I would buy that IF there was more to it. She literally just met my character. I raided a grove and killed people for her. Suddenly, she has some deep connection.
Love at first sight is real, but DANG! Even my wife and I didn't move that fast, and for us it was love at first sight. And we are two loving people. She's a Drow who's been through a ton. I find it hard to believe she would trust anyone that fast, tadpole connection or not.
I completely get where you're coming from, for what it's worth.
But I think what's going on here is something unique. Things start as a raw desire for sex, passionate, animalistic in the sense that she wants you after the fight, high on adrenaline and the glory of the Absolute. She's probably used to taking partners when the mood strikes, so this is nothing new to her.
Yet in the following scene, things don't go that way. The sex isn't wild and hard and full of promised domination with hands bound, no. It's slower. A coupling. Two partners pleasuring one another, and I think this is surprising for Minthara.
Note the way the two of them are immediately connected via the tadpoles. They can see one another's desires. She asks Tav to lay down on the altar. Tav can respond, asking why. In that moment, they share another connection. It's these intense connections that keep happening. I'd argue it happens with Minthara in this scene more than with any other character.
When they finish having sex, this is the moment. They lay together on the altar, and once again their minds join. Her mind is laid bare before Tav. Where else does this happen? Sure, there are connections that the tadpole gives here and there, but this is played deeper. They've had sex, they've joined their bodies together, yes, but they've also in this scene joined spiritually, for lack of a better word.
It's here that they fall in love. A product of the tadpole? Sure, probably, but it doesn't change the depth of their connection, or the fact that no one else has connected with Tav on this deep of a level.
Minthara is a character who is deeply alone and self-reliant. She is now conflicted. She's been connected to Tav, but this is a new feeling for her. It frightens her, and she tries to run away from her feelings by doing the only thing she knows how, by trying to murder Tav to stop herself from being with him.
But she can't. She finds the strength in herself to accept Tav, and this I would argue is the beginning of her character arc.
Unfortunately, she can't just be with Tav. There's the whole matter of the Absolute at Moonrise Towers, which Tav *has* to face in Minthara's estimation. She can't face the Absolute for Tav, so she does the next best thing. She offers Tav the services of her abomination friend who can lead Tav past the dangers to Moonrise.
*
On one hand, I think it's the tadpole. But on the other, I think the tadpole is just a tool, a quickening of something that would have happened anyway. In other words, in the scenario where Tav and Minthara bond, I think it's because they are naturally so compatible and fit for one another. The tadpoles bring them together because they belong together, like messed-up, broken, dysfunctional soul mates.
