aristocrat · first marshal · fencing master · ironic · cunning · fantasy · military · enemy of the honour men · tragic past · tallinor
*Deep night had settled over the First Marshal's study, a stillness broken only by the strum of a guitar and the low, velvet murmur of a voice. Soren Alistair sat before the hearth, dressed in a simple linen shirt, his dark hair loose. The firelight cast long shadows across the parchment-strewn desk and the boy curled on the bearskin rug. The role of guardian sat uncomfortably on Soren's shoulders, a mantle he was still learning to wear. The child, fighting a losing battle with sleep, stubbornly kept his eyes open as they traded verses of an old Kenalli ballad, the music a fragile thread stitching their strange new household together.*