Darin

**Darin of Serra** was Laia's older brother and a former blacksmith with knowledge of how to make Martial blades.

## Personality

Darin is similar to his mother in temperament. He is courageous, observant, alert, and knowledgeable. He is always listening and learning. Darin is not interested in becoming a healer like his grandfather. Darin is an excellent artist and loves to draw in his sketchbook. Like his mother, Darin can be as immovable as the mountains when he wants to be. His courage is a quiet type.

## Physical Description

Darin is the spitting image of his mother. He is skinny and has Mirra's sweet, crooked smile and unruly, sandy hair. He has blue eyes and golden skin.

## Biography

 This page may contain spoilers! Do not proceed unless you wish to be spoiled.

### *An Ember In The Ashes*

Darin had been spying on Spiro Teluman of whom his forefathers were the first-class smith in Serra. He was drawing the inside of Teluman's forge and had been designing his own weapons which he kept in his sketchbook. One day, Teluman caught him red-handed while spying and saw his drawings. He was impressed therefore he took him in and Darin was apprenticed to make fine Teluman weapons for the Scholars.

At the beginning of the novel, Darin comes home late, presumably from Teluman's forge at the Weapons Quarter because he smells of steel and coal - he had used the tunnels to get to the forge. Darin had been going back and forth between and their home and and the quarter for about months, leaving Laia to fill in his duty of helping Pop healing patients. He did not want Nan and Pop to know about his drawings of swords in the sketchbook, because it could risk his and Teluman's lives. However, some rebels give out his name to the Martials, which then causes them to set the night raid in motion.

On sensing the night raid coming to them, he asks Laia to hide his sketchbook then hastens to the back door where he obtains a large kitchen knife from Pop. He attempted to escape with Laia while Nan and Pop held the Martials off. They were to hide in east end of the Quarter. From the backyard, they could hear a fist pounding on the front door. At the gate, he pushes his sister behind him. Then a Mask emerges from the darkness.

Darin does not run when the Mask asks him to. He readies himself to fight instead. The Mask strikes, he is down to the ground and being set upon by the Mask. Darin and his sister are brought back to their house. He is tied up and shoved to the ground next to Nan and Pop. After acquiring the sketchbook by threatening him, the Mask then interrogates him. He denies any alliance with the Resistance, telling the Mask that some rebels were following him and he lies about not showing his sketchbook to them. Actually, the rebels spotted him leaving the Weapons Quarter and thought he was a Martial collaborator - they would not leave him alone so he showed the sketchbook to them for the sake of safety. They asked him to join them but he got away.

The Empire expects a real rebel to deny membership for days. Darin has been taught by Spiro Teluman to survive interrogation and prison. He answers every question calmly with confidence. Thus, this makes the Mask suspicious that someone must have trained him. He does not reveal anything of it so the Mask orders his men to bring him out and burn the house. When the Mask turns to Laia, he loosens his binding and charges the Mask off guard. He shouts at her to run. When Laia does not help him, he fights them alone. Subdued, he is tied up securely to be sent to an interrogation cell.

### *A Torch Against The Night*

Darin is being held in the interrogation cells of Kauf Prison. The Warden's "experiments" have caused Darin great mental trauma. He uses his own blood to draw pictures on the wall of his cell. Tas tells Elias that Darin's pictures are so real they look as if they could come to life. Elias hears Darin's cries and screams from his own cell. Tas is the one who tells Elias about Darin. Darin escapes from Kauf with Elias and Tas.

### *A Reaper At The Gates*

Since escaping from Kauf Prison, Darin is unable to make Serric steel.

He works with Zella to make Serric steel for Musa and the Scholars.

### *A Sky Beyond The Storm*

Darin is waiting for Elias in the Waiting Place. He tells Elias, who is unable to speak from his grief, that he knows he is dead and only wants to know if Laia is ok. Elias confirms that she is and that she defeated the Nightbringer. Darin is proud of his sister and walks willing with Elias to the River Dusk. Before entering the river, Darin tells Elias, "If anyone can love her enough for everyone she's lost, it's you. I wish you joy, Elias."

## Trivia

* Darin is Gaelic for "great." In Kurdish, it means "precious."
* Rehmat reveals that Darin was a possible warrior and carried Rehmat inside him.

## References

1. ↑ *A Sky Beyond The Storm*: page 500
2. ↑ https://www.names.org/n/darin/about#associations