Previously we've had character spotlights on Leonie, Perry, and Andrew. Today we're looking at Lord Gabriel and Lady Eleanor.
Lord Gabriel is both the High Lord of House St Peter and the Abbot of the monastery there. He's in his late fifties and has been a
monk for about thirty years. In his teens he spent some time living and
travelling with Traders. He is very Gifted, having all the major Gifts –
telepathy, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and precognition – and extremely
powerful, but he uses his Gifts as little as possible. His strongest
Gift is precognition and he sees visions of possible alternative
futures, along with the knowledge that his actions will determine which
future actually takes place. This terrifies him.
Lady Eleanor is the same age as Lord Gabriel and
also spent time with the Traders in her teens. She married young, to
Harry, and went away to live with him in a different Great House. Harry
died when their daughter, Melanie, was very young, and
Eleanor and Melanie then came to live at House St Peter near family. Eleanor is very capable, very organised and many
people at House St Peter (and elsewhere) find her slightly scary.
She’s an avid reader and has a (secret) addiction to romantic
fiction, but it has to have a happy ending. She’s also very Gifted, with
one of her key skills being telepathy, although again she doesn’t use
it much.
Here's an extract from Strand of Faith (in Leonie's POV), where Brother Benjamin tells Leonie about Lady Eleanor's role in House St Peter.
For this meal, I was seated next to Lord Gabriel himself, and on my other side was Brother Benjamin. He was about the same age as Lord Gabriel, and he smiled at me.
“Would it help if I told you who people were?” Brother Benjamin asked quietly.
I nodded.
“Lord Gabriel has several deputies,” he said. “I run the hospital and Brother Richard over there deals with anything in the monastery.” He nodded his head towards three ladies, seated together at one end of the table. “Sister Elizabeth – she’s the one with white hair – is Richard’s equivalent in the convent. I think you’ve met Lady Eleanor. She’s the Seneschal, and next to her is Lady Sarah who runs the college.”
“What’s a seneschal?” I asked.
He grinned. “Power behind the throne, if you ask me. Only don’t tell anyone I said that. She’s Lord Gabriel’s second in command, responsible for running the whole administrative and domestic side of the House, leaving him freer for spiritual and strategic matters.”
There's definitely a back story that involves Gabriel, Eleanor, and Brother Benjamin, but I've not written it yet. Would you like to read it? There's also a very close relationship between Gabriel and Eleanor - can you work out what it is?
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