Ahanu Naruson

Ahanu Naruson is a thief and spy in Gul-jõr. He is the sixth son of Naru, and worked for Balen. He was born on the 4th of the 10th, in the year 473 of the Seventh Age (according to the Ortian Calendar).

Appearance
Ahanu wears his red-brown hair long to cover his bright green eyes, which are framed by dark lashes and brows. He is quite tall, but not broad, with toned muscles. His skintone is slightly darker than that of others in Gul-jör.

Childhood
Ahanu's mother, Jesia Linasa, was a prostitute. Naru came upon Jesia when she was working, disguising himself as an ordinary customer. She gave her son to the Temple of Manae, in Gul-an, within a week of his birth. Ahanu, meaning 'he laughs', was the name she gave her son because she heard Naru's laughter following her in the days after giving birth.

The priestesses of Manae's Temple raised Ahanu alongside twenty or so other orphans, teaching him to read and write. He also learned to use a bow, and to meet and greet members of the nobility, from Gul-jör and the surrounding realms. Ahanu's enthusiasm for learning made him a favourite with his teachers, and that enthusiasm stayed with him throughout his life. He found endless hours of amusement in discovering new words, solving riddles and mathematical problems.

Alongside his traditional foundling education, Ahanu also learned to pick locks and pockets, to follow a man without being seen, to scale walls and climb over gates, all at the hand of his father. Here his enthusiasm for learning was also very useful, as Naru asked him to decode messages and letters from spies in and around Gul-jör. Ahanu often carried out missions for his father, assisting other villains, or acting alone. He craved the excitement, but despised the fact that Naru only ever visited when he had some task or other for Ahanu to complete.

Ahanu was popular, with the orphans and foundlings, and other common-born children in the city. He was not quick to anger, but he would not allow his friends or innocents to be persecuted. He stood up for truth and justice, protecting the younger, weaker children from bullies, but he sought to end disputes first through talk, and then, if talk did not succeed, through violence. He was a joker, regularly pulling pranks on his friends and the priestesses, but he was always quickly forgiven, due to the charm that accompanied him into his later life.

Life as a Third-class Spy
Ahanu was welcomed into the Thieves' Palace at fifteen, where he was decreed a third-class spy. Here he was required to put all prospective missions past a superior, pay a fifth of his takings to the Thief King and the Court, and accept mission given to him by his superiors.

His daily routine consisted of weapons practice, straight after dawn; a three hour patrol of the city, collecting and passing on information on specific people and locations, including the North Gate; lunch at the Ancient Oak, receiving information from lower-ranked spies; planning or carrying out missions in the afternoon, followed, where possible, by another patrol of the city.

Ahanu's friends include Jial and Saeli, dizygotic twin brothers, two years older than Ahanu, and Orn, five years older. Ahanu usually worked and trained with them, and considered them his closest friends, though he trusted only Saeli with his secrets and feelings, and even then only the mildest ones.

During his term as a Third-class spy, Ahanu discovered the need of proper instruction in his magical Gift. He left the Palace for two years to complete his training (in one less year than most took) and returned as a Second-class spy, with new responsibilities.