Lek

Lek, an inhabitant of Jakal Viharn in the Jungle of Himatan of the Isle of Jacuruku, was a female attendant and close companion of Ardata, the 'Queen of Witches'/'Queen of Monsters'. Half of Lek's body was twisted and deformed: the skin on one side of her "pretty, elfin, heart-shaped" face and on her skull was coarse and "knobbled" - the eye on that side of her head was clouded white and blind; one of her arms was swollen three to four times the size of the other; and the skin on the swollen arm and on her deformed legs was likewise coarse and rough. Lek's swollen club feet caused her to limp badly with a "shuffling slow gait". It was observed that Lek possessed "a quiet dignity" and was "wise beyond her years". She was clad in a simple white robe loosely wrapped around her body and she wore a single, long braid that fell to one shoulder from her shaven scalp. Although Ardata denied that Lek was actually her daughter, it was suggested that this denial was due to Ardata wishing to keep the deformed Lek hidden and/or protected from strangers.

In Blood and Bone

K'azz D'Avore, Shimmer, and five other Avowed Crimson Guard members, having been escorted via the Jacuruku ship, the Serpent, from their home base in Stratem to Jakal Viharn by Rutana and Nagal - two of Ardata's most trusted and most powerful servants - the Avowed were then left to wander around the grounds of the ancient, ruined city, Jakal Viharn, until Ardata chose to meet with them.

Shimmer, during this waiting period, made it a point to familiarize herself with the inhabitants of and the lay of the land of Jakal Viharn. While doing this, Shimmer encountered Lek while Lek was a child, while she was a young woman, and while she was - briefly - a crone. Meeting Lek in these past/present/future situations and talking to the Queen of Witches, herself, it was made clear that the exceedingly bizarre time-slips which were universal phenomena in Himatan were due to Ardata's magical manipulations of time there. Eventually, however, Ardata was encouraged to withdraw at least her physical presence from the mundane world, as well as her tight control over the normal passage of time. Because of this, Lek became stabilized in her natural form: that of a young woman. As such, Lek was taken under the wing of Ina - a Seguleh who had recently lost an arm - and the two disabled women quickly bonded with each other. Lek also re-encountered Nagal, who was apparently an old friend of hers, and she was instrumental in the befriending of Ina and Nagal. Ina soon realized that - in the relative absence of Ardata - it could be mainly up to her, if she was prepared to take on the responsibility, to see to the protection, further education, and training of Lek - along with the help and support of Nagal - given the new, very different, situation which had now dawned in Himatan. The need to take care of the young, innocent Lek, Ina felt, was the only thing which had made life worth living again.

Quotes

Shimmer: "Is that the disease that kills all feeling in the flesh?"

K'azz: "No. That is no disease. Lek was born that way. Caught halfway into a transformation from human into something else."

Shimmer: "Something else?"

K'azz: "She must have in her heritage the touch of a shapechanger. This is how it manifested itself."

―remarks of K'azz D'Avore to Shimmer explaining the source of Lek's deformities

Notes and references

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