Tecla Lionhelm

Tecla Lionhelm is the youngest child of Lord Tithan Lionhelm and his wife, Voladea Lionhelm née Terraward, the Lord and Lady of Strongshore. She is a maiden of fourteen at the beginning of the story. Her education is supervised by Educator Tomas of Silverholde, and when she isn't studying, she spends her "city days" at the temple of Oracle Hill where she practices the Oracle Faith in the company of her servants and friends, Lyzon of Zalés and Fran of Summerport.

Appearance and Personality
Named after her paternal grandmother, Tecla Lionhelm is described as short and healthy-looking with round cheeks. Her hair is wavy and light chestnut, she has hazel eyes and fair skin. At the beginning of Fatherland, she spends her days studying with Tomas of Silverholde, her educator, while her free time is dedicated to religion. Tecla is curious, pious, and wishes to become one of the firekeepers of Oracle Hill, which is appalling to her friend (and maid) Lyzon of Zalés.

Tecla has no interest in fashion or politics, and prefers to befriend the "simple" (common) people, such as Lyzon, her maid, Tomas, her educator, and Fran, her gardener. The nobles attending Strongshore refer to her as the Mud Princess, a nickname that bothers her, though she doesn't let it show. Being the youngest of the Lionhelms, she has almost nonexistent relationships with her older siblings and their children.

Reading and researching are the main activities Tecla occupies herself with, but she is inclined to believe in the occult and the rumored dark arts she hears about.

Early life
Tecla was born in the Enclave of Zalés, from a love affair between Tithan Lionhelm and Lyzon of Zalés, who was 15 at that time. Ready to take the child back with him in Strongshore, Tithan agreed on letting Lyzon come along and become Tecla's maid only because the child looked like him the most. His wife, Voladea, agreed on legitimizing the girl and took her in as her daughter.

Tecla grew up in a sheltered, luxurious environment, and the only meaningful relationships she built with her relatives are the ones with her father, and her half-sibling Theliel."'The dark-skinned maid didn't need to see to understand that Lord Theliel had arrived. She knew her young lady and Theliel Lionhelm shared a special bond. Despite the fifteen years of age that separated them, they were closer to each other than any other pair of Lionhelm siblings.' (Fatherland, Chapter II, Writing of A Dirge)"Tecla's relationship with her father is endearing to many in the Lionhelm household, and when she was born, Tithan gifted her a precious pendant that is said to have belonged to Warrior Queen Aelneth, the founder of the southern kingdom. Tecla begins wearing the Darling Mind around her neck or braided in her hair when her father informs her that her mother is organizing a ball in her honor. Tecla knows that marriage is implied but disregards it.

Considering she is the youngest of her southern family, Tecla never wonders much about marriage and other duties that have been forced on her older siblings. Her father lets her carry on with an almost absolute freedom, and for that reason, she chooses the religious path.

The incident of Oracle Hill
Although she fully knows why her father disapproves of anything related to religion, Tecla wishes to find out more about it. On one occasion, without her parents knowing, she heads to Oracle Hill to talk with the Holy Commander and requests a copy of the Oracle's Memoir, a sacred manuscript. During that visit, she witnesses one of the holy captains engage in sexual intercourse with a firekeeper to grant the latter "visions" sent by the Oracle, and Tecla runs away.

She studies the manuscript translated by a certain Sir Frederyc Rosenfield, the previous Holy Commander, much to Lyzon's discontent. Upon returning it, Tecla finds out that the Angels of Steel, the guardians of the holy site, as well as the maidens entertaining the flame are no longer descendants of the Oracle, and that most of what she read became more myth than reality. Disappointed and still convinced otherwise, she lies with the holy captain in hopes of being granted the Oracle's visions, but the holy captain dies as she experiences said visions. Tecla never returns to the temple afterwards.

The Betrothal
Tecla meets several lords during the ball Lady Voladea organized for her, but she spends most of her time talking to Jarvis Angefort, the nephew of Lord Arther Angefort, Secretary of the Regency and her father's oldest friend. During the event, she also meets the Sons of Ferngrunn, Thaum, Remm, and Mokr, who do intrigue her with their unique culture and exotic looks.

Although Lady Voladea never states it in front of her, Tecla is to be betrothed to one of the Sons, but Tithan doesn't wish her to marry anyone until she is at least seventeen.

The Regency
Because of the incident in Oracle Hill, Tecla requests from her father that she is sent to the Regency, where her brother Theliel serves as a member of the Treasure Council. Delighted, Tithan arranges it for her, and right after the ball, Tecla leaves with Theliel to join the Regency's Observatory Vault.

Upon her arrival, Tecla learns that her brother Thaesonwald passed away, possibly due to the sickness that caused him to fall from his horse and had him bedridden for weeks. She also learns that her father had an accident and though she and Theliel worry, they agree with Grandmaster Rodbertus to wait for the next dusk week so they can all return to Strongshore with Regency physicians for a consult.

During her time at the Regency, Tecla meets a woman named Matillis, the former Head of the Occult Vault, an order no longer active. Mean and unfiltered, Matillis tells her that her eyes look foreign and that she is another bastard child of Tithan's. The news upset her, and Tecla tries to find out who her mother is, but Theliel is silent about it, reassuring her that her origins don't matter as he, too, was born out of wedlock.

On a second occasion, Matillis tells Tecla about the Darling Mind she wears and the legends associated with it. The Darling Mind is a sister stone to the Quiet Tear and the Gifted Crosses of Warrior Queen Aelneth, and the jewels together grant vision of the present, the past, and the future, respectively. Matillis tells Tecla that the stones are bound to Aelneth's descendants, therefore to the Lionhelms, but that after a binding ritual, the stone could potential respond to another's blood instead. When she realizes that the Oracle's Faith may just as well be a lie and that the Oracle's visions were never hers, Tecla is thrown out of the Occult Vault, with Matillis urging her to dispose of the piece of the Darling Mind she has before it's too late.

Before leaving Silverholde to visit her father, Tecla meets Jascha at Danyell's Athenaeum, but only briefly, and they do not introduce themselves. Tecla notices that he sees the crest on her coat. She hands him Songs and Stones of Aelneth, and an odd feeling courses through her.

The Sand Towers
Unfortunately, when Tecla and Theliel return to Strongshore, Tecla witnesses her father's last moments. Tithan succumbs to the internal injuries caused by his fall and the illness that had been consuming his lungs, and her entire world falls apart. She lets Lady Voladea understand that she knows the woman isn't her biological mother, which infuriates the Lady of Strongshore. Tecla is sent to the Sand Towers without being granted the right to be present at her father's funeral, and Theliel isn't there to stop it since he stayed in Summerport upon landing, promising her he will be there in time.

Tecla's days in the Sand Towers are relentless. She meets Mokr of Ferngrunn again, who acts as a potential friend and an interpreter. Tecla realizes that she doesn't speak the ancient tongue of the Sand Towers and that she doesn't know anything about their culture, which eventually adds to her despair. She is gifted three handmaidens, who tell her that she won't marry any Son of Ferngrunn until one of them successfully impregnates her during one of the public rituals held in the Sanctified City, Hvallatr.

During the ceremony known as the Rebirth, Tecla once again has visions she doesn't comprehend, though it is clear they are related to the Rosencircle of Wilderose, but she also sees something else when prompted by the Mother of Mothers of Hvallatr. She sees herself sitting on a chair with a serpent skull on her head, and the shadow of someone she doesn't recognize. The Mother of Mothers recognizes it as a good omen and the promise that Tecla is the nekfìhlè, the daughter of Ferngrunn, meant to give the Sand Towers a bright, new, and unprecedented future. Afterwards, Tecla is repeatedly defiled, first by Thaum of Ferngrunn, then, when she doesn't end up pregnant, she is violently raped by Remm of Ferngrunn.

Tecla doesn't wish to live anymore after what happened, and collapses in front of Mokr, who sympathizes with her and tries to offer her comfort. In an attempt to not have shut down completely, he tells her that a ship from Limemeadow has arrived and that if she wishes they could visit the local market with no one else around, and Tecla agrees.

Limemeadow
The ship Mokr mentioned turns out to be Jarvis Angefort's, who claims to be in the Sand Towers for a friendly visit since he didn't get the chance to bid Tecla farewell in Strongshore. During the market visit, Tecla, Mokr and Jarvis are interrupted by Thaum and his generals who are ready to apprehend them all but mostly Mokr for not respecting the laws that forbid him to touch Tecla outside of Hvallatr. Jarvis seizes the opportunity to take Tecla away from the Sons of Ferngrunn, and tells her that Arther Angefort sent him to retrieve her because Tithan Lionhelm named her his heiress were Tiran Lionhelm to die without children. The two leave on a ship Jarvis acquired after selling the one he traveled on, and Mokr is arrested.

In Limemeadow, Tecla and Jarvis are attacked by the Ferngrunns, who quickly caught up after their departure. The harbor of Limemeadow is destroyed, and an injured Jarvis prompts Tecla to run in the direction of his father's stronghold while he fights the archers and riders after them. Tecla hesitates for a moment, but knowing she can't fight, she runs through the woods surrounding Limemeadow, and gets lost.

She is almost captured by one of the horse-archers when Jascha appears in the woods and cuts down the archer. He recognizes her from the athenaeum and offers her an escape since he is leaving Limemeadow due to the sudden attack.

Sóley Rochelac
By the end of Fatherland, Tecla and Jascha are traveling down the Red Road. They learn that Courtbridge is no longer accessible and that the South is now an independent kingdom after the Regency collapsed, which Tecla thought to be only a rumor while she was in the Sand Towers. She learns that her brother Theliel is accused of having emptied half the Treasure Council's vault, and that Tylennald is now King of Drixia. Without an access to the South and to Wilderose, where Jascha wishes to go, the two leave in the direction of the North.

Jascha tends to Tecla's wounds, and initially plans on leaving her in Rainier's End, where he tells her there is a shelter that could be a safe place for her. On the night preceding their arrival in Rainier's End, Tecla kisses him when he told her not to, and the two share an intimate moment before Tecla experiences visions again and enters Jascha's mind. She witnesses his past abuse and the unforgivable crimes he committed, only to exit those visions with the Quiet Tear in her hand. It turns out that the magical stone was lodged inside Jascha's chest as a result of a binding ritual, but out of confusion and pain, Jascha stabs her in the stomach. In a state of panic, he brings her to the Illusion Shelter, where Healer Rantha had tried to help him with his own visions and seizures.

Thanks to the Quiet Tear, Tecla discovers Rantha's past and her upbringing with Sir Loys Rosenbane and Chief Thierry Eleres, but also that Zurzon, Rantha's apprentice, is Lyzon's brother. When Rantha tries to send Jascha away, accusing him of the murder of her other apprentice, Yenny, all the while being afraid for Tecla's wellbeing, Tecla watches Jascha kill both Rantha and Zurzon after they medicated her, and he takes her away.

Jascha reveals his identity to Tecla when she finally snaps out of her confused, dazzled state. He is Sóley Jascha Rochelac, the only remaining Lord of Noirmont, and he offers her his army to reclaim the South at the condition that she stays by his side. Tecla accepts, and they begin riding to Noirmont, in the lands devastated by the purple fog."'Tecla stretched her arms and her hands held his. She could have danced down the murky road, like the fays danced with death, for his were hands that took lives without second thoughts. His was a world where what stood between him and what he wanted needed to disappear. Her hands released his, and she slid her arms around his body, her head resting against his chest. Jascha wrapped only an arm around her shoulders, inching her towards the cart so she could lie down again. Maybe one day she would be what stood between him and what he wanted, and she would have to disappear.' (Fatherland, Epilogue)"

Powers and Abilities
Tecla is one of the few characters in the series that didn't undergo any battle-related training. She was born in times of peace, and isn't interested in combat, preferring a more secluded, scholarly lifestyle.

Enhanced Intuition
From the start, Tecla is able to sense events that either occurred recently or are bound to happen. For example, she felt a sharp pain both before she learned of Thaesonwald's accident and when she sat in her father's library, where the latter would eventually fall from the ladder. Tecla doesn't seem to pay attention to these elements, and has no knowledge of magic despite studying the Oracle's Faith and beginning to research the occult.

The Darling Mind
Tithan Lionhelm gifted Tecla the Darling Mind when she was born, though she never wore it until she learned about the ball Lady Voladea organized for her. Tecla isn't very interested in southern clothing style and appearance, but when she begins wearing the pendant, she begins experiencing minor chaos vision. It allows her to see ongoing events and how they connect but it often leaves her in a weakened, confused state. Tecla doesn't talk about it, knowing her father's stance on "superstition" and doesn't confide in Lyzon either since the latter disapproved of her religious studies.

Tecla knows half of her jewel is missing, and Grandmaster Matillis began explaining to her the origins of the Darling Mind when they met, but the woman's advice results in getting rid of the Darling Mind, for it's one of Warrior Queen Aelneth's stones, and Matillis claims that those stones are never to be used.

By the end of Fatherland, Tecla views the Darling Mind as the only remaining piece of her father, and she refuses to leave it behind, even when the Sand Towers' archers try to hunt her down.

The Quiet Tear
Tecla's Darling Mind activates when she looks into Jascha's eyes and she retrieves the Quiet Tear inside his chest using chaos vision, undoing the binding that was performed on Jascha. She knows from Matillis that the Quiet Tear expands her jewel's powers, allowing her to see the past.

According to Matillis' theories, Aelneth's descendants can use her stones, though it doesn't explain why Tecla experienced enhanced intuition before wielding any of them. Considering that Lyzon is her biological mother, some secrets could originate from the legends surrounding the Zalejos Depths and the ancient continent of Driazon.