Dolen Harven has, by all accounts, lived a happy life. His youth as a rowdy adventurer came to an end when he met his future wife, Lioni, in a Sinashakti festival of Storytellers in Magnimar, the City of Living Monuments. Dolen played a folk-song on his lute and Lioni joined in from the crowd, dancing to the beat of the music. The two gnomes spent the festival getting to know each other, leading to a life of happiness and three children: eldest son Poshit, middle son Zannite, and youngest daughter Pash.
The young family settled in the center of civilization: Absalom, through rough years and good. The three children grew up into careers of their own rights and set off on their own lives. Dolen and Lioni lived for over a century in the big city, bouncing between occasional adventures and working on stable careers as an accountant and teacher respectively. Over the span of time, they both settled into their routines. Their children were grown and they were content. By the time they noticed the Bleaching had a hold on them both, it was subtle, slow, and already advancing. Both struggled, together and separately, to fight back, to find some spark to reignite the passion in their souls, but Lioni did not succeed; the aging took her life. Dolen would have followed shortly after, were it not for the luck of finding--and efforts of--the Wonderseekers' in exposing him to stories and sending him on adventures. Not only to survive, but also find the time to grieve.
It took time. It took time before the vibrant purple flowed back into Dolen's hair, but a spark of youth and excitement found hold in his soul. He adventures now to honor the memory of Lioni, though hidden in his messy hair is a single lick of gray. The memory of what he's lost lives on through that streak, and he wouldn't have it any other way.