Ashai Gath

Ashai Gath was a human woman who lived in the High Forest, in a village known as Far Water. She bargained with Malazan to end the deadly drought that was killing her people, but when she tried to trick him the second time, she was killed by him. She was Bean and Petra's biological mother.

## History

Ashai Gath lived in the small village of Far Water in the High Forest. She lived a simple life with her husband, although her life became more complicated when a drow traveller- Umbros Ilystryph- arrived in the village. He remained in the village for a little over a year, and during this time, Ashai and Umbros grew close; for a while, they also became clandestine lovers. While Ashai was ashamed of her disloyalty to her husband, she was unable to resist the handsome and charismatic man's charms, and found solace with him as the months grew hotter and hotter. In time, Ashai realized that she was pregnant; while her husband was thrilled, Ashai sensed and feared that Umbros was the baby's father. She knew that, if that were the case, her infidelity was sure to come to light as the baby would inherit the dusky elven features that matched the only drow in the village.

In addition to this, the heat in the village continued to grow until it was unbearable; the river dried up, nearly all the plants withered, and the air was so thick it was difficult to breathe. As villagers continued to die and more still were at risk, the people were desperate for any solution. Ashai resolved to try to visit one of the forest gods rumoured to live within the High Forest, and bargain with it to save her village. She trekked for a month into the woods until she found the deity the old village stories spoke of, shocked to discover the being was a massive red dragon: Malazan the Red. She pleaded with him to put an end to his drought so that her people could live; in turn the deity obliged... for a price. He demanded her sacrifice, and with a heavy heart, Ashai agreed to Malazan's terms: she would return to his cavern with her newborn child, leaving it as a sacrificial offering for the dragon.

When the time came, a weak Ashai returned to the cavern, having given birth on her month-long journey. While she was immensely sorrowful for the loss of her only child, she also felt a guilty sort of relief that the truth about her child's parentage would never come to light. This made her sadness even greater, but knowing that her daughter would not have survived in the deadly heat, she placed her at the mouth of the cave. Despite having to give her up, Ashai had still named her child: Petrichor, for the smell of the rain after a long period of dryness. As promised, when Petrichor was placed at the mouth of the cave, rain fell forth from the heavens as the deity relinquished his drought. Ashai returned to her village, telling her husband and her lover that the strain of the journey and her own malnourishment had caused her to miscarry; she took the secret of her daughter's fate to the grave. Ashai ended her relationship with Umbros, who left the village not long after.

After years of prosperity, the devastating heat returned to the High Forest, growing with record-breaking intensity. Ashai, angered that Malazan would return the forest to unbearable conditions only a few years after her sacrifice, vowed to return to the dragon once more. She begged him again for his aid and he demanded the same condition: that she promise the life of her unborn child. Ashai, not having yet realized that she was pregnant once more, bargained with Malazan: if the drought drew on, her child may not survive long enough to be born; the suffering had to end now. Fatefully, she made a blood oath with Malazan, agreed to the terms, and he ended the drought. Ashai returned to the village, but when her child, who she named Ilia, was born, she knew she couldn't go through another sacrifice, knowing how fickle the deity was. Intending on lying to the dragon should he return, and say the baby had died regardless, Ashai never returned to the cave deep in the forest.

For years after this, Ashai did not hear from Malazan, but the drought also did not return. Ashai eventually came to believe that the deity had forgotten her promise... until one fateful night, when he arrive in all his fury, promising to take one hundred times the blood she had stolen from him. Ashai told her daughter to flee, and made her final stand in the village to buy enough time for Ilia to escape; in turn, the dragon demigod razed the village and everyone left in it, including Ashai.

## Grandfather Tree

Since Ashai's death, her spirit wandered restlessly through the woods for years, unable to find solace not knowing the fate of her child, but unable to find her spirit either. In time, she found her way to Grandfather Tree, where a young Uthgardt of the Tree Ghost Tribe- the shaman-in-training, Freyah- met her spirit. Ashai's ghost was the first spirit Freyah had ever communed with, which was a sacred connection. As such, Ashai's request- that Freyah watch over her child where she could not- was a sacred one that Freyah honoured to the best of her ability.

Years later, Ashai's child- now named Bean, as she had been called by the druidic community who took her in as a child- traveled to Grandfather Tree and met Freyah, who guided Bean with the ability to speak with lost souls, to finally meet with her biological mother. Ashai tearfully reunited with her child, finally at peace to see them alive and well. Here, she told Bean everything, before finally passing on to the spirit plane.