#and they all very caringly dote on him before giving that man the extremely thorough fucking he deserves

[thevedriveisegambit]

Finished The Grief of Stones and I love this wet cat of a prelate and this world so much (I also love Maia and TGE and will yell about them all also but right now it's Thara Time)

(there will be spoilers below)

This man has just... the most fixed idea of himself in relation to others and his trauma has closed him off from the world so much!! It's so sad and he's absolutely Convinced that people barely like him most of the time, when we see a lot of people actually respect and admire and care for him quite deeply!

Like Azhanharad he says doesn't like him, but the Subpraeceptor goes out of his way to engage with him and never seems particularly upset about Thara's presence and both cares and knows him well enough to call Anora to come get him while he's traumatised, injured, and vulnerable!

Thara Celehar has three (four if you count Maia) half-goblin men who demonstrably care about him so much between Iäna and Anora and Azhanharad, and it's not just because he's useful to them as a Witness for the Dead.

He clearly craves closeness and wants to be cared for and to care for others, but he holds back through fear of being punished for his sexuality and because of his guilt and grief and having spent so long punishing himself that he forgets that he's allowed to be happy too... Even just Iäna using 'thee' for him shocks him so much, because he doesn't expect anyone aside from maybe Anora to want to be so familiar with him (even despite all the time they spend together and how freely he can go to the opera to see him and the whole bit in his family's eatery and being allowed into Iäna's rooms to see his photographs before they fucking break into a place together!!), but he also just... leans into every moment and scrap of intimacy he can get like a sunflower desperate for light...