The Midnight Prince

[GamesMaster]

Kuronue is quiet for a while. Finally, she speaks, her voice oddly distant. "There are many ways to ensure a pregnancy is a specific race, but none of them... well, it's not that they don't work, exactly. They work. But they also increase the odds of miscarriage considerably, and can lead to the death of the mother as well. So it ends up not being worth it. The other ways... did she say outblood, or name a specific race? Well, no, she's pregnant with a tiefling. Tieflings are easy to sire, if you know what you're doing. But they're not... pleasant, to sire."

[Rokag]

"I...hadn't gotten much chance to talk to her again, but I figured I'd do something and see how she's doing." Rokag hated feeling this...useless. "B-but I know they still care about you. And that Shisou would if he wasn't...however he is now."

[GamesMaster]

She nods, coughing a little. "You should go. I need to rest for a bit before he wakes."

[Rokag]

Rokag look between her and Indou again before nodding. "Alright. I'll..see if I can get Shisou to actually meet the healer and I'll come up with something to get him to look him over. Hopefully that'll bee enough to fix some of this." She turned a glare at Indou again before turning. "And...I'm sorry you got worse because of what I did. I'll try and make up for it."

[GamesMaster]

Kuronue waves a hand. "Don't worry about it. I'll recover, in time." 


The next day, the Oracle arrives, which means Rokag has to dress in those fancy robes again. Shisou doesn't complain about wearing his, though he does fidget with the sleeves; the two are shown to the room where they had signed the wedding contract once more, and the oracle -- an old, blind human woman wearing dark robes -- takes some blood from Rokag and mixes it into an ink. She leans over the parchment, sketching out a family tree. 

"This is your mother," she says, pointing to the name, written in katakana to indicate a foreign name: Himmelfaust Chandra. "And your father," she adds, writing a name not in Kanji but also in katakana: Rasaan Shaw. 

[GamesMaster]

"tch," sneers Indou quietly, from behind them. "Peasant blood."

"Quiet," hisses Kuronue, from her chair. 

[Rokag]

Rokag was able to sit still for the most part, but as she saw the name her breath caught. She had a family name...wait, did I have that name before now? Her head was starting to fill with questions. Was that all she saw. Were there others that she was connected to? Who was Rasaan Shaw? She hadn't...remembered anyone being witht them. When her mother was still...here, it had been just the two of them. She wanted to ask all of this, to pry what other little information she could out of the woman, but managed to keep it to an intense look at the image.

[GamesMaster]

The woman keeps writing, oblivious to their reactions (or seeming that way at least): "your sister," she adds, drawing another line down from Rasaan Shaw and another Katakana name: "Isabela". "Your sister's mother:" she adds, drawing a line across from Rasaan to list another Katakana name: "Hari". 

[GamesMaster]

"We paid for their races, woman," snaps Indou. "I want my money's worth."

"Beg pardon," she says, moving the pen unerringly to write. "Rokag here is merikos orc. Himmelfaust Chandra is an orc. Rasaan Shaw is a merikos undine. Isabela is a merikos undine. Hari is one of the selkiefolk." 

[Rokag]

I have a sister?! Wait...so did she...did m-Chandra know? She was even more intent now. There were no other lines from Chandra...so she HAD been alone in that case, but this still meant other people might have known her!

"Is..are they...here or with our ancestors?" Her voice wavered, but it was still light and fairly quiet, despite her wanting to quickly ask for anything more.

[GamesMaster]

"All so far are still alive. This is your sister's husband," she adds, drawing a horizontal line and writing "Luis Thomas". Beside his name, she draws a tidy little "x". "He is deceased."

"Your mother's mother, and her father," she adds, drawing their names in -- more foreign names, more strangers. Both she marks deceased. 

"Your father's mother and father," she adds, with more names, more xs. No grandparents, then.

"That is as far as your blood will tell me with a simple divination," she finishes. "Is this sufficient, or shall I divine for more?"

[Rokag]

Wait...so she's alive?! Chandra was alive....but then...why hadn't she come back? She was stronger than anyone, so how could she have left and not returned! Rokag felt a familiar weight on her chest as she looked away from the drawing. She didn't want to carry this feeling. The fear that this hadn't...been an accident. "T-thank you." She didn't know if she could keep prying like this.

[GamesMaster]

"Bah. I'm not giving you another copper," grumbles Indou. "Begone."

"Actually, I had a question," begins Kuronue, though she pauses to cough. "Indou, would you fetch my medicine, please?"

He scowls, but he gets up, storming off like a sullen child. As soon as he's left, Kuronue asks quietly, "Can you do a divination and determine if my son is... enchanted?"


"M-m-m-m-m-o-th-ther?" he asks, startled. 

"Of course. For fifty gold." 

Kuronue winces, then digs into her sleeve, coming up with the coins. The woman stretches out her gnarled hands, putting the coins into her belt pouch and taking some knucklebones from another pouch. She casts them, scooping them up once more. "Yes. He is under a spell."

[Rokag]

Rokag hadn't been sure how to go about that, having been stunned by the OTHER revelations. "Is there something we can do?!" The tension in her voice was obvious, as she looked intently at the woman.

[GamesMaster]

"Ye-es," she says, slowly. "I can try to break the curse, but it will cost a lot more."