Background

Being a rather private person, Inaya seldomly speaks about her past, as she feels it is shameful and degrading. Her beginnings are unknown for the most part. She was raised by a group of human thieves and once thought of them very fondly as family (as it was the only life she knew). The relationship soured horrendously as she grew into her teens and for while believed her life was to end there.

One day during a solo heist, Inaya was caught stealing from the family of a man named Ezra Silverdrake. Instead of turning her in, the man took great pity on her and offered her a job as a maid, encouraging her to leave her life of thievery behind. Initially she refused, fearing the consequences of leaving her group. A few months later though, Inaya’s courage and desperation welled up inside of her and she seized the opportunity to leave. The day after she turned 14, Inaya escaped into the night to meet Ezra in his home.

Inaya was fearful and terribly shy upon her first year of working as a maid; she knew little about cooking meals or maintaining a house, and nothing about proper maid-etiquette and good people-relations. But her new employer Ezra was keen on giving her space and very patient with her. Eventually Inaya would be trusted with handling Ezra’s finances (as he was a well-respected private money lender in the region) alongside her normal duties as a maid. By her second year of service, Inaya had almost broken completely out of her shell; she had grown close to the five house guards whom she had been working with and significantly closer to Ezra. Their work relationship was rather informal, more so like close companions than servant and master. By the time Inaya was 16, it had become apparent that they both cared for each other little more than they ought to. After much discussion they decided to marry in the winter of that year; the years to follow would be some of the happiest that Inaya would experience in a very long time.

Story

Inaya and Ezra were married for five years. In the summer following Inaya’s 21st birthday, their homestead was attacked by a horde of bandits and Inaya lost her husband. They were severely outnumbered and their guards were nowhere to be found. In a fit of rage, Inaya attempted to save her already dying husband, but was met with his desperate wish for her to run and continue living. Reluctant as she was, she escaped.

Fast forward a year later, Inaya is still trying to live out her husband’s last wish. The wilderness is her home now, where the grumbling humans do not have to see her in her rags. A deep hatred for bandits has been festering inside her. Having no relatives or friends she can trust, Inaya slowly has closed herself off from the rest of the world. What only drives her now is to try to keep the memory of her late husband alive. It is in this time of darkness that she suddenly comes face to face with a monster of legends. About to be part of his meal, she meets The Devourer, a beast over 200 years old from stories so well known by traveler and soldier alike, even Inaya had heard of its horrific tales. By sheer luck she hears this monster speak. Determined to survive, Inaya realizes that she can try to talk her way out of her demise and makes a deal with the monster: that she would lure food to him for the rest of her life.

Despite her conditions, a terrified and fascinated Inaya tries to learn about the beast.. She learns that this monster calls himself Ghrudar and that he is far more intelligent than she had assumed. Meanwhile her body becomes weary and worn over time from acting as bait; often having to put herself in harm’s way and even attempting to stop Ghrudar from eating people. But as she grows ever weaker, her world grows smaller and her heart colder to humanity, and her hatred for bandits begins to take shape. Eventually she is so far gone in her hatred that she does not care what happens to her body any longer, nearly losing her life. By this time after nearly a year of her service, Ghrudar has begun to understand her pain and fragility, and releases her in hopes of her survival. Unable to cope with humans and society after these two years though, Inaya returns to Ghrudar feeling more welcomed by the wilderness and in the company of another outcast. Now they travel together willingly. Inaya comes to terms with the changes in her heart, and meanwhile is ecstatic over Ghrudar’s emotional and cognitive evolution. Gradually she finds herself teaching him how to be human while regaining humanity again herself.

As they continue their travels together, a close bond develops between them; one that neither of them thought would come to exist between such beings. Amidst the hardships and Inaya’s struggle with her past, she eventually comes to terms with her own feelings for Ghrudar. While her life is by no means normal any longer and her relationship with humans far from mended, Inaya believes she may be able to finally live a meaningful life again with someone she cares about and stop living in the past.