Dubna

## The Dubna

### Relatives

King Innokenti (partner, deceased); Julvia Dubna Vajat (daughter); Gulvi Dubna Vajat (daughter); Galina Dubna Vajat (daughter, deceased); Alva Dubna Vajat (daughter, deceased); Maruta Dubna Vajat (daughter, deceased); two unnamed daughters (deceased)

## Physical description

### Hair color

*Unknown*

"*Mammu always said that sometimes it’s not during the floods when you’ll see strong people break. It’s after, when it’s calmer.*"
―Julvia Dubna Vajat[[The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas, Chapter 4: Damaged Instincts]]
**Dubna** was an Unseelie swan-shifter, partner to King Innokenti, and mother of Julvia Dubna Vajat, Gulvi Dubna Vajat, Galina Dubna Vajat, Alva Dubna Vajat, Maruta Dubna Vajat, and two other unnamed daughters. Dubna was killed when Augus Each Uisge used the Blight to destroy her home.

## Personality

Dubna was embarrassed when her children called her a Queen. She called them all 'princess' when she tucked them into bed at night sometimes.

## Life

Together with her partner, King Innokenti, they bore at least seven daughters, and resided in the Dubna. Julvia said that Dubna spoke with the spirit of the Dubna sometimes.

Dubna, like seemingly the rest of her family, disagreed with Gulvi Dubna Vajat's choice to become an assassin. She also warned Gulvi against giving her heart to Ash Glashtyn.

Augus used the Blight to destroy the Dubna, which killed Dubna and the rest of her family, save Julvia and Gulvi.

## Skills

Gulvi said that her mother knew a great deal of herbalism and/or caring for plants.

## Relationships

#### Gulvi Dubna Vajat

Gulvi stated that her mother often advised her, to which Gulvi never listened, 'always at [her] folly . . . Except becoming a mercenary. That[, Gulvi] was right to do.' Gulvi said that she misses her mother more than her dead sisters, despite everything. Gulvi also said she was closer to her sisters than her mother.

#### Ondine

Ondine called Julvia 'one of Innokenti's and Dubna's brood', implying she possibly knew one or both them.

## Quotations

* 'Mama used to say that sometimes a bird got a look about them,’ Julvia said, that warmth still in her black eyes. ‘Migrating birds always want to go home again, but sometimes their home is damaged or even ruined, and they can never truly go home again.'

## Trivia

* The Dubna '(Russian: Дубна) is a river in Vladimir Oblast and Moscow Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Volga.'

## Folklore/Mythology

*Swan Lake*, a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky that premiered in 1877, tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. Prince Siegfried goes on a hunt and nearly kills a swan before she transforms into a human, and explains her curse: by day, the women are swans, and by night at an enchanted lake made from the tears of Odette's mother, they are human. The spell can only be broken if one who has never loved before swears to love Odette forever. Siegfried promises to help. The sorcerer Rothbart tricks Siegfried into announcing he will marry Rothbart's daughter Odile, instead. Siegfried realizes his mistake and goes to apologize to Odette, but the mistake cannot be undone: she and her sisters will remain cursed forever. In despair, she decides to die, and Siegfried goes with her. It's theorized that the ballet might have been inspired by the 1858 Russian fairy tale *The White Duck*, about a newly-wed Queen who is tricked by a witch and turned into a duck. The King discovered her mourning over her murdered children, and when he caught her himself, she returned to her original shape, and restored her children to life.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 not\_poignant. “Unwound.” *The Fae Tales Verse - canon extras. Archive of Our Own,* 31 July 2016. https://archiveofourown.org/works/7562599/chapters/17386390. Chapter 4: IV.
2. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 31 March 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/95108674. Chapter 29: Invention.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 31 October 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/5651081. Chapter 16: Death.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 1 August 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/4478196. Chapter 5: Unsolicited.
5. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 20 June 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/3901096. Chapter 2: Orphan.
6. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 19 October 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/38607599. Chapter 32: Somewhere Safe.
7. ↑ "Dubna (Volga)". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubna\_(Volga). Accessed 30 May 2021.
8. ↑ "Swan Lake". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan\_Lake. Accessed 20 May 2021.
9. ↑ "The White Duck". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_White\_Duck. Accessed 20 May 2021.