Surain
The quiet man behind Surain's Animal Shop, who shows the students the way to their Amícûs. He carries an old grief.
- Who
- Animal dealer in Tés Aváir
- Amícûs
- Idolon, a ghost tiger that disappeared many years ago
- Scent
- Wet earth, animal fur and old metal, like a fire that has gone out
"Give it a name. Say it out loud. If it's yours, it will come."
Surain owns Surain’s Animal Shop in Tés Aváir, a warm, noisy shop full of cages. This is where the new students come to find their Amícûs. Surain wears a simple brown cloak and moves slowly and carefully, as if he doesn’t want to frighten anything.
The story of Idolon
Inside his hut on the animals’ island, Surain tells Chris, Ahra and Retia how he lost his father when he was fifteen. His father was killed by a tiger with completely black eyes, while Surain stood frozen and watched. His own Amícûs, a ghost tiger he had named Idolon, changed afterwards and ran away. He has never seen it since.
When Chris says his surname, Godrand, Surain looks at him as if the name explains something.
Water remembers
Later, Surain is at Déynáir, and he teaches Chris to listen to the river. Chris smells everything at once, and Surain tells him to close his nose and sit in the cold water until he can feel what lies beneath the scents. Surain is only there now and then, and one night he arrives on the last ferry and presses Chris’s hands down into the water.
Relationships
- Chris Godrand: teaches him to listen to the river
Spoiler (revealed in chapter 19)
Surain takes Chris into a small room on the ground floor and tells him about his parents: that his mother is alive, and who his father was. Chris asks him to train him, and Surain says yes.