So did the highest barons— notably the dukes of the provinces of Ryssand and Murandys— lavish attention on the younger prince, Efanor. There was even talk of overturning the succession— for the more religious and proper Efanor became, the more Cefwyn, the crown prince and heir, consoled himself with wild escapades, sorties on the border, and women… very many women.
Still, by Guelen law and custom, even by the tenets of the Quinalt itself, Cefwyn was, incontrovertibly, the heir, and it was no light matter to set Cefwyn aside: in that, even the most conservative of priests hesitated.
So Indreddrin, either in hopes that administrative responsibility would temper Cefwyn— or, it was whispered, in hopes some assassin or border skirmish would settle the matter and make Efanor his heir— sent Cefwyn to administer the Amefm garrison. To do that, Indreddrin bestowed on Prince Cefwyn the courtesy title of viceroy, thus keeping a firmer Marhanen hand on that curiously independent province and insinuating a closer Marhanen presence into a very troublesome district.
Now, since ordinarily and by the treaty, there was no such thing as a viceroy in Amefel, the duke of Amefel, Heryn Aswydd, was not at all pleased by this gesture, but Heryn dared not protest and give the Marhanen an excuse to send a larger garrison. So Duke Heryn kept his discontent to himself, even agreeing to report to Indreddrin regarding the prince's behavior, and on the worsening situation across the river.
The duties Cefwyn had, however, were not a sham. Indreddrin had indeed felt a need for a firmer Guelen presence in Amefel, for the Regent in Elwynor had no children but a daughter of his extreme old age, and now the lords of Elwynor, weary of waiting for the appearance of a High King, were now saying the Regent should choose one of them to be king. They saw that the only way for one earl of all the earls to gain any legitimate connection with royalty was by marrying the Lord Regent's daughter.
The Regent of Elwynor, Uleman Syrillas, refused all offers from his earls, swearing that his only child, his daughter Ninévrisë, would wield the power of Regent herself. It was unprecedented among the Elwynim and by chance unprecedented among the Sihhë Kings themselves that a woman should rule in her own right. Uleman had nevertheless prepared his daughter to rule… and when the day came that a suitor tried to enforce his demands with arms and carry Ninévrisë away, the Regent refused to yield.
But the earls' guards were the army, the only army, that the Regent could draw on, and now some earls sided with the suitor and some sued for themselves while others sided with the Regent.
Elwynor sank into civil war… and that war insinuated itself across the river into Amefel, where Elwynim families had historical ties and relatives.
So it was into this situation that Indreddrin sent Prince Cefwyn.
And it was entirely characteristic of Indreddrin that he told Heryn he was to watch Cefwyn and told Cefwyn to watch Heryn, who was, after all, a heretic Bryaltine and a man with ties to the Elwynim earls.
Unbeknownst to the king, in fact, Duke Heryn was in league with the rebel earl Caswyddian, in Elwynor… andthat gave the edge to Caswyddian over his own chief rival, Aséyneddin.
And Hasufin Heltain, once again dead, as Men knew death, was waiting only for such a moment of crisis and a condition in the stars. Through the situation in Elwynor, that ancient spirit found his way closer and closer to life… he saw Aséyneddin as his ally.
Mauryl, however, had foreseen the hour Hasufin would make another bid for life, and had saved his strength for one grand, unprecedented spell, a Summoning and a Shaping. So he brought forth his creation from the fire of his hearth— not a perfect effort, however, nor mature nor threatening. To Mauryl's distress the young man thus Summoned lacked all memory of what or who he had been.
Mauryl gave his Summoning a name— Tristen— and taught him with more patience than Mauryl had accorded any other student, until the day Mauryl lost his struggle with Hasufin once and for all.
So Tristen, a young man with the innocence of the newly born, set forth into the world to do the things Mauryl intended… if only he could guess what those things were.
He came not to a wizard, who would teach him, as Tristen had hoped, but to Prince Cefwyn, on the very night when, despising his host, Heryn Aswydd, Prince Cefwyn was sleeping with Heryns twin sisters, Orien and Tarien.
Now Tristen was as innocent a soul as ever Cefwyn had met… a youth seeming incapable of anger, feckless, and utterly outspoken, but wizardous in his origins at the very least, for he confessed he was Mauryl's.
Cefwyn's curiosity was immediately snared; and once Cefwyn began to deal with Tristen personally, he found himself snared indeed— for having suffered his grandfather's angers and his own father's cold dislike of him, after the northern lords' wish for Efanor and Efanor's desertion toward religion, this was the only offer of an utter stranger's friendship he had ever encountered, and from a kind and innocent heart.
Meanwhile Tristen continued to learn… for he was a blank slate on which Mauryl's spell was still writing, Unfolding new things in wizardous fashion, at need; and providing him knowledge unpredictable both in its scope and in its deficiency. Tristen wondered at butterflies… and asked questions that shot straight to the prince's much-scarred heart.
Cefwyn's affection toward this tvizardous stranger made Duke Heryn Aswydd hasten his plans for war… for Cefwyn was growing fey and difficult. Heryn used King Indreddrin's suspicion of his son to lure both the king and Prince Efanor to Amefel… hoping then to do away with Cefwyn and the younger prince in the same stroke as King Ináreddrin. Thus he would overthrow the Marhanen dynasty, end Guelen rule as the Guelens fell to fighting each other, aid Cas-wyddian to become High King in Elwynor, and establish himself as a riding aetheling, a power in the new Elwynim court.
Prince Efanor, however, had not ridden with the king. Fearing for his father's life if the accusations were true, yet willing to give his brother a last chance to confess, he had ridden straight to Cefwyn to find out for himself the truth ahead of their father's arrival, to spring any trap upon himself if one existed. It was a brave act of a religious man, and of a brother Cefwyn had once loved.
And when Cefwyn knew his father had listened to Lord Heryn and was proceeding with Heryn's full confidence into Amefin territory, he was horrified, and rode at once to prevent the ambush he foresaw, no matter the danger.
He arrived too late, and was almost overwhelmed by the force that had killed the king. Heryn's plan would have come to fruition but for one thing: the knowledge of warfare Unfolded to Tristen that day, on that battlefield, and in that knowledge and with a sword in his hands, the gentle stranger turned warrior. He rescued both the princes and defeated Heryn's allies.