River

oathofdevotion

a young man from a small fishing village. met eliphas by chance once in his boyhood, the elder having fished and rescued him from the river he had fallen into trying to retrieve a village girl's doll.
it's rumored that he shares his hometown with eliphas, although no one knows for sure if this is true or what eliphas was doing there.
for some reason or another, eliphas saw something in him (perhaps he simply reminded eliphas of his last protege, elijah) and somewhat took him under his wing, sponsoring his moving to the capital to become a page and then a squire under a knight who owed eliphas a favor or two.
it was by eliphas' recommendation that he would be knighted himself, and later chosen to be a personal bodyguard to the princess.
like her highness, he eventually grew to realize that every step of his life had been orchestrated by eliphas, for the sake of his own mysterious plans; he took this knowledge... less well than she did, and does not share her unshakeable faith and love for the man. it's quite clear that he distrusts his benefactor, although he does not outright loathe him and cannot deny that he owes everything that he has to eliphas; however, the sense of never knowing what eliphas is plotting, and feeling pulled along by his strings, is a source of great discomfort.
perhaps the only part of his life that hasn't been planned out by eliphas since their meeting is his growing feelings for the princess he's sworn to watch over...