Ivan "Vanya" Kolavic was raised to protect his sister, Valeriya. The two children were lucky enough to be born to a Jadviga mother, and spent their early years in relative comfort close to the border of the Mammoth Lords.
Vanya's mother, a far flung descendant of Queen Elvanna, was almost universally ignored by the ruling class of Jadwiga above her. In this sphere of neglect, her predator instincts mellowed, and her children grew up feeling something akin to love from their parents.
Unlike Vanya, his sister was born with the magic of their mother. It soon became his duty to look after her, and that duty was more important than he recognized because of the dangers of Irrisen.
As violent and cold as the wilds of Irrisen could be, it wasn't the land that killed his sister. It was his great aunt. Apparently, his mother had failed the Jadwiga in some task, and, since she was still useful, her daughter had to pay the price.
Vanya was meant to die too, but his father hired a Mammoth Lord mercenary to take him to the land of Taldor to the south. Here, at the age of 18, he buried his grief in work as a hired hand on a farm west of Heldren.
Even through the pain, the man grew to love the relative warmth of Taldor and took to plants and tending them.
A few years later, having convinced himself that Irrisen was forever behind him, Vanya moved to Heldren and took up the job of gardener for the local herbalist, Tessaraea. The quiet of the town suited him, and the fertile soil beneath his fingers reminded Vanya that there was still a piece of the world not touched by the Jadwiga.
