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Evumeimei "Evvy" Dingzai (pronounced eh-voo-MAY-may DING-zai/ EHV-ee) is an ambient stone mage, originally of a Yanjingyi family.[3] She is the first student of Briar Moss after he discovers her stone magic while she was living on the streets in Chammur. She traveled with Briar and his teacher, Rosethorn to her home country of Yanjing, where she experienced a terrible war. According to the mountain spirit, Luvo, Evvy's own spirit seems to be of inhuman origin, with mountain-like qualities. It is unknown what exactly this means, but given that she can communicate with mountains, islands, the sea, and other such entities, this could place her as one of the most powerful characters to appear in the series.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Evvy's family left Yanjing when she was about six years old. She had at least two older brothers and was the youngest child of the family. Her family sold Evvy in Chammur for two silver davs because the family needed the money and she was a financial burden to them. For about three or four years, she lived on her own in a cavern in the Old City of Chammur.[3] There the stone walls responded to her ambient magic, hiding the entrance to her room and becoming tensile to allow her to sink rocks she'd collected into them. She raised six cats, providing for them and herself by shining gemstones for Nahim Zineer, who paid her small coins for the work. Her magic strengthened the potency of the stones, allowing him to sell them more easily. By 1039 KF Evvy has already lost some teeth.[4]

Chammur[]

Briar discovered her when she was shining stones, when his ability to see magic revealed the effect she had on them. He lured her to his house and gradually gained her trust by giving her food. Although he tried to convince her to accept Jebilu Stoneslicer as her teacher, she refused to consider it, effectively forcing Briar to become her teacher himself, teaching her meditation, reading and, much to Rosethorn's amusement, table manners.

Once Briar had taken her as a student, she caught the attention of Zenadia doa Attaneh, who wanted to use her skill with gems to benefit her gang, the Vipers. Lady Zenadia attempted to trick Briar into letting her adopt Evvy and, when that failed, ordered her gang members to kidnap her. Briar tracked her to Zenadia's villa and extracted Evvy, destroying the house in the process.

Gyongxe[]

After the events in Chammur, Briar takes Evvy on as his student, teaching her the basics of her magic. Evvy and her companions move on to Gyongxe, and there Evvy is fascinated by the new magic that they find - shaman magic, and songs to the earth. However, in Gyongxe and Yanjing, ambient magic is unheard of, and she is looked down upon by practitioners of magic during her travels in Gyongxe and Yanjing. She befriends the God-King, as he does not look down on her for her type of magic.

In Yanjing, when she and her companions are invited by the emperor Weishu to see his gardens, her magic interests and fascinates the emperor. However, even though he is charming and gracious in his gifts, she still does not like him. Parahan, a prisoner of the emperor, becomes her good friend and a stable support for her time in Yanjing.

When the travelers are set to leave the country and return home, Evvy is saddened that she must leave Parahan in chains, and she uses her magic and Briar's lockpicks to free him. Briar helps - grudgingly - not because he does not like Parahan, but that he knows what would happen if they were discovered. During their rescue mission, Evvy learns information from Parahan that troubles her. It is later discovered that it is about the emperor's battle plans, and his decision to move and fight Gyongxe himself, using his many armies.

When they are back in Gyongxe, Evvy is left behind with Captain Rana while Briar, Parahan, and Soudamini go to put their plans in motion. Evvy is captured by Jia Jui - an imperial mage. As Evvy trusted Jia Jiu at first in Yanjing, she discovers that the woman is no one to be trusted when she tortures Evvy, and threatens to kill Evvy's cats in front of the girl. It is here when Evvy makes her mind like stone, making it seem like she is dead so that she will not feel anything. This calls the attention of the mountain heart Luvo, who takes her into his mountain to heal her.

Starns[]

Soon after Briar and the rest of the circle go to Namorn, Evvy gets into a fight with boys who were bullying her friends. Since she beat them up after she disarmed them, she is in disgrace with Winding Circle, and a lot of people are mad at her. In order to keep her out of trouble, Rosethorn and her strange friend Luvo (the heart of a mountain) take her to the Battle Islands where she discovers the beginnings of a volcano, and meets two fire/magma spirits, whom she names Flame and Carnelian. She helps prevent many people from being killed, and creates a new island/volcano in the battle islands.

She met a handful of humans during her time on the Battle Islands. Because of her post-traumatic stress disorder and the cruel treatment she received in Yanjing and throughout her life, Evvy became apathetic to humans and did not care about them or their suffering. After her time on Starns, she began to see the good in people, causing her to vow to become a dedicate at Winding Circle like Rosethorn.

Abilities[]

Magical[]

Evvy's ambient magic causes her to think of stones and rocks as living creatures, and treat them as such; in Briar's presence she's referred to plants as "rock killers," because of the ability of mountainous trees to set roots into cracks in the rock-face, cracking the rock as they grow. When tested by Jebilu Stoneslicer she was able to differentiate stone from petrified wood, although she didn't know what it was. She can also affect the solidity of rock, and make crystals hold light as well as heat, so much so that she shatters diamond while an untrained mage.

Evvy is known for her inventiveness when it comes to using her magic in sticky situations. In Gyongxe she developed a fighting technique where she makes small bits of sharp rock attack her opponent. She also has the ability to sense the magical purpose of each rock. Luvo, a mountain, said that her spirit and magic was of the mountains, but her body was not, putting her into both worlds. It is unknown why this is, and not even Luvo has an idea. As she is somewhat otherworldly, and may be an earth-spirit, she is arguably the most powerful mage in the series (or heading there).

By 1043 KF she is able to talk with rocks and magma. She is able to arm herself in stone magic in order to keep magma spirits from burning her up. She uses diamond armor in order to survive other magma spirits. Evvy is an extremely powerful stone mage who is able to talk with the ancient spirits of the Earth, such as Luvo (the mountain heart), Starns (the island), the surrounding island spirits, and magma spirits.

Non-magical[]

Evvy is resourceful and smart, and is very good at reading people and their intentions. She is also some use as a fighter as she was able to completely beat up four youths who were bullying her friends.

Personality and Traits[]

Evvy is does not have a trusting nature, and is quite suspicious of anyone she is first connected with. She did not trust Briar Moss when she first met him, and was quite careful around him. Her weakness when it comes to this is her immediate trust of anyone who loves cats—as she thinks a person who loves cats must be a kindred spirit. Before the events of Gyongxe and Yanjing, she was really a playful girl when she got to know the people she was around. After those events though, she becomes rather feral, and does not care for humans. She is short-tempered. However, once she is forced to deal with her mistakes, she becomes a lot more empathetic, and even decides to take after Rosethorn and become a dedicate.

She is very determined, intelligent, quick-witted, courageous, and resourceful. Once she puts her mind to something, she does it, even if it could be incredibly dangerous for her.

Physical Description[]

As a Yanjingyi she has light gold skin, and almond shaped, brown eyes. Her hair is black, and she is usually quite skinny. By 1043 KF, though, she is wiry and strong, and can easily best someone in a fight.

Relationships[]

Briar Moss[]

Briar is the mage who discovered Evvy while in Chammur. She was afraid of him at first, but he saved her from the gang called the Vipers, and connected to her street roots. He was the first one who had ever been kind to her, and spent money on her that he didn't expect back. This made her emotional throughout their travels, but she was careful not to show it in front of him, because she knew he would be embarrassed and brush it off. She misses Briar while he is away in Namorn with his foster-sisters, and blames herself, thinking that he doesn't want to be with her anymore. Their relationship is not a romantic one, but one between an older brother and a sister.

Rosethorn[]

She is Evvy's secondary teacher of sorts. She is with Briar and Evvy in Yanjing and Gyongxe, where they are sucked into a war. The war had made them closer, but was quite scarring. Evvy loves Rosethorn, and takes it upon herself to care for the woman while Briar is away. On the island of Starns, she urges Rosethorn to care for herself. Evvy's blasé remarks about human life are looked down upon by Rosethorn, who tells Evvy that she must choose between becoming a builder or a destroyer - a lecture that Evvy thinks is piffle, but she doesn't say it. Rosethorn also trusts Evvy in her magic, something Evvy enjoys. When she disappoints Rosethorn by driving Meryem away accidentally, she stays on the island when their boat leaves, hoping that she can save Starns, herself, Meryem, Nory, and Jayat. She ultimately decides to become a Winding Circle dedicate, like Rosethorn.

Luvo[]

Evvy met Luvo when she was captured by Yanjingyi soldiers and tortured for information about the whereabouts of Rosethorn, Briar, Parahan, and Soudamini. When the torturers threatened to kill Evvy's cats in front of her, Evvy used rock magic so her brain would become stone and she would seem dead. This called Luvo who took her bodily to his mountain to treat her feet and her mind. He became quite interested in humanity after meeting Evvy, and left his home in the mountain to travel with her. In Melting Stones, Luvo is a clear and patient voice, and urges Evvy to become a better human (but in a different way than Rosethorn). He trusts Evvy's magic and word as well, in that he allowed himself to be close to Carnelian and Flare in order to trap them in quartz. When Evvy decides to stay and stop the magma spirits, Luvo is resigned but says his farewells. He saves Evvy by allying himself with the island spirits, who manage to stop the magma and put them out to sea so that they make create a new one.

Parahan[]

Evvy meets Parahan in Yanjing and discovers that he is a captive of the emperor. She is shocked that Parahan was sold to Weishu by his uncle - a story that so mirrors her own. Evvy frees Parahan using rock magic and Briar's lockpicks, and Parahan and Evvy remain friends throughout her time in Gyongxe.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. Mentioned wanting to become a dedicate at the end of Melting Stones and later by Tamora Pierce on the internet
  2. Although likely not officially ranked, her achievements staunchly place her as a great-mage.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Street Magic, Ch. 6 (pg. 109; Scholastic paperback)
  4. Street Magic, Ch. 6 (pg. 111; Scholastic paperback)

See also[]

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