Her father was a pirate, her mother a slaver trader. The two hit it off famously, though they never married they visited often between deals and when Pryriel there was no celebration. The mix bloods parents never wanted children and neither wanted her, so an agreement was made: when the child reached 5 arcs, old enough to be useful, her mother would sell her in one of the human slave cities but until then her father would “raise her”.
Born on the ship, one of the only kindnesses her parents would ever give her, so she would not die in Athart. The girl grew her sea legs quickly, and was never told who her father was, cared for by any slave woman available on the ship. Unable to have any one person to attach to the nomadic and quiet first few years of her life left her relatively mute. No one bothered to teach her to speak, and with so many handlers in her first few short years Pryriel only learned bits and parts of several languages.
Though she was young, growing on up on a pirate’s ship toughened her quickly, and speaking was not required when you fought to survive. Both slaves who did not want to die, keen eyes, and watchful eyes taught her the basics of defending herself. A skill base that would help her during her days in slavery.
When the woman, who she would much later discover was her mother, picked her up she taught her spoken tongue enough to finally converse the child never stopped talking. A trait that bothered her new keeper to no end but the child fond amusing, she could finally ask what she wanted to ask. For a solid arc she pestered her unknown mother before the six arc old child was informed she was a slave, just like the others on the ships she’d grown up on. This was not shocking to Pryriel but it was the only form of warning she got before she was dumped into her first house after being branded with a gold circle between her wing nubs.
The first house that kept the mix-blooded child was something more of a playmate and servant mix. Keeping the high-born children out of their parent’s hair and helping the nannies. When she grew too old for such tasks, she was moved to the animal keep scooping shit and feeding the house pets and hunters. Both tasks she tried to escape with idiotic plans that often resulted in her beatings and on some occasions close calls with death (though those were often the fault of her terrible plans).
Her troublesome ways got her kicked out of her second, third, fourth, and nearly killed in her fifth house but in her sixth there came a blessing in disguise: her mother. The woman was dropping off new slaves into Pryriels newest house and now in her teens and not quite as stupid as her child self the girl was able to put two-and-two together. Their looks, her legs, and it all made sense. In a blind fury she tried to kill the woman but was promptly subdued, and once more transferred to yet another house, and a simple note saying the Avriel giving birth to a bastard didn't make her a mother. But it was enough to confirm it, enough to make all the strange pieces of her childhood fall into place, neither parent a secret anymore. But still, it was unlikely her plans for her mother’s death or her escape would have ever come to fruition if not for the Arc of 716. An arc that is forever capitalized in the young woman’s mind. An arc of war, in-fighting, dead queens, uprisings and glorious chaos that Pryriel used to her every advantage to escape, though truly it was the circus that offered her passage.
For an entire arc she traveled with them, learning simple tumbling, and helping with maintenance. And it was during that arc, in the hot seasons, that she found her first and only love: Bise. Bise, who was hawk in the circus was trick trained and beautiful, and utterly hated everyone. This included Pryriel who given the dangerous task of putting on and taking off his gear each night, the two came to a wary agreement that he would not peck out her eyes if she gave him free reign of the tent after shows. Though catching him was a task in and of itself. Whether her heritage or simply because she adored the creature while it barely tolerated her, she wanted to keep him but not as a pet and not a way to gain coin. And one night she ripped his tent open and let him free.
But a kept bird is a kept bird, and even Bise was not stupid enough to think he could survive on his own. Or that’s what the woman told herself when he came back to her and followed her. A great hunter he kept her alive with sparsely offered food after she had to flee the circus for letting the rest of their animals out as well and causing several to be maimed or killed in the process.
From there the two traveled, one leaving trouble wherever they went, the other plucking people’s eyes from their head if they tried to pet him (including the scar under Pryriel’s eye after she tried one too many times in a day). Luck or a curse brought the young woman and her not-pet to port, a ship to take across the sea to the Western lands, which five after leaving port trials in was promptly attacked by pirate slavers and housed another familiar face: her father.
Though she did not recognize him at first, he knew her on sight, and when his relationship with her mother was revealed the full picture of her parents came to light. With the same passion as before Pryriel attacked her father while he was in battle with another. The sneak attack doing her favors her lack of skill couldn’t, and when her talons finally ripped through him, she offered him to the sea gleefully before it swallowed her up too.
But the sea did not keep her, and the girl landed on the shores of Desnind, the cold seasons trapping her in the foreign place for the moment.
