Minecraft Username:  4rn4 Are you at least 18 years old?:  Yep! Have you read the rules? (Link):  Yes’m! (Optional) How did you hear about Avalore?: Planet Minecraft— In-Character Read the following prompt: The rhythmic lull of hoofbeats are a marching drum to the small group of pioneers and variety of folk you have found yourself amongst, packed into a wobbling wagon. The rolling plains of the Southern Reach and a clear sky stretch out all around you, the buzz of excited chatter a dull wash in your ears as your mind strays to your former life and what has led you here to new lands. “Nervous?” You blink, returning to the present moment. A kindly older woman sat near you is smiling warmly with a crinkle to her eyes. “I can tell it’s your first time. Still remember mine,” she flashes a grin and leans in. “Tell me my dear, why have you come to the Reach?”   — Response: Zaf glanced up at the older woman, eyes flickering warmly like kindling embers in a firelight. She gave a crooked, uncertain smile and pulled her red hair into a loose knot, more out of nervous habit than neatness. “Not nervous,” she said after a beat. “Just not used to being away from home.” She looked out across the Reach and exhaled through her nose, watching the hills roll by like waves. “My father and I lived in the Ashlands–real Fireborne types. He was Fey-fouched, but I was always told I take more after my mother, whoever she was. He was a blacksmith, actually. Said his fire came from the bones of the Dragon herself. We’d hold bonfires with it—birthdays, victories, even just when the forge ran well.” She paused, rubbing her thumb over shoulder, where an array of burn scars lived on. “He told me stories every night by the forge, about the Fire Dragon whose bones became the Ashlands themselves. How the old Fireborne once stood with it to hold back the darkness in the north. How its skull still burns, watches, even now. He’d carved shrines when we traveled, even if it was just a lit candle in a carved stone bowl. It was about respect. Tradition. He believed the Dragon still guided us, always. I used to believe them blindly, because he did. And maybe... I still do.” Her fingers tensed slightly on her lap. “Then, he vanished. Just… gone. Folks said he’d come back, or that he’d simply gone crazy, leaving in some pact-driven haze. I never got the truth. But I waited for him for a while.” She then tilted her head toward the sky. “I can’t wait anymore, though. So, I came to the Reach to find something. Purpose. A place. Maybe whatever the Aedall were hiding before they vanished. Maybe just a forge of my own.” She grinned, wryly. “Besides. The Spire’s got secrets. And I’ve got time.”   —   Character Name:  Zafiria ‘Zaf’ Valor  Character Race:  Half-Race (Human/Fey-touched) Character Age: 26 Brief Physical Description: Red hair, golden-yellow eyes, tan skin; lean build with faint ember scars on her shoulders. Wears practical, ash-stained leathers.