a farce, a simple way for him to hide from his brothers and sisters. But the Elf girl was much more than he expected, and he fell madly in love with her, the first one to truly accept him as he was. Although they brought each other happiness, Random refused to have any children, afraid that they would live a life as outcasts, much as he had lived his own childhood. He and Eldárwen lived in hiding together for the entire war, and he only came forward when The Conclave formed in order to keep himself from their anger.

For many demigods, their immortality is a great gift. Random often thought of it as a curse. His wife eventually grew old, and although Elves live longer than men, shefell ill at the old age of 216, and her heart began to fail. As she lay dying, Random attempted every healing power he had ever learned, but it was not enough to fight off age. As she died, he cast a great ritual to keep her soul with him, and he stored her in a dark red tearmark on his right hand. In this way she has never truly left him, and he is able to feel her presence around him.

After Eldárwen’s death, Random planned on resuming his walk around the Earth, but the Regulators had other plans for him. While the choosing process was designed to be either by lot or by volunteering, Random was chosen twenty one times in a row, for a total of