Tyleet

Tyleet is the offspring of Redlance and Nightfall, two of the characters from the Original Quest. She appears in the later sagas of Elfquest. Unlike many "cubs" (the Wolfrider name for children) she was not born of naturally occurring Recognition. Leetah, the tribes healer, was asked by Redlance and Nightfall to try and use the amplification of the High One's Palace on her powers to force a fertile mating between the two. Nonetheless, Tyleet (ty = gift, leet = healer) is a special child with a special future.

All of the elves are born with a special trait, and while Tyleet is not particularly fierce or crafty, she seems to carry an innate grace and tranquil spirit. Pike (the Woflriders storyteller) makes up a song about her "Try to deny her anything!" because she is so sweet it is impossible to tell her no. Tyleet's gentle nature and her tenacity coupled with her curiosity about and tolerance of humans indicates a mysterious destiny of diplomacy between elves and humans.

In her tribe, it was a rule for elves to keep their distance from humans. But when Tyleet discovers an abandoned human child with a birthmark on his face (leading his birth-tribe to think him cursed, hence abandoning him), her motherly instincts (and long time desire for her own cub) led her to rescue him, She begged her tribe to accept him (try to deny her anything) and they let her bring "Little Patch" up as part of the Wolfriders until full grown. As a child he was stronger and clumsier compared to elf babes but in time was able to inherit Tyleet's wisdom. Other tribe members taught him various skills and crafts and he became as swift and graceful as his adoptive tribe. Eventually he found he couldn't mate with elf maidens (a distastrous attempt with the curious Aroree led him to discover that elfin "bloodsong was pitched too high") so he ingratiates himself into a local human tribe. He knows this means he cannot return to the Wolfriders so as not to expose them, but he finds a mate in the human tribe who is unafraid of his birthmark. He teaches them much of his forest lore and eventually becomes their chief. Tyleet takes great pride in her son and spies on his progress throughout his life, pleased at how he leads with grace and wisdom and has come to lead the tribe that once abandoned him to die in the forest. Finally, when he is elderly and addled, he runs into the forest calling for her, his mother, in elfin tongue and she breaks cover to come to him and hold him, singing to him as he dies smiling in her arms..

Tyleet is Recognized ("soul meets soul when eyes meet eyes" - the binding of two elves souls and creation of an undeniable mating urge with the guarantee of a pregnancy to follow and the offspring from that pregnancy guaranteed to be healthy and talented) to Scouter. Scouter's lovemate since their youth, Dewshine, is welcomed to join them in their lifemating, becoming a 3-way lifemating.

Tyleet has a gift for diplomacy, a peaceful mien, and excellent tanning skills (she apprenticed to Moonshade). She was not a fighter, but much like Leetah, could wield the knife when her or her children were threatened or it was time to gather food.