Diplomatic and fierce, he knows how to use his words and his body, as both of his mothers have taught him. He thinks carefully about his actions before he acts, and yet he knows all too well how important compassion is in the heat of the moment and has a lot of it, both his mothers easily contributing to that fact with their pasts and stories. one blind, one ill, both with pasts uncomparable to his own. he knows. and he knows how to use that compassion to his own whims, not that his whims are bad ones. he is curious and doesn't hesitate to ask questions. His soul is gentle and kind. fighting is not his cup of tea, however, he is capable of it, and rather well built for it, and will if he has too.
He tends to get worked up rather quickly, letting his emotions get the better of him. He has learned to hide this to some extent, having had to grow up quickly on his own. He finds it hard to grow loyal to someone, as when he was younger, all those he loved left him on his own to fend for himself. Though once he does grow loyal, he is attached at the hip.
Liatris was born in the land of Elysium to two mothers. Luvena, at the time a recently dethroned queen who had fled her land after her and the king Oberon had been bested by the wolf queen. And Cavalier, who had had her tongue ripped out by the same woman, and who had fled with Luvena. Together they had ventured to the red waste, where the good queen Syrilth had given them shelter.
He and his brother Eremurus had been born on the same day, but they had not shared a womb. While Luvena had labored to birth him, Eremurus had been formed in the creation pool by Cavalier. Regardless, the two twins were thick as thieves.
He spent his formative years listening to tales Luvena and Cavalier recounted. Frequently Luvena would tell him and Ere that they were her miracles, her blessings. As a child he had never understood what she meant, as an adult, he had his theories. But he also spent those years questioning the things he had never been given an explanation for. Like why Cavalier had no tongue, and why she only spoke in his head, and never out loud. Or why they always spoke of a land called the eternal woods, and a herd called crucis, yet they chose to live with Lyrus in the red waste. The biggest mysteries of all, both happened at the same time.
Cavalier had always told him and his brother in hushed tones to be gentle with Luvena. "She's very ill" she often said, followed by "And she can't play with you as I can, but she loves you very much" sometimes she would remind them to tell her they loved her again that day as if it would be the last time she would hear it. He didn't really understand any of this at the time. Whenever he was ill it was only for a few days (Luvena had always panicked when this happened, and he would see Cavalier comforting her when they thought he was asleep), so if she was ill, when would she get better? As he got older he began to understand that she wouldn't. Once he was weaned, it seemed she rapidly began to decline. She would choke down clumps of dry grass in front of the boys, and try to act normal, but she would often excuse herself for hours at a time to go lay down in the shade. None of them could do anything but watch as she grew thinner. He would never forget that night. She said goodnight to them all so tenderly. Lingered over each of them for a moment too long. When the rest of them went to join her later, she wasn't in their usual spot, and of course, they had feared the worst, but eventually, they had fallen asleep.
The first thing Liatris noticed the next morning was that Cavalier and Eremurus were missing. He assumed they had gone to the oasis, and truth be told he was offended they hadn't woken him. Remembering what had happened the night before he had begun to cry, certain that Luvena must be dead. It then that he saw a strange, but familiar form. She looked like Luvena, and though she was still thin and bony. There was a sheen to her pelt that had never been present before, and stars glimmered on the charcoal patches that adorned her. The reunion then had bee happy. He had cried into her neck (having to lean down, because even at this age he was growing taller then she was), and she had comforted him. But she soon questioned where her mate was, and her other son.
Still thinking they were at the Oasis, they made their way there, only to find it vacant. He remembered the sinking feeling in his heart like it was yesterday. They had looked around the waste for a few days. But after a week they gave up their search. It was clear from the lack of traces left behind that they had gone of their own accord. A bitterness had filled him then. Angry that his mother had left, but even more so that she had chosen only one of her children. The worst part was that he had no idea why.
Soon after, word came to the waste that the wolf queen had left crucis, and a new king had taken the helm. Luvena had pretended not to care, she told him that Lyrus was her home now, and that she was happy. While it was his, and all he had ever known, he could tell that she was lying and that her heart longed for the woods. So he told her to go, that he was old enough to be okay, convincing her that should he need help he could go to Syrilth or Kodarki. The day she left was the last time he saw her.
Not long after she left Elysium changed. Subtle at first. cold breezes would shift through the usually hot wastes. the night would be missing the stars. No one paid it much mind, they simply dismissed it as the firstborns having a spat. They would say the cold wind was Aranea running through the wastes after Vega. And the lack of stars was heretic throwing a fit and casting darkness over the sky to spite the cheerful young Corona. But it soon became apparent that it was not the doing of the firstborns. Elysium had always had a sort of fizz in the air. it was hard to explain, but it was an energy, that seemed to crackle with life. Until it didn't. slowly it began to fade. Some left before it did, but he stayed, unwilling to leave the comfort of the wastes.
But he woke up one morning, and was immediately struck with an eerie sensation. There was nothing in the air. No crackle, no spark. It was funny how it had just been background noise before, noise (It wasn't quite noise exactly... but he wasn't sure how else to explain it)that he had hardly noticed until it was gone. Immediately he felt alarmed. He knew things were about to go south, and so he wasted no time in running. He couldn't explain what was happening to the world around him. How it fell apart. All he knew was that it did, and he had no way to find out if Luvena had escaped, or if her fate had been left to the woods.
He got out with his life, but found himself alone, and lost. he was only 2, not even an adult. He wandered from place to place, always wondering if his mother had survived if he would ever find her. He longed to have her by his side, though quiet, she always seemed to have the right words to fix things, and while sometimes he could do that for others, he had no idea how to do it for himself. He wandered for two years, before stumbling upon a new land. A familiar scent lingering on its borders.