#tsore

"Allow me to introduce you to your guardians on your journey," Alythar said quietly, his voice muffled by the dense shadows of the hall.  Avariel blinked. "Guardians?"  The priest smiled slightly, eyes dark. "You didn't think we would just let you wander off to Thaliara Gwyndylon with no one to keep you safe, did you?"  "Honestly? Yeah, I kinda did," Avariel murmured, trying not to appear ungrateful.   "Here." Alythar opened one of the unmarked stone doors that lined the corridor. The room was dim, like most of the temple, lit only by a few candles. In the flickering light, Avariel could make out several figures gathered around a table. They had been conversing quietly, but stopped as she walked through the door.  "What's this?" asked the smallest figure from her place on the edge of the table. A flickering ball of light, pulsing and oddly colored, appeared in her hand and lit her features as it cast more light on the scene.  She was tiny, no more than four feet tall, and petite as well. Her eyes were slanted and large in her small face, and her mass of hair was braided tightly to her head and held back in a large bun with two braids trailing down out of it. Her ears were faintly pointed. She grinned when she saw Avariel start at the sight. "Not familiar with my kind, girl? Lucky you." Her eyes flickered to Alythar. "Who's the brat, priest? A sacrifice for that goddess of yours?"  "She doesn't smell like a sacrifice to me," said a husky female voice from the corner. The form that had been lounging there rose languidly and sauntered into the light from the tiny girl's spell. She was tall, almost six feet, and had chin-length hair that had apparently been chopped off with a dagger. It was the exact color of fresh blood. Avariel stared at it in fascination until the woman smiled. Instantly, her attention focused on the sharp teeth that filled her inviting mouth.  Shifter.  Only then did Avariel notice the way the light reflected from her wolf-gold eyes. She stepped back, unsure, and the woman chuckled. "No, no sacrifice is this one," she told the tiny girl. "She is scared, and smells of blood and death. She smells of betrayal."  The mage blinked and scrunched her nose skeptically. "...She smells of betrayal? That makes no sense, Adi. How can you even smell that?"  The taller woman, who was apparently Adi, snorted. "It is a mixture of smells and impressions that would be lost upon your dead senses." She sounded contemptuous, and maybe a tiny bit defensive.  The mage returned the snort mockingly. "Careful, dog. I'll set you on fire again if -"  "Enough, both of you." Alythar made an abrupt motion, and both girls stopped talking immediately. "This is Avariel."  "The princess of the Baron's household?" The new voice was male, but the speaker stayed in the shadows, a glint of light on his hooded eyes as he turned the only way Avariel knew where he was looking. "What is she doing here?"  Avariel took a deep breath, trying to fight back her confusion and dislike of strangers to speak like an adult. "My father's House is no more. I have sought Sanctuary in Giadriana's temple."  The ball of light pulsed brightly as the mage holding it started. "No more?! But that means she-"  "Yes, Karira," Alythar interrupted. "But that is for later."  "So," the hidden man remarked, "the bastard finally got taken out?" He leaned forward, and Avariel got a glimpse of dark hair falling into narrow eyes. "The Unspoken Right was enacted? But... not well, it seems."  Avariel's stomach tightened. The Unspoken Right, the Right of Annulment, was centuries old now. After the Reckoning that had destroyed the Old World, the land had been split too far asunder for the empires of the past to thrive. Instead, the world was divided into smaller communities that were usually centered around a defensive structure or a town that had partially withstood the destruction. The land between these small points of civilization was filled with chaos, darkness, and monsters that were the warped and rabid remains of the past.  There was no inter-community organization. For years after the  Reckoning , there wasn't even any communication at all between them. If it hadn't been for the temples, there might not have been for decades longer. But once settlements became more permanent and the remaining populations began to trade and aid one another, the inevitable greed arose as well.  Eventually, according to the books she had read, one man tried to seize power for himself. Known only as The Betrayer in legend, he attempted to kill the leader of a nearby community. He managed, but only because the man he killed had also been the one who had raised him from childhood, and refused to raise a hand against his own son. When he tried to take his adopted sister as his new wife, she ran to the gods for Sanctuary.  In the center of Thaliara Gwyndilon, the one place in the world that was sacred to every god, the girl told her story to the representatives of the gods, and they ruled swiftly and harshly in her favor. The Betrayer, and any who had supported him, were brought before the gods and executed.  After that day, there was a law that any who tried to take power through murder would be judged thusly if any witness would come to Thaliara Gwyndilon and present their case. So the Right of Annulment was created: to rule, every member of a household must die. Every man, woman, and child who might one day go before the Chosen and witness. Every servant and soldier who could attest to what had happened.  The Unpoken Right had been attempted few times, and not often with success.  "No," Avariel answered his unspoken question. "Not very well. And I will make sure that all my friends and family do not go unavenged."  "Ohh, a journey of vengeance and danger." Karira grinned brightly. "Sounds like a fun time!"  Adi smacked her on the back of the head. "A little sympathy might be in order, my bloodthirsty friend." She nodded more formally. "I regret the loss you must have felt this night, princess. May you be brought peace, by light or darkness."  Avariel nodded back, unsure of what to say. She was saved by the other man. "Well, I'm guessing you want us to be her guardians to the temple?"  "Right." Alythar motioned, and the walls flared with blood-red script for an instant before it faded back into invisibility. He shut the door behind him, and he and Avariel took two of the empty chairs at the table. "You three will accompany the princess to the temple, where she will witness against the man who did this."  "Why us?" The shifter sat in one of the padded chairs, crossing her long legs in front of her. Her eyes gleamed. "Why should we trek halfway across the known world to help anyone from the Baron's house?"  Karira nodded, yawning. "Adi's right. I don't remember signing up as a babysitter."  Avariel snarled. "I don't remember being so helpless that I need one, either!"  "Oh?" The shadowed man chuckled. "And how would you take care of yourself, princess?"  "Tsippore - "  "No, he has a good point," Adi purred. "Let him speak."  Alythar sat back with a resigned sigh. Tsippore continued. "You are the only known survivor of the attack on the Baron, a man with few friends and rather a lot of enemies. You are a girl who is untrained in the magic I see within her, and who has no idea how to use her body as a weapon. You have been kept within the fortress all your life, and your father kept you purposely ignorant on all matters of politics, geography, and the outside world. You have never had any close companion who might shelter you."  Avariel fought to control her expression, even as tears fell down her cheeks. The man continued, his voice still even and reasonable. "Tell me, princess: how do you plan on getting to the temple? You have a powerful enemy who wants you and knows exactly where you are. You don't know the way. You don't have any supplies, or money with which to take it. The attackers left a girl dead a the scene who was almost identical to you and dressed in your clothing. They are claiming it is you. That means they don't necessarily want to kill you, girl. They may want something more. And you think you can evade them alone?"  "How do you know all this?" Avariel whispered hoarsely.  Karira looked up from where she was playing with her ball of light, mouth twisted into something between a grin and a smirk. "Honestly, hon, it's just better not to ask some things."  Tsippore ignored the Fae's interruption. "I know what is known on the streets already. Words spreads quickly of happenings so dire and forces so disciplined. The reports say no one made it out alive. You are the secret that the attackers must take care of." He sat back, hands behind his head.  The long silence was broken by Avariel clearing her throat. "These things you know: is one of them the identity of he attackers?"  "Do you now know this yourself?"  "I would not ask if I did," she snapped.  Adi shifted in her seat, uncrossing and recrossing her legs. she spoke slowly, her eyes slitted. "A moon ago, I was approached by a very secretive human. He said he was putting together a force of shifters and mages, but that he was keeping it quiet. He stressed that the reward would be immense, and that the danger would be minimal. I declined of course, for Tsippore decides where we go and why, but I was curious enough to trail him back to his den." She paused, cocking her head , then shook her head. "His den was a public place, so I was unable to follow him further."  "But I could," Karira chirped, her hands busily sketching something in the air before her. "I was able to catch a glimpse of him talking the man he worked for before their mages could find me. Here." She motioned, and the rune she had drawn flared to life, then was replaced by the image of two men bent together over a table. One was carefully hooded and nothing of his face was visible, but the other...  Avariel gasped, jumping to her feet. "The seneschal!"  Tsippore nodded. "Yes. He was the leak that allowed your attackers to gain entry to your fortress without a fight."  Karira shrugged impatiently. "Yeah. The other guy is way more interesting though." Avariel sat back down, feeling nauseous. She wasn't sure she agreed. The seneschal's betrayal cut more deeply than any knife. He had been her father in all but name, praising her and helping her when the Baron forgot about his only child, which was often.