#tamlenstarter

They each weren't without their respective skills, Nirvaan had improved a great deal, Tamlen was something else entirely, and Cloud had been strong the entire time that Inan had known them. Even if they wrestled with their unseen demons now. Their magic as a whole had increased a great deal, but it was marginal when compared to the noble houses, multiplying something minimal didn't increase it by much, but a larger sum only grew the valley between the common elves and the elves of the noble houses all the more.

Noble protectors and dedicated guardians, would that Zahrya would take a warder instead of the demon he brought into his bed then they'd be nearly complete. "I saw you at that vampire function," a wedding, a birthday, the solstice, a party of all things; a series of distractions that Inan had participated in but was now prepared to put behind him. Three arrows whizzed through the air, each fired in quick succession as the projectiles lobbed through the air some distance away were each struck and brought down. Simple. "it wasn't anything like what I thought it would be." Inan had expected bloodshed, perhaps a fight, but he'd found none - at least none that hadn't been spilled without consent.

"Can you tell me something," Raffaele asked as he settled next to Tamlen with the set of drinks that he'd gone to fetch for them. This was kind of exactly his scene, though being here as part of a couple had never been part of the game plan. Raffaele would have normally been on the top floor getting bled and bred by whatever anonymous shape wanted to take a turn. This was growth. "how the hell did I end up at this party with the hottest guy here?'

They ascended to the golden staircase, one foot in front of the other as the warmth of Laurelin washed over them. Its gilded bark exuded divinity in its purest form, the Two Trees were the greatest symbols of the Gods' power and as they ascended above the treeline the ripples of shimmering canopies reflected the light that adorned them.

Firehair was aptly named, Sune's tresses captured the gold and spun it with scarlet. Shifting on its own it swayed gently down her shoulders and lifted from her back like a subtle flame. The chiton she wore was simple but elegant, fabric more akin to a silken diamond than anything found in the mortal realm, it caught every light and held none of it all at the same time; in every way it was made to draw the focus onto her features. Sune historically resented apparel in its many varieties, that she wore anything and permitted Tamlen to remained dressed at all was a sign of her respect for his modesty.

"Well cutie, tell me everything." The lady Firehair was a passionate goddess, clearly she was the most powerful among the Seldarine: passion ruled the world. All of Faerûn was driven by desire and by love. Corellon loved her people just as she did, and that love was a primal protector that drove darkness from this place. "Do you have a girlfriend?" He seemed very young, much too young to be married. "What are you, two millennia, three?" She ruffled his hair playfully. Passion and love did not end with lovers, rather they were only the beginning, she was the love for a properly raised child, and the passion of parenthood. When she died, all the fires across Faerûn dimmed in mourning.

“Nice fit,” Raffaele commented as he just so happened to come across Tamlen hanging out outside a very extravagant looking tent. He felt two individuals within, there was an intense and overwhelming heat that seemed to ripple off the very tent. Was that steam? And then there was definitely a vampire within as well, a lot of laughter, more groaning than even he was comfortable with, and the distinct presence of blood. “this uh, this guy have you keeping watch?” 

Jian was leaving soon and Kaan was dead, the vampire had told the witch as much this morning. For weeks Raffaele had been held prisoner, wondering when the time would come that someone would come for him but fully aware that he was already out of reach. Necromanteion didn't allow for much hope, night by night he wondered if Kaan was already dead. If they'd killed the sovereign and were keeping him for something else, it was only the day of the ritual that he even knew Jian had been taken as well. Then Kaan failed, but then he succeeded - and his father had taken his place, somehow. Somehow instead of the Scar, the Sacrifice had found a way to change his fate.

This was a second change that Raffaele didn't intend to squander.

Anyone could see that the once proud Worldly had been changed, marred in some indelible way that spoke to the creature's characteristically unshakeable pride. The world had been turned on its axis, now the unyielding devotion that Raffaele had poured into his family felt splintered, fractured as petals from the Narcissus sank into the dirt while another was scattered to the wind. A marred palm reached towards Tamlen's face, "I'm sorry- I" for letting himself get taken, for not being strong enough, for just being some stupid mortal witch. "for all of it. You can talk to me about it, or not, but I'm here for you regardless."

Tamlen didn't have a phone, an Instagram, an email, or an address that could be located via carrier pigeon. Raffaele never really knew when the elve would show up, so for convenience, the witch had a key made so that Tamlen could let himself into the apartment whenever he was around. Wards let Raffaele know when someone was inside; Tamlen, specifically, was an alert he'd get wherever Raffaele happened to be at the time. Tonight, the witch had been witch Efigenia after work, practicing and learning what she'd started to teach him following the holidays. While Raffaele had already closed the frequently reopened wound over his palm, the skin still felt tender: raw, red, and angry.

Their relationship wasn't long-distance, but in the absence of having the ability to send someone a you-up text, knowing when Tamlen was in his place was necessary. It was impossible not to smile when he saw the silver-haired celestial sprawled across his couch like any mortal might be, TV blaring a Japanese dialogue as Tamlen kept pace with the subtitles. Raffaele wasn't part of the anime crowd, he'd grown up the witch equivalent of Mormon so seeing Tamlen like this was incredibly amusing. "....Are you watching cartoons?" Raffaele loosened and pulled out his tie before tossing it towards Tamlen.

"You'll die if you go rushing in there." In the distance the leaves on the silver trees of Telperion swayed without the aid of any wind. Above the blood orchard was one of the flying cities of the Great Old Ones. Manufactured, controlled, powered, and manipulated by virtue of the faimen that were trapped within. The largest of any, the size of it was incomparable to any monument or city previously known to the mortal realm. Tamlen was a warder, a nuisance in the battle by virtue of his blood, but powerful. Power was not something they could afford to lose haphazardly, "Worse, actually. They'd plant you alongside the rest of our kind."

So much power. This was unlike anything Inan had ever felt, the more he fought, the more the warder came to rely on the aetherial magic that swam in his veins. It blended with his rot as the Titan rampaged above the pair of warders, one bonded to summer, the other firmly attached to fall, arrows streaked the air as they burned into their target. Decay sprang about the autumnal creature as he drew in more, aetherial light flickered within his skin as he felt a smile lift at the corner of his lips.

"I can feel-" Inan whispered as he looked towards Tamlen, a song hummed in the air as the smoke above the city muddled with a storm that gathered at the warder's behest. His magic had always been a trickle, nothing but a pale candle in the face of what now felt like a raging sun that burned from the connection to Tamlen. "I can feel everything," lightning struck some of the fleeing flayed as the city burned, if he wanted to he felt like he could push his song further: every stone, every breath, and every rippling tide. This was a power that broke or made worlds. "is this what it's like for you?"