A.N

Sorry about the delay, life happened. For those of you waiting on "Of Heralds and Daemons" I have had the chapter done since June however WereCat has not been able to edit it yet. So I leave it up to you do you want it posted asap or do you want me to wait for edits?

In regards to Tylendel, Mercedes Lackey wrote the following about him in one of her novels, and it is from this point of reference coupled with the events of Magic's Pawn that I am expanding the Character. Steffen and Tylendel may have been the same soul, but they were not the same person. They had different experiences and were shaped by vastly different lives. While I do believe that Tylendel as a character could have eventually grown into someone similar to Steffen in personality. I also believe that Steffen at the age of 18 was far more mature then Tylendel at 17.

'Lendel was many things, but thinking wasn't his strong suit.: It was extremely odd to hear someone talking about an historical, tragic figure as if he were a—:Emotional, overwrought, impulsive manchild who made a habit of blundering about regardless of consequences and paid the price, and I would rather not go into it any further.: Mags blinked a little at Dallen's vehemence. It almost sounded as if Dallen had been . . . present at the time of the tragedy!

Chapter 5

Savil slouched in her chair, her face buried in her hands as she tried to wrap her head around what had just occurred. Lancir squeezed her shoulder in friendly reassurance. "I know it is hard little sister, but it must be done. The boy is dangerous."

Elspeth sighed, "His Companion still stands behind him, so his insanity must be a temporary affliction. It is a hard decision but we must consider what is best for Valdemar and not just the two boys in question. The best thing we can do for Tylendel is place him where he can get the help he needs. He will have the best mindhealers the crown can provide him with. As for Vanyel," the old queen paused. "Savil the child will be dangerous unless we find a way to get his gifts under control. That he possesses the raw magical talent to toss the very palace around by its foundations is astounding, that he possesses the ability to do so through a haze of drugs meant to cut off his access to said gifts and nearly lethal blood loss, is frankly alarming. If there is a chance that your friends can teach him, we must take it."

Savil sighed and inclined her head, torn between relief that the decision had been made and anger at the fact that she was going to have to abandon the boy she saw as a son in his hour of need, to deal with her nephew. However, as a Herald, duty had to come first. There was only one group of people who had even the slightest hope of training Vanyel, or at least containing him, and she was the only Herald with access to them.

"You will do your best for Lendel while I am gone?" she enquired softly.

"Everything in our power, will be done." Elspeth assured her.

Savil sighed, inclined her head and rose to her feet. She had preparations to make.

((({ ∆ })))

Savil shuddered as she followed Andrel down the narrow side corridor tucked into an out of sight nook in the Healer's Collegium. As a Herald she had never been in this section of the Collegium, and it – frankly – gave her the creeps. The corridor itself was narrow, all the better to accommodate the unusual thick, deep walls and the heavy doors, that led into small single occupant rooms. She shuddered again, Heralds usually got their own rooms whenever they faced an extended stay in the house of healing, but these were not the rooms usually put to the task. She shuddered again as the overwhelming feeling that everything was just slightly wrong assaulted her other-senses. The walls here were so thick they muffled sound, so that everything bore an odd muted quality and her own booted steps held a peculiar echo. The Air wasn't stale but it felt as though it should be and she had the sinking suspicion that she and Andrel saw things in a very different manor from anyone else, lurking beyond the heavy doors.

: That thought is tragically true love. : Kellen said into her mind, her mild tone wrapping her in comfort with its familiarity. :No one in that wing of Healers sees things quite the way anyone else does.:

She inclined her head, it made sense, though it broke her heart to think of Tylendel in a place like this.

"Here we are," Andrel informed her in a tone that was intentionally mild, yet somehow managed to be gentle. He fished a key out of his pocket and slipped it into the lock, letting them both into a room that was stark and almost bare. The only furniture was an iron framed bed, a small table and two small iron chairs. All were bolted to the floor. The room itself had been painted a soft, soothing rose color and accented in cream. It was also bare of anything its occupant might be able to turn into a weapon. Designed to prevent it's occupant from finding anything they could use to hurt themselves or another.

Her heart lurched at the sight of Tylendel, the boy sat on the narrow bed rocking to and fro, muttering to himself.

"Dead." He muttered. "They killed him, killed Steven. Dead, gone. Empty, alone, my brother, my twin. Dead, they killed him, they killed Staven. Dead gone. Oh gods, he's gone, he left me. Staven, oh Staven. They killed you. I tried, I tried, I tried to avenge you. Lord I swear it, I tried, I tried. I would have succeeded, should have succeeded. Their blood should have soaked the ground. He betrayed me. He betrayed me. He was supposed to be the one person I could trust, he betrayed me. Sided with them. They killed you, Lord dark they killed you, they killed you."

He rocked back and forth keeping up his odd rant.

She closed her eyes against the pain welling up inside her at the sight of what the last few weeks had reduced him to. After a moment she settled herself down on the edge of his bed, pulled the boy up into her lap and rocked him, like a small child. "It will be alright Kechara." She whispered into the mop of curly golden blond hair.

She stayed until morning, rocking the shattered boy she saw as a son back and forth in her arms until he finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep. She slipped out of the room as the sun peaked in the eastern horizon and trudged across the familiar ground to the palace and her own rooms and attempted to ignore the way the events of the last week left a lasting taint upon even the brightest of dawns.

Jaysen met her at her door, her travel packs slung over his shoulder. "Ready to go?" he asked, tone grim.

She inclined her head, not trusting her voice and disliking the lie even as she made the small gesture. "As I'll ever be," she said once she'd managed to work her way past the suffocating lump in the back of her throat.

Beyond Jaysen Andrel stood up from the plush armchair he'd been enthroned in hefting a set of packs as he did so. "Your niece, packed them," he informed her in a tone that belied the serious nature of the trip they were about to embark upon. She nodded, accepted her packs from Jaysen and turned her gaze upon the two youngsters occupying the sofa. Lissa cradled her younger brother in much the same way she had cradled Lendel, holding Vanyel to her in a manner that suggested she was his mother rather than his sibling. She considered that, weighing it against the little she knew of Vanyel's life.

If she was honest with herself, she honestly didn't know how to handle the situation. Vanyel needed help, in some ways more than Tylendel did. Tylendel may have lost his twin, but Vanyel had lost everything the moment he decided to stand against his lover. Withen was to hidebound to ever accept his son, and his lover had just made an attempt on his life. She closed her eyes against the pain, and made her way over to her brother's children as soon as she was sure she had a tight enough reign on her thoughts and emotions that the boy wouldn't pick up anything from her. Dropping to her knees she brushed inky black hair out of the pale face and gazed down at the boy. "we've made a right mess of your life, haven't we." It was a statement and not a question and the truth behind it made her heart ache.

"Withen would have chosen this path, as soon as he discovered Vanyel's proclivities." Lissa said sadly. "Better it happens now, when everything else will overshadow being disowned and he has a Companion to shield him from at least some of the fall out." The girl replied with a cool practicality.

Savil nodded, though she burned with anger at her brother for making an already difficult situation worse. She just hopped that Treesa would be able to dissuade her husband from taking this particular course, after all being Chosen took Vanyel out of the line of succession for any of the family holdings, so hopefully once Withen had calmed down he would decide that the benefits of having a Herald for a son outweighed the drawbacks of said son's proclivities. However, given Treesa's previous record in regards to protecting her first born son and Withen's backwater prejudices, she was preparing for the worse.

:If it comes down to it, Chosen, Yfandes will be able to support the boy through it.: Kellen informed her calmly. :despite the relatively brief amount of time that has passed since Shoven night the bond between Fandes and Vanyel is progressing into one of the strongest I have ever seen, looking at the bond between them one would think Vanyel was Chosen decades ago.:

Savil felt herself relax a bit at that, at least if the worst came, the boy would have his Companion to lean on. She took herself firmly in hand and resolved to be there for the boy as best she could. Vanyel was family and right now, he needed her. She was not his mother, and could never be. In her heart she saw Tylendel as a son, but that didn't mean she couldn't be mentor, friend, protector and teacher for Vanyel. Both of the boys needed her. For now there was nothing she personally could do to help Tylendel. However she could help Vanyel. She worry about getting the boy the help he needed and then she would find a way to help Tylendel.

Maybe her old friends would have some ideas on that front as well.

((({ })))

Savil sat in the cave she'd used to form the gate, shivering from cold and reaction, doing her best to cradle the catatonic boy resting half in her lap. Jaysen had been unhappy about leaving them on their own in a place that looked so strange but the Hawkbrothers were notoriously xenophobic and it was entirely likely that they would have shot Jaysen long before she got the chance to introduce them properly, particularly if Jaysen were to wonder off on his own. No it was better that they wait it out alone. Starwind or Moondance should arrive shortly.

"Hopefully one of my friends will be able to help you." She said softly, noting the way Vanyel pressed into her side, as though seeking and expecting comfort, support and protection. She marveled at the trust the boy seemed to have developed in her in such a short time. Hopefully she wouldn't do anything to break that trust. "Lord and Lady know you've been given precious few reasons to trust adults, child."

"God of my fathers, what have you brought us sister?" Starwind enquired.

Savil jumped at the sound of her old friend's voice, looking up as the two white clad men seemed to materialize out of the darkness. Moondance winced, going to his knees beside Vanyel and gently resting two of his fingers on the boy's temple. "Such darkness," he whispered "such pain."

"Moondance?" she queried, alarmed by the statement.

The younger man shifted his gaze, looking up at her out of magic bleached blue eyes. "Not evil sister. Simply darkness, and pain. It is as though he has seen the heavens and been returned to us. All of his channels have been ripped open. Hundreds of possibilities laid bare. He must adapt to survive. The man he once was, he can never be again. He must forge a new path to find the Herald he was always supposed to be. The road will be difficult."

Savil digested that, and tried to figure out how to formulate a reply. In the end she settled for giving the two men a brief explanation of what had occurred over the course of the last few weeks.

Starwind sighed, watching as Moondance pulled himself up into Yfandes' saddle, before handing him Vanyel with the same deftness and care one would hand over a sleeping infant. "You will have to give me a more in-depth explanation once we have reached the safety of the vail." He said after a moment, pulling himself up behind her. "As for the other boy, we may be able to do more for him then your healers can, however, we should concentrate on getting this one stabilized first."

((({ })))

Moondance sighed as he completed the magical healing young Vanyel had required. He was exhausted, confused, and a little alarmed at what he had witnessed in the course of the boy's healing. He didn't know what to make of it, reincarnation was possible he knew that much, but this wasn't reincarnation, at least, not as he understood it. The boy seemed to possess very specific memories of what was and what might have been. He would have to discuss the possibilities with Starwind. He extended a purely mental hand out to his shay'kreth'ashkei.

Starwind took his outstretched mental hand with the same ease of taking a physical hand and allowed him to draw him into the child consciousness. Vanyel's thoughts drifted around them a churning chaotic mess, ebbing and flowing like tangled strands of yarn upon a gale-force wind. Snatches of past, present and various futures buffeting them to and fro, drowning them in a disorienting torrent.

:We must teach the child to shield before he inadvertently creates more problems, his gifts are quite strong. : Starwind sent, mental voice tinted with distress. They reached out together, spinning shields around themselves as they prepared to raise young Vanyel's shield, and show him how to ground, center and control the basic fundamentals of his most powerful gift.

Vanyel's consciousness rose, with all the abrupt grace of a striking snake, lashing out to swat them out of his mind with the delicate grace and brutal force of a seasoned, battle-hardened mage. A purely physical concussive force slammed into them, flinging them bodily across the room to connect with the far wall. Shields snapped into place around the boy's mind and rose around him in a physical blue swirling barrier. Power crackled in the air with ominous promise, as the boy climbed to his feet. His limbs trembled as he braced himself, his stance ringing with unnatural strength. A seasoned veteran, holding the reigns of an untrained, untried youth's body.

His eyes glowed an ominus blue with suppressed power, as he took in the room and its occupants, the expression on his face one of cold calculation. Moondance reached out and stayed his shay'kreth'ashke's hand as the man gathered himself for a fight. The situation was dangerous enough, they didn't need a mage duel taking place in his bedroom. Particularly not when the situation had just proven his suspicions, this was no untrained youth though the physical form may have been such.

Instead they waited for the Herald –Mage to get his bearings. After a moment the boy cocked his head to the side, silver eyes taking on the same faraway look as Wingsister Savil when she spoke with her Lasha'Kaladraii. After a moment the boy relaxed, tension drained out of his body, until he seemed to collapse in on himself. Moondance surged forward as the child groped for the bed behind him, with a muttered Tayledras curse. He caught the boy by the shoulders and lowered him back upon the bed, "rest Wing-brother" he whispered. "You are safe within the vale."

Vanyel's response was, an exhausted jumble of various languages.

: He is not as he seems: Starwind commented.

Moondance raised an eyebrow at his lover. : No,: he agreed, :he is older, and has seen more than wingsister Savil suspects. The question is why has the Goddess interfered?:

:And how much should we inform Savil of?:

i Lifebonded lover of the same sex

ii Tayledras Term for a Herald's Companion