Private A Chapter Between Towels and Rancors

[Scherezade deWinter]

Happening immediately after A Story of Blood and Steam post 20.
Flash posting from Discord.

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It wasn't too long after that, that Scherezade was on her own ship, her hair turban'd into a towel, a second towel wrapped beneath her armpits. The Hot Springs were a nice touch, but she preferred to smell like soap and not like sulfur and metal. Eyes glanced at the time, noting she didn't have much of it left before she was going to be meeting up with Hekate again. She plopped on her tummy onto the bed and grabbed her commlink device, fingers pressing out of muscle memory rather than remembering what the code was to reach her cousin. And now it was ringing…

 

[Celestine deWinter]

It had been a long day of entertaining benefactors for Streghe Arxe. Her rancors had grown strong in numbers, and business had been going well enough to allow a very comfortable lifestyle on Leritor and secure further business with new buyers. Celestine was content in this role, but deep down, her ambitions were far greater. Hellys didn't seem to have any interest in business, which was fine with her—it kept her out of Celestine's way. Mother hated that nickname she still used to this day for the blonde sister, but it was a nickname the foundling had given her upon their meeting. She wasn't entirely sure where she had gone, and sometimes, Celestine preferred it so, because her sometimes erratic behaviour made her somewhat of a problem for what Celestine did. Aurelia didn't understand the connection they had with the rancors and didn't respect them like Celestine had been raised to. As such, she preferred to keep the little deWinter away from her business...

She was playing with her long earring as she settled into her desk chair, just as the commlink sounded off, making her look over and recognise the code provided on the receiver. "Hello, cousin," Celestine immediately greeted the other deWinter, before fully taking in the appearance of the towel wrapped around her hair and flesh. She was far more casual than Celestine in appearance, who was in her full gown and glam still. "Having a relaxing evening?"​

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"Wouldn't be calling if I was," Scherezade grinned from ear to ear, "So how many blood sisters do you have these days? Is Aunt Astrie pregnant by any chance?"

 

[Celestine deWinter]

"That is an odd way to put it," Celestine gave. Her face fell into obvious confusion at the question. How many sisters? "You have met Aurelia, Hellys, have you not?" She paused suddenly, staring at the screen as her mind went back to an ancient memory. "I had another before we slept. She was only born, but we believe she didn't make it; she was too young." Celestine paused and sighed, drawing back from memories she hadn't thought of in so long. "I wonder sometimes if this is yet another trauma that drew Mother to become so distant." ​

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Scherezade blinked. That was a part of history she didn't know. Not in her own memories, but more concerningly, not in grandma's memories either. Was that because grandma had somehow hidden it? Or had Asteria managed to hide it from her? She wasn't sure, but Celestine wasn't going to be the person she bugged about it. And while the surprise was all too easy to see on the Sithling's features, she recollected herself quickly.

"Okay cool," she answered, "so I don't know if I found that baby or if I found a fourth, but I'm here in the Unknown Regions and I just found a sister of yours." She paused for a second to let Celestine take it in. "She smells like you and Hellys. She smells like a child of Asteria and Angelo. I smelled her like a gazillion times to make sure I wasn't imagining it." Another pause. "By the way," she added, "she has red glowing eyes!"

 

[Celestine deWinter]

She could tell Scherezade was surprised. "Oh. You look caught, cousin. I am far more used to being in the know about our family history." Celestine did notice. They hadn't ever openly discussed the details, but Scherezade tended to be very well informed about the past, sometimes even on things she herself hadn't been told about. It was somewhat of an unusual situation.

The real shock followed—she had found that babe or a fourth? "Excuse me." A very simple, short, and very blunt for Celestine, response followed before her cousin had even finished speaking about her location. She found a sister of hers. Celestine did not speak now.

Whoever this person was, she smelt of Hellys and her and of mother and father. "That is impossible." Celestine plainly. Her sister was a babe, barely born. How could she have survived all this time? The real shock followed when Scherezade announced that her eyes were glowing red. "You are mistaken; I have never heard of a deWinter with glowing red eyes." ​

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"Nope, not mistaken," Scherezade replied with simplicity and then turned off her own projection for the body, leaving just the head floating while she got off her bed and started collecting clothes to wear for her meeting with Hekate, which would be… Really soon. "The blood doesn't lie, Celestine. I've never heard of it either, but she is. Her name is Hekate, and she was raised with the Moonsong Clan on Dathomir or something like that. Had another family, not sure how, then became a slave… Bla bla bla, suddenly she's here in the space station that I had commissioned for some friends and honey girl reeks like a proper deWinter and everything. AND! She attacked me. Used a spell. Was successful. Almost killed me. I'm really proud of her!"

 

[Celestine deWinter]

She was apparently not mistaken. Celeste leaned back into her chair as the holoprojection altered to only Scherezade's face, trying to make sense of this. Her sister, whom they all thought was gone all this time, may have been alive. Celestine didn't know how her mother would react to this. Bringing Hellys back into the fold was shock enough for Asteria deWinter, which in itself had so many issues. Now to be faced with the challenge of another return... Celestine didn't know how Mother would take to any of it.

Blood did not lie. Celestine thought of this, aware of her cousin's unique gift. The blood never lied for Scherezade, and realistically, Celestine knew it was her denial speaking rather than reality.

Her name was Hekate. Celestine froze. It was a joke Father made before the babe had been born. She remembered this conversation; she was present for it. Father had suggested the name, and Mother had been opposed, but nothing had been decided on that day. Perhaps in the end, Mother agreed to it. Perhaps this was a sign of something sinister in the hands of one of her grandmothers. It was, after all, a name present in Dathomiri literature. She had been raised in the Moonsong Clan on Dathomir. Celestine was familiar with the name but had never personally met a member of this clan. She had never been to their territory. An opportunity had emerged some years ago, but other pressing matters had interfered with Celestine going there personally. She had sent another witch in her place to attend the meeting with the Clan Mothers.

Celestine had been quiet for some time now, taking in the new information. A child of deWinter and Cavataio raised in some insignificant clan on the planet of their foremothers, bearing the name Father had suggested. All this made Celestine suspicious. She knew she shouldn't have doubted Scherezade, and her logical side told her not to, but the list of coincidences seemed incredible. Was Nona Petra involved in all this? Or perhaps Grandmother Shery somehow found out about her sister being born that fateful night many centuries ago? Celestine didn't know, but it seemed somehow, always, one or the other was involved.

The girl reeked like a proper deWinter. Celestine frowned at the choice of words, her face away from the camera but still visible. And she attacked Scherezade with a spell, successfully. Almost killed her. She immediately pushed herself forward, ignoring the last comment. "Are you alright?" Despite the new information, Celestine cared deeply for her cousin. She couldn't bear the thought of her almost dying. Composing herself a moment later, her fingers pressed against her skirt off-camera, straightening it out. "If all this is factual, Scherezade, it does align with what I do know. Father chose this name, but Mother had not agreed. This was a private conversation I was privy to, but no one else was." She inhaled a deep breath, gathering her thoughts. "What is she like?" ​

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Celestine was thinking, so Scherezade knew she would have a few moments before her cousin was done. She rummaged through the random clothes stewn across her room until she found the short shorts, smelled them to make sure they were clean, and then opted to look for one of her black tops as well. It wasn't going to be a mission, so she didn't need any protective gear, and it was nice to just let her skin breathe from time to time.

Next… ugh, the hair. She loved her hair, but she loathed needing to take care of it. Unlike Celestine, Scherezade just didn't have the patience, so more often than not she just let her mane of hair go wild as it willed. Today, it appeared, would be no different. Celestine's voice drew her attention back and Scherezade hopped back to her bed, her body going into the holoprojector again.

"I'm fine," she assured her and broke into laughter, "I said almost! Now stop with the whole if this is factual thing. I know it's true. I don't know if it's the baby you're thinking about, or someone else, but you know… Shery and Petra were never gentle with any of us. Anyway, she's your sister, it's true, and once you get over the shock, you get to choose how to deal with it. From what I can tell, the girl is almost like me when I came out of the pebble. She's thirsty for family and connection. I'm about to go meet with her for lunch, just had to take a shower and change clothes because I almost drowned because of her."

 

[Celestine deWinter]

Her cousin wasn't allowing her uncertainty on the matter, insisting it was true. She only didn't know if she was the same child Celestine was thinking of or not. "Could your gift not allow you further investigation in her age? You and I were born centuries ago; my sister would have been as well." This was not a light matter. She didn't dare go see her mother with this news, not having all the facts. After mother had already suffered the loss of the baby after having awoken.

Nona and grandmother were never gentle with any of them... Celestine allowed herself a gentle eye roll in this moment, conveying her thoughts on the matter. Shery and Petra were certainly unique in their own ways, and could be cruel to all their bloodline. This was in sheer contrast to how mother described grandmother in her own childhood. Celestine had questioned this one, too, but the response was very vague on the matter. As if Asteria deWinter didn't want to think of what had happened.

Scherezade was going out to lunch with this new sister, who appeared curious about family and connection. Celestine nodded. "Can you learn more? I won't be able to leave Leritor for the next couple of days, but I do want to meet her. Perhaps even, you could bring her here?" The festivities were still ongoing, and Celestine could not leave strangers with her rancors.

Her eyes narrowed. "You almost drowned because of her?" Celestine knew her cousin couldn't swim, as was well established from their visits to the penthouse years ago, when her cousin wouldn't join her in the pool. "I thought the spell nearly killed you?"​

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Could her gift not allow her to investigate further? Well. It could. The problem was that if she wanted to ride Hekate's blood, there were two ways to go about it. One was with consent, and the other was with such brutality that could potentially cause Hekate to try to kill her again. Scherezade didn't think the witch would have a second chance at being successful with it, but it seemed almost wasteful to put her in that position to begin with.

"The spell made me word-vomit," she explained. A little bit slower than previously, "I just opened into a grand speed-monologue and started saying stuff. And then when I think the spell was tired of it, I was knocked out. I was also in the Hot Springs when it happened, and I fell into the pool. And then I woke up and the pool was still there."

It was going to have to be enough for now. The clock was ticking, and she didn't want to be late for lunch with Hekate. "Thirty seconds and I gotta run, GO!" she half screamed and half laughed at her cousin.

 

[Celestine deWinter]

A spell that made her word-vomit. It was not one Celestine was familiar with. She chuckled at being rushed. "You called me, cousin."

Despite the joke, Celestine nodded. "Will you see if she will come here?" ​

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

She was jumping on one leg trying to get a boot on when Celestine's question came. Scherezade froze mid-movement, maintaining her balance, and made a face towards Celestine. "D'uh!" she answered, and the line went dead.

~ fin​