Lavan Firestorm, also known as Lavan Chitward or Lan, was a sixteen year-old boy from the country town of Alderscroft. He moved to the hustle and bustle of Haven when his mother became the master of her Guild. Lan did not adapt well to the city, and seeing him lost, his parents decided to send him off to school so that he could find a path in life for himself.
Lan endured constant bullying by upperclassmen, most notably their ringleader, Tyron Jelnack, who singled Lan out repeatedly for abuse. Each time Lan was picked on, his anger raged and caused severe headaches and a blistering fever that made him so sick he was bedridden for days.
When Lan returned to school, he figured out a way to avoid Tyron, but after a while the older boy and his friends caught on and abused him again. Flogged by Tyron and a few of his friends, Lan's rage peaked and his FireStarting Gift emerged all at once. Unknowingly, Lan killed four boys and injured others, including himself.
After this, Herald Pol investigated the situation, found out what the older boys had been up to at the school, and discovered Lan's Gift. Lan was soon Chosen by the Companion Kalira, who was also his lifebonded.
Lavan's FireStarting Gift was well-used later in the war against Karse, and he did much to win the war for Valdemar. The fire-warfare peaked when a Karsite assassin killed Kalira which caused Lavan to very quickly lose all control of his Gift. The entire pass where the current battle took place was turned into a devasting chaos of flames that erupted everywhere. Lan first did what he could to destroy the troops below, before finally allowing his gift-- constantly referred to as a dragon, for that is how little control over it Lavan had-- to run rampant and consume everything it could possibly burn, including Lavan himself. Though not a spell, this use of his Gift is considered a Final Strike. The pass was renamed for the conflagration, and is still known in present-day Valdemar as Burning Pines.
Lavan by Larry Dixon
Companion[]
Lavan was Chosen by the mare Kalira, who was also his lifebonded. This is the only known instance of a Herald being lifebonded to his or her Companion.
Gifts[]
Lavan never had true control of his especially strong Gift of FireStarting. This lead to him being known as Lavan Firestorm.
In the series[]
Lavan appears in the following work: