Five bits of Tortallan backstory
1. Roald was the younger son of King Jasson and his wife, Vania of Naxen. His elder brother, Baird, was the father of Duke Roger. Alas, he neglected to marry Roger's mother. (Vania of Naxen was first cousin to Lianne and Gareth's father, who was one of King Jasson's great generals.)
2. In the final stages of the war against the Bazhir, the noble children of Bazhir/Barzun-Tortallan marriages were brought to Corus in order to keep their families in line. One of them was Marinie of Tasride (Thom and Alanna's mother, who carried distinctly interesting recessives.)
3. In contrast, her later-husband, Alan of Trebond, was on campaign with his knight-master, also General of Naxen, General Emry of Haryse, and Prince Baird.
4. The final battle of the war was a Pyrrhic victory for Tortall: the dead included General of Naxen, the Duke of Queenscove's eldest son, Jonathan, and, most seriously for Tortall, Prince Baird.
5. King Jasson despised his younger son as a weakling. It is probably a good thing that he never realised that, on realising that Baird was dead, Gareth the Elder grabbed Thom of Trebond, who communicated magically with Marinie of Tasride, who went and grabbed Lianne, who ran to Roald and told him to go and warn Alysanne, quick, before Jasson realised that her only protector was dead.
And a bonus, 5a) Alysanne never meant to leave Roger behind for so long. But Jasson decided to make him into more of a man than Roald, and also Alysanne was...not that good at human time.
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