Tam Song

Tam Song is a Shade who once attended Exillium with his twin sister Linh. They were once the only two elvin inhabitants of the Wildwood Colony, a gnomish territory. He and Linh now reside in Alluveterre, under the care of the Black Swan.

Appearance
Tam has jet-black hair with jagged bangs--which tend to fall into his eyes, and that often causes him to toss them out of his eyes. His eyes are the palest of pale blue, with flecks of silver, which matches with the silver streaks in the tips of his bangs. He has pink lips, and a creamy complexion.

History
"'I didn't want her to face this alone,' he mumbled. 'And I wouldn't stay with my family anyway. They'd always wished they didn't have the shame of twins. I wasn't going to let them pass me off as an only child.'" The residents of the Lost Cities are judgmental towards elves like twins and triplets--especially when it comes to Tam's parents. Thus, when Linh--that time a fledging Hydrokinetic--almost flooded the Lost City of Atlantis, she was sentenced to face banishment to Exillium, the school for banished children, which is located in the Neutral Territories. Tam, not wanting her to face banishment on her own, decided to follow her to Exillium even though he had done no wrong. Another reason why he did that was because he disliked his parents, and disapproved of their discriminating mindset about twins.

Personality and Behavior
The silver streaks in the tips of his bangs first came around when Tam had melted the chains of his registry pendant and dipped the tips of his bangs into the silver liquid, throwing the crystal into his father's face as an act of defiance.
 * REBELLIOUS/BITTER



When it comes to his parents, Tam is very rebellious and bitter and he always speaks bad of them as he loathes them after what they had done to him and Linh, his twin sister. Because of that, he doesn't trust people easily and is overprotective of Linh. "'I've seen a lot of things.'""Like what? she transmitted again, leaning closer.""He backed a step away. 'Not now.'""When? she pressed.""'When I know whether or not I can trust you.'"Tam is quite wary of anyone that he has not gotten to know yet. The quote shown above is a direct example to that aspect of his personality. He takes careful steps in trusting people or telling them about something, and he always thinks that there might be a 'catch' to a bargain that sounds too good to be true, as shown when Mr. Forkle offers the twins a home to stay for nothing in return. This wariness or suspicion could be due to his rocky past with his parents, and Tam has learnt to be careful not to get tricked. However, despite Tam's bitterness--which was often mistaken for being evil--he can be very compassionate, and chose to help Sophie Foster and her friends when he could have just pushed her away as he had a sense of what the right thing to do was. Tam cares a lot about his twin sister Linh, and follows her wherever she goes, in order to keep a careful eye on her and keep her safe.
 * WARY/SUSPICIOUS/VIGILANT
 * COMPASSIONATE/JUST

Relationships
​Linh is Tam's twin sister, and he cares very deeply about her. When Linh is banished from the Lost Cities, he chose to go with her to Exillium and be banished too when he could have let her leave alone, and have a good life without discrimination against him. He is very close to Linh, and has lived with her for almost fifteen years. They have been at Exillium together for twelve hundred plus days and he'd always made it clear that he would not be kept away from Linh. He is very protective of her and would do anything to keep her safe and sound.
 * LINH (twin sister)


 * SOPHIE (friend)

Tam first met Sophie during her first day at Exillium, and both of them had taken interest in each other. Sophie was interested in Tam as the boobrie dude had warned her about him, saying that he was the worst Wayward in Exillium, while Tam was interested in Sophie as when she had almost burnt down Exillium on her first day, his sister Linh was the one to save her (being a Hydrokinetic), and he found it fascinating that she had four abilities.

The two of them catch each other staring at each other, and they first communicate with each other through shadow-whispering, and they formed a connection with each other through a series of shadow-whispering sessions during lessons in Exillium.

When Sophie stood up against the Coaches for the right choice and rescued the plague-infested gnome, also helping Linh breathe underwater by calming her down, Tam decided to tell her what he and Linh knew about the plague, and he and Linh leapt Sophie to Wildwood to tell her about them.

Tam eventually trusts Sophie, and the fact that Linh totally trusts her helps him believe that making friends with Sophie was the right decision.


 * KEEFE (disliked)

Tam and Keefe get off on the wrong foot and both dislike each other. Keefe is extremely judgmental towards Tam as Tam's ability is a Shade and there is this evident stereotype or misconception that all Shades are 'shady', evil, and not to be trusted. After learning about Tam's past and his hatred towards his father, Keefe still chose to dislike him despite their common points pertaining to family background and personality, saying that 'someone needs to tell Shade Boy the role of Troublemaker with Daddy Issues is already filled'.

Keefe also tells Tam that he would always be the president of "Foster Fan Club" and that they were closed to new members, as he doesn't like the way Sophie and Tam secretly communicate via a combination of shadow-whispering and telepathic transmission and is thus envious or even jealous of their connection.

Tam had not trusted Keefe right from the start when Keefe had refused to let him take a Shade reading of him, as shown when he says "the only people who refuse readings are those with darkness to hide", which implies that he was suspicious that Keefe had something bad to hide. In the gnomish tunnel that led to Ravagog, he also told Sophie that he was worried about Keefe as he could tell that he was hiding something, and thus asked her how much she trusted Keefe.

Despite Sophie's numerous attempts to try to get Tam and Keefe to like each other, the two boys still hold immense dislike for each other.


 * BIANA (friend/possible love interest)

Tam possibly likes Biana and it is implied he thinks she is pretty. When Keefe gets jealous of Tam and told him that he was the 'president of the Foster Fan Club' and they were 'closed to new members', Tam instantly 'flushes' and assured Sophie that he had no romantic interest towards her, instead 'stealing a quick glance at Biana after he said it', possibly implying that he was not romantically interested in Sophie, but Biana.

After seeing him 'wave his hand', making the 'shadows around a clump of trees shift to reveal Linh', Biana, a little in awe, remarked how much that was like an antivanish, and asked him how he had done that.


 * DEX (friend)

Dex offered to share his room in Alluveterre with Tam before the day they set off to their mission in Ravagog.