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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Taboo" data-source="post: 527954" data-attributes="member: 5912">RevelationsCareful, you'll give my DM too many ideas! Creative ones though!<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> Not that he's ever short of evil, oops, I mean, creative ideas, believe me....*****************************Kierwin left the Rosebud Bed and Breakfast after her prayers and having pulled herself back together. She fully intended to return to the Boar’s Inn. She knew that the others were expecting her for breakfast and that Minx would be wondering where she was, actually Minx probably knew full well where she was, or had been with at least. She was even ready for the tantrum she knew Minx was going to throw. She wasn’t exactly ready to tell Turk about the baby, but she’d figure that out when the time came. She knew she'd be on her own as far as the baby went and was prepared for it, she had no expectations from Turk for the child. She just needed to figure out what she was going to do when she started to show, and when she had the baby.Meanwhile, the others were planning to leave to go back to the Sunless Citadel and she still needed to gather her things and change for the walk back, she certainly couldn’t wear this dress, and she needed her armor and weapons.The problem was that on the walk back to the inn, she was still thinking about the night before and some things bothered her. Nothing that had happened with Turk, far from it, he’d been everything she’d imagined and more! Not just physically, it was everything about him, and that's what nobody would ever understand. She’d never forget that night, or him, for that matter, even if they were never together again. But, why did she suddenly tell him something she would never have told anyone? She stopped herself before she told him everything, and he was gentleman enough not to ask what she'd meant. She probably would have told him about Darial, but it wasn’t the time or place. Besides that, as Turk had jokingly pointed out, she’d been exhausted.She’d told Turk he’d healed her, and that she’d been broken and not realized it. She hadn’t meant to say that, it was a weakness she hadn’t meant to reveal. Kierwin was strong, and willful, she always had been, but what Darial had done to her had scarred her, and she'd carried those scars, hidden away, for twenty years. To save herself, she’d locked a lot of things away a long time ago. Nobody knew about it, save her family, not even Minx. She'd never let anyone that close to her, not like she had Turk, certainly not like Turk.  She’d openly flirted with Turk, she’d come on to him, she was being honest with herself, there was something about him that called to her. The walk with Turk and the passion they’d shared even before they’d arrived at the Rosebud were wonderful. Then, suddenly, after they’d entered the room at the Rosebud, memories of Darial seemed to rise unbidden to her mind and nervousness threatened to consume her. The love she’d thought she’d felt for Darial, and the way he’d forced himself on her so long ago had nearly overwhelmed her.  They were thoughts she hadn't had for years, but  something was wrong, they were different than she remembered. Somehow, Turk had sensed that something had been wrong, that she was suddenly nervous. Turk had slowed things down and taken care to be gentle and sensitive. He knew when she was ready for more, and that hadn't taken long. His tenderness overcame her past, and she responded to him, forgetting everything that had happened before, then she and Turk had abandoned the present, everything forgotten but the two of them. Their passion was all that mattered.  Their passion that night was something she'd never forget, not in her entire life. Afterward, she had told him, without thinking, that he had healed her. It was true, the goodness and honor in his soul was what healed the parts in her that were broken. It made that terrible time in her life seem like nothing worse than a bad and distant dream. She wasn’t willing to share more than that with Turk in words, not yet, no matter what she felt for him. The fact that he was so dedicated to Pelor, that she felt that faith and the goodness in him meant more to her than anything, but this was so personal to her that even Minx didn’t know. She wasn’t ready to share it with Turk, was she? She shook her head and brought herself back to the present realizing that she'd stopped walking. Then, she realized that there was more in her mind that needed to come to the surface. The only thing she could think of was to be closer to Ehlonna, and for that, she needed solitude. She needed to be closer to nature. That was what she'd always done when she'd been at home and needed to be alone with her thoughts.It was still early, not too long after dawn, so she sought out some land that was a little out of the way from the busier part of the small town, there weren’t many people out this early anyway, mainly farmers. She wasn’t willing to leave the town, remembering that she didn’t know what prowled the outskirts, and the stories the townsfolk had told made her shiver. She prayed to Ehlonna, but not like she’d ever prayed before. She prayed for enlightenment and for guidance.   She prayed that Ehlonna would help her regain her memories of her past. What really happened with Darial all those years ago? What had happened with the one person she thought she had truly loved, the one who had destroyed that love?  What had really happened to those memories?Her memories of the past were lies. She didn’t know why, but after last night with Turk, she knew….. Now she knew she’d never loved Darial, was that memory wrong or was it a lie? So many questions, but it was all coming back to her. Keeping her mind quiet was difficult, the memories were painful. She could see it and feel it, even the pain. It would be easier to keep the lie, but she needed the truth, even the pain. She tried to concentrate even though she wanted to run for the safety of the inn and Minx. Kierwin really didn’t want to know what was coming next, but she continued. What about the handsome elf that she’d wanted to marry named Darial, a Ranger who'd promised to take her adventuring with him?  In the memories that she'd had for the past twenty years, he'd said if she really loved him as much as she said she did, she'd go to bed with him. When she refused time after time, he quit taking no for an answer and forced her. Her parents blamed her. She'd disgraced them, and they never forgave her. Now she knew that was far from the truth. Her parents did blame her for disgracing the family, but nothing she remembered happened like that. Now she knew why she’d gotten nervous when Turk shut the door, it was the memory of the only time time she'd been with a man that flashed into her memory that nearly panicked her.  In her memory she’d been in love with Darial,  she wanted to believe it had been a spell, but she knew he had been a master of seduction and she had fallen for it. She hadn't really wanted to be with him that night, but once he'd gotten her alone he hadn't taken no for an answer. He also hadn't been gentle.  Right now she knew enough, what had happened was horrible, she still bore the scars, most emotional, a few physical, although barely able to be seen, even Turk hadn't noticed, if he had, he hadn't said anything. Gerald had been a master healer when he'd cared for her. How had she ever thought she'd been in love with him? She knew that part of the answer was that he'd lied so well, and he'd changed so much. What was going to happen if he ever did show up again?She remembered her brother Gerald finding her, beaten and bloody. He’d taken care of her, and helped with the pain. It was obvious Darial hadn't wanted her dead, but he'd certainly left her close to it.  Gerald had gone after Darial, but he was long gone. Of course, the whole situation was kept within the family. The rest of the village didn’t know.  Minx didn't know. No one was ever to know.Her family had sent her back to the Temple in shame.  Kierwin was pregnant and her parents knew. While she was away, she gave birth to a boy. Her parents had given strict instructions to the Priests and Priestesses of Ehlonna at the Temple. They were ashamed of what had happened to her, especially the pregnancy. The child wasn’t at fault, and was to be raised in the village, but no one was to know it was Kierwin’s and under no circumstances was anyone ever to know that Kierwin had been pregnant. The baby was taken from Kierwin immediately, she never even got to see him or hold him. He was taken to the village. A family there took him in and raised him with their daughter, Minx, Kierwin’s best friend, a friend so close she was like a sister. The child was named Snap and they thought he was a half-orc.  Now, Kierwin knew what he really was, not only was he a half-orc, he had dragon's blood, as well as Kierwin's Elven blood in his veins. But if Darial was an elf, why was Snap part Dragon, and why did he look like a half-orc?Kierwin didn’t know how or why her memories had been lost, but now they were all back. Ehlonna had seen to that. She slowly got to her feet. Her whole world had just been turned upside down.   She didn’t know how she was going to tell Turk about their baby. She was beyond words at the revelation about the fact that she’d already had a son, let alone that he was Snap! Above all else, she had no idea what she was going to say to Minx.  Minx was like a sister to her, but everything she’d just remembered was so completely against what Minx stood for that she couldn't think of the words to talk to her about it. Kierwin's family had lied to everyone, to Kierwin herself,  but they'd lied to the whole village and now the truth had to come out. The truth was going to hurt two people that Kierwin held closest to her heart, Minx and Snap.  How would Snap react when she told him the truth? What if his father showed up someday? What would happen then? What was Snap going to do when he found out that she was his mother and what her family had done to him? Even if she wasn't in control then, she still felt at fault, and knowing what he'd been through, it nearly broke her heart. How could she make that up to him?Right now, Kierwin was stunned, beyond words. Her faith kept her going, it was all she had to cling to. She didn’t even know whether to go to the inn or stay where she was. She wished there was a Temple to Ehlonna, and debated on going to visit Dem at the Temple of Pelor. She needed someone other than a party member to talk to. Someone who didn't know her and wouldn't judge her based on past knowledge was what she wanted, but she knew that the right thing to do was to return to the others, they were waiting for her, and she shouldn't make them worry.She had thought briefly about going home to have the baby when the time came, but now that she remembered what had happened when she had become pregnant because of rape, she knew they would turn her away when they found out she was pregnant with Turk’s child.  A child conceived by a union she had entered into willingly knowing that neither of them were in love, only that they were kindred spirits, drawn together by something powerful that she couldn't explain, she couldn't let herself fall in love with Turk, or anyone else for that matter, but especially not Turk. She knew what she was doing, what Turk expected, and she had no expectations from him.That brought her around to her secret. The secret she had purposely kept for twenty years. The "loving" relationship between her and her family that was only for those from the outside looking in.  Kierwin's parents had lost all respect for her twenty years ago. Kierwin had assumed that it was because of what she believed at the time had happened with her "fiancé Darial." The family pretended to continue to be a happy family, but only on the outside. Secretly, Kierwin was no longer a loved family member, and had spent as little time as possible there, keeping the truth to herself, lying even to Minx. Her time was spent at the temple, with Minx, or in the woodlands alone.  She'd even been planning on leaving the Misty Isle anyway, and just hadn't done it yet. She'd thought about serving in a temple of Ehlonna, or finding another village where she her skills were needed. She couldn't keep living the lie she'd been forced to live any longer. Then they'd been kidnapped, and everything had changed. Her ties with her family were broken, irreversibly. She'd never return home to the Misty Isle, she didn't want her child raised to be closed minded like her parents. She'd find a way to make sure this baby was cared for and loved, and if she had to she'd leave this life behind, but she'd rather find another way. She had plenty of time to figure out what she'd need to do, no reason to worry about it now. Her family was here as far as she was concerned, and she needed to find a way to make up for what had been done to Snap. She reached inside herself for the strength she knew she had, and gathered her courage for the coming storm that the truth would bring.She headed back to the inn, ready to face the others.</blockquote>

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