I've figured it all out. Tess left the tower a short time before the Taken King was released. The reason she did this? To fight oryx, but not in the way you might think. [b][i][u]You see, Tess Everis is actually a cover name for Mara Sov.[/u][/i][/b] Both are female, both are awoken, both have a whitish blonde hair colour. We never saw the Awoken Queen in the House of Wolves expansion. Why? She was at the special requisitions area of the Tower communicating with Eris Morn. We know from the grimoire and the story that the Queen and Eris were in cahoots. So they communicated in secret whilst in the Tower. 'Tess' had a very clear view of Eris before she moved so it would have been easy to communicate through hand gestures. Then, shortly before the Taken King arrived Eris told 'Tess' to prepare for battle, and so she did. 'Tess' left the Tower to prepare to attack the Dreadnought with her ketch. The reason she did not return to the Tower like we were told is because of what happens in the first cutscene in the Taken King. [b]TL;DR Tess Everis is Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken[/b]