Prophetess Dran's mother had told her she was more tree than girl, when she was little; it was a compliment. If the child had any say in the matter, she rarely had two feet on the ground.
It was a long time ago, and her mother had said all kinds of things. Many were prefaced with "When The Omindran is yours," which made no sense at the time, because like all children her parents were not really people but infinite manifestations of some universal law. Time was the interminable space between hunger and supper, and obligations extended only as far as the next tenday.
Her mother would look at a bannister and click her tongue, saying, "When The Omindran is yours, you must replace this. This part here. Do you see where an idiot has nicked it with a sword?" She paused a moment, knelt down, drug her finger through the gully. "His sword." The words assembled themselves on her tongue. "I would bet three apples it was him."
Her mother always called her Prophetess, and her father always called her Propha. Thinking back, she did not remember them speaking to each other. Perhaps they had a way of speaking others could not hear, the way cats do. There were meals where their glances carried such grim freight she wondered if the table could bear it, but it was she that bent beneath it. The moment she could shimmy out from below their collapse she did, until the next thing she knew she was swinging a hammer for holy Tymora. She was a pragmatic woman, after all; if a god ye must serve, let it be the one that could spin dice in your favor.
Her own daughter is asleep in a chair in front of the fire, a cat is keeping watch. Prophetess Dran's finger traces the nick in the bannister she will never replace, because she will never replace anything but the name. She will keep the Inn just as it is, just as it was, until it is the last thing on the face of the world.
For the "C" Team Enthusi-AST, we have our K'thriss-mas Pin Set ready to ferry to you directly via amethyst serpent:
We've also got the Board Games crewneck, back from PAX Unplugged! This is probably my favorite thing we sell. There's a lot of cool stuff on there but this has reached "full life integration" levels and my affection for it approaches a kind of idolatry.
More Acquisitions Incorporated lore and art in the coming weeks!
(CW)TGB
