WARNING:

SPOILERS FOR 08-03 CONTAINED BELOW:

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The Smiling Frog, Preston.



She sat quietly, sipping a small flute of wine, while resting the
heavy ornate scythe against the table. While the raiment of the
priestesses of Wee Jas flowed around her, her pale demeanor had
faded, taking on the luster of her noble station. Her hair, blond and
luxurious had begun to come in again, and rather than shave her head,
she had allowed it to grow out, creating a stark contrast on what a
worshipper of the dark maiden had been expected to look like.

The sun had risen to its zenith, and despite assurances he would be
on time, Chandra Blackblade waited with a growing sense of
impatience. Zorath was never early for their meetings, in fact, she
was surprised he had wanted to see her at all. The rift that had
grown between them had become a canyon of half-veiled words. For her
part, Chandra blamed her brother for the deep sadness of their
mother, his anger and near madness towards anything of the land,
specifically the fey, had become legendary. Chandra recalled their
last meeting, the harsh condescending words that she herself had
spoken to him, the unusual calm he had maintained, the cool and
collected way he looked at her. It was both frightening and
unnerving, and he stood there, taking her comments in stride, before
telling her he loved her, and that he was sorry for the pain he had
caused her. It made Chandra even angrier, and she reminded him with
great relish their parentage, their bloodlines, and
their...connection....to the thing that Zorath hated the most. For
his part, he casually removed his gauntlet, showing her the hand,
which he did when he wanted to prove the blood wasn't as strong, and
Chandra flinched, calling her brother a sadist.

They had not spoken in over a year. Chandra remained in Cyvmeron,
seeking to assist both her church and her mother, until her mother
had disappeared. It was a time where her mother had finally came to
terms with Chandra's choice, and even perhaps respected her for
finding her own way. For Chandra, it was a time that she met her
mother as an equal, and it pleased her that her mother respected her
as such. It was the first time Chandra felt like an adult, her own
person outside her brother and mother, and the vague memory of her
father Ansalon.

Then, out of the blue, an urgent summons. Zorath summoned his sister
to Preston of all places, summoned like a common servant. At first,
Chandra had resisted the curt summons, but something about it,
something outside Zorath's hurried script made her stop: Zorath, no
matter his anger or arrogance, never summoned Chandra by
name...always by her nickname, Petal. This was the first time he
addressed the summons to Lady Chandra Blackblade, a formal summons
that suggested something more than just a mending...or growing...of
rifts.

Chandra had quietly excused herself from duty at the church, and had
rode to Preston alone. The lands were not as foul as they had been,
and Chandra needed the time in retrospective thought to go over what
she would say to her brother. Rumors had abounded that Zorath had
entered the Dim, that Zorath had died there, that he had a new son,
that he had again found love...all of the rumors that swirled around
certain circles played through her mind during the ride, until she
found inn in question, and dismounted, where she had remained waiting
for him.


The doors opened two minutes after the twelfth bell, and her brother
emerged. Clad in black plate and with the fine black leathery cloak,
he moved into the room, first spotting Chandra and then moving across
the room to her table. Without formal greeting, he sat in front of
her, looking for a moment at the wine flute before motioning with his
right hand for a drink. Chandra noticed it, the gauntlet was gone,
the long black glove replacing it.

Nothing was spoken for several minutes as Zorath quietly drank,
looking more into the mug than into the face of his sister. It was
Chandra who finally broke the silence between them.

"You summoned, I heeded" She added, brush a short strand of blond
hair out of her face, "I trust this is not a social call?"

"Mother is dead" Zorath started, finishing the drink.

For a moment, Chandra remained stunned. Her first reaction was to
accuse her brother of some gruesome joke or another jab against
her...but she found herself staring into his face, and it was soon
apparent he was not jesting.

"How?" Chandra found herself asking, already trying to fathom her
mother's passing.

"It's...complicated" Zorath began, finally looking up, "And it is a
story you must hear....from the beginning"

Some of the story Chandra knew, she knew the story of the death of
her father at the hands of their grandfather, in a wicked game of
choice between Sierra and Gaunt. She knew that Gaunt had forced some
sort of choice between her father and another man, another noble that
her mother loved. She remembered Zorath telling her the story, the
source of his hate towards Sierra, and the awful weight that it
placed on her mother's heart. She remembered something about blood
cannot shed blood, and then as the rest of the story was told, she
became aware that her eyes had locked onto her brothers, seeing a
deep sadness that she had never fully seen before. As Zorath
finished, Chandra remained motionless, until finally, she moved back
into her chair, both of them drained from the experience.

"How did you learn this?" Chandra asked, looking up at her brother.

"Gaunt told me" Zorath added quietly, taking a deep breath and
letting out a deeper sigh, "He felt we should know"

"Gaunt told you" Chandra continued, "Gaunt...."

"Yes" Zorath started, "He met with me to resolve issues and tell me
what happened"

"Why didn't you kill him?" Chandra felt herself say, anger and
emotion flushing across her face, "He killed father...he probably
killed mother!"

Zorath shook his head, "Chandra....Petal...he did not kill
Mother...Mother gave her life...and she had a message for each of
us...Killing Gaunt now would be....futile...at best....and I
agree...he's no longer responsible for any crime he committed."

"How-" Chandra started, feeling her hand clutch around the heft of
her scythe, "What..."

"I know" Zorath started, "It isn't the answer I wanted...nor the path
I would have followed...but Gaunt was right...this was Mother's
choice"


Silence passed between the two for some time, each quietly coming to
terms with the story Zorath had told.

"She called you her little raven" Chandra began, "She wondered what
made you hate her so..."

"For years I blamed her....for father...for her weakness...for her
inability to stop Gaunt. I wanted her to be more than she was
capable, more than I was capable. I wanted her to be father....and I
wanted her to be stronger than anything. Mother wasn't stronger than
most, but she did her best. I could not forgive her for what she had
done...but...I have found that what I thought she had done, she had
not done"

"I don't understand" Chandra started, "What are you talking about"

"That night" Zorath began, closing his eyes for a moment as if to
recall the memory, "Mother was forced to choose between father and
the other love of her life....him"

Chandra nodded, looking at her brother as he brought up a past she
barely remembered.

"Gaunt forced her to choose that night...and then he killed father. I
had always believed...always thought....mother chose...*him*, the man
she had loved over father....but I was wrong. Mother had chosen
father....and Gaunt killed him anyway"

Chandra reached over, taking the black gloved hand in hers, offering
her brother support for the first time in years.

"I hated mother for her weakness, only to find out, she had greater
strength than I had imagined. I hated her for her choices, I hated
her for things she did not do...and in the end, I was wrong"

Chandra felt the hand tighten in hers, and for the first time, she
saw the glimmer of her brother, as she knew him when she was younger,
the part she had felt was his 'true' self.

"Zorath" Chandra began, "Mother did not blame you for being angry.
She was saddened by it, but she understood. She never stopped loving
you, and never stopped hoping you'd one day overcome the anger. She
knew you were more like your grandfather, not Gaunt, though you do
share a number of similar characteristics, but Father's father, and
she was worried you'd share that fate."

"How can I forgive her?" Zorath began, "When my life has been spent
hating her...for no reason?"

"You learn to forgive" Chandra started, "First by letting go of the
hate, and then second forgiving yourself. Zorath, My gods, mother
knew you loved her, down deep. She knew there was more to you than
hate...as do I. If you really hated the fey so much, do you think
anyone could have stopped you? You're stubborn and willful, and yet,
you loved that nymph, and have a daughter from her. If hate was all
you knew, those parts of yourself wouldn't have survived. If you
really hated the old faith, why didn't you leave the church? If you
really hated Owen, why didn't you leave his service? It's not hate
that holds you to this life, it's your will that does, and a will can
change."

"Gaunt said I was my own enemy, all along" Zorath added, "That I'd
become the curse of our family..."

"Curses exist only when ill will is meant" Chandra started, "Mother
purchased something in her death for us...for me...and for
you....Mother purchased life. It was her gift to you Zorath, it was
her way of making amends"

"I suppose you're right Petal" Zorath nodded, "I suppose you're
right".

"Zorath" Chandra began quietly, "Our last meeting...wasn't kind. I
said...things....I regret saying. You were trying to tell me
something, and I didn't listen. I did not want to hear your words of
anger. I thought that was all you were. I was wrong...and I'm sorry.
I love you Zorath. Mother Loved you. I think she would want us to put
aside our differences...it is what has poisoned our family. Will you
forgive me? Forgive her?"

Zorath sat for a moment, the words of his sister sinking in, his hand
still held in hers. For a long moment, Zorath seemed to debate the
words, before silently nodding, meeting his sister's
gaze, "Chandra...there is nothing to forgive between us. We disagreed
is all.." he added, looking at her, "And I forgave mother a while
ago. Any hate in my heart for her is now quenched. I'm too tired to
hate, and I find myself wondering if there is more than the rage"

Chandra smiled, "Zorath, Oerth is what you make of it, you taught me
that...now it is time you learned that. Home calls to both of us, and
I would like to see this nephew of mine I've heard only rumors of.
Shadows will no longer hold your heart brother, and nor will they
hold mine. Let's go home...and you can tell me the rest".

With that, Zorath and Chandra slowly stood, the two Blackblade
children, together for the first time in years.