Venatori "Combative Mattresses" Grimaldi
"Daddy, our important visitor has arrived..."
"Lead me to her, angel." His voice broke.
"It took so much to get her here."
"Tepet Sersi Landon, as I live and breathe..."
"That scion is dead. Even the dragons don't remember his name."
"No, I imagine they don't. But they don't know you the way I do..."
"You know her, father?"
"V'neef Aspen here is one of the matchmakers for house V'neef."
"Well, you know more about me than most, for sure. But do you know who I last arranged a match for?"
"No, I can't say I do."
"Your old friend, Sesus Nagezzar, he's now a V'neef. Much of your circle of friends is joining us in friendship, it seems."
"I would extend mine in friendship as well, if I didn't expect a blow."
"Dogs must be made to feel the leash."
"I am not a chosen of the dragon, 'auntie' but I am chosen. Careful what you say, words have consequences."
"'Auntie'? What lovely fiction."
Apollonia Sophia Mana-V'neef-Grimaldi was being silent, biding her time as she tried to make sense of what was happening. She'd not expected the powerful visitor from the Realm to be someone who'd met her father, before his exile. He could have told her, most of those responsible were still in power, but she hadn't made the leap of intuition yet...
"Must you leave my adopted child in the dark, then?"
"Is he here?"
"Windblown Snow? He is tending to business, he is a prominent mage and shop owner here, in Nexus."
"You're avoiding the topic."
"No less than you."
"Is this her's?"
"Yes, Apollonia is Windblown Snow's niece, she is your grand-child."
"What, that's my grand-mother?"
"They wouldn't send anyone else to lay down the law, child. Not when Pandora was the house matron's own grand-child."
"Why, why did they send us away?"
"They didn't, your mother couldn't live with their rules, she left, before she said something she couldn't take back... Your uncle refused to abandon her, and left his prospects there, and founded his business here."
"I didn't, not for the longest time, I needed your help for that, old friend, brother..."
"I did it as a favor to you, brother."
"Did you marry her?"
"She wouldn't hear of it. She was against empty ceremony, remember? Or did you know your own daughter so little?"
"So... where... where does that leave us?"
"Where this leaves you... V'neef Pandora Apollonia, is under my observation and observation."
"We did it..."
"What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you hear what she called you?"
"What?"
"She called you V'neef Pandora Apollonia, Apollonia, daughter of V'neef Pandora."
"Shouldn't that be V'neef Aliset Pandora Apollonia?"
"She's not done enough in the house for that, only a chosen few get to create their own lineages."
"And Mother?"
"Your mother was responsible for a quarter of all the trade between Nexus, Thorns, Great Forks and Lookshy. She didn't live by their rules, but she didn't let them ignore her a single minute."
"How did she die?"
"Now is not the time."
"I'm about to go to war with her mother, Daddy." Her eyes flashed Malfean green, she was a petite, slight woman, her limbs lithe. Her body then flashed the purple of the skies in Orabilis' visions, she was a rodent twice her normal size, black claws longer than her father's fingers on each digit. "I'm about to go to war with my grand-mother, father, knowing what killed my mother is a weapon..."
"I don't like your tone, young lady..."
"Father, I need to know." Her voice had turned supplicative, and he knew he couldn't keep it from her any longer. "I came back home one day, all was quiet. Too quiet, I searched the house, happened upon both your parents in the garden, but they wouldn't reply when I called them. I ran to them, when I lay my hand on each of them to feel a pulse, their heads fell off. I knew it had to be a deliberate effect, but I never found a note, claiming who'd done it."
"Could it have been some agent's of grandmother's?" Apollonia, in her Devil-Body form, was susurring, it was a troubling, unholy effect, like a giant Demon-Rat the size of a petite bear, trying to be dainty.
"I've been trying to find out who did it, but the train ran cold. Your uncle keeps investigating into the darker corners of Nexus, but neither of us has any promising leads. I suspected the Platinum Lady had something to do with things, but no proof."
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