Trio Of Guardsmen

After being exiled to Kardia City, Therese and Ali are accompaned by three loyal guardsmen, Ethos, Parthos, and Araliss. They do much of the heavy work around their succession of homes, as well as keeping their charges safe from unsavory characters--both those from the streets, and those with more personal or polical reasons for wanting to attack the widow and her daughter. Inaddition to their duties as servants and guards, they helped raise Ali, especially once Therese's illness advanced past any hope of recovery.

They did their best to keep Ali from playing in the streets with her urchin friends, but by the time they discovered just who her playmates were, it was too late. Ali had already learned the rudiments of stealing and sneaking. No matter how hard they tried, Ali was able to circumvent them and escape to the streets. Eventually, they decided it was better to join her, since they couldn't keep her in the house. So while Araliss continued to tutor her in the ways of being a noblewoman, Ethos and Parthos began teaching her weaponry. Parthos, with the most checkered past of the three, taught her how to throw knives and bolas, multiple dirty fighting moves, how to drink without retching or waking up with a hangover, and different ways to cheat at cards, dice, and other games of luck and chance. Ethos taught her the more noble fighting skills--fencing with rapiers, parry knives, and sword breakers, how to use and throw a javelin, and how to ride a horse, both sidesaddle and astride. Araliss, by request of Therese, also began teaching Ali a bit of motion magic. Unfortunately, by the time those lessons started, Therese was fading quickly. Araliss taught Ali magic for a little over three months before Therese died. Before Therese's body was cold, ten-year old Ali found herself evicted from their latest home.

Over her protests, the three brought her to the home of her paternal aunt and uncle, Sammael and Audrine. Over the next four years, they followed her to the homes of several more relations, as each successive relation got tired of Ali's willfulness and thieving. Disaster struck at the home of Mikah and Dennyl, second cousins to Tobias. Araliss caught Dennyl pressing Ali for a kiss that involved more tongue than any proper cousinly kiss ought. In the time it took for him to barrell down the hall, Ali had already driven a sharp knee into Dannyl's groin, but Araliss didn't let that stop him from administering a proper physical chastisement. Afterwards, Mikah "suggested" Ali leave, so as to no longer provide a temptation for her husband, and Araliss was carted off to jail for assault. Having no further relations to go to, Ali, Parthos, and Ethos returned to Kardia City where they joined the Rat's Nest. Parthos and Ethos made sure that Jarrod was aware that their loyalty extended to Ali and no further. They supported Ali after Jarrod retired, and she returned their loyalty by pulling off a daring rescue of Araliss out from one of the city jails.

After Ali's arrest, Parthos and Ethos left the Rat's Nest. Parthos acts as a barkeep and bouncer for the Three-Legged Stool Inn, and Ethos is an armsmaster for the Kardian City Guardsmen. Ethos also used his position to obtain Araliss a position, and he now works as a personal bodyguard for a merchant family.