and some by virtue fall; Elysteria

[Kushiel]

Kushiel watched her with a thoughtful, slightly strained expression. He knew a thing or two about crazy. He knew about the way flames leaked from his body into his mind, and from his mind to his soul, like a sneaky little worm that wanted to keep him idle and drowsy. He knew crazy so well that he was pretty sure it would be able to sniff it out on Elysteria. Furthermore, Kushiel was rather a good judge of character, and her character didn’t seem crazy. True, he usually chose to associate with the worst of characters, but he wasn’t blind to their natures. He just liked them that way.

He didn’t know Elysteria particularly well, but he thought he knew her well enough to know if she was crazy. It was a toss up of course, she could be a functioning lunatic who occasionally recovered from her fantasies enough to put in a good showing. Perhaps, she had relapsed again. Still, he was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. His own father, after all, fancied himself a dark lord. You didn’t get a lot crazier than that.


“Now, when you say it was an accident, do you mean your condition was an accident or that…” This was the bit Kushiel had a hard time with. Yet, he was determined to do her the courtesy of not being overly skeptical.

“It was an accident that he was in your head. Furthermore, who on earth is he?” Kushiel, trying to stay positive about Elysteria’s mental faculties, flipped through the ways in which someone could be “in your head.” The most obvious answer was that someone had managed to worm his way into her confidence and then manipulated her. Kushiel could attest to how unlike that was. He, himself, had attempted to do something similar when they had met. Granted, his motives weren’t malicious so much as lecherous. Still, he had very little success. He couldn’t imagine that another could succeed where he had failed. So, another explanation then? He could think of a few, and each was more fanciful than the last. Still, he knew enough of magic to know that what seemed impossible was really quite simple

As he pondered her strange condition Kushiel turned his attention back to the filly. She certainly looked like Elysteria, save for the girl’s teal points. Elysteria explained, and he looked at her with interest.


“Well aren’t you full of surprises? A daughter and a sister.” He looked at the little filly. Certainly, Elysteria was capable of babysitting, but didn’t children usually stay with their parents? Kushiel couldn’t be sure, he was forever wandering away from his own mother as a child. The difference was that his mother could read minds, and used her powers without discretion to spy on him.

“Where are her parents? Your parents as well, I suppose.” Again, Kushiel was aware that he could be opening another box of mental anguish he wasn’t prepared to sooth. Nonetheless, the big stallion demanded answers, and hoarded them away like a kid with candy.