Thorslav was a brave man. He had been a warrior for the Kniaz and was rewarded with a patch of land in a village. He farmed the land, built a house and went to look for a wife. Long he searched, for the bastard was a picky one. Finally he found one and married her before a sage of Svarog. They were soon blessed with child, however Thorslav was called to the Kniaz and was not at home when the child was to be born. Then Thorslav returned, he was told that his wife had died during childbirth. He asked then for his child. The villagers looked down and only pointed him to his farm. Entering the house, Thorslav found a creature on the floor screaming. This was his child, however it looked nothing like a normal child. Thorslav fed the child and took it then to the village elders. After some deliberation, the elders concluded that the child had to be a changeling and not Thorslavs real child. They said the Kobolds had stolen Thorslavs real child and placed the changeling in the childs place to conceal the theft. Thorslav, being a brave man, vowed to get his child back and ventured north, where the Kobolds dwell in caves. For several days he traveled, taking care of the changeling as it was his own child. Thorslav entered the caves of the Kobols. The tunnels were small and he had often to crawl on all four to get through them. Many times he was attacked, but a grown warrior is no match for Kobolds, who only prey on the weak. Finally Thorslav found the Kobold lair. Thorslav was not noticed by the inhabitants, for he was a master tracker. He looked at the lair, and found that it was filthy and everyone seemed miserable. Thorslav thought first to attack, but he felt pity then, and even though they were Kobolds, Thorslav would not attack the defenceless, for he held the law of Svarog and the angels close to his heart. Thorslav rose up and came out of hiding. He walked straight at the frightened Kobols, carrying the changeling under his arm. He demanded to have back any human children living amongst the Kobolds, but the Kobolds only ran away and hid from them. One by one Thorslav hunted down the Kobolds and demanded to know where his son was. If they could not answer he tied them up in the middle of the lair. Finally it seemed that Thorslav had gathered every Kobold in the lair, but still no son. Thorslav then searched beyond the cave, where he found a cage with a little girl inside. Thorslav exclaimed that this had to be his girl and broke the cage. Not that he would not had freed the child anyway, Thorslav would not leave any child in such a place. Returning to the Kobold lair, Thorslav realised that he really would not leave any child, even the changeling, in such a horrid place, and therefore took both home. He named the girl Svaroslava and the boy Svaroslav and raised both as his children. Many in the village didn’t like this, but each time they brought it up with Thorslav, he said that he could not imagine Svarog wanting him to do it differently. While Kobolds are small, Svaroslav was brought up on human food and grew much larger than other Kobolds. Still, he was much smaller than the other children and was picked on and taunted by them. Svaroslava took it on herself to protect her adopted brother. She never backed down even if the children of the whole village went after her. If she was beaten, Svaroslav would then set up pranks to take revenge on the children. The siblings grew up as close friends, and when Svaroslava wanted to become a bogatyr, Svaroslav wanted to travel with her, even though he in no way could become a fierce warriors, being more than a head lower than his sister. Svaroslava could not find it in her heart to say no to him, and asked their father for help. Thorslav forged each a sword, fitting to the strength of each, and Svaroslavas sword was three times heavier than Svaroslavs sword. Then Thorslav made each a shirt, and sewed runes of protection on it so that no harm would come to them. With the special sword Svaroslav could train for battle. The siblings traveled the realms, and by Svarogs blessing committed many good deeds. But that is a tale for another day