Audric's story begins the night of his birth. His father was a merchant of some repute, and he was hurrying home after a long day of work. Suddenly, as he was walking down a deserted side street, a man slowly strumming a lute stepped out of an alley. "A few coins for a song?", asked the man. His father began to walk away. The man blocked his way, continuing to strum his lute. "Now sir, just a few coins and I will play whatever you want to hear." His father attempted to force his way past, but the man did not budge or stop strumming. "Now sir, surely you can part with a few coins?", asked the man. His father threatened to call the watch. The man finally relented and backed into the alley he came from, still strumming that damned lute. "Fine then. If you won't listen to my song, then your son will listen to theirs." The man raised his head to the night sky and began to laugh as his father fled down the street in fear. Still, as he reached more populated streets, his father began to calm down. After all, he only had a daughter at the time, and his second child isn't supposed to be born for weeks. Besides, there's no way that man's ravings could have any real effect on anything. By the time he got home to find that his wife gave birth early and saw his new son, he managed to place the man's proclamation firmly in the back of his mind.
As time went on, Audric's father found his thoughts going back to that night. As he grew older, Audric grew more and more rebellious. They didn't have to worry about not having someone to take over the family business (his sister was already being groomed for that), but his apparent lack of any drive to learn a livelihood beyond the occasional petty theft was worrying. He seemed to go wherever he wished to go, always humming that random little ditty. Last year, that changed. He apparently bluffed his way out of the Saraswatin with several astrological carts. He stayed up until dawn that night, studying the movements of the stars by candle light. Since then, he's cut most of his associations with the thieves' guild in favor of his studies, although he is willing to give a discount to any members that come to him to have their fortunes read and occasionally give them an alibi. While his parents are just glad he's making a decent living, Audric's getting ready to leave. The melody's taking a turn for the violent, and he'd rather not be in town when it finishes it's crescendo.
