Duendewood: Children of Ruin, part ten

It took a bit of wrangling to get everybody moving, but only a little. Jacques could already see some new connections forming, a fact which pleased him; it didn't look like they'd have any trouble working together against the gnolls. His brother Julien, who'd inherited their father's looks and strength, was walking beside the woman called Morrigan, who appeared to be an ordinary elf -- albeit armed with an oversized guisarme. Knowing Julien, they were likely talking about arms and armor and fighting techniques, which was doubly interesting since the elf-woman didn't look strong enough to make full use of the polearm. 

Tybalt, meanwhile, had fallen in beside Jacques, so Jacques took the opportunity: "Pardon me if the question is... indelicate... but how is that the crowd of you are all so very different?"

Tybalt chuckled. "You'd have to have known our father to understand," he said. "As a mortal, Ruin was... a complicated man. I suppose the simplest way to explain it was that in the years leading up to the confrontation with Galvera, he was in constant danger and so took comfort where he could. I think he also wanted to establish a legacy, to leave some part of himself behind if he died." 

He paused, then gestured to where the others walked ahead of them. "Rose, the druid, is the oldest of us. Her mother was the priestess Aesa, a battle-priest who worshipped Amun. At the same time, he sired Rune, whose mother Anica was a human paladin of Amun. Ruin sometimes said that Amun himself was at least half-responsible for their conception."

"Is Rune...?"

Tybalt shook his head. "He and his mother did not survive the battle with Galvera, who took their souls. I'm pretty sure that was well more than half the reason that our father found a way to ascend. My father could be very gentle, but he held a grudge like you would not believe. Anyway, shortly after the, um, encounters that produced them, he was approached by a gold dragon named Rita, whom he had helped to save from the control of the dark army. In the way of dragons, she produced a clutch: Sun, Scar, and Risk -- the three golden half-dragons. In human terms, they're triplets."

Jacques nodded at that, unfazed. His own grandfather was a half-dragon, after all; he knew these things could happen. Though he supposed he was impressed with the courage of anyone who would lay with a dragon after knowing what she was. "And... let me see if I have this straight... Sun became a cleric of Amun, Scar became a sorcerer, and Risk... what?"

"Fights with his teeth and claws."

Well, that was interesting. Especially since his own sister Yvette was walking between the cleric Sun and the sorcerer Scar, chatting cheerily with them about politics and society in Caristhium. "Rather effectively, I'd imagine."

"Oh, yes," answered Tybalt. "He's very easygoing ordinarily, but in battle he's... ferocious. Scar is the dramatic one, and Sun is what you might call phlegmatic,  but Risk... Risk is basically just a really nice guy until things go too far and he stops being nice, and at that point it's kind of scorched earth all the way."

Jacques, who'd put up with a great deal of abuse during his time at Court and was used to putting on a polite face until he could act on his hidden rage, thought he could kind of understand that. "All right."

"Right," said Tybalt. "So the next two are Morrigan and Skyflower, both conceived a few months before the battle, when Ruin and the others were trying to restore the druids. Morrigan looks like an ordinary elf because her mother was an elvish werebear named Nym, who learned to bear arms -- pardon the pun -- and became one of the champions of the druids. Morrigan learned fighting skills from both sides. She wears all that oversized clothing because when she transforms, she doesn't tear through it. Our mother is still figuring out how best to make her some armor that can change with her."

"She's a lycanthrope?" Jacques felt his eyebrows try to climb into his hairline. 

Tybalt just shrugged. "Yes, but she's a born lycanthrope, and she's a werebear. Apparently that makes a difference. So far as I know, she has a handle on it: she seems to be able to change and change back at will, and I've never seen or heard of her losing control."

"That's... Okay, you've genuinely surprised me." She and Julien should get along just fine, then. "I would have guessed that she'd be one of our weaker fighters."

Tybalt grinned. "She'd have been happy to let you think so." He cleared his throat. "Skyflower is the daughter of Ruin and one of the senior druids, a true elf named Alnira. She... She's been studying under one of our grandmother's old friends, following in her father's footsteps. Right now, she's basically just a ranger, but eventually she'll start tapping into other worlds for more unusual skills and abilities. At least, that's what my mother says. Skyflower and Morrigan were basically raised as sisters; their mothers married each other." 

"Which brings us to you and your siblings," Jacques observed, though his head was spinning with this new information. 

Tybalt chuckled. "We're the easy ones, Baronet Fontaine. After Galvera was defeated and Tavros took the throne and drove out the demons, Ruin... well, it was never simple for him, but as he and my mother told it they kept visiting each other and eventually admitted that it wasn't a simple friendship or alliance. They married, and had Ash, who has now become a Paladin of Ruin. I was born next, and the whole idea of setting up a temple for the worship of our father was mine. Our younger brother is Azrael, over there, who takes after our mother Amaranth -- an Elvish Bladecrafter."

"So he's a weaponsmith?" asked Jacques, slightly worried. 

Tybalt made a yes-and-no gesture with his hand. "To be a Bladecrafter, you have to know how to use the weapons you're crafting. You also have to know how to put magic into them. So they... learn spells, maybe even really powerful spells, but their main focus is using those to craft magic weapons and armor, and maybe other items. They can fight, maybe not as well as a dedicated fighter but still effectively. They can even cast spells, kind of like a wizard can, but not as powerfully. But yes, his real power is in what he can create with that combination of smithing, magic, and martial skill."

"I confess I'd never even heard of such a thing," Jacques admitted. "It sounds fascinating."

"Azrael would tell you that it is, and honestly I don't doubt him -- even if I went a different way." Tybalt hesitated, then asked: "What of the three of you?"

Jacques smiled. "I'm the oldest, which is why I get the impressive titles and most of the headaches. I was trained for a life at Court: weapons, music, oratory, magic... a good mix, and it suited me. Yvette was born next, and as you can see she's a little more obviously a child of our father -- just don't mention it, she's also needlessly sensitive about how people see her. She took after our mother in the study of wizardry, and she seems to have a knack for it. Julien is simpler; he's the baby of the family, and also the one who most resembles our father. His training focused on arms and armor, and he loves it."

"He and Morrigan should get along well, then," Tybalt observed. 

"Yes. Given our fathers' alliance and mutual respect, I'm not surprised -- but it's good to see."