Character Analysis
Dirna is the lady who kicked off the magic in her family. In the story of how the Valley became warded off from the Empire, Dirna Urlasdaughter, along with Reyel Ortahlson, is one of two people who continues in the search to find Asarta and her magic. They end up wandering around and getting to her by word of mouth (2.37), and they continue on to Faheel in Talagh (2.61). With the renewed barley Dirna gets from Asarta, Faheel tells her to go to a particular field and crumble up the barley loaf to put in its furrows (2.86). She'll also leave two sacks of barley by the lake, then sing to the cedar trees (2.87-88). She obeys him and—voila—things go well.
She is really persistent. She kept going, running around the Empire with Reyel to find Asarta, even after everyone else gave up:
When they had lost almost all that they had brought, four decided to give up and go home, but one man and one woman said that they would continue the search, penniless and hopeless though they were. Their names were Reyel Ortahlson and Dirna Urlasdaughter. (2.35)
Dirna is also kind. She gives a piece of her bread, her only food, to a bird. This ends up being a good idea, since the bird reveals the secret location to Faheel's house:
One morning, as they were breakfasting, a small yellow bird flew down to look for crumbs. The two were normally sparing with their water and bread, as if they must not take their magic for granted, but without thinking Dirna broke off a corner of crust and held it out and the bird flew fearlessly up and perched on her finger to peck. The man laughed, startling the bird, which flew off, brushing against the pillar of the archway as it passed. For a moment, brief as an eye blink, the brickwork wavered and was a door. Then it was brick again. (2.61)
Dirna is the stuff of legends—and her adventures launched all of the adventures in this book.