Rin Xolani

Rin Zolani was born on an unnamed cliff on the border of Vanaheim and Asgard. Her parents were adventurers and were both far from their homelands. Rin's mother was from a small seaside village on an island of Khitai while her father was from the deep jungles of Punt. The two fought for months as they traveled back to Aquilonia unable to agree on a name. Tired of calling the baby little no-name, Pullo, a warrior in the group started to alternate between Little Rin, and Little Zolani as those were her parent's first names. It stuck, but as she grew most called her Rin as that was simply quicker. Plus, her mannerisms were much more like her mother anyway.

For a short while Rin traveled with her parents' gang as they did what adventurers did. She was such a quiet well behaved baby it almost seemed like she wasn't there. Very quickly she learned to crawl and it was a whole different story. Pullo was tired of life on the road, and besides, the town they were in had an abnormal amount of attractive women. He offered to take care of Little Rin while the others continued on.

Through the years Rin learned much from Uncle Pullo. She was entirely un-interested in anything the other kids were doing. She'd sit back and watch them, wondering how they could be so boring. So she trained... and she trained hard. By age twelve she could beat up just about any boy in town no matter their age. But her parents still would not let her join the band. It was about this time that Rin noticed Pullo had been taking it easy on her in training. He'd congratulate her on a job well done when she caught a scrawny rabbit in a trap. Or somehow not notice her when she'd sneak up on him even though the floorboard squeaked.

One day when the two were practicing her sword fighting she noticed just how many times he was late on defense. She was livid. She started to put everything into her attacks, smacking his blows away in a fury. She hit him hard in the face and Pullo stumbled for a second. She saw something change in his eyes. He made a feint to the left then kicked Rin in ribs so hard she heard a crack. The force of the blow sent her flying back and she landed with a hard thud, breath knocked out of her. Pullo ran to her with horror on his face. When Rin caught her breath and spit the blood out of her mouth, she laughed a hardy laugh, "That's what you're going to teach me."

Her parents visited for a couple months out of the year and in this time Rin hounded them for their abilities. It was clear that they just wanted to rest but she didn't care, she knew her mother could teach her the way of the thief and her father the way of the warrior. Her parents had no trouble pushing her hard and Rin was prepared for it.

Now being eighteen she could see just how little she knew. Pullo could still beat her in a sword fight two times out of three. There were still two locks on the practice block her mother made her that she couldn't open no matter how hard she tried. But she had keen senses, good instincts and mean sword-hands. Knowing that her parents would never judge her as ready, she decided to sneak out one night. A little ways down the road she heard someone following her. When she turned she saw Pullo carrying a sack with a grin on his face. "You almost gave me the slip, almost. Your parents have been wondering when this day would come, they left you these..." She opened the sack to find a beautifully carved ebony stick and a simple but expertly crafted katana. "...your parent's first real weapons."

He kissed her forehead, gave her a hard punch to the ribs. "Pick some pockets and buy some armor".