Trystan Carter

**Trystan Carter** was an Ariesian royal guard who was a very capable fire Elementalist. He was close to Olive and unusually considered Olive a friend.

## Description

> The man had on a thick coat that obscured much of his pale skin. Even so, Olive could tell that the man was rather lean. His hair was dark and jagged, his eyes a bright hazel. At his waist hung what appeared to be two pairs of curved conductors. What kind they were and what conducting type the man wielded, Olive did not know. The man looked young though. Maybe a year or two older than Olive himself.
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> - *Olive, describing Trystan*, (4) Part I | 1.1: Chance Connection
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## History

### Early Life

Little is known about Trystan's early life, except the fact that he grew up in Torinne, a place faraway from the northern regions of the Ariesian capital.

> “You talk about it all the time.” Olive rolled his eyes and popped open the window. “I feel like I’ve practically grown up there at this point.” He put his head slightly out and seemed to enjoy the wind. “I’ve... looked into it. The tax burden there is a lot higher there than the northern regions of Aries where the cities are at. The education system there isn’t great either. The reservoirs… aren’t...” He tugged on a strand of hair and pulled back in. “If this works out okay and *if* I end up somehow being on the throne, then I'll work there first…You know—set precedent or whatever.”
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> - *Olive, to Trystan*
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### Political Opinions

> The election of feudal lords has moved from competitions of merit to calculated nepotism. The royal family has devolved from its former state of reassuring the people through their image to being mere figureheads. They need to be reformed.
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> - *Olive reading out Trystan's papers*
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### At the Guard

> *"The prince is a bit rude, don't you think, Clarence?"*
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> *"Yeah, but that's not our problem. Kid is probably goin' through a phase or something. I mean, it's not like he really has a place here. He's only being kept beside the throne because the king and queen feel for him. If those two have a kid, then it's going to be an entirely different situation alltogether. I mean, look at him. Any successor'd be better."*
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> *"It's dishonourable to speak of the prince in such a way. We are royal guards now, Clarence, Menma. Criticism of Aries's government is necessary, of course. The feudal system is flawed. But this is rude, unempathetic---"*
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> *"Look, Menma, Trystan's at it again with his politically righteous talk. That's why no one likes you man. If you keep up that downer attitude, no one's gonna come help you when you need it."*
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> - A conversation between Trystan and two fellow royal guards
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## Plot

### Part I: The Converging Six

Trystan is first introduced after the then-head royal guard, Alexander Charming, introduces Trystan as one of the top ten of the pool the guards had that month. Later, during the assassination attempt, Trystan is there to see the flames that Olive wields, even without a conductor - it is also revealed that Olive recognizes Trystan's conductor as similar to the assassin's. After Alexander - made captain of the Ariesian royal guard due to his handling of the tragedy - gets demoted to a post at the outer city wall for letting the assassin sneak under his nose; Ophiuchian peacekeepers Gabrielle Law and Wtorek Izsak - who were sent to investigate the earlier assassination attempt - arrive.

After seeing Gabrielle and Izsak act familiarly with Olive, Trystan interrupts their conversation and seemingly impulsively asks if they know each other. Gabrielle answers yes, and also mentions that King Augustus is planning to give Trystan Alexander's former position. True to Gabrielle's words, Trystan is appointed as head royal guard soon after. However, barely a day after, Trystan is stripped of the position after being accused of treason. As both Trystan's conductor-type and the conducting-typ, along with the timeline following his transfer to the palace, "matched up" (according to the Information Bureau's investigation) he was taken into custody within the Ariesian royal dungeon.

> Trystan looked worse for wear. There were bruises on his cheek, and his left eye was swelling. His fingers that were wrapped around the bars of the cell were raw red. It looked like the Investigation Bureau had interrogated him thoroughly. But even still—
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> ***His eyes were strong.***
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> They glimmered with a sort of fiery intensity that Olive supposed all foreigners thought Ariesians possessed.
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> - *Olive, describing Trystan after Olive found him in the dungeon*
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When Olive finds Trystan in the dungeon, he explains that since the Information Bureau didn't have the actual conductor used on him, they focused on the conducting type used instead and the fact that an arrow was used. Since Trystan is a Conductor who is a fire Elementalist who uses a bow conductor, he was arrested. But the real evidence, according to Olive, is at the tips of the arrows and Olive's wound. Trystan thanks Olive.

Olive later, unbeknownst to Trystan, uses Marta's vitae-spectrophotometer to prove Trystan's innocence.

## Personality

> ***Trystan—that’s tall, dark, and handsome, right? From what I can tell, he’s a cherry boy. Honor and duty type of guy. A schoolboy playin’ warrior.***
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> - *Cadence, on Trystan*
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