How Tolirion became my Lifemate

Each of the 4 Tularin clans has its own Royal Family within it that governs clan affairs. These Families are only recognized as royal within the clan to which they belong. Outside it, the members of that family are just another group of Elves.

"Tolirion" means "Firebrand of the People". He is the Prince of Clan Kholi'ani. His parents are the current leaders of the clan, and they live in the main house of a village a few days' journey from Sarna.

Being the 'Lesia, I am naturally purebred Kholi'ani myself. Tolirion is my second cousin. His mother and my mother were first cousins.

To produce a purebred heiress to my position, I naturally had to be bound to another of my own clan. So, it was arranged that I would be bound to Tolirion, sight unseen, and a huge celebration of "royal wedding" proportions was planned in Sarna.

No one knew that I and Torlinque had already bound ourselves to each other at that time, especially poor Tolirion. Everyone thought we were just Lovemates and that I would give Torlinque up when the time came. That could not be though, because our souls were, and are still, deeply bound. Trying to break that bond would kill us both. Binding to Tolirion was my duty however, and as Priestess of the Adrastai, I was sworn to the same Honor Code as they. "Duty above all else..."

Naturally, I was a wreck. I did not want this, but it had to be.

So Torlinque and I both put on our bravest faces, and hoped everything would work out for the best in the end. The Goddess had assured us it would.

When Tolirion stepped out of the carriage in which he had traveled to Sarna and our eyes met for the first time, I recognized him as the other male of our Configuration. I immediately fell in Love with him (again) and he with me. I knew in that moment everything would be OK, but I did not have the chance to tell this good news to Torlinque until almost a month later.

We were bound in a ceremony in front of the entire village and the populations of many other villages who had traveled to Sarna for the binding. The festivities lasted a good two weeks, during which time I stayed with Tolirion in the guest rooms on the first floor of the main house. Being on "my" squad, poor Torlinque often had to guard our door.

I missed Torlinque, but being newly in Love with Tolirion and very happy to have found him again that incarnation, and being surrounded by a flurry of activity shielded me from that pain. Not so for Torlinque however.

About a month later, he was stoically guarding the door one day as Tolirion and I walked by. The village was finally starting to settle down, guests had left for their own homes, and we were talking about moving out of the guest rooms into more permanent quarters. Torlinque said nothing, staring straight ahead. He still didn't know that Tolirion was part of our Configuration.

I saw a tear form in one of his eyes, and I noticed he was much paler than usual. He looked a little thinner too, like he hadn't been eating enough. I reached out to him in the Send as I walked past and touched his pain, the deep loss he was feeling. In his mind I saw that I was his Lifemate, and had been taken from him, and I looked really happy about it too, so maybe I hadn't wanted to be with him after all. Torlinque thought that maybe I was rejecting him forever,  I realized that he was beginning to fade from grief, believing the lies of his own pain. It was all I could do not to break down right there in the hallway.

I told Tolirion I needed to speak with Torlinque for awhile, that I saw he was troubled and probably needed healing. Tolirion smiled innocently at me and told me to go ahead. To him, Torlinque was just another Elf at this point.

I called another Adrastai to take position by the door, and told Torlinque to follow me. We went up to my room on the second floor. This time, we locked the door.

Immediately, we made Love, and more than once, with tears streaming down our faces. I Sent to him about how much I had missed him, for now the pain was hitting me too. I Sent to him about how I had never wanted to be parted from him, and how very deeply I loved him still. It was a very healing experience for both of us, one he desperately needed. After that, he had no doubt that I was still his and always would be. Somehow we had to make this work.

We sat and talked for long time. I told him the reason why I had been so happy and in Love with Tolirion. He didn't believe it at first, but then when I showed him in the Send what had happened, he understood. He said we should speak alone with Tolirion immediately and tell him everything, and I agreed.

While we were alone together, the village grapevine told Tolirion that it was no secret that Torlinque and I were Lovemates. That, everyone knew (everyone but Tolirion until that moment anyway). That Torlinque and I were, in actuality, bound Lifemates, no one knew but the two of us.

Understandably, Tolirion was not happy at all when we went back downstairs and asked him to join us in Torlinque's room for dinner as we had something very important to tell him. He agreed, saying, "Yes, you most certainly do."

After the servants brought the food into Torlinque's room, poured our wine for us and left, we locked the door again.

Torlinque and I told him the whole of our story, how we were bound and that we couldn't possibly have prevented it. We asked him to please not be angry with us because it really was the first time I had seen Torlinque since Tolirion had arrived in the village and the first time the 3 of us had gotten a chance to talk together. We all shed some tears.

When I told him I had recognized him as being part of our Configuration when he stepped out of the carriage, many things that had puzzled Tolirion made much more sense for him.

We told Tolirion that because we knew I'd have to be bound to him, Torlinque and I had kept our binding a secret from everyone, letting the rumor that we were Lovemates continue.

At the end of the evening, we all agreed that for the time being we would present ourselves as a triad with Tolirion and I being Lifemates and Torlinque as a Lovemate. People could speculate as to whether Torlinque was only my Lovemate or the Lovemate of both of us. We left that open ended.

That night I slept between them in Torlinque's bed for the first time, but we just slept. We were exhausted after our long conversation.

Slowly Tolirion and Torlinque learned to be friends and we all discovered things about ourselves we hadn't known before.

All 3 of us continued to sleep in Torlinque's room. This naturally led to ménage a trois. It was during then that the boys discovered they were rather attracted to each other as well. They began a Lovemate relationship of their own, but there was still competition between them for my attention within our triad.

Torlinque didn't like it that he was viewed as "less than" by the village because as far as they knew, he was "just their Lovemate" and not bound to either of us. Torlinque can be jealous and possessive sometimes, and would take it out on Tolirion. For the good of the triad, we realized we had to tell the village that Torlinque and I were bound.

We told Kharie'l first, but he and I both knew that he already knew his son and I were bound and that he had known the day after it happened just by the change in Torlinque's energy signature. Kharie'l is as sharp as a tack, and no fool. He, Torlinque and I all acknowledged in a Send that he had known about it when it happened and that we would never speak out loud of it. We all knew what a scandal it would cause and how angry K'antor would be. Kharie'l did thank us for telling him first before announcing it to the rest of the village though.

Then we told my brother K'antor, who was less than pleased at the news. He said he was thankful we had waited until after my binding to Tolirion to do it as he hadn't wanted anything to prevent that. I told him it wouldn't have, and with a straight face too. I don't know if he suspected the rest of the truth I left unsaid or not. I don't care, and he didn't ask me.

We had a small low-key celebration with the village council, Torlinque's squadmates, and a few other close friends and announced our binding to them then. We told them all it had been a private binding, which was the truth. We just didn't tell them exactly when it had happened. They all naturally assumed it had happened after my binding to Tolirion, which was just fine with us.

So, for many years I had two Lifemates who were Lovemates with each other. There was still competition for my attention between them at times, but it was much more friendly than it had been previously.