Gafir

"Wearing your heart on your sleeve is good, don't get me wrong, but you must understand: too much of a good thing will kill you."
"Gafir, no offense, but there's something, like, clinically wrong with you."
"I am aware, but I should warn you..."
"Warn me?"
"It takes one to know one, my dear Reincarnation."

— Casual, oddly normal conversation overheard between Gafir and Ravi

Wrapped beneath layers of existential spite, Gafir is a sensitive, curious spirit. They thrive in intercultural settings, notoriously preferring the foreign to the known. Despite their fickle nature, or perhaps because of it, they believe wholeheartedly in the importance of following and enforcing local laws, customs, and languages to the best of one's ability.
Gafir has experienced great suffering as a result of the Astris Genocide and the The Aravun Civil War, though not in a way that many are predisposed to sympathize with. They announced the Astris Genocide on behalf of the Ida, as well as its "end." When the Ida commanded that all Yashelin who stray from the righteous path must be subject to exile, Gafir took up the mantel and personally exiled hundreds of Yashelin from their home planet. Gafir was trapped in a cycle of violence while desperately trying bury their own emotions. Their own secrets.

"No one told me stop."
"No one forced you to keep going, Gafir!" Areta snarls. "You had a choice. Own it!"
"I'm trying to!"

Nowadays, they struggle to make amends with themself, their community, and to those they harmed.
Before the Aravun Civil War changed Gafir's reputation, they were best known by the Aravun Yashelin as the Serayin who presides over laws, trade, and diplomacy. They are the beloved leader of the (Red) Flock alongside their decenir, Zadoki. The (Red) Flock is responsible for the legal side of Aravun Yashelin society, including criminal justice. They are also responsible for the communication systems which connect their society together, such as the postal service. 
Kivrians have a complicated relationship with Gafir. They are best known for their speech, Ashes to Ashes, which declared the end of the Astris Genocide and revealed to common Kivrians the existence of the Afterlife. In doing so, Gafir irreversibly changed the trajectory of history planet-wide. In their absence from Kivria ever since the genocide, their reputation became one of both reverence and of fear as they grew into a mythological figure who heralds both hope and destruction.

Somehow, someway, Gafir manages to catch Chamu without falling out the sky themself.
The blood from Chamu's mangled arm soaks their clothes, their feathers, right down to their skin.
Gafir hovers there, torn between the call the Ida has given them and the call to flee, for the neutral zone. For Chamu. For themself.
Uri makes the decision for them when ae takes Chamu from them.
They allow it, in mute horror. Mostly, they want to cry out: "don't leave me alone, Uri, I can't do it. You're the strong one. How can I do it?"
They do not say any of this, of course, and Uri flies away in a flash.
Uri has entrusted a grave responsibility to them.
Like they did so many years before, they steel themself for what is to come.
Someone has protect Aravu, after all. Why not her, this time? If the Ida will not, and my fellow Serayin will not, then I must. If they cannot have faith in the Ida to protect them itself, they will do the dirty work.
Gafir commands the gathered Yashelin into action: "All defectors are to be found and taken to me. I will enact the Ida's will from there."
The hunt begins. Every spirit that disappears before their touch kills their own spirit until there is nothing left but a blank, calculating cold. It's not so bad, after that.
Every exile sends a message, Gafir convinces themself. They will exile every last problem, so that Aravu is safe from this sickness. It's like Rafa always says: sometimes a bit pain is needed to heal the hurt. Gafir must be the bit of pain that heals the hurt. 
They repeat this mantra, over and over again, even as the exiling continues far beyond the war. Like taking a plunge into cold water. Steady your hand, close your eyes if you must, and jump. Or like pulling weeds. Somewhere between those two sensations lies how it felt to be the lone Serayin to exile their own.

Also Known As

Galilea Zylpeiros

Name Meaning

Messenger

Purpose

To Send Messages (former)
TBD

Pronouns

they/them (on Aravu)
she/her (on Kivria)

Spiritual Color(s)

Red, on the brown-side like soil

Species

Yashelin

Ethnicity

Aravun Yashelin
Serayin

Flock

(Ivu word for Red) Flock

Homeplace

Caso Rovash

Current Partner(s)

Zadoki (hearthmates)

Former Partner(s)

Luin Zylpeiros (husband)

Parental Figure(s)

Ezeki
Uri

Children

Founding ancestor of the entire Zylpeiros family tree, including but not limited to:
Soran & Tabitha Zylpeiros (biological sons, twins)
Geneva Zylpeiros du Galilea (biological daughter)
Esther Zylpeiros
Mason Verbena
Nanatu Zylpeiros
Ravi (Reincarnation; Ayiru)

Current Profession/Rank

Serayin of Laws, Trade, and Diplomacy