Her father raised her as a truly human child; never revealing her fae heritage. Living among merchant caravans and ships traveling between Europe and the Far East, Dani grew under the guise of a boy. She became familiar with ports and palaces alike, learning the trades of her father. However, she always had a persuasive ability to charm merchants into buying her father’s wares, leading to a lucrative business for her family.
Her father taught her the arts of survival, but never the truth of her blood. That came years later when dreams full of starlight and strange voices could no longer be silenced. Over time these visions and persuasive abilities made her suspect there was more to her than just being a merchant’s daughter. She became curious about her heritage and would drop questions on her father but he would always change the topic and reassure her that she was just like her late mother, charming and lovely but nothing unusual that she would need to be concerned about.
One day, Dani came upon a recent letter addressed to her father from a curious stranger that inquired about Dani’s life. Upon confronting her father, the truth poured out like spilled wine: her mother still lived, eternal and distant in the courts of Paris. Betrayed and heartbroken, Dani left the life of trade and coin behind to go out on her own and seek out her mother along the way.
On her quest Dani joined a traveling firework troupe. This became a new passion in rediscovering who she was. Over the years, she rose through the ranks to become a lead pyrotechnician, mastering both the science of explosions and the whispers of flame—the fae spark within her awakening at last. She had a signature show called the Dragon’s Dance where sparks became symphonies and fire bent to her will. It was there she met her kindred flame, Michael “Black Powder” Barbarosa. He became interested in the skills of flame and explosions and charmed her to tell him her secrets. She decided to leave the firework show and stay at port with Black Powder and put down some roots. Together, they danced with fire and forged Black Powder’s Pyrotechnic Emporium, a place of spectacle, and very legal explosives. They put on their own shows to families in town and demonstrated their services. In the intervening years, Dani’s search for her mother was forgotten under the explosive life she now led.
But fire cannot be caged forever.
In the waning years of the 1590s, a string of hardships and tragedies occured. First her partner left on a quest to help his brother. Leaving Dani behind to tend to the shop, things were thriving until a fire that even she could not contain consumed her livelihood before her eyes. With nothing holding her back, Dani turned her sights to the sea, trading a simple life for adventure once again. She got in touch with her old friend Sarah O’Sullivan, whom she knew from childhood, to help seek out the Barbarosa brothers. Once found, they were both thrown into a life of piracy.
Yet in every port and market, Dani still searches—for the truth of her blood, for the face of her mother cloaked in mystery, and for her destiny written not in ink… but in fire.