Alliances Offered, Part Three

Lady Tabitha Andiras thought she had understood just how different the Temple of Amun was from the Court where her father had made his name, with its traditional focus on the worship of Helios. That was until she followed a young but powerful priestess named Aesa out to the edge of the training yard in the center of the temple... and found the Fontaine Heir Tavros sparring with an elf... and not just any elf, a true elf. 

This one was obviously a warrior, and while his blade was slightly smaller it mirrored the Heir's own in form and function. The two of them were a curious juxtaposition, Tavros massive and powerful, the elf slender and fleet. 

He... let an elf come close to him with a blade? She thought, wondering, but then she remembered what Anica had told her. What makes him truly dangerous is his willingness to trust his friends. Still... the Fontaine Heir had elves for friends? 

Tabitha had little experience with weapons, but watching the two of them position themselves and exchange their blows, she had two thoughts. The first was that despite the differences in their strengths, they were surprisingly evenly matched. 

The second was that either one of them alone would tear right through Giles Bouvier's Royal Guard without breaking a sweat. They were fast, precise, deadly: murderous poetry in motion. The outcome of such a confrontation would never be in doubt. Of course, the would-be King in the East had other defenses, most of them Solari, and she would have to detail them to the half-dragon before he went to execute Giles Bouvier. But it was telling that Tavros himself didn't seem to keep any such guards around. 

What makes him truly dangerous is his willingness to trust his friends, Anica had said. And, Be his friends. Anyone trying to harm him here in the temple would quickly find the entire temple allied against them. 

"How well do you know Tavros?" she found herself asking. 

The cleric Aesa shrugged. "Fairly well. Not as well as Tarric and Anica, but fairly well. Well enough to give him advice, or accept it from him."

"Is he..." Tabitha hesitated, feeling that she was about to say something that sounded perfectly sensible to her, and would be taken without question at Court, but was going to sound strange and possibly insulting here. "Is he an elf-lover?" 

Aesa actually laughed. "Tavros loves who he loves, in the way that he loves them." She shook her head. "He and Ruin met in some sort of Otherworld called Fanaxia, and they've been friends ever since."

Sacred Helios, I'm an idiot child. Aesa's ears were slightly pointed, and her eyes sharp; she had some elvish blood herself. Tabitha braced herself for whatever punishment would follow, since obviously the Fontaine Heir and the Temple of Amun considered at least some elves to be allies. That felt like it should be treason, but... Duendewood was supposed to be part of Sol Povos, so maybe not? And Caristhium was not so far from Duendewood itself.

"Would you guide me on to the library?" asked lady Tabitha Andiras. "I need some time to..." She trailed off, uncertain of how to finish.

"...Digest?" suggested the cleric Aesa.  

Lady Tabitha nodded. "If you please."

"Of course," said the cleric, and led her away.