Thieves at Heart

I write because if I don't, my already broken brain will make me crazier. Tavera is just one of my brain children and a favorite of mine. Her story began as a background sketch for a thief character in a pen-and-paper RPG campaign but she's more than just a thief. She's tough, she hits people in the face but she also cares for her father and makes him tea when he's ill.

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Little Tavera is a half-elf child in a land of humans, an outsider dragged from bad situation to worse--until Derk whisks her away and adopts her as his own. Tavera soon finds out her new Pa is a master thief, a member of an elite group of professional scoundrels called the Cup of Cream. They make their money that way, sure, but thievery is as necessary as any other profession in the Valley of Ten Crescents; it balances society. To Derk's--and her own--delight, Tavera grows into a natural thief and works her way toward membership in the Cup. Joining would finally give her some place where she belongs, and it would please the Pa she loves so much. But being a thief means being only one step ahead of the law. When the law finally catches up, Tavera must choose: go against her Pa's wishes for the sake of loyalty and love; or obey him and survive.