Mistress Claudia Belasco

A stern looking woman in her 50s with grey streaked brown hair in a tight bun. Her mouth is lined with fine wrinkles from years of disapproving frowns.
Married young in a time of strife, and from peasant stock, Claudia had seen her share of heartbreak. A father who abandoned her at a young age. A favourite duck which had to be served as Equinox dinner. That time she asked Lonny to the Winter Dance and he laughed. But she was strong. When some new recruits came through her village, she found herself in a whirlwind romance with Reggie. They were deeply in love, and were married within days, and hoped for a happy ending.
War cares nought for such things. After he was killed, Claudia found herself in receipt of a child to come, a widows pension, and a small sum from Reggie's family. They had no wish for a commoner to be sniffing around their estate.
Times are hard. Villages change hands between one army and another. Word spread that Claudia was all alone in that big house, and with no-one there to protect her. A few of the new occupiers, after a night at the ale house, decided to pay her a visit.
Only three were able to crawl out the next day. Their blood mixing with the rain and the muck as they hauled their bleeding carcasses along the track, weeping and crying for their mothers. Of course, if their mothers had heard their pleas, they would have turned a deaf ear. For they would have known what their sons had done, and the justice that had been delivered.
Bereft of company, spurned by fate, robbed of the last remnant of Reggie, and hardened against the optimism of her peers, Claudia opted to start a home for children of the war. The war had created a surplus of unwanted babes. And there had never been a shortage before. It would, she thought, be a good thing to give them a stable and safe place to grow. Perhaps not a wealthy home, but somewhere they would be protected from harm until they were better able to look after themselves. She could show them the proper use of hair pins.
There were tales of those who looked to the Belasco Orphanage as a source of flesh, for slaves or worse. But little could be said about those folk leaving the building. It was said that, after all she had endured, Claudia Belasco had a fearsome temper towards those who would endanger the children in her care. And kept her hair pins sharp.

Current Location

Direwold