Helena to Hand
Wizard Helena Gryvaen
Wizard under Garland II Ainros
Helena Gryvaen was born Helen Girn in a village outside of Aerwoth. Little is known of her childhood, except that she ran away at around ten years to work for the merchants at Aerwoth proper. How she learned spelling is unknown, but her proficiency seemed satisfactory to her masters, at least enough to keep her fed for four years. At about four-and-ten, she came to be under the employ of Lord Borodos Griivan. It would be commonly said later that she tricked Lord Borodos into believing they were distant kin or that she had Western blood (the Griivans being a clan with roots on the Green Isle), but these are assumptions based only on her change of name to the notably Western "Gryvaen."
Regardless, Helena had been serving under the minor Lord Borodos for three years when his household was visiting the castle, during the examination of Wizard Anna, called Anna Attent. Anna was also a young and ambitious wizard, and her ambitions seemed to be swallowing her up just then: she had been imprisoned for funneling taxes to the Urudunites, and was days away from being convicted of the assassination of King Garland the Conqueror, one of the most beloved kings in Revellian history.
Being only five-and-twenty, Wizard Anna had no experienced apprentices, and any students she did have naturally fell under heavy suspicion. The dead king's son, Garland II, noted Helena Gryvaen's presence and demanded her Lord make a gift of her. Lord Borodos was paid handsomely for this, but it was whispered he held a grudge against the new king for the rest of his short life (Borodos would choke on a large cut of ham only four years later).
Some dared suggest Helena gained her position by seducing the king, but such a claim could only have been made by those who had never met them. Short, squat, and ghast as a snow ox, Helena was the opposite of the new Queen Skal'izel in every way. And if the new king had any desire of a paramour, he likely would have taken one openly, for less than a year into his reign, Garland II returned from a visit to Ethelbrand with a second wife, something no Eastern king had done since the Rule of Clan Bastion a hundred years ago. Nine months later (some say sooner), Queen Messenger delivered a son to King Garland: a pink-faced boy named Erick, with chestnut hair and nothing about him that proclaimed him of Clan Ainros. Many were already saying the queen had been pregnant before their marriage, and that the hasty wedding was meant to save her honor. Now those people began to suggest the child was not even the king's. Yet why would the King of Revellia wed a woman of middling standing to save the honor of someone else's child?
Much came of this. Queen Skal'izel calmly refused to acknowledge the wedding, the child, or Queen Messenger's existence. She took many paramours into her own bed, which King Garland strove to ignore, until a man grew so bold as to defy him to his face. The king had this man executed, and remarkably the relationship healed between the king and his first queen. Not long after this, Skal'izel would deliver the king's second son to him: earthen-skinned with hair as red as rubies. To those who dared whisper this child was not his own, he defied them by offering the baby boy his own name. Though he would one day grow to be called Garland the Grim, for much of his life he was called Young Garland.
Erick and Young Garland were different in every way. Erick was shorter and plainer, lacking a serious mind for rule, yet he was kind and friendly and able to charm virtually anyone to his side. Young Garland was taller, comelier, and better schooled to his position, yet he was cold and mirthless, oft called Greeyan the Cold King come again. The two had every reason to hate one another, for in addition to their personal differences, factions arose early on favoring one or the other as heir to the throne. Those who supported Prince Erick called themselves Messengers or Messenger men, after Queen Messenger. Those who supported Young Garland called themselves Loyalists or King's Men, though in truth King Garland II never declared who he meant to be his heir. The king brought Young Garland to court with him far more often, and indeed Erick spent much more time with his little sister Elin, yet still the king never said outright who his heir was. Both children had grounds for people to doubt their paternity. Ultimately, it became a matter of which queen one desired to support.
Helena to Hand threw her support behind Queen Skal'izel, the first queen, and her son Young Garland, who bore his father's name and attended him at counsel. Skal'izel would die when Young Garland was seven, in a shipwreck that took her life and the life of her daughter Ish'sala. Dowager Queen Hwel'Ynwel took up Young Garland's cause after this: she was grandmother to both children, but Queen Skal'izel had been her niece, and like many she doubted the paternity of Erick, who looked so unlike his father. Yet for all her support, it would be Helena to Hand that history recalls as Young Garland's greatest champion.
The two princes grew up as friends, and indeed many attempts to turn them against each other seemed only to drive them closer. In the end, it was a woman who finally came between them, though seemingly through no act of her own. Ea, a speller in service to Wizard Helena, had become the subject of affection from both princes. It was all in play: both Erick and Young Garland were already betrothed to women of high standing. Yet nevertheless, the two spoke fairly to her and made frequent jests of their competition for her affections. Ea was nearly as young as the princes, yet she had a level head and understood how little their words could mean. Ea was reported as a speller of middling ability, and some said she had been taken from Cantef by Helena as one of her many plots to drive a wedge between the boys. This one worked.
Niil Conlaugh, Mox Master to King Garland II and unofficial leader of the Messenger Men, suggested to Prince Garland (all in jest, of course) that he fight a hollymock with Prince Erick for Ea's favor. Whatever evil he might have planned did not materialize. Prince Erick's second shield was faulty, and Young Garland ended up severing Erick's arm off just below the elbow. More furious than pained, Erick struck at Garland's head several times before collapsing from blood loss. Erick's arm was deemed an accident, yet Dowager Queen Hwel'Ynwel saw an opportunity. Erick had struck at Garland with intent to kill, she said. She charged Erick with assault on the heir's life.
Though long considered the most ardent of Loyalists, Helena begged the Dowager Queen to recant this charge, but she would not. This would at last force King Garland II to declare who his heir was, and the only possible outcome in her eyes was the young man who had attended him at court, who had the look of Clan Ainros, and who ever played the part of king-in-waiting. Moreover, this declaration would necessarily mean the death of Prince Erick, and the end of the Messenger threat.
Helena knew the King better, though. If forced to choose and nothing more, he may well have chosen the boy that carried his name. But as the Dowager Queen noted, choosing Young Garland meant killing Erick, and the king had never been known for such decisive action. Queen Messenger fought ardently for her son, and in the end Hwel'Ynwel was the only one surprised when the king declared Prince Erick his heir. The boy had lost an arm but gained a kingdom.
The princes were furious with one another, yet Wizard Maiar suggests that even then they might have forgiven one another. Alas, older and more cunning hands were guiding their actions, and within a year Helena to Hand had compelled Young Garland to flee the castle with his Loyalists and raise the ancient Clans for him. Helena sent spells out to the Elkwoods, the Graunts, the Beths, and even the Khabarese governor of Urudun (Young Garland's betrothed was the governor's second daughter). The Graunts and Beths joined him, and Urudun's forces compelled the Elkwoods to join them as well.
The First Brothers Rebellion lasted many years. Both princes wed their ladies and gathered their forces (Urudun for Garland, Ethel for Erick), and Prince Erick had a son named Allad.
Many spells have been writ on the Rebellion, but none deny it essentially ended at the Battle of Wedge Coast, where Prince Erick was slain by Mox Haunric Toll and thrown into the sea. Toll reported to the King that Helena to Hand was slain at the battle too, yet she arrived at the castle a month later, where she helped negotiate a peace between Young Garland and the Messenger Men. Erick's son Allad was declared the heir, but part of the treaty demanded that Helena leave Revellia. Young Garland arranged for her to sail to the Green Isle, where she served Lord Morvan Farre for several years. Yet even then, her support of Young Garland remained, and Wizard Genev writes she was instrumental in convincing the prince to seize the crown upon the death of Garland II.
Prince Allad was ten years old at this point, and fled to the Green Isle shortly after his uncle took the throne from him. He was too young to know who Helena to Hand was. He brought with him his sister Eina and a speller who had been instrumental in raising and educating him. The speller's name was Ea. Whether coincidence or providence, it is believed there was some form of reckoning between Ea and Helena when Allad came begging Lord Morvan for shelter. Ea remained at Souwoth as Allad's company continued on to Castle Aintorq, and Wizard Helena abandoned her post to sail back to Aerwoth.
Helena had spent her life playing games with the lives of children, but it seems the Hosts had their own games to play. Helena's ship, the Swift Hope, sank on its way to Aerwoth. The seas were reported calm at the time, and none know precisely what happened. Some histories record the ship as Scant Hope, especially those less favorable of Helena and her work for Young Garland.
Helena to Hand was both ambitious and lucky, and though her luck eventually ran out, she lived until the age of six-and-sixty, quite an accomplishment for any court wizard.
Conditions
Ethnicity
Professions
Life
4775
4841
66 years old
Birthplace
A nameless village near to Aerwoth
Children
Eyes
Black
Hair
Chestnut
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Ghast
Other Affiliations