Private Tales Keeping One’s Promises

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
Volker did not like the rules, or understand why she was so conflicted. The boy wasn’t some great important creature. She was acting like he’d shit on the Queen’s carpet. He looked at the boy. No hands, no feet, missing one arm at the elbow and in severe shock. Killing him would be a mercy. He was confused. Not kill people unless absolutely necessary? Was eating not necessary? He filed that away as ‘unless he couldn’t find anything else’.

‘Let them look.’ He said simply, unbothered by the prospects of a bunch of hicks chasing him down. Form what he’d seen so far, he’d just knife them while they were getting sick at the sight of the camp. He felt a little miffed, to be honest. Killing and hunting at least was honest. He didn’t kill any more than he had to unless commanded.

‘You would rather I become a sneak thief?’ He asked incredulously. He didn’t steal. He didn’t like it. He didn’t understand why Shuck was getting so upset, or suggesting she get a horse when she damn well knew no animal with any brains at all would suffer him. What she was suggesting just seemed ludicrous at best and insulting at worst. She would rather he steal the fruits of someone else’s labor and hunt down animals penned and panicking. That wasn’t sporting. In his mind the boy he was currently dismembering had every chance in the world. He had been armed with a bow and arrow, and should have known to watch for predators.

Volker got up irritably and seized his knife. The frustration relief he’d felt at working and building camp was gone.

“Wait! No! No!” The boy screamed when Volker slit him from groin to sternum, letting his intestines hit the ground. The killer felt even more frustration at the waste of it all. He was being sent away like an unruly child for what? Doing as he’d been taught? He glared at the corpse, sighed, and started cleaning up. He’d have to move camp slowly.

When Thomas and Derek arrived...it looked abandoned. The fire was still crackling, and the boys corpse was still tied against a tree. His legs were missing, along with both sets of ribs and most of his internal organs. Thomas covered his mouth at the sight.

“It’s like what happened to our horses.” He whispered in disgust. Derek looked like he was about to pass out, shivering on his horse. The pair dismounted. Both horses were shying, whickering. Their eyes rolled at the sight of the corpse. Volker moved upwind of them, and the horses bolted. When Derek turned to yell at them, Volker stepped behind him and struck low on the spine. She said no killing. He left the man screaming on the ground and turned toward Thomas. He couldn’t harm him. He was part of the family.

Volker bared his teeth and hissed. Thomas turned tail, and ran. Well, now he was definitely going to have to move camp. He sighed and began moving. It would be a slow process, but true to his word he didn’t kill Derek. He left him crippled on the ground next to the ashes of the fire, using his arms to drag his useless legs behind him. Volker snorted at him, and shifted him so he could grab his things.

What a waste.
 
Volker seemed insulted at the notion of being a thief over a murderer, and Shuck couldn't quite keep the temper out of her voice. "I'm not Oor, Volker. I give a shit about more than myself, and that includes both you and innocent lives."

With that, it seemed that both were fed up with the other. She'd muddled this so badly she wasn't sure how she was going to fix it, but that was clearly not something she could handle figuring out right now. Shuck let go of the connection between her and Volker, stumbling back through the darkness and back into her own body.

She drew a sharp breath. It felt like she'd been under forever, but as she blinked back tears and looked around, she saw that family in much the same manner as they'd been when she'd gone. She couldn't bear to look at any of them, looking instead at her hands. They'd been gripping the blanket in her lap until they were white instead of gray.

Elda had asked if it was Volker, and she nodded. "Yes." A sob broke out of her.

What had she done? She'd thought she could make this mess right, and yet again she'd only made things worse for someone else. Taking Volker's leash hadn't killed Oor, but it had hopefully bought her the time she needed to get her strength and prepare for his inevitable return. And holding Volker's leash wasn't as simple as she'd thought it would be. How was she to have known just how deeply Oor had steered the man? She'd not been able to see the strings that Oor had been pulling, that living a life separate from the shade's control wasn't as simple as letting him do as he pleased.

She was exhausted, and her head was screaming from the effort of speaking to Volker. Dropping her face into her hands, Shuck was tired of dealing with the fallout of her mistakes. She knew the men would go after Volker and, hopefully, he got a fair start on them. Though she doubted this man and Thomas could kill him on an even playing field, that stupid overwhelming panic that something might happen to him made her cry even harder.

// Volker //
 
Elda sighed and grasped her hand. “It’s alright. He can no more help his nature than you can. He has become more fae than man at this point. I...well...maybe you can help him. I’ve never seen a possession that ingrained.” She patted her sadly, and got up.

Lester settled next to her for a moment, smiling. “Nothing’s sadder than tears on such a pretty angel.” He reaches up and wiped her tears away with a thumb. “What’s your name, darling? Lester Meier.”
 
Elda's comfort was soft and far too understanding. It made Shuck feel even worse about what she'd done, but it at least helped her rein in her crying. She left, and Shuck gently pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers, attempting to ease the strain in her forehead. She needed to lie down. The smell of breakfast was still sickening and she was ready to sleep and forget all of this for a moment. Her hand pressed to her stomach, where her little one was quiet but resting against her stomach. It was uncomfortable, exacerbating her nausea.

Looking up with the intention of requesting assistance to be taken to bed, when someone sat next to her. Shuck looked up at Lester, blinking away her tears and confusion as he casually reached up and wiped away her tears. Her eyes were already red, but her cheeks followed suit and she looked away. Joseph had told her a bit about Lester, his wildest brother.

"I'm Shuck," she said, sniffing and leaning gently away so as to wipe away the remainder of her tears on her own. "I'm Joseph's..."

His what? Shuck stumbled. She couldn't fairly say wife, since she'd already turned down that possibility. He wasn't married, so she couldn't say mistress. "Well, Joseph brought me here," she finished lamely. Her head hurt too much to come up with anything else, so she simply let the words fall flat there. It was fairly obvious to everyone why she was there and the nature of their relationship, her hand still resting on the evidence.

// Joseph Meier //
 
Lester chuckled. “You’re Joseph’s eh? My reputation precedes me. Listen, let’s go get you back in bed. You’re looking a little green.” He smiled and took her hands, gently pulling her up off the couch. He put her arm around his neck, put his hand on her hip, and gently hoisted her. He was balancing her weight on his hip and leg, while giving her the dignity of being upright.

He steered her slowly into her room
and dropped her on her bed, cuddling her up. He put a pillow under her shoulders, smiling and grinning. “Comfortable, darling?” He purred. “So if you’re here, where’s my brother here nipping at my heels to get away from you?”

Lester chuckled. “You need some company?”
 
Green? Shuck's hand touched her face in confusion. How could she be green? She was ashen-skinned, and was occasionally pink but not --

He took her hand, gently guiding her to rise and she hastily pulled the blankets off of her lap. She was grateful for the help as he looped an arm behind his neck, and they made their way to her room. Sinking into the bed, she scooted awkwardly back onto the bed. Her body was already becoming cumbersome. What would it be like in a few more weeks? She hadn't seen her tea in a while. How much was left in the jar? She'd have to ask Elda.

Lester kindly put a pillow behind her shoulders, and Shuck offered him a brief smile and a nod as she settled back. "As comfortable as I can be," she muttered.

He asked where Joseph was, however, and the small smile faded. "He's getting something for me." The response was simple, but not a lie. "He'll be back in just under two weeks." It felt like forever, but saying it out loud made it seem like less somehow. A faint smile returned, but she watched him carefully. If Joseph was to be believed, this brother was a fox -- handsome, cunning, and dangerous.

"I may fall asleep," she warned as she settled the blankets up over her growing bump. "And I'm very boring."

// Volker //
 
Lester patted her. “Sweetheart it’s not every day you see a black shuck wander into the house pregnant and stumble about her words.” He smiled gently at her. He and Joseph were surprisingly similar. The same hands, the same eyes, the same smile. “I’ll come back to entertain you later.”

He let her rest. Elda let her sleep undisturbed as well, only waking her for her noon tea, and a little blood from Gerard. The family members were quietly donating blood to her, and she’d receive as much as she liked. They were gifts, happily and freely given, with small blessings from Elda. Lester returned as promised, with a strange little object.

He flicked the long piece of ivory over in his fingers. It was long and curved whalebone with sets of holes drilled into the top. “Fancy a game of unicorns and lions?” He asked, settling the white board across her lap and sitting next to her on the bed. He pulled out a small bag of pegs. Fifteen were mother of pearl, representing the unicorns. There was a single elegantly carved golden peg made out of brass with a rampant lion atop it. He set the pegs, explaining the game.

“So one person plays the lions, the other plays the unicorns. The lions goal is to eat the unicorns. The unicorns must own in the lion so he can’t move. See how the pegs are arranged in a square of 33? Unicorns gather here in the corner, the lion starts in the middle. Now...I think you are more of a lion than you let on.” He grinned at her. “Want to see if you can pen me in?”
 
Shuck made a sound of dismissal (not unlike Gerard) and shrugged. She pulled the blanket up over her shoulder and rolled onto her side, no longer wanting to look at Joseph's brother. Seeing his smile, bright and sharp like his younger brother's hurt her, and she stared at nothing while she waited for him to leave before closing her eyes. It made her miss him -- terribly. Being without him, with only his mother's eyes to remind her of him. But now, seeing a brother who was his spitting image?

Curling up on her left side as Elda had instructed her, Shuck napped away the morning. She would have been content to continue doing so if the matriarch had not come to wake her, propping her upright and rousing her enough to take her tea... and blood. From Gerard, she'd been informed. It would have been rude to turn it down, and Shuck nodded and asked Elda to pass along her thanks -- and expressed it as thanks, not polite words stepping around the word. It would seem that where debts were owed in this whole family were bound to be muddled rather quickly, so she abandoned her cares on the matter now rather than stressing over how she said things to them.

She'd half finished the blood when Lester appeared in the doorway. He held something aloft for her to see, and her brows furrowed. He had a look very much like his brother when he was about to suggest something scandalous. It made her nervous, but he set down beside her and laid out a... Well, he put something on her lap, and she looked at it over the rim of her cup as she hoisted the blood for another drink.

A game? Shuck's eyes flit up to his with sudden interest, lowering the cup and licking the blood from the corner of her mouth.

"I've never played it before." She'd not played anything since she'd been reborn from Malice as Shuck, to her memory. He began placing shiny pegs on one half of the cross-shaped playing board, then a brass peg with a tiny lion in the middle. She listened carefully to the rules, and frowned.

"So I just move the lion around anywhere?" She looked up at him, feeling like she was missing something. "How do I eat the unicorns?"

With the rules elaborated, Shuck took another drink of her blood, nearly gone now, and looked at the board. Unsure how to start, she picked up the lion and moved it to the left.

"Like that?" she asked, looking up for confirmation. Well that wasn't so hard.

// Volker //
 
Lester grinned at her. “See, unicorns only move forward. I can move directly or diagonally forward, but always forward. The lion can move however he pleases, so long as he only moves one square. Your goal is to find a peg without something behind it. You can essentially “jump” me, and remove the stricken unicorn from the board.” Lester moved one of his unicorns to the right of the brass lion. “Now, your lion can leap to the right, over my unicorn, killing it.”

He mimed doing so with the pieces, but ultimately left it up to her to make a move. Lester would make the game challenging for her, but he’d ultimately let her win. It was only fair with her first time playing the game. “I’m so glad that Mother’s assumption you were married to Joseph is bunk.” He smirked up at her. “I noticed you didn’t clarify when we met.”

He waited for her to move, then quietly attempted to shift one of his unicorns to pen her into the right side of the cross. “I think Joseph and I were the only ones to get out of this shithole. It all looks peaceful. The horses, the land. But shoveling shit is the same day after day. Catching a boat and never looking back was the best thing that ever happened to me. That said...I’m not above returning home.” He told her, shifting a little closer to her.
 
She watched the board carefully as he made his first move, but glance up with a note of sadness in her eyes and her stomach dropping when he commented on her and Joseph's marital status. She remembered the look of hurt and shame in Joseph's eyes when she'd backed away from him, thinking she'd turned him down out of reluctance or because she didn't want him. It still twisted her and though she found it more difficult now than ever to further deny him, her reasoning for telling him no still stood. That didn't mean it made her feel good, and learning that the family had just assumed she was now his wife made her feel even worse. Because she wasn't and never could be with Malice constantly looming over her.

"Not for the lack of want to," she replied softly, staring at the board and game pieces. Lester took his turn, and she moved her lion back.

Sipping the last of her blood as he spoke, she set the cup aside. She gave him another brief glance as he spoke about his home before moving her piece again. It seemed the two brothers were similar in more than looks and manners, but in their unbridled spirit as well. Of course, Joseph had finally grown weary of traveling and leaned toward this pastoral home.

"Unfortunately we're not here to stay," she said, not looking up from the game. She could see him moving to pin her into one of the paddocks, and she navigated her lion toward an isolated unicorn. "I don't know how long we'll stay after the babe comes." Sitting up, she placed a protective hand over her bump. "We've unfinished business that calls us away."

She wasn't sure how much Joseph had told his family about their stay. Had he told Elda that they were simply stopping in for a safe place for her to deliver? Did she know they couldn't stay forever?

Looking at the game she felt a small giddy thrill when he didn't shift one of the unicorns away from her lion. She jumped it and sat up, feeling rather proud of herself, and plucked up the shimmery peg. Holding it aloft, she turned it in the light from the window to get a better look at it.

"Where did you get this game? Is this something most humans know?"

// Volker //
 
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Lester looked at the way she put a hand over her bump and smiled. "You're going to need to stay at least a little bit to let that babe acclimate. You can't take a new baby on the road." he said. "Let's see, when Alice had her first she stayed here a good three, four months? You'll have plenty of time. I'm staying for a while, then I need to head to Cerak At'Thul. Just eh, don't tell Elda, alright? She worries enough with me being gone as much as I am. I'm doing a favor for an old friend of Joseph's. A troll. He thinks the last of his tribe may be held there, possibly as labor slaves or even ivory. I'm supposed to find out what I can, free who I can, and meet him in Alliria." He smirked. "Maybe you know him. Marahute? Joseph put me in contact with him a while ago. I've been keeping my head on a swivel for other trolls of his tribe but...nothing yet. Cerak is a bit of a 'hail ye gods' last resort."

Lester chuckled when she captured one of his pieces, and moved his unicorn to try and angle her into another pen. "I traded a pirate for it." he said. "I was trading spices in the Spear, and I had a little gift with me. Here. I still have two others." He turned and sorted through a leather bag at his side, gingerly taking out a tiny figure. The devourer was tiny, barely the size of his palm. It wiggled its little stump tail and shook its strangely enlongated head, prancing around his palm. Lester took her hand and slowly herded the little creature into it. "Devourers appear in places of great greed, to consume the excess and bring balance to the world. Without things to consume they simply shrink until they're nothing. I've been feeding these ones bits of beef fat and mice. The definition of excess gets smaller with the size....a mouse may be a king's meal at this size, but when they're the size of a housecat....or dragon...excess might be a king's hoard of gold."

He smiled at her, and petted the little creature. "Anyway, I traded one of them for the board. They're immortal, but they do need food. Give him a little meat every so often, about the same size he is. If you want him to grow, give him more. They're bottomless pits." he instructed. "That one's a male. They're powerful creatures, if you can afford to get them to the size that they can do some damage."

Lester smiled at her and made another move, then lifted his finger and gave the devourer one firm stroke from nose to tail. "Little gift, with potential great, it is to another I bequeath your burden." he told it. It tilted its head at him, then sat down in Shuck's palm and turned its eyeless head to look at her. It wiggled its tail. "And there you go. He's yours. Won't leave you for any reason."
 
Lester seemed to have a far better idea of how long they'd be here than she did. Shuck gave him a measuring look. She and Joseph hadn't really talked about what their plans were yet.

Shuck frowned before shaking her head when he said the name. "I'm not sure I've met him." Although, it would truly be something to meet a troll. Offering a small smile, she moved her lion once more. She had no idea where any of those places were.

"I went tell," she said with a growing smile, but the tingle in her lips reminded her that she needed to be careful in speaking candidly with Joseph's family. Her smile faltered.

She cocked an inquisitive brow at his response, lowering her conquered game piece. "What's a pirate?" She'd not heard of a pirate before. Was it a race of people? No, a profession, she quickly learned. She frowned and nodded, as if she understood.

He rummaged around in his bag, opened her hand, and placed on her palm a small creature, and Shuck gasped. "I've seen one of these before," she said with a growing smile. "Well, technically it was Joseph. But I didn't know where he'd gotten the shape from."

A bit distracted, she wasn't quite paying attention to the game as he held out the devourer and told her about them. She marveled at the strange creature, turning around it, this way and that, to get a good look at it. It wiggled in Lester's palm, and she was smiling brightly before she realized he'd shifted from merely talking about it to describing for her specifically how to care for it. Shuck looked up at him, slightly agape.

"Wait, I couldn't possibly..." she began to protest, but Lester informed her that it was now hers and the little creature sat down and watched her. Or listed to her. Or smelled her. Whatever it was doing, it was cute in a horrific way.

"How am I to thank you for such a unique gift?" She asked.

// Volker
 
Lester chuckled. "A pirate's a thief of the sea. They rob other ships and tend to smuggle goods." he told her, watching the little devourer. "I brought one of these back before. Turns out three of them is a bit much to handle. Traded one for this fine board....and the other I'm giving to you. Leaves me with a mount to get back to the docks without having to deal with the problems of coaxing a racehorse on board a ship. Trust me, it's easier having something you can put in your pocket." He winked at her and waited for her to move, moving his own piece. He was letting her win, and he knew it, but it was fun anyway. She was learning and it wasn't fair to steamroll her.

"Don't thank me. Consider it a baby shower gift." Lester told her with a smile. "And don't worry. Elda told me about your heart. If you forget about him, he'll just turn to stone. Submerge him in milk with a little drop of your blood, and he'll come back again. Or put him in a coin purse. Either one works. You're not the only fae to lose her heart, or her name. Both is unusual though." He was running out of unicorns, but tried to herd her into a corner anyway. He only needed two or three to win. It was just easier with more. "I've met a lot of fae on my travels. Never a shuck, though. I thought there were only supposed to be five of them. Five? Six? Well, one more definitely once you have that babe."

He let her win, and gathered up the pieces to put in a pouch. He picked up the board, smiling at her. "Get some rest. And try to eat something. You're not a vampire." he admonished her, but in a friendly way, and let her be to rest. When she slept, she'd be back in the mirror world again.

Volker was there, watching a memory. Nalin. Gods, he missed him. It was what, fifty years ago? Seventy five, it all bled together. The memory was simple. Nalin was laughing at some percieved silliness of his, picking at his food and smiling at him across a rug. Nalin had been pale and slight, with long black hair. The pet of another fae, though not a warlock. Shuck would only see a glimpse of it before Volker yanked down the shard and threw it high up into the well. "You're back." he said flatly.
 
A baby shower gift. Shuck shook her head, but she was smiling as she gingerly pet the devourer. It was soft, the velvety texture surprising. Unlike the version of it she'd seen Joseph using, this one was tiny and sweet. She felt a moment of guilt at the assumption that she would be forgetting things but nodded. Though, she didn't bother telling him that if she forgot about the creature, she'd almost certainly also forget how to revive it once it had turned to stone.

"Someone took my name, but I'm not quite sure what happened to my heart," she admitted, cradling the devourer in her palm over her belly as she reached to move her lion to capture another unicorn. "But Trahaearn and Joseph will find it for me; I know they'll not let me down."

She shrugged on the topic of black shucks. "I'm not entirely sure myself. I am, apparently, suffering from an excellent case of amnesia since my true name was taken from me." He added that there would be one more with her baby, and Shuck laughed -- actually laughed. "Yes, I suppose there will be."

She noticed that he was letting her win at some point during the match and had been a bit reckless in her actions, but he'd let her win nonetheless. Shuck jumped another unicorn, which must have brought the game to an inevitable end as he was left with no further chance of corralling her lion, and she gave him a sly smile.

"You shouldn't go so easy on me next time," she said as she set her new devourer down on the comforter beside her. Wriggling down deeper into the bed as he made his farewell, she scoffed. He was too much like Joseph, she resolved. It was easy for her to forget her worries and loosen up around him. She'd spoken so casually to him; it was dangerous. Sighing, she resolved to be stronger next time and settled in to get some rest -- not because he'd told her to, though, but because she was genuinely tired once more. With one final pet to her devourer and a little smile, she closed her eyes and drifted off.


She was yanked into the mirror place suddenly, without warning. Landing on her feet quietly, she was first greeted by the sound of... laughter? Shuck turned around and saw Volker dismissing a memory to the cache above.

"I'm not really sure why I keep getting brought here," she answered plainly. With a sigh, she peered around. "I don't suppose you know why I'm coming here instead of enjoying my usual sleeping activities?" Not that floating, unthinking and unfeeling, in a void was much else to go back to. At least it was relaxing.

// Volker //
 
Lester laughed as he packed up the board. “Alright then, next time I won’t be as easy on you. You’re on for a challenge.” He smiled at her, nodding at the devourer. “I’ll write down what you need to do for him.” Lester gave her a mock salute as he headed out, and let her sleep.

The devourer seemed just as happy to curl up on the pillow and rest, huffing a happy sigh at not being carried in the bag anymore.

Volker stood up and looked at her in the mirror world, folding his arms across his chest. “I do not know. The bond is new. When Oor and I bonded we spent most of our nights here, though at the time I thought that was on purpose it might have been incidental.” He sighed and pulled down the memory of the boy he’d killed, studying it quietly. He lifted a hand at the screaming, clenching his hand. The sound cut off.
 
Shuck frowned and made a soft sound of resignation. So he didn't know. Great. Sighing, she looked around. She knew how to get back to her own mind, at least. But...

She glanced over at Volker. She had not handled him very well today, and she had no idea where he might be. Did he know how irrational her bond was making her? He seemed so neutral and emotionless.

The sound of a boy's scream made her start, but he raised a hand and cut it off. Shuck closed her eyes for a moment.

"What were you watching?" She didn't look at him, didn't want to see. "When I first came tonight. What were you watching?" Whatever it was, it may have been preferable to this. At least, she clung to the hope that it had been something happy.

She didn't know how to fix what she'd broken. She had taken Volker's contract to help him; her intentions had been well-meaning. How was she supposed to go about teaching him that he'd been brought up wrong? How did she show him that she wanted him to be happy and functional? Did it matter? Or had she put too much stock in giving his inherent goodness the benefit of the doubt?

// Volker //
 
“I am reviewing kills. The only way to improve is to monitor my own mistakes. I should have disabled the father instead of letting him escape. He hesitated too long, and I could have struck him.” Volker told her quietly, pulling down the memory and banishing it upwards. He hesitated to answer her question. Oor had used Nalin against him. He’d been taken in by an innocent, pretty face and Oor had destroyed it beyond recognition. It was pointless hiding it from her, just like it had been with Oor. He summoned it down again and flung it into the void. Nalin’s smiling face came up.

Their surroundings were odd. Nalin and Volker has been in a small back alleyway of some large city, but they’d been happy. A cart had been converted into a small day bed, they had an (admittedly sunwashed) carpet underneath them, and large triangles of brightly colored fabric protected them from the rain. Little cords of things hung overhead. Strings of beads, bones both human and animal, bits of broken glass that threw differently colored light onto the walls. Nalin was picking at a pastry and giggling at something Volker said, looking at him with those big violet eyes.

Volker sighed. “Nalin. Killing him was ...difficult.”
 
Reviewing kills. He was critiquing today's incidents. Shuck swallowed and opened her eyes, turning to see the memory he was looking at. She'd already watched this, had seen this through his eyes just earlier that day. Biting back the urge to comment, she was relieved when he dismissed the memory and...

Hesitated. Shuck's brow pinched and she watched him with keen interest. He was obviously reluctant to answer. After a moment of thought, he pulled down a memory. A man's smiling face greeted her, his violet eyes looking at her -- at Volker -- with bright, unadulterated happiness. It was raining, but their shelter was somehow warm and inviting. Colorful beads hung from an equally colorful canopy, and the man's laughter was indeed the one she'd heard when she arrived.

Nalin. Volker knew his name. She looked away from the scene, studying him for a moment of silence as the scene continued.

"Who was he?" she asked. There was a strange distance between them. She had to speak louder than she would have liked, but she didn't dare venture closer and break the strange intimacy of the scene he had been watching.

// Volker //
 
Volker watched the memory quietly. Nalin playfully settled closer to him and took Volker's hand, turning it palm up. Though Volker had silenced the memory, Nalin could be seen indicating lines, and talking to him about his palm. "Nalin was the pet of a fae I had been sent to kill. I meant to get close to him in order to find out more about his master. Instead we grew close." He swallowed and looked down. "Oor did not like me forming attachments. Instead of slowly finding more information, I was commanded to mutilate him to find the information I needed. I did not have a choice, and Oor refused to let me kill him."

He took down the shard, turning it over in his fingers for a moment, before releasing it and tugging down another. This one showed Nalin from across the street, huddled and ruined. He had been blinded, was missing most of his right cheek and ear, and lacked feet. He was begging for coins, clearly having been tossed away after Volker's job was completed and his master died. "I killed him in his sleep. It was a kindness." he said, throwing the memory of Nalin begging back into the void. "But he was mine for a time. A short time. Oor did not let another oversight occur."

Volker pulled down another memory of Nalin, sitting up in their small cart with the bedsheets around his waist, doing his best to cook them breakfast. He was burning it horribly, and blushed when Volker woke and took the pan from him. He muttered something about trying to surprise him, smling in embarassment.
 
This wasn't the scene of a kill, she realized as he spoke, but an idle moment -- peace; happiness. Shuck looked once more at the memory of the man, eating and smiling and looking at Volker in a way she'd been looked at before. She knew that look. Her stomach twisted in a strange mixture of horror and longing. Volker had been made to mutilate this man who looked at him the same way Joseph looked at her.

Volker hadn't just hesitated, but looked down and swallowed before continuing. Hearing that Oor had made him do it only added to the piling hatred she felt for the shade. She could have ripped him apart with her bare hands and not felt satisfied that he'd been destroyed thoroughly enough.

Shuck was quiet for a very long time, not sure what to say in response to his revelation. She'd asked him, and he'd told her, but she felt obscenely out of place, like she'd seen something she never should have. And yet, it gave her a strange new perspective of the man standing across the chasm from her.

"I'm sorry that I lost my temper with you before." He didn't want her pity, but this wasn't just pity. It was an apology. Shuck held her arms around herself, looking hesitantly across the darkness.

"I know I am off to a bad start. I just... I have no idea what I'm doing and after everything that's happened..." She sighed. "Patience isn't really my strong suit, but I do want you to be happy. I'll be patient until you know for sure what you want. Even if it's after I get my name back and return to Court, we can still renegotiate your terms when you're ready and I'll abide."

It was a strange exchange of power, offering him the freedom to dictate the terms of his own happiness. But it was what she'd offered before she'd shaken his hand: an opportunity for his freedom. Shuck was walking on eggshells, trying to say the right thing so as not to upset this delicate moment. She wanted to mend this strange discord between them, forge something that would eventually allow him to live independently someday if that was what he chose. But she also recognized that he may never want it. As long as he determined for himself, she would provide it for him.

// Volker //
 
Volker looked at her. He knew what she was offering. He didn't think he could feel happiness again. It had been for but a month with Nalin. That feeling...he didn't think anything like that would spark inside of him. "It has died." he said simply. "I exist to be useful. I was raised as a weapon, and I've spent years as a weapon. I have other skills, but it is up to you if you want me to serve in that capacity. I would like the freedom to see who I choose, choose my own allies and lovers. While I can keep no secrets from you, and you can violate it without me ever knowing..." he glanced up at the golden key shard meaningfully. "...I would like privacy unless you believe I am in danger."

He took a deep breath. "There are rooms and secrets deep within this well that I do not know of. Oor has threatened to lock me inside of them. I need you to know what is hidden there. I want to undo what Oor has done inside of my own head. There are rooms. I can feel them. Not just the office. But fragments of memory he has twisted. He can force me inside ofthem, give them life temporarily. It is...unholy to feel my own father take control over me, even if it is just a shade constructed of memory."
 
Shuck nodded, understanding. She didn't argue, and she didn't try to correct his mindset to agree with her own. If he changed his mind later, she would gladly give him the concession to do so. His request was simple.

"No, of course," she said quietly across the darkness. She turned to face him more fully. "Your privacy is important."

His next request rankled her, and Shuck looked around with a grimace at the well. Secret rooms? "Gods, I hate that bastard," she muttered before she took a deep, steadying breath. "Okay. I'm assuming they're like the rest of this place and can't be destroyed. I'll not use them against you. I promise. If you're out of line, we'll settle it fairly as partners, not hand and tool."

She ran her hands over her face, then propped her hands on her hips. "I won't breach your privacy and I won't use the rooms against you." Shuck turned to him. "If you've any other requests -- about conduct, protocol, anything -- now's a good time to lay it out. Anything else I should know about this gods-forsaken place?"

// Volker //
 
The next three days were spent somewhat peacefully. Lester did his best to entertain Shuck with the lions and unicorns game, and the children visited her in her bed often. They were growing very fond of her as a family, even as her due date grew near. Elda noticed the tea growing lower and lower but still served it to Shuck faithfully, forcing her to drink all of it even if she was too tired to bear lifting the cup. The third day, Shuck wouldn't wake. No amount of blood tubed down her would help, even with both Holden and Gerard dizzy from the effort.

Then came the spotting. Elda's gut twisted when she saw it. Shuck was huge, and looked due to give birth any week now, but it still seemed far too early. There was little they could do. Elda gave her herbs for premature labor, trying to stop the baby coming too soon. Nothing they did would get Shuck to wake, but Volker still kept an eye on her in the mirror world. Even so, she seemed sluggish. She was vanishing. Slowly, but surely, disappearing from the world. She sometimes woke in the mirror world and forgot things about it. Forgot where she was. Who Volker was.

Volker moved camp closer. He knew she wanted him to stay off of the property, but he wanted to be nearer to her. She was dying. He could feel it, and it was a reluctant reality he wasn't ready for. Had he doomed himself to an early death watching her fade?
He moved back into the pasture. The family was so distracted and worried they barely noticed him. They didn't even notice the half-dead horse stumbling up the road, dragging her hooves in the snow.

They might not have noticed, but Volker did. He snorted and looked up. The figure the horse was carrying was barely moving. In fact, it almost looked asleep or dead. He bared his teeth at it, and slowly approached the horse. His first indicator something was wrong was that the animal didn't startle. She looked at him with hollow eyes, and wandered into the barn. Malta drank deeply, nibbling on hay. She was exhausted, and hungry. Volker absentmindedly offered her a carrot, and examined the man atop her. The warmth of the barn seemed to revive him a little, and the look he gave Volker was nothing short of a man who had clearly lost his goddamn mind.

"If you've touched her...I'll kill you." Joseph hissed. With the man's eyes sunken in, and the way he could barely lift his head above his shoulders, Volker almost believed him. Even dying animals could be dangerous.
"She has bonded to me." Volker said quietly. "She is asleep, and will not wake."
"Then I'm running out of time." Joseph scrambled off the horse, leaning against Malta for a moment. He stumbled drunkenly toward the house.

Volker eyed him, and took Malta's saddle off of her. He knew how to take care of a horse. They just didn't like him. Even so, he curried her, gave her warm water, and enough oats to satisfy her hunger but not give her colic.
Joseph had more important things on his mind. He ignored his family, pushing them away to get to Shuck's room. He had to see her. He sat down on the bed, and grabbed her hand in his. "Baby....I'm back." he whispered to her shakily. "Please wake up."
 
A strange sense of peace had overtaken the house in the days that followed, but there would be no peace in Shuck's mind. Her mind was erratic, constantly swaying between the calm exuded by the family and fits of terror induced by a lapse in memory -- both falling into the moments and coming out of them. Lucidity came and went. She had smiled mid-conversation with Phoebe and opened her mouth to reply to the simple question, only to find herself held at arm's length as the same woman attempted to calm her down almost an hour later. Lester had come to play unicorns and lions with her, but she'd lapsed and came to with the pieces scattered and no memory of what had been said or done between one blink and the next.

She forgot names, faces, and huge swathes of her memory at an alarming rate. Forgetting the names of Joseph's family members shook her, over and over, for those three days. But they were trying. They were patient. Their warmth and love was unbridled, and she fought to grasp every moment of sanity she could during the daylight hours.

It was worst in the evenings. She closed her eyes to sleep and was yanked to the mirror place. But even there her memory lapsed. It would go dark and she'd find herself in some manner of distress in the wee hours of the morning. Coming back from the blank patches was difficult, and when she finally closed her eyes on the fourth day, she was almost relieved to find that deep, empty reverie reaching its great maw up to consume her.

But not yet. She'd made a promise, and he was coming back to her. She would wait for him. Only then would she relinquish this fight she'd been fighting.

Shuck didn't know who she was anymore. She woke in the mirrored place, having fallen there at some point. Volker tried to rouse her, but even there she was listless. With his help, she was able to go back to the vast emptiness of her own dreamless slumber, but not on her own. She didn't even know what day it was in her body. How long had she been sleeping? How much longer could she hang on? Why hadn't he come back yet? Didn't he know that she was tired?

Then she heard him from far away, his voice a whisper in the dark place.

Shuck drew a shuddering breath, her hand weakly curling in his. She had forgotten how heavy a body was, so unused to the muscles and sinew that took so much effort to work. Her lungs were alien in her chest, and her mouth felt as though it belonged to a stranger.

"Jo...seph?" Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she rolled her head to the other side to see him. Her other arm was wild and heavy as she tried to reach for him, and her body shook with a sob she didn't remember summoning. She trembled, and her face twisted into a grimace. She didn't want to cry. Joseph had come back to her.

"We... waited," she whispered between hitched breaths.

// Joseph Meier //
 
There were tears in Joseph's eyes as her eyes opened. She didn't have much time left. He kissed her palm. "Baby...you have to listen to me. That hideous fucking churlchaun stole your heart from us." he told her. "It wasn't there...and...I want you to take mine. For me. For our baby." he put his hand on her cheek. "I can't let you die like this. I can't lose another family. I've lived, and I've suffered, and I can't remember the last day I had where I wasn't in pain. Take my heart. Please. It's not weak like my body. It's strong, and it will serve you well." He leaned over and kissed her. "I love you, more than I have any other person in this life. I love our baby."

He put his hand on her belly, brushing her hair out of her eyes with his other hand. She looked so weak. "I'm so sorry. I hurried back. I did everything I could." he brushed away tears angrily. He didn't want to cry. He loved her. He loved the baby they'd made. He would die for them. He squeezed her hand. "I love you."

Volker pushed some of his strength toward her through their bond. She needed it more than he did. There was a strange dread filling him. With her gone, he knew who was waiting to take her place.
 
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