Lumien

Child

Ten years ago, on a dark and stormy night, the Starling Theatre troupe were delighted to welcome the newest member of their cast: the son of Ivote and Ysabella, Lumien. From the moment he was born, under the glow of lantern light as the troupe's caravans rattled along the stony road, they knew that he was destined to be something great.

Or so the story goes, at least. In truth, Ivote and Ysabella have no idea of the circumstances of Lumien's birth. The swinging lamps lit not the inside of the caravan, but the road, and revealed a small boy, with a soft face and angelic eyes, shivering in the hedgerow that bordered the woods. The couple bundled him up and brought him inside, offered him food and a bed.

They had not intended to keep the boy - they planned only to take him to the next town, and drop him off at the first orphanage that would take him - but the child, who did not know his own name but was estimated by Arlette, the closest thing the theatre troupe had to a resident doctor, to be a little more or a little less than two years of age, swayed their hearts so much that they couldn't bear the thought of parting from him.

Instead, the troupe tutored him in acting, music, and dance, and the boy took to it with a natural ability that simply could not be taught. When they paused to perform, he trod the boards with the rest of them, and the Starling troupe became relatively famed for their precocious young actor. In shows with no call for a child, he instead sat to the side and provided musical accompaniment, and was just as accomplished offstage as on.

Fae

Lumien's fae heritage isn't so obvious, when just looking at him. Although small for his age, he could easily pass as a human child, at least to first glance. If watched for long enough, there's something a little unnatural about the way he moves, as if his bones are just a little too light; when his eyes catch the sunlight, they glint in just the wrong way. His ears, although just round enough to pass as human, seem to be growing ever more pointed with age, and his teeth sometimes seem just a little too sharp, and a little too big for his mouth.

Musician

Trained by the theatre troupe who raised him, Lumien has been tutored in all manner of perfomance arts. He has taken well to all of them, acting and dancing with confidence, even in front of the biggest crowds, and his fingers dance across the strings and keys of instruments with the skill of a musician many times his age. He's brave enough to engage with his audiences, and has won the hearts of even the most deadpan of audiences, earning the troupe far more than his keep.