Estamil and Tandrik

The story of Estamil and Tandrik is a beloved tale of the town of River's Rest about two tragic lovers. It is often recited at the sandy point at the north end of the the island, where the spirits of the two lovers haunt. A green tourmaline ring in the museum of River's Rest was believed to have belonged to one of the lovers.

The Lovers Meet

The tale takes place after River's Rest's incorporation into the Turamzzyrian Empire when a company of Imperial soldiers encamped along the shores of the Tempest River. As they slept, a flash flood occurred and swept the soldiers and their camp down river. Only one soldier, a strong and kind hearted man known as Tandrik, survived if but barely. He was washed ashore on the north point of the island of River's Rest where he was found by a local woman, an elf by the name of Estamil.

Estamil was a favorite of the town and trained in the engineering arts, and was in the process of helping to rebuild one of the drawbridges of the town. She took pity on the human soldier and began to nurse him back to health. In the process, both of them soon fell in love with each other, despite each believing in the negative stereotypes of the other's race.

Eventually there love became an engagement and the two agreed to marry upon the completion of Estamil's drawbridge. Yet, sinister forces learned of the two and their love, in particular a necromancer, that many believe to be Syssanis. In his experimentation, he often took organs and other parts of one creature and placed them in others and he believed that the strong love of Estamil and Tandrik was connected to their hearts. He made plan to abduct the two.

The Necromancer Strikes

The Necromancer struck at a celebration upon the drawbridge to celebrate its completion and their engagement. For the occassion, Tandrik had made two engagement rings, each jeweled with a green tourmaline, gems which matched the color of Estamil's eyes. It was at this time that, as Tandrik prepared to give Estamil her ring, that the Necromancer struck and his minions kidnapped the two lovers. Forgotten in the attack were the two rings, all that remained of Estamil and Tandrik.

In his tower, the Necromancer removed the hearts of the two lovers and placed them beating within a magical chest which would preserve them until he placed them into the bodies of one of his creations. Out of pity for Estamil and Tandrik, he gave them replacement hearts. For Estamil, he gave the heart of a troll, and for Tandrik, the heart of a Krolvin. Meanwhile, the Necromancer's servants became outraged at what their master had done to the lovers and killed him in his sleep. In fear, they fled the tower and with them they took the hearts of the lovers in the magical chest.

The Tragic Fate

The two lovers, with their beastly replacement hearts, finally awoke on two tables in the tower of the Necromancer. Weak and with death near, they gazed into each other's eyes and both reached out for the other. Yet, their strength failed them and only their fingertips brushed before the hearts never meant for man or elf ceased to beat and the lovers slipped away into death's embrace. Without their hearts, the spirits of the two lovers have been left to wander forever the place where they first met, and with the offering of green tourmalines, will appear from time to time to those who visit the sandy point of River's Rest.

External link

• A log of a telling of the story by Lyvionia