The Drow Queen of Glaley [Very NSFW]

[The Iron Bull]

"Yeah, and your siblings. Oh, uh, you got a little sister. Probably, uh, ten or so? Something like that. Your brother was seeing a girl pretty seriously too, so he might well be married up by now. Both parents were healthy, happy and remembering you with devotion and love when Coq-- Cindy last spoke with them. Lost touch when she moved though."

[GamesMaster]

"What were you about to call her?" asks Mel. "A  nickname?"

[The Iron Bull]

Dammit. "Coquette," Bull admits with a sigh. "Cindy was the name she preferred at the time. Still goes by it at times, but only as a private thing really." Should I explain or..?

[Coquette Blacquin]

She's definitely not going to understand about me but... I suppose it's no hardship if you explain she was a nobleman's daughter playing hooky.

[The Iron Bull]

Right, yah. "Coquette was her birth name. She took up Cindy in order to, well, explore the city as a normal person. See what life was like outside the cold cage she was raised in. Noble cage."

[GamesMaster]

"She was noble?" asks Mel with a start. "Huh. I'd nevera guessed." She shakes her head. "What's all this got ta do with ye being a healer's apprentice or nah?"

[The Iron Bull]

"It means yes," Bull replies, then blinks at his own words. "Because if I work with you, then I'll be around you. If I'm around you, I can protect you. And I want-- need-- to protect you because you're my Lady's long-lost and still beloved Mel."

[GamesMaster]

Mel's face softened. "I can't believe she remembered me, after all these years," she says, sounding a touch flattered and fond. "An' bein' noble an' all! I woulda expected... well. No matter. You're to be my apprentice, then. I'll let the overseer know, he'll excuse you some afternoons to study under me."

[The Iron Bull]

"She absolutely never forgot you," Bull confirms. "She tried so damn hard to find you. And afterwards, she continued to do what she could to make sure no-one else suffered what you did."

[GamesMaster]

She makes a 'tch' noise. "And yet, her servant gets sold off when her ladyship gets tired of ye."

[The Iron Bull]

"There was a lot more to it than..." Bull runs a hand over his face. "Okay, short version. Cindy's father was a cruel, heartless bastard that decided the proper response to finding out his daughter is bisexual was to literally drug and sell her to an Alessian noblewoman. This was not an equal marriage, far from it. When Varisia-- the wife-- found out Cindy helped a slave escape, she... I got sold because I stayed behind, to give her time to escape." He swallows thickly. 

[GamesMaster]

"Ah," says Mel, her voice softening further. "Like that, is it?"

[The Iron Bull]

"Yah. She... she wasn't entirely unhappy. She had good in her life too. Me," he says with a faint blush. "Her two daughters. Her husbands. Err, Alessia marriages are a bit weird; two women marry and then have a bunch of lesser husbands for, well, breeding purposes."

[GamesMaster]

"Then she had love, at least. That's more than I got." Is she a touch bitter? But also... wistful. 

[Coquette Blacquin]

...seven kids. And no love. That's... awful.