Character Analysis
Reyel should also be known as Big Daddy—at least in the Ortahlson family. In the story of how the Valley became warded off from the Empire, Reyel Ortahlson, along with Dirna Urlasdaughter, kept on searching to find Asarta and her magic. He's persistent like Dirna—they both keep on searching for Asarta, despite the fact they have no clue where she is:
The two journeyed on, choosing their roads at random, until they came to a city on the very edge of the immense desert that marked the eastern boundary of the Empire. (2.35)
Reyel's the water guy—he's got a flask with water that Asarta makes sure perpetually renews itself. This ties in with his command to sing to the river to make sure it keeps snowing (blocking off the Valley from the Empire). He's obedient and does just as Faheel says:
Nevertheless the two did as they had been told. Two moons after that nights became longer than the days, Reyel climbed up by the stream that ran by his father's farm and poured the last of his flask into the place where the water dribbled from the snow line. As he did so he listened to the rustle of the infant stream as it tumbled over the boulders. Threaded through the sound he heard a song, one he seemed already to know in his heart, so he straightened and joined in the singing, full voice, and the wind carried the words away and the cliffs echoed them back to him. By the time he had finished, the wind itself had risen almost to a gale, and before he was safely home the first flakes of snow were whirling around him. (2.91)
Just like Dirna, Reyel is the stuff of legends.