the thing. The journey lasted many En'Vars and soon I had grown into a man. I eventually became something of a favorite on board the ship Laina The crew schooled me in the ways of war and the sea, and my days abord her were among my fondest memories. As we crested the territory of Teletus, sails were seen and a vicious battle ensued. The Laina though badly damaged was victorious and the round ship of Teletus was ours. In its hold was the treasure of a fabulous joining price, The daughter of a rich merchant being joined with a merchant of Kasra. even my small share of the treasure made me a wealthy young man. when we docked in Bazi I became fascinated with gambling and managed slowly to build my fortune from wagering. That money then, was put to the creation of a furniture business where i learned to love the turn of wood under my hands, working there often among the craftsman learning as much as I could. Slowly I felt that I had gained a level of security my forunes had become great enough that I might live in comfort. Then, I met Elise...

~once a daughter of a merchant called Larvos and his free companion Rosalyn, the young desert bloom called Melody, studied art, music, and poetry under the eyes of Lar Torvis. In the city of Kasra, her two older brothers were ever watchful over the spirited girl and her mother's little "panther". She had a simple life, surrounded by luxury and the love of her family, only to have it all crumble down in one solitary night. Pirates, invading her home the same eve of her 10th En'Var, raping her mother as her father was held, forced to watch, their screams still haunting her to this day, her brothers slain the instant they awoke, their bodies carried off into the desert for the larl's to feast upon. Her father was killed before her eyes and her mother taken in chains to a lifetime of slavery, till this day, the girl has no idea what truly became of her mother. Her family gone, the pirates cheered in delight at the pretty young girl and sailed off, away from her home. The small girl, beaten many times on the journey and taken to the slavery pens of Ar, was sold for a handsome price and spent the next few years in training. Quickly advancing over the barbarian sluts and rebellious kajirae who surrounded her, she embraced her life as a slave as a new babe takes its first breath, full of fear and wonderment of a new world. At 16 en'karas, she was sold to AmonDarque as he passed through the great city as she returned to a very different Kasra. her new Master the Ubar, she became en'safora to the city, a position that added much weight to her frail shoulders. Her services there were much needed by the many slaves joining her Master's house and the blossoming city. She served diligently and without question until her Master disappeared from the city. The new Ubar banishing her, a painful reminder of what he had done to her former Master,she journeyed to Ar. Then upon a quiet walk in the gardens, she met the most extraordinary of men, her Master, below a ka la na, playing a flute, he called to her, and she knelt quietly before his overpowering, stoic, presence singing for him, melting his heart enough to collar her, and she serves as en'safora, kneeling at his feet, silent, sweet,a beauty, her name melody given to her in the reflection of her soul, a singer, painter, poet, dancer, and lastly...a slave girl....his to command, or cherish