Vanido Acalon, nicknamed Vani, is the cousin of Pasco Acalon, the dance-mage. He belongs to a family of harriers, and is training to be in the Provost's Guard in Summersea, Emelan. He was a very mean-spirited boy and picked on Pasco for his cousin's love of dancing. He also beat him up. After Pasco found out he was a mage from Lady Sandrilene, a powerful thread-mage and great-niece to the Duke of Emelan, he danced Vani and two other cousins up into the air by doing a swan jump. Vani was furious and threatened to mince him. When Pasco brought Lady Sandry to examine his midair cousins, Vani demanded Pasco's arrest for using magic on him. It began to be so annoying and distracting that Sandry used magic to close his mouth shut.