Aro Week: Cavallan

 

It's Aro Week! I'm going to spend it talking about some of my published aromantic characters.

Today: Cavallan (aka. Val or Dog) from Testing Grounds and Birthday Landscapes

Cavallan is a battered, disabled, warrior-mage (also known as a sense-twister for the way they can twist both their own senses and those of other people). He is both aromantic and asexual, though the aromantic side tends to dominate. He was originally a mentor character in a now trunked early novel, but has grown and developed along with my own writing skills and now carries stories on his own. He has a dislike for bards who pile unearned fame on his head, or give him sole credit for something that it took a whole group of people to achieve, a kind heart, a queerplatonic partner, and twin children.

A short sample (from Birthday Landscapes): “We want landscapes, please, Da,” Lusi proclaimed, and held out the chalk she had fetched.

“Very well,” Val replied. He nudged a chair up to the end of the table and took the chalk pouch. “What kind of landscape do you want to start with?” He sat down and fished out one of the pieces of chalk.

“Plains,” Emlan piped up. “With grass and flowers, not all mud and sand and stone!”

Lusi scowled. “I wanted hills. Can I have them second?”

“Of course.” Val breathed slowly and gathered himself, then racked his memory until a suitable plains landscape came to mind. He visualised it, took up the chalk, and sketched it out in map form on the table. He ran his finger around the edge of the map to mark a boundary, then fed out a trickle of power. The map flowed upward into a miniature illusion of the real landscape and the twins bounded up to flank him at the table.