Originally from Baun, Nikaio's life was a pretty easy one. They didn't have copious amounts of money but what his parents did make was enough to sustain their growing family with a little left over for a few amenities. Nikaio's mother worked as a jeweler, using precious stones found in Matori to create her pieces. His father was a well known healer and scholar of the village.
At the age of six summers, Nika had an older brother (age 9) and a sister on the way. By the time of Nika's seventh birthday, his sister had been born. His mother recovered soon after the birth, up and going in a timely fashion. And it seemed as each day went by, things slowly returned to normal. Or as normal as having an infant sister could be.
Several months went by before anything exciting happened. Though it wasn't a good kind of exciting. Nikaio was woken up in the middle of the night and dragged from his bed by a panicked father. Loud noises could be heard all around him and it took his brain a while to process that it was screaming he was hearing. And various other sounds. He had frantically searched for his mother and sister as his father had dragged him out of the house and through alleyways. All the while he was tugging and asking where everyone else was and asking about what was going on.
Soon they joined his brother on the outskirts of town and they slipped away, unseen and without his mother or sister in tow. Nika retreated in on himself for a long time after that, refusing to talk to those around him. And there was always at least someone else traveling with them. His father had said they were going to meet up with some old friends in Tale. Those friends, it turned out, were a gypsy troupe made up of all different races but, clearly, lead by a water earthling male.
It is several months later, after what would have been his sister's first birthday, before Nika starts coming out of his shell again. The process is slow but with the help of those of the troupe, he finds himself again. His family, or at least the part that escaped, have integrated themselves into the troupe effortlessly. Nika still, to this day, does not know what became of his mother or sister and isn't sure he will ever really find out.
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