Teresa of the Faint Smile, Adventures of a Stringy Bosmer Options

[Olen]

...

Poor Teresa, I didn't see that coming at all. Looks like she has more work to do, if it's not hopeless. Tadrose's reaction makes me wonder though, she didn't kill it off completely which makes me think she does want it on some levels at least. It also suggests there might be hope, though Teresa would probably have an easier time elsewhere. Certainly she's in an unpleasant place.

Brilliantly written dialogue. You caught the awkwardness on both sides and the slightly angry edge to Teresa's dismay and disappointment. In fact the emotion of this piece was spot on.

I am very interested to see where this leads in chapter 42. The fallout will be significant I suspect. They are exceptionally strong characters to drive the piece so well.

Nits:
but that doesn't mean I want to fetch him - from the way 'fetcher', the only form of the word found in game, is used I wouldn't think it meant that. It's certainly an insult (UESP suggests 'thief') but that doesn't quite fit. Equally I don't think there is a certain translation so yours is as valid as any.

who else will eat my vegetarian meals?" // "Tadrose," - As Teresa continues speaking I believe it would be normal to omit the bolded inverted comma before the paragraph break. I could be wrong or both may be correct though.

This post has been edited by Olen: Dec 22 2011, 06:30 PM

[liliandra nadiar]

Well isn't that a kick in the gut? On the plus side, Teresa (should) now know that Tadrose dose care for her in some form that beyond friendship. On the minus, the smith stated that she's going to play 'hard to get, Tamriel style'. Now the question remains, after the bout of depression this is bound to cause her, how will Teresa go about beating some sense into Tadrose.

Also what her reaction will be to finding out about Tadrose's daughter.

Nit:The forester did the blame the other wood elf for being thorough. Concidering the context around it, did you mean 'did not blame'?

[McBadgere]

I take it that as male confirmation that Girl on Girl Is Hot?

*Nods vigorously*...Yes, yes it is...And I'm a simple man with simple tastes... ...

Athough I have to disagree with the commentator in that piece...Most men quite simply don't think that deeply about it... ...

Aaamywho...

Excellent chapter...Brilliantly written, and a complete contrast to the previous...Delights...

I'm loving the way you can jump from one state to another with each chapter...Really does keep us on our toes... ...

Soooo sad, I really do hope this works out for her... ...

Nice one... ...Well, from a certain point of view anyways... ...

[King Coin]

Oh jeez I thought that Teresa made it clear that she wasn’t into men!

Damn! I did not see this coming at all, even though it makes complete sense; I thought they had finally broken through that. I was so happy for the two of them too.

I guess Tadrose is not ready for a relationship. The past still weighs heavily on her mind. I’m very curious about this daughter of hers and what has become/became of her. You may have mentioned this before and I missed it, but how long ago did all this happen with the forbidden lover?

[Grits]

Oh no. How heartbreaking for both of them. As Olen said, the dialog and emotion throughout were exactly right. I can't imagine that they'll both give up, but I can't guess if Teresa will persist or Tadrose will relent. What a great episode!

[Acadian]

How delightful of you to make several references that gently move Dame Buffy toward her exit in the first half of this episode. You are a gracious host indeed.

And so Teresa is drenched by a bucket of surprise.

Somehow I get the impression that Tadrose knew perfectly well that Teresa and Ancondil were not rolling in orcishly carnal splendor. The Dunmer is far too sharp for that. Rather, it seems Tadrose was using Ancondil as an excuse to avoid discussing aspects of her own past.

The fact that this was as painful to read as broken glass drawn across skin is testimony to your skill with the raw emotions pouring from this pair of elves.

’Teresa felt her eyes grow to the size of saucers.’
This delightful bit of imagery was most welcome when you provided it.

So now what, Teresa? Tadrose sounded pretty fatalistic, but something tells me we may not have seen the end of T&T yet. When things seem their darkest and all that. . . .

For KC, I’m sure SubRosa will have more to say on this when she pops back up, but in the meantime, you can review Tadrose’s thoughts on her daughter in Chapter 37.3 (Post #1511).

This post has been edited by Acadian: Dec 23 2011, 04:52 AM

[D.Foxy]

Life is so full of surprises, isn't it? As Chuck Yeager writes so well in his autobiography "We had conquered the unknown only to be bitten in the boat by the unexpected".

There's a reason why love is complicated - it just is. Just as there's a reason the old saying "the path of true love never runs smooth" arose.

Rosa, the passages -

She felt as if she was standing upon the brink of a great precipice, and that the tiniest false step would doom her relationship with Tadrose forever

and -

"Sometimes you have to roll the hard six,"

... are true. Very true. In war. In Love. In Everything.

One final cliche - which is true, for all that it's a cliche -

"It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all"

[SubRosa]

Olen: Teresa certainly could have picked an easier person to fall in love with! But then, so could have John Crichton. I suppose that is what they get for going after a character played by Claudia Black.

I have always imagined that Fetcher was a replacement for a four letter English word that also starts with F. Like Farscape has Frell. So that is how I have always used it. I am going to leave that comma in, because it is preceding a speech tag. I suppose I could take the speech tag itself out, but I wanted to keep it in, as it comes before a break in the dialogue where we see some physical action.


liliandra nadiar: Thank you for wrangling up my stray not. I will need it, since the next few episodes will definitely not be pleasant for Teresa. Starting with that depression you predicted. I laughed at your remark about beating sense into Tadrose. You will see why in a few weeks.


McBadgere: I am a little surprised at how many people are surprised. I am following the standard romance movie playbook with this little arc. Two people meet, are crazy for one another, then halfway or three-quarters through something happens to break them apart. But it all wraps up with happily ever after (usually - in the glbt movies someone tends to die instead). I guess not many people watch chick flicks around here.


King Coin: Tadrose is indeed not ready to be with someone else. She does not have issues, she has a subscription! To be honest, I was half expecting to find people calling for her head. I guess I did a decent job of showing her own emotions through all of the breakup.

Acadian ninja'd me by a few days with the forbidden lover info. Back in 37.3 Tadrose mused this:

All the others might know that little girl as Seryne, and indeed, she only knew herself by that name. But she would always be Sere to Tadrose. She would always be her daughter of love and peace.

But Sere was a name for another time, and another world, Tadrose thought. Along with names like Tyrela, and Indoril. They had no place here, thank Mara. At least in Bravil her baby girl would grow up never knowing the murderous politics of Morrowind's Great Houses. She could be an ordinary girl, and grow up to lead a quiet life. Hopefully it would be filled with a love of her own, and a family to surround her.

Then in 37.4 she thought this:

Goddess, how strange it was to feel so for another after so many years! It had not been since Morrowind, when she had been Teresa's age. But she had been younger then, and foolish enough to let her feelings rule her body. Balen Dres had taught her the folly of that. Had that been only a decade ago? Sometimes it felt like a lifetime had passed since she had lived in Mournhold.

Grits: I have been through this scene myself more then once. I am sure many others can say the same. So I channeled the memory of those feelings to try to make Teresa and Tadrose come alive. Not only the despair, but the anger and the guilt. Next chapter will all about that persistence and relentation, and will wrap things between T&T for once and all.


Acadian: It is more that Tadrose was using Ancondil as a reason to keep from getting involved with Teresa. That made her safe, not an option for romance. Unfortunately for Tadrose her house of cards had to eventually come tumbling down.

Painful a read is what I was hoping for. I am afraid the next few posts will be no better.


D.Foxy: I love the Chuck Yeager quote. So true in so many aspects of life. I've stood on that precipice before, and rolled the dice. Like I am sure many of us have. All too often I have gotten bitten that area the forum filters out. Like you said, that is just amore. To have the good times, you have to suffer through the bad ones as well. I wanted to show that in these two chapters.


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: In our last episode, Teresa finally had a quiet moment to talk to Tadrose. Things did not work out as she hoped, and instead of declaring her love, Tadrose told Teresa that she could not be her lover. She admitted that she had been in love once, and that it had destroyed her. None of Teresa protestations would sway the dark elf, and in the end she walked off, leaving Teresa alone in the mud. Next chapter finds Teresa back in the Fighters Guild a week later, playing backgammon with Ancondil.


Chapter 42.1 – What Do You Want?

20th - 21st Sun's Dusk, 3E433

Teresa looked away from the backgammon board as Ancondil moved the last of his chips off of it. The forester stared across the sitting room, and her eyes rested upon the window to the street outside. Droplets of rain splattered its surface, and Silver Avenue beyond was shrouded in twilight.

The wood elf frowned. It had rained the day she and Tadrose had left go hunting trolls. Had that been only a week ago? It seemed like a lifetime. A lifetime since Tadrose had told her that she did not want her. A lifetime since her future had been burned to ashes by the Dunmer's rejection.

"Well that dragon has the most lovely shade of pink scales I have ever seen," Ancondil declared behind her. "Why, I would have to say the lace on its feathers is even more delicate than that on our commander's underwear as well. Would you not agree?"

"Hmm?" Teresa murmured. She turned to look back at the Orisimer. As usual, he was dressed to the Nine. This time it was in red velvet decorated with purple silk and shining brass buttons. He stared at her earnestly, and the wood elf fumbled for something to say in reply. "Yes, of course."

The elegant orc shook his head. "Teresa, you have not been listening to a thing I have said, have you?"

"Of course I have," the forester lied. "I just, well-"

An uproar from across the room rescued her. Along with Ancondil, Teresa looked to where Chance, Morghak, and Vincent were throwing dice against the back wall. They had cleared away several tables to give themselves plenty of space. Even the rugs had been pulled back so they could play on the hardwood floor.

"Dragon eyes!" the Breton hooted. "Pass those bones over here!"

Morghak shook her head, and tossed the dice to Vincent. The smaller man deftly caught both in mid-air, and grinned back at the orc. "Hey, don't feel bad, the Lucky Lady is with me today," he said. "That reminds me, I heard a great one this morning. Why was the werewolf arrested in the butcher's shop?"

The others shook their heads and stared at the Breton.

"He was chop-lifting!"

Chance and Morghak groaned, and Teresa stared back at the window. But once again Ancondil's words cut through the fog that gripped her mind.

"So how is your armor?" he asked. "Did Tadrose repair it yet?"

"No." The sound of the Dunmer's name felt like a troll's claw twisting in Teresa's stomach. "The burned leaves grew back on their own. They just needed some sun and water, and a bit of magical healing."

"Remarkable!" the Orisimer declared. "I have heard of such things, but had never truly believed in a living suit of armor."

The forester shrugged, and continued to stare at the window.

"Teresa, there you are." The wood elf felt her heart leap into her throat at the sound of Tadrose's voice. "I thought I might have missed you again."

Teresa turned her head to the armorer, who stood in the doorway to the foyer. The dark elf wore her usual smithing clothes: worn leather pants and a soot-stained flax shirt. But Teresa noted that her hands were clean, as was her face. She must have just finished in the forge, the wood elf thought, and washed up with a spell.

"If you have the time, I thought I might show you how to use your magicka to recharge Ravenfeeder."

"Oh, there is no need to bother," Teresa found herself saying. "Henantier said he can teach me how to do it."

"Are you sure?" Tadrose asked. "I have the time. We could do it right now."

"That is alright." The words came unbidden to Teresa's lips once more. She felt as if someone else was talking through her, and she was just sitting and watching it all happen. "I know you have other things to do."

Tadrose sighed heavily, and shook her head as she faded from the room.

Teresa stared down at the game board - still filled with her white pieces - and swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. Her blood roared in her ears, and she felt as if she had just survived a battle. It took every ounce of her willpower to keep from shaking. Damn, she silently cursed, why did the dark elf do that to her?

"Teresa," Ancondil's voice slipped into her ears like a silken whisper. "What is amiss between Tadrose and yourself?"

"Nothing." Teresa again found herself speaking without conscious thought. "There is nothing between her and I."

Ancondil glanced back at the trio throwing dice in the corner. They appeared to be completely absorbed in their game. Then he turned back to the forester, and went on in a quiet tone. "Teresa, everyone has noticed. Even Morghak. Tadrose walks on eggshells whenever she is around you, and you have been giving her that same frosty shoulder since you two returned last week. What transpired out there? Why did the two of you return after only two days?"

"Nothing," Teresa frowned. "Nothing at all."

"Then what is amiss?" Ancondil slid a hand across the table and laid it next to her own. "It seems you cannot pay attention to anything. You are stumbling into the rest of us at practice, and Commander Vitellus flattened you twice just this morning in hand to hand. You cannot even play a game of backgammon without drifting away."

"Well maybe I don't want to play this stupid game!" Teresa could not contain the anger that exploded from her. She watched in horror as her fingers swept across the board, flinging her white checkers into the air. The wooden pieces clattered loudly against the table, and scattered across the floor beyond.

Teresa found herself on her feet. Her face was as hot as Red Mountain, and she felt her lower lip begin to tremble. The dice game went silent as Chance, Vincent, and Morghak all turned to stare at her with befuddled faces. Ancondil too, looked up from the table. His face was a mask of serenity, yet somehow that only made Teresa more furious.

"Why can't you people just leave me alone!"

She turned to the door, and stumbled against her chair. Pain shot through her legs as she nearly lost her feet. Cursing, she grabbed its sturdy wooden back and hurled it out of the way with a clatter. Finally storming from the room unhindered, she made her way to the front door and stalked out into the rain.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Dec 27 2011, 02:25 AM

[Grits]

What a nice picture of evening at the FG. Dice game, a groaner from Vincent, Ancondil's pleasant company that Teresa is ignoring, and of course Tadrose is still working. Teresa's armor re-growing is really neat!

Teresa certainly seems depressed and angry, and clumsily storming out in front of most of the guild won't make a happy memory. Yikes. I can't imagine Pappy will let it go if her work is suffering. Rough times for Teresa.

[Acadian]

I love Ancondil as the epitome of elegance and strength. Dressed to the Nine indeed. His blathering about dragons and lace to ‘test’ Teresa’s presence was both hilarious and clever as can be; I can just imagine how much fun you had writing it! And of course this so very very Ancondil passage:
"Teresa," Ancondil's voice slipped into her ears like a silken whisper. "What is amiss between Tadrose and yourself?"

I join Grits in applauding Teresa’s living armor that favors sunlight and a sip of water to a repair hammer and forge. I hope the Dunmeri forgemistress realizes that perhaps the wounded wood elf needs the same treatment as her armor to once again restore that faint smile.

Poor Teresa. Filled with hormonally charged emotions that she doesn’t fully understand. The way you portray her words and actions as almost out of her control is spot on. Well done!

Nit: ’He face was as hot as Red Mountain, and she felt her lower lip begin to tremble.’
You meant ‘Her’ or course.

[McBadgere]

In a sense...Been there...Done that...And I mean, in a sense... ...

Most excellent...

Sooo sad...

Gut wrenching in fact...Aaand I've just thought about...*sigh*...

The sound of the Dunmer's name felt like a troll's claw twisting in Teresa's stomach

*Nods*...Yup...Been there...Still happens in fact...And I've been with the wife...*thinks*...Many years...

Brilliant write as ever...

Nice one... ...

This post has been edited by McBadgere: Dec 27 2011, 07:41 AM

[King Coin]

Thank you for those quotes.

Sounds like a perfect end to an uneventful day at the Fighters Guild Bravil Chapter.

The wood elf felt her heart leap into her throat at the sound of Tadrose's voice.
This line strikes me as very sad now.

Her temper has returned in force! I remember what almost happened in the Imperial City when her friends rejected her. I wonder if Pappy's going to intervene here. She certainly can't go on a job like that.

[liliandra nadiar]

And from a state of listless disinterest in the outside world to a volcanic explosion of undirected anger. Yep, Teresa's pretty firmly in a state of rejected love sickness. At least she hasn't done another tour of the bars. Yet anyways, I do hope her destination is somewhere more... healthy, like the Mage's Guild to see a friend or two hopfully.

I've got bets on who will be saying the chapter title, I'm all but certain on how it'll be asked, as well as the rough situation, now to find out who.

Short bit but pretty charged in emotion.

[Olen]

You've certainly hammered home the point about Teresa being in the angry/ depressed stage. Lots of emotion boiling there, you also got the overspill onto the other characters. That Ancondil tried to sort it out, in spite of the likely result, suggests that she's trying his patience along with the rest of the guild.

I also liked the 'everyone has noticed. Even Morghak' line. It characterises her well, and carries on the slightly gossipy edge Ancondil has.

Tadrose doesn't seem to know what to do. She seems to be in the pretending nothing happened and it can all go back as it was stage, which tends not to work, and certainly won't in this case. That she isn't doing anything to sort it out, or going for the ignoring option does suggest that she isn't so sure she made the right decision. My bet is now that if they do get together it will be Tadrose relenting as much as Teresa persisting, saying that I'm not exactly an expert in romance plotting...

Now what will Teresa do? I do wonder if there might be some brief fling with someone else soon... perhaps a visit to a certain island...

[SubRosa]

Grits: Teresa's armor re-growing was an idea I got from several people commenting that they liked how the miran-talurn armor was in essence a living suit of armor. Of course watching Farscape - with a living ship - also helps.

Pappy will be poking his head into things in a few more episodes, although perhaps not in a way people might expect. He is in an uncomfortable position in all of this, because he did encourage Teresa to go for it. Not to mention the fact that he is used to being the one humping and dumping the 18 year old girl...


Acadian: Ancondil's line about the lace dragon underwear was pure joy to write. I just had to keep laying it on to make it sound more ridiculous.

Out of control is just what I wanted to portray with Teresa. One of the things I loved best about the original Die Hard film was at the very beginning, where John meets his wife for the first time in six months, and gets in an argument with her. She leaves, and he literally bangs his head against the wall for being such a schmuck. But he still couldn't help doing it in the first place.


McBadgere: Being around the ex after a bad breakup is sheer misery. That is why I made a rule to never date people I work with. Once down that road was enough for a lifetime. It is much better when you never see them again after that.


King Coin: It did sound like a nice night. Right up until Teresa blew her stack! You are quite right, she cannot do a job with her head the way it is now. We will be seeing more about that in a few episodes.


liliandra nadiar: No tours of the bars in Teresa's future. Rather one of the stable soon. I would not bet against you on who says the words in the title! That will be in the final segment, a few weeks from now.


Olen: Teresa has a habit of trying other people's patience. She is definitely high maintenance. Hopefully she is worth it. You pretty much have Tadrose figured out to a tee. Trying to be friends and pretend nothing ever happened is a common female response, and never works well in the end.


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: Out last episode caught up with Teresa a week after her breakup with Tadrose. She was distracted, depressed, and eventually lost her temper when Ancondil tried to get her to talk about what was going on between her and Tadrose. Next, we take a look at what her nights have now become.


Chapter 42.2 – What Do You Want?


The night pressed in around Teresa, cold and clammy as a wet zombie. She pushed her way through the darkness, toward the flickering, amber light ahead. It swung gently in the breeze, and after a moment she realized that it was the lantern hanging in front of the Wawnet Inn. A moment later the two story building loomed out of the darkness before her eyes, and her feet took her unerringly to the door.

She let herself in, and glanced at the common room down the steps to her right. So usually filled with Weye's boisterous townsfolk, it now stood bare and silent. Her gaze moved to her left, along the stairs that curled up the corner of the building. She thought she heard something from that direction, and made her way up to the second floor.

She stared down the corridor that ran the length of the upper floor. Unlike the other doors that lined the hallway, the one to Nerussa's room stood open. A wash of golden light spilled out from the open doorway and into the corridor, pulling Teresa's feet like a lodestone.

Teresa heard voices coming from the room. Stepping to the door, she gaped in horror at what she saw within. Standing in the center of the bedchamber were Nerussa and Tadrose, both naked as the days they were born. Their hands roved over one another, as did their lips. It was not the awkward and uncertain fondling of new lovers, discovering one another's bodies for the first time. Rather it was the smooth caresses of long-time mates, familiar with every inch of the other's flesh.

The two pulled their lips from one another long enough to turn and look at Teresa. Then a long trill of laughter trumpeted from Nerussa's throat. Tadrose joined in a moment later, and pointed one finger at the gaping wood elf.

"Look at the freak!" the Dunmer taunted.

"Abomination!" Nerussa chimed in. "Is it even an elf?"

"No one will ever love a corpse-skinned failure like you!" Tadrose spat.

"You aren't good enough for a real woman," Nerussa added. "We all have standards. Run back to the gutter that spawned you. That's where you belong, with the other worms."

Teresa did turn and run then. But the hallway stretched out before her, seeming to go on for miles. Her legs pumped with all the speed she could muster, yet still the sound of the two women's laughter filled her ears. She felt her skin flush with heat, and had to swallow hard around the lump that had lodged itself in her throat. She did not look back however, instead she kept her eyes locked on the hallway before her.

After what seemed like an eternity, the corridor dissolved away into mist. She found herself racing through a stone arcade. One shop after another flashed by to her right, while a wide courtyard stretched out into the darkness beyond the curving archways to the left. Then before her she saw the sign for Jensine's New and Used Merchandise. She stopped before the door, and it yawned open at her barest touch.

She saw Jensine standing at the counter inside. Teresa's heart slowed, and she felt relief flood through her at the sight of the familiar Nord. The red-haired shopkeeper's back was to her, and she did not turn, not even when Teresa called out her name. Finally, the wood elf stepped up behind the Nord, and laid a hand upon her shoulder.

"Jensinse," Teresa said. "Is my mother here?"

"You don't have a mother, do you freak?" Jensine whirled to face her. But it was not Jensine. It was Tadrose. Her eyes glowed a brilliant red in the suddenly dark shop, and her fingers seemed to twist into claws. "No one knows what you are! Not even a skooma-sucking beggar would take you in, would they?"

"No," Teresa moaned. "This isn't real. This isn't happening. Where's Simplicia?"

"Simplicia's not here anymore," Tadrose grinned like a wolf sizing up a baby elk. "She's gone. She said she didn't want to ever see you again. That's why she left. She can't stand the sight of you. You whining little brat!"

Teresa shook her head, and backed away. This was all wrong. All of it. She knew it was a dream. All she had to do was wake up, and it would all be over. But try as she might, she could not break loose from the nightmare's grip. So as the sound of Tadrose's laughter scourged her, the wood elf fled once more into the dark.

The flickering light of a torch lit the way ahead. Again Teresa found herself in a familiar place. It was a prison cell. The same cell that she had been locked in after she had been arrested. Standing there in the middle of the room was a man. He wore a robe of purple and red brocade, decorated with ermine fur that grew around his neck like a lion's mane. His face was hidden in darkness, and as Teresa approached him, he began to speak.

"You have no idea what you can do." While soft, it was a voice that could level mountains with its intensity. Teresa's breath caught in her throat. Only one man in the world had ever spoken in such a way. Uriel Septim, the Emperor of Tamriel.

"But I know what you are." Now his voice changed. It became harsh, like razorblades, and distinctly feminine. A pair of glowing red eyes burst to life in the darkness shrouding his head. Then the rest of his features came to light in that terrible glow. It was Tadrose again, sneering back at her.

"Prole!" she hissed. "You're nothing but an orphan from the gutter. Your real mother didn't want you, did she? No one wants you. She left you in the trash, where you belong. You're just a mistake of nature. You aren't a Bosmer, or an Ayleid. You're just a filthy mongrel. You aren't good enough for me. You never were, and you never could be.

"Stop it Tadrose!" Teresa cried, "Stop!"

"Oh poor baby," the dark elf taunted. "Go ahead and cry. I only pretended to love you. I was just playing with you, so I could have a good laugh when I threw you back in the sewer. Look at you, tramp. How did you think I could ever love you? I'm an aristocrat! You're just a prole. A thief who can't even steal a sweet roll without getting caught. You disgust me!"

"No!" Teresa's eyes flew open, and she sat bolt upright in her bed. Her white skin was beaded with sweat, and her breath came in ragged gasps. She felt her stomach churn violently, and clamped one hand over her mouth in fear that she would throw up. Wincing down the bile that burned in her throat, she sat there in the dark, shaking like leaf.

"That is not Tadrose!" she whispered to the darkness around her. "That is not Tadrose..."

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Dec 29 2011, 08:31 PM

[Olen]

There's a lot of emotion in this part. The dream shows how conflicted she is - she still wants Tadrose but hates her for the rejection. With all this emotion I do rather wonder what will happen next.

Along with the more obvious cause I also noticed that Tadrose's rejection has opened another wound along with it. Her feeling of inferiority was back in the dream, and so probably in the subconsious too. Her worry that she's below others certainly won't help things. And now she seems to be having the parents issues too, I think this is the most explicit worry on her part that we've seen about who (and what race) her parents might have been.

It all looks like a rather explosive combination for the Bravil guild.

[Glargg]

This is a wonderful tale to read. Teresa is a fully believable character, so conflicted, and so much more sure of her failures than of her successes.

Found a nit:
'"Prole!" she hissed. "You're nothing but an orphan from the gutter. You're real mother didn't want you, did she?' Them ol' "your-you're blues" hit us all from time to time.

[Grits]

Oh, what a terrible dream. I'm glad that Teresa is already thinking, that is not Tadrose. I also wonder what she will do next.

[liliandra nadiar]

I'm going to go with... "ouch".

Had those moments/dreams where someone you respect/care for belittles you. Really not fun. ;_;

[Acadian]

I won’t say I enjoyed it any more than Teresa did, but this dream was superbly written. Easy to follow (that is good), clearly and directly relates to what we know is going on with her, yet full of wonder, mystery and awash with a dreamlike feel. It is a hard balance to achieve, and you nailed it.

’Tadrose grinned like a wolf sizing up a baby elk. ‘
Even in her dreams, Teresa sees her world through the eyes of wood elf.

’Then a long trill of laughter trumpeted from Nerussa's throat.’
"You don't have a mother, do you freak?"
’I'm an aristocrat! You're just a prole. ‘
These are just three of many passages where all Teresa’s insecurities and doubts about her self-worth erupt to the surface.

I’m just so thankful she didn’t encounter a red-eyed Simplicia. . . oh dear Mara.