Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

[gypsy_merrique]

---

Merrique had no idea that the weeks following the birth of one's first child brought about many psychological changes to match the physical ones that came with the territory. Often she found herself feeling extremely emotional, one moment on the verge of laughter and the next as if she would be unable to ever stop crying.

Perhaps if she had a better earlier life experience, a family to support her, she would have thought to reach out to a trusted female and ask questions. It might have made her feel more confident and able to deal with the daily trials. But as it turned out, the many hours alone often left her in a sort of private hell.

As if all that were not enough to deal with, she found that publication of Isk's. Day by day she became paranoid that one day, Walter would wake up and resent her past. Her non-human lovers. After all, she held no secrets from him with the sole exception of gypsy magic.

Unable to resist the intense need for divination, Merrique hustled through Ilshenar to the fortune teller. The seer's predictions surprised Merrique, and added to her torments.

With the confidence of her kind, the woman informed Merrique that Shalcross would not be one to pick up the blade. The predictions were cryptic and intriguing, but frightening to Merrique. Would Walter accept a son who did not fight? Merri headed for home feeling more confused than she had been before--a far cry from the answers she had hoped would resolve some of her fears.

The entire walk home, the baby in a sling held close to her chest, was an exercise in pure will. Merrique resolved to talk to Walter about her fears of inadequacy, and to tell him what the fortune teller predicted.
_________________


. . . But the dark is very trustworthy.
It's always as dark as you thought it was.
And you don't have to work at staying there.
All you have to do is survive it.
And I've been doing that forever.
from the novel "Dark Debts" by Karen Hall