VALLA
One of the six Life Wardens,
Valla is the Warden of the Lithosphere. She is attuned to all life underground.
Guiding & Guarding the flow of life energy from its source, through the Rock & Compost Cycles, and back again.
This life energy, called Nemore, is tangible to Valla, and she wields it to .
rebirth - gateways - the unseen - conviction - internal work
- Lyvendra’s little sister, by 4 years. She is 19 years old when the story begins. She was 7 years old (Lyv was 11) when her parents, Sten and Marigen, moved to Sage Keep with her, leaving their older sister and grandmother behind in Bowerbury. Valla was closer to both of them than her parents and she wailed in misery when the time came, begging for them to not leave, or let her stay behind too. Lyv and Valla are both blonde, fair skinned, though Valla’s hair is more golden yellow, vibrant, shiny, and falls perfectly, often commented on and she has a naturally “healthier” tan than Lyv. In the years following Lyv and Idyllwode’s revolt against Peldrim, when Valla is a young woman, at 20 years old, Sten gives Valla to Sessine Ducote’s cult to be trained as a follower and weapon of the Peldrim Dominion. He does this as a means to atone for his other daughter’s infamous “betrayal” and her continued role in the attacks on Peldrim. It is also a way for him to regain some status and get back in Peldrim’s good graces, he petitions and gets a meeting with Jerod himself, through Jerod’s advisor. It is also propaganda, to show that Peldrim is strong and mighty, and even the “spear” of the Grovegardes’ family is against her.
Unlike Lyv, she was not raised in the military, but around it, as a Captain’s daughter, she was known and offered a modicum of respect around Sage Keep. She has also been indoctrinated, like her sister, but is less naive about the world because she saw much more about how it operates, given the political power of Sage Keep, the station of her father, and the knowledge of the outside world available to her there. While she is exposed to somewhat of a larger picture, This all changes when she is essentially sold to Sessine and Eterna Abunda, where she is traumatized and turned into a weapon, and extension of Eterna Abuna’s fanaticism and Pedlrim’s imperialism.
Valla is trained and groomed by Sessine herself. She has the skills of an assassin and rogue, and is implemented as such by Peldrim. She transforms into one of Sessine’s Revenants, her inner circle, immortal but technically undead, as she serves the lich queen Sessine. Eventually, she turns against Sessine and Eterna Abunda, through the persistence of Lyv, Russum, Helke, and Ulfin, and joins her cause, healing some old trauma, and becoming part of the Grovegarde team.
As a revenant, Valla retains her youthfullness, but she is beholden to consuming and destroying raw Nemore in order to continue living. Wishing to be free from that curse, (and acknowledging that it is at odds with the mission of the Grovegardes), once she is realigned with the Grovegarde team, Lyvendra, Helke, and Russum work out a plan to attempt to bring her back to the living. They realize, due to Russum’s power with Saprophytic fungi, his powers are related to decomposition, death, and bringing new life into the dead. He helps Nemore to pass through death and back into living beings, and that might be the best chance to cure Valla of her reliance on (feeding on and) destroying Nemore. Russum, having grown so fond of Lyv and charmed by Valla’s naturally aggressive self (she is hotheaded and quick to anger; he finds it funny), he buries her in the earth, and transfers some of his power to her, through great effort (and time!) - burying himself as well. She is not only returned to life, but also is infused with Russum’s power, and the Nemore moving through the layers of the earth. She gains some power of the Nemorence as well. She is still immortal, like her sister and the Grovegardes, but now she can disappear into the earth, disappear into shadows, feeds on death instead of life, a decomposer - a Saprophytic Revenant. She is now a threat to other undead. She still has her assassin abilities and vampiric vibe, but she is now a Grovegarde, and her specialty is the unseen, the dark, the shadows, moving underground - literally and figuratively.