<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc</div><div class="spoiler_body">Most of this was typed using a speech to text program.  Please forgive any typos or misused words and let me know if i need to edit it.  Thank you</div></div><br/><br/><div class="floatright">     Letter from Anne d'Hesfal<br/>(http://i.imgur.com/FcDNrb9.jpg)<br/>    link for above (http://i.imgur.com/FcDNrb9.jpg)<br/><br/><br/>     Alexandria d'Hesfal<br/>(http://i.imgur.com/EXMxGpI.jpg)<br/><br/><br/>     Christina d'Wynt<br/>(http://i.imgur.com/dURrKoT.jpg)<br/><br/><br/>     Rosalyn d'Caelor<br/>(http://i.imgur.com/ORzenQj.jpg)<br/></div>Angelique gasped at the mention of the thief who'd broken into his home in Londinium.  Tehr looked at her to see if she was shaken, for he recalled how she'd been the one to catch the thief and even stab the intruder before he'd fled.  Tehr had followed the thief out into a nearby alleyway where he'd found the corpse, not only stabbed by Angelique, but also torn apart, as if by a beast.  He'd wondered about it at the time, but had turned the matter over to the authorities.  He'd honestly given it little thought since then, other than hiring guards for his home.  But this man before him raised the question.  He hadn't made the information of the break in public, and hadn't ever heard any rumors about it.  So what were the likely hood that this man could be lying to him right now?  Tehr judged that it was a slim chance.  Further Alex ir'Hesfal claimed he had knowledge of spellcasting.  The way the theif's body was torn to shreds would fit with a summoned creature from one of the other planes, or even a summoned beast of ferocity.<br/><br/>These thoughts rattled through Tehr's mind in very rapid thoughts, and he realized he wanted to know more.  So smiling graciously he held out his hand refusing the sword and instead smiled and said, "Sheath your blade my fellow nobleman.  It makes the guards and servants uneasy.  Come, we shall retreat to my father's study and I will pour you a glass of brandy.  It's cold outside and you've obviously traveled a long way, and I wish to hear more of your story."<br/><br/>Then turning to Angelique he nodded and said, "Bring some light repast, it seems we will be hosting this nobleman for the night.  I wouldn't think of turning him out in the cold in this weather.  Oh, and inform mother please, and then make sure there will be a place setting for good nobleman ir'Hesfal tonight."  Then turning he extended his hand to Alex and said, "Come now, stand up, I haven't accepted yet, but let us talk in private and maybe you can convince me."<br/><br/>Alex stood, taking Tehr's hand with his own delicate slightly effeminate hand and stood, bowing his head and sending the waves of white hair floating around his head.<br/><br/>A few minutes later, Tehr sat in the room he still thought of as his 'fathers study' though it hadn't been such in months.  Gone were most of the trophies that hung on the wall, deer heads and the like mostly, though stuffed birds, fish, and other game were also missing.  In their place, his mother's influence could be felt.  In the place of much of the trophies that once hung, now hung paintings, relics from Wynt house's history, of ancestors Tehr didn't know by face, but probably would if he looked at the names.  Likely they had been drug down out of storage from the attic and replaced the trophies that his father had prefered.  His mother had always thought them a bit gristly, and it didn't surprise Tehr that his mother had removed all but the single stag head over the fireplace.  The fireplace that Alex ir'Hesfal now stood in front of, warming his body by the fire.<br/><br/>"You have to understand,"  Tehr said as he handed the man a snifter of brandy, "That I can't just take in someone as an apprentice out of the blue.  Even if what you say is true and you were working hard to help me without my knowledge, there's a massive amount of trust involved in that sort of relationship.  An intimacy between master and student and I barely know you."<br/><br/>Alex took a sip of the brandy and smirked, "Master Tehr, there is an intimacy between us that you aren't aware of.  I know so much about you and your house, I could have brought you low.  But I wish for the exact opposite, I would not wish anything but blessings upon House Wynt, and to be a part of it's glory."<br/><br/>Tehr furrowed his brow slightly as he moved to lean back against the desk, his backside resting against the rich mohogoany of the massive desk that dominated the study.  "What does that mean?  What riddles do you speak?"<br/><br/>Alex drained the rest of the brandy in one long move, swallowing to finish all of the dark liquid.  Then with a sigh he seemed to build strength and say, "You've heard the rumors of my house of course?"  Tehr shifted nervously, knowing them of course, but not feeling comfortable speaking them, especially in light of the activities between his sister and himself.  No doubt every noble house had some secrets, and he wasn't comfortable speaking aloud such rumors.  But Alex said them anyways, "Of course you have.  That my true father is my 'uncle' John.  That my mother Anne d'Hesfal and her brother John d'Hesfal married peasants of no status and no backbone so that they could continue their incestuous love affair that gave them twins, Alex ir'Hesfal and Carolyn d'Hesfal."<br/><br/>Tehr shifted uncomfortably and sipped his brandy, shifting his eyes, but saying nothing.  Alex laughed and said, "But somehow I think that you wouldn't be shocked, or even would judge me too harshly if I told you that it was true, but that there was more to the story.  Would you?"<br/><br/>Tehr looked up, masking his emotions but asking, "Why do you think I wouldn't be shocked?"<br/><br/>Alex turned and faced the fireplace and said, "Oh, I think both you and Christina know very well why."<br/><br/>Tehr knew what he had to do, he had to defend his honor.  "How dare you even suggest such a thing sir, why the insinuation..."<br/><br/>Alex turned around and raised a hand.  "Stop, it's insulting to even try to deny, so please don't.  But I have kept your secret because I respect you, and because my mother and father are sibs.  So what place do I have to judge siblings who are only playing around?"<br/><br/>Tehr unclenched his fist and realized that Alex had just given him, if true, a piece of information that would literally destroy the last remnants of his house.  That and that alone earned him a few more moments to explain.  "So it's true then?  The rumors?  Why would you tell me?  I haven't agreed to take you on as an apprentice yet and that kind of information could be the downfall of what's left of your house."<br/><br/>Just then they were interrupted by a knock on the study door.  Tehr called for whoever it was to enter.  Angelique entered and set down a tray of small finger sandwiches and then smiled softly at them both before leaving quietly as both men stared at each other, waiting for their privacy to resume.  Both of them looked at the finger sandwiches, but neither moved till the door shut behind Angelique.  Tehr moved to the door and locked it then resumed to his place leaning against the desk and staring at Alex ir'Hesfal.  Only then did he ask, "So why tell me something that could destroy house Hesfal?"<br/><br/>Alex nodded his head and looked at Tehr solemnly before answering.  "Because house Hesfal is teetering on the brink of the void already.  We will fade into oblivion without your help, and if I tell you the whole truth, you may either extend your hand and save us, or push us over the edge.  I hope that by telling you everything, you'll understand our circumstances and choose to help, and to let me help you."   Alex took a deep breath as Tehr nodded and continued, "My great Grandfather, Floyd the serpent slayer, Floyd medusa killer, Floyd the large brought much glory to house Hesfal.  Much glory that was lost by his son, my grandfather, Artur.  Artur made a play for power, and was defeated by the relatively young house Dale.  The merchant family Dale, took power at both the point of the sword and the tip of the pen, and as you've seen, with whispered word and threat in a dark alley.  The head of the merchant family, Kivin Dale, father to your friend Lefferin ir'Dale learned a terrible secret about my noble house.  In exchange for his vow of silence, my elderly grandfather, Artur, agreed to sponsor the merchant house for it's bid to a rise to status as nobility.  Also that he would withdraw the house from Londinium and court politics.  To step out of the way as it were.  It was because of this that the merchant family Dale, became the noble house Dale.  With their wealth, connections, and the killer instinct of Kivin now ir'Dale, and his ruthless son Lefferin ir'Dale, they made allies, including the church of the one god, and rose to heights of power that they craved.  The reign of Queen Mary the Bloody, and her fanatical support of the church of the one god only aided them, and pushed pagans like my family, and yours, further into the countryside."<br/><br/>Tehr nodded, remembering growing up and being taught to be on the look out for inquisitors from the church of the one god.  Being told if he ever saw men on horseback approaching wearing tabards of the cross, to warn the family if possible, and hide from them if not.  He knew well how the influence of the church of the one god, under 'bloody' Mary, Queen of Scots.  Tehr knew his history.  Under King James the fourth, more than eighty years ago, there had been a balance between the church and the pagan faiths, even though King James IV claimed the church of the one god as his religion, he had ruled with peace between the religions.  But when the church decried him for multiple illegitimate children  and mistresses, he began to break from the faith.   His claim that the old gods were the natural order of the world ended with his death and the crowning of his successor, King James the fifth around sixty years ago.   King James the fifth was desperate for the power that came along with the very wealthy church of the one god, and made a deal with them.  He would adopt the church as his religion, and the official religion of all Britannia.  They would support him with their faith and help him cement his reign as they cemented their position inside the nation.<br/><br/>And it had worked.  It had pushed several pagan families out of the spotlight when they refused to convert, many of them leaving Londinium,  including Tehr's father with his young wife and three children.  But other than loss of status, Houses like Wynt weathered the years clinging to their older faith and not bowing their necks to the church of the one god.  Until Mary, Queen of Scots took the crown.  Her reign was shorter than her predecessors, lasting only a little over a decade.  But in that time she whipped the church into a frenzy, using the soldiers of her nation to seek out 'heritics' and put them to death.  She, and the church, considered anyone not bowing to the church of the one god, a heretic.  It was this time that many of the old nobility left and went into seclusion or were put to the sword.  But after a few years of bloody mass murder, the kingdom revolted and a brutal civil war followed, that left Mary exiled to Scotland and imprisoned in the mighty fortress Dunbar Castle.  The following years were a mad struggle for power, that finally settled with a young princess Elizabeth taking the crown as her sister Bloody Mary was put into imprisonment for all time.  One of new young Queen Elizabeth's first proclamations had been to try to bring peace between the religions.  Declaring that the old gods would be welcomed in Brittania as well as the church of the one god.  It was that proclamation that prompted Tehr's father to begin preparing his eldest son, James to return to Londinium to reclaim house Wynt's former glory.  A task that neither of them would see as both died within a year of each other due to an accident and an illness.  Leaving the task to Tehr.<br/><br/>Tehr assumed that similar circumstances fell upon the house Hesfal, but he didn't understand one very important point.  "But wait, if Kivin Dale was blackmailing your grandfather Artur, it couldn't have been about the rumors of incest between your parents.  They would have only been children.  What could have been so bad that it convinced your grandfather Artur to sponsor a merchant house for nobility status?"<br/><br/>Alex walked to the bar and refilled his brandy, then topped off Tehr's snifter.  Then drawing from her belt pouch, she set down a rolled up scroll on the desk next to Tehr.  She nodded at it before continuing, "You'll want to look that over after I've finished telling you everything I'm about to tell you.  But, you probably know enough about the noble houses to know that my mother gave birth to twins, myself, Alex ir'Hesfal and my twin sister Carolyn d'Hesfal?"  Tehr nodded and sipped at the brandy, it's smooth warmth curling in his stomach and beginning to slide up his neck in a lovely soft way.  "Well, the truth of the matter is that the twins were not a boy and a girl, but identical twin girls.  My name isn't actually Alex ir'Hesfal, it's Alexandria d'Hesfal."<br/><br/>Tehr's eyes snapped open, his gaze moving across Alex's slight and effeminate form.  But he never would have guessed this man before him was a woman.  The hair was long, yes, the frame slight, but those were qualities he shared and he didn't think this person in front of him looked like a woman.  But he sensed that Alex, or maybe Alexandria, had more to say.  "That's not all is it?" He asked Alex.<br/><br/>Alex shook his head no.  "No, because the secret that sent my family, my grandfather Artur and his wife Mary into seclusion with their three children went far deeper than you can imagine.  You know that my great grandfather was considered a hero for slaying the Medusa that terrorized Londinium.  But his son wished to make his own name, and joined Britania's forces in the Cambrain war.  He returned a hero in the eyes of the nation. But the fact is that he never actually returned.  Artur ir'Hesfal, son of Floyd serpent slayer died in Northern Italia.  In his place his most trusted friend and man at arms returned.  But his friend was a rare monster, a beast some would say, a person able to take the skin and form of another.  This man, who'd lived in house Hesfal's shadow for years returned wearing Artur's face and took up his life.  This man, Artur the pretender, was able to mimic the heir of the house so well that the real Artur's wife, Mary, wasn't able to tell.  Even reading her diary she mentions how her husband seems more furtive and secretive after returning from the war.  But chalked it up to the horrors of war and death of his friend.  She had no idea that a doppleganger had taken Artur's place in their home, his life, and her bed.  However around a year after his return, the secret became obvious as Mary gave birth to a daughter.  Her skin and hair as white as pale snow, her eyes a milky gray, the midwife screamed and almost killed the newborn baby on sight.  However Artur the pretender stopped the midwife, Judia Dale, wife of Kivin.  He saved the baby girl, who they named Anne, and dismissed the midwife.  Then Artur the pretender dropped the guise he'd worn for a year, and showed her the same features, milky white skin, grey eyes.  He explained how that the original Artur had always known his secret, and that when he had been mortally wounded on the battlefield, had begged the changeling man to take his place and return home to care for his family.  The real Artur couldn't have known that the changeling had been in love with Mary for years, and had just been given permission to seek out his heart's desire.  There, in the birthing chamber, Artur the pretender confessed his love to Mary and said that he should have told her before, and begged her forgiveness, but saying that he would leave and never return if she wished, taking or leaving his newborn daughter with him as she desired."<br/><br/>"But my grandmother, Mary, had fallen in love with the brooding man she'd thought was her husband.  They agreed to keep the secret of his true nature, and to raise the newborn girl, Anne, as if everything was normal.  By all accounts, my grandmother Mary, was happy with her husband Artur the pretender.  But there is not much record of this, her diary stopping the day she gave birth to Anne.  What I know of them after that is what my parents told me.  But the midwife, Judia Dale, told her husband of what she'd seen.  Kivin Dale was a merchant and had heard of the rare person known as a changeling.  The story his wife told him gave him the ammunition he needed to spring his house into noble status."<br/><br/>Tehr finished the last of his brandy, feeling the strong alchohol softening his response slightly, "So that means your parents, John and Anne are half sibs?  That your mother, Anne is a changeling?  That means that you...."<br/><br/>Alex nodded and his features melted and shifted, the color running out of his face, going from pale to a creamy white.  The color leaving his eyes and lips as his face became even more feminine, losing any last remnant of it's masculinity and taking on a feminine form.  Alex's robes shifted as the body beneath it resculpted waist thinning and hips widening.  Her chest shrinking while the front pushed outwards as her modest C cup breasts grew beneath the robes.  Her hair lengthened and dropped below her shoulders to create a snowy white wave across the dark robes.  Then, looking at Tehr she bowed and said, "This is me, Alexandria d'Hesfal.  I stand before you naked and exposed, giving you the secrets of my house, and begging you to take me in as your apprentice.  Take in 'Alex' as a guest in your home so I may begin to rebuild my family's fortunes, for the glory of both Hesfal and Wynt."<br/><br/>Tehr chuckled and his lecherous instincts kicked in when she said that she was naked.  Maybe it was the shock of the situation, maybe it was the brandy, but he couldn't help but laugh and joke, "Well I wouldn't say you're naked yet, those robes are pretty long."<br/><br/>Without a moment's hesitation Alexandria down to her side, and began to unlace the leather thong that held her leather breastplate tight against her chest.  Tehr waved his hand and said, "No no, d'Hesfal, I was just joking, I'm sorry."<br/><br/>Alexandria shook her head and pulled the leather breastplate over her head, letting it fall to the floor as her delicate fingers went to unlace the robes that still covered her, "Jest or not.  I know what type of magic you practice, and I know what will be required in learning it, and I want you to understand how completely committed I will be."   The robe, loosened slid from her shoulders and down her hips.  The robes caught for a moment on her hips, and she tucked her thumbs into the material, hooking them inside whatever undergarments covered her sex, and she slid them down to pool in a dark pile of cloth about her boots.  Then standing up she cocked her hips and put a fist on each hip as she looked at him with milky grey eyes.  "Now I'm naked for you master Tehr."<br/><br/>Tehr couldn't help but drink in her body.  Her form was wirey with lean muscle, but still shapley in the right area.  It occured to him that someone who could change their form at a whim could look like anything they wanted, but it was hard to pay attention to that.  His eyes roamed her C cup breasts, capped with ashen grey nipples.  Then sliding down lower to her hairless sex, he noted the slight splash of darkness between her thighs.  Her nether lips likewise the ashen grey that contrasted against her milk white skin.  He shuddered slightly and felt his desire rise at the sight.  She chuckled lightly and asked, "Would you take me here?  On your father's desk?  I wouldn't mind feeling that glorious cock of yours again."<br/><br/>Her words sobered him slightly and he startled.  Then he remembered something she'd said earlier.  "You said we shared an intimacy I wasn't aware of.  What did you mean?"<br/><br/>She smiled and stepped out of her clothing, stepping closer to him clad in only her leather boots.  "This is why I told you everything Master.  I wanted you to know that I don't judge you.  I wanted you to know that even though I know your secret, I would never tell it.  For while yours may hurt you, mine would be truly decimating.  If you thought that house Dale was punished, what would they do to my house?  I am the daughter of siblings, one of whom was not even in the same father.  While I've been pretending most of my life to be a man named Alex in the hopes that some day I might be able to continue my house's lineage, I've also been as close to my twin sister as you have to your sister.  And that's how I know about you and Christina...."<br/><br/>Her form shifted and flowed again flesh tone flowing into her skin and her hair darkening as her body shifted and merged to resemble the nude form of his own sister.  Alex, in Christina's guise, pressed her naked breasts against Tehr's chest and leaned up to kiss him.  "I took this form a few times and visited you at night 'brother' and you never even realized.  That's how I know about you and your sister.  Just like I know about your unrequited lusts for a certain elven lass...."<br/><br/>Her form shifted again and the color of her hair again drained to a snowy white as her ears lengthened and her skin grew lighter.  Then before him stood the naked form of Rosalyn d'Caelor, and Alexandria in her form leaned up, her body pressing against his.  Her lips inches from his as she whispered, "Teach me, train me, accept me, and I will be everything and anything you want."<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Later, as Tehr and Alex ir'Hesfal entered the dining room he gestured to the young nobleman and said, "Mother, Christina, Lady Rosalyn, may I present to you my friend and the man I shall be taking on as an apprentice, Alex ir'Hesfal."<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc #2</div><div class="spoiler_body">the thief incident = https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=120879.msg5570376#msg5570376<br/><br/>Timeline history based partially on real events.  King James the IV WAS excommunicated by the catholic church, and King James the V DID prosecute heritcs to the church with zeal.  Though it was a zeal that was not only equaled, but far FAR surpassed by Queen Mary, who was BRUTAL in her executions and punishment of 'heritics' against the catholic church.  Which is how she earned the nickname Bloody Mary.  Her successor, Queen Elizabeth was technically a protestant (which in this game I relate to the old gods or paganism, because, come on.... D&amp;D) but she also kept much of the trappings of the catholic church around her at all times as well, and was seen as a queen who bridged the gap between the religions for the peace of the nation.  While she always claimed her faith as being a protestant, she preached for peace between the faiths.  Though there's really been quite a few stories and writing that said that she blamed the catholic church for the violence and aggression that had happened in her country, and that the catholic church was responsible for Queen Mary's bloody reign.<br/><br/>FINALLY, I don't know if you wanted to do story line here in the winter, or if you wanted to skip ahead to spring and put us back in Londinium, but it's up to you either way.  Further if you wanted to roleplay out Alex and Tehr more, I can edit out the last line and we can do that.  Just let me know what you want to do.  I was really eager to set up the whole backstory of the apprentice.<br/></div></div>