“It’s all I have of my past, and even it is hidden from me… Put where I can’t see it,” Raven bemoaned as she lay on her left side and looked over her shoulder at him while he gently caressed the tattoo that marked her back below her right collar; her only clue to who she is and where she came from, and the symbol of her torment at not knowing. She had woken one morning in her late teens to find herself in Jester’s Court, a small square frequented by street entertainers and fest hall girls, with no memory of how she had gotten there or who she was, and hadn’t learned much more in the half dozen years since. “Ravens have great significance to Sembians and their merchants do make regular treks here,” Daeron mused as he lowered his head and kissed the image that decorated her silky skin and then raised his lips to claim hers. Her Chondathan heritage was clear form her tawny skin, dark hair and eyes, and they were predominate in Faerun’s heartlands, but her olive complexion marked her origin as more specific to Sembia, a nation of merchants obsessed with the acquisition of wealth through trade… legal or otherwise. “I’ve spoken to every Sembian I’ve found,” she asserted with clear frustration. “None of them admit to knowing anything helpful… No missing merchants… No lost caravans… Nothing! They just use inspecting that tattoo as a way to get me to take my top off. A few have offered to take me back with them, in exchange for my… company. But one let slip that slaves might be marked as I am, and I don’t doubt they’d claim me as one the second I set foot on Sembian soil.” “Maybe Caerden can help… There might be a spell that can revive your memory or divine something useful,” he offered, knowing that his moon elven friend had access to ancient lore and spells well above his skill. “I’ve tried magic,” she replied with a defeated sigh. “Wizards, sorcerers, bards, clerics, even druids… every spell and potion I could afford… but all for nothing. Even divining to find my family yields nothing.” She rolled over to face him, with a look of frustration twisting her lovely features and tears welling up in her eyes. “They all claim there just isn’t any memory in me, but I know it’s there… I get flashes… bits of things that I must have learned as a child, like nursery rhythms and poems… but none of it makes sense or give me any clues to who I am or where I come from.” Daeron gently brushed the tears from her cheek and kissed her softly. Before he met her he would have said that he didn’t care if he couldn’t remember his family or ever saw any of them again. But now he realized that they had forged him into the man he was in the crucible of their malice and shame, and without them he wouldn’t have a purpose in life. Then he smiled to himself as he made a mental note to thank them the next time they inflicted themselves on him. “Maybe what you need is more powerful magic?” he suggested with an encouraging smile. “Like the kind you might find at Blackstaff tower. You asked me what I gained from serving the Tel Teukiira… one of the greatest rewards is the honor of knowing Laeral Silverhand Arunsun, the Lady Mage of Waterdeep and one of the kindest souls you’ll ever met. If she can help you she will… and if she can’t, she’ll never stop trying till she finds a way to.” Raven looked up at him and dared to allow herself glimmer of hope… could he be the answer to her prayers. Credits: Victoria 4.2 by DAZ3D, Courageous & courageous Unimesh Fits by Ravenhair, Fearless by Moyra, DMs Legends by marforno & Danie, BRC - The Cloisters by Redhouse Studios, all from DAZ3D.