#fom

Both of them were skilled in what they did, but became disillusioned with the Caldosians motives. Specifically, the increasing brutality of operations that their commanding officers were condoning.

After one particularly disturbing mission, Dorothy and Jane defected. They snuck out in the dead of night and after a couple days of surviving in the wilderness, they encountered an Aldarian patrol who captured them. They were brought to the patrol's base and interrogated by commanding officers. Dorothy provided copies of vital intelligence she had duplicated from the Caldosians and offered her and Jane's services to Aldaria. While remaining suspicious, the officers took her information to higher-ups for consideration.

Dorothy’s information proved crucial as the Aldarians were able to anticipate a Caldosian ambush and overpower them because of it. During the victory dinner, Jane showed her own skills by thwarting an assassination attempt on a visiting general. Impressed by the sisters, the Aldarian general enlisted their efforts and guaranteed them amnesty once the war ended.

His word held true; when the war ended, Dorothy was granted peerage by the king of that era and control over a large parcel of land. Jane respectfully declined his offer of peerage to her and instead expressed her desire to be a bodyguard for her sister, which the king obliged.

Thus, Dorothy became the first “Duchess DeMichele,” while Jane became her head of security.

That said, the sisters’ familiarity with under-the-radar operations was not lost on the king and he secretly continued to require their assistance with intelligence gathering and target elimination.

When Dorothy married and the triplet daughters of the new House DeMichele were born, the king insinuated that such skills as the sisters possessed ought not to be lost. Both Dorothy and Jane understood, and once the children were old enough, they began to train them.

This was the beginning of Aldaria’s Secret Clean-Up Crew.

The Training Plan

When they formulated their long-term plan for training the descendants of House DeMichele, Dorothy and Jane decided that they would make physical skills and social intelligence staples while selecting a suitable heir to concentrate on becoming the Mastermind.

The regiment included subjects typical of nobility, such as estate management, diplomacy, horseback riding, music, and courtly dance. However, additional topics (taught by Auntie Jane) included reconnaissance, martial arts, espionage, the chemistry of poisons and animal venom, and weaponry training. The basics of any competent assassin. The selected heir would be intensively trained (by Dorothy) in foresight, active listening, root cause analysis, and the subtle art of guiding discussions. And they must not tell a soul.

The Change

Years later (14 to be exact), Jane vanished during a mission. Forced to keep a calm facade for the public and her teenage daughters, Dorothy was beside herself with worry for her sister.

Seven months went by with no sign of Jane. Then... a letter with no return address appeared, but written in Jane's handwriting. Dorothy shut herself in her study for hours after reading the letter and when she finally emerged, she solemnly told her daughters that Auntie Jane was not returning. When one asked why, Dorothy did not answer.

What did the letter say?

Jane never wanted to return to the duchy, or even to Aldaria. In her letter, she explained that she had met and fallen in love with a man of medicine who caused her to, in her words, 'wake up and appreciate life.' She regretted that both she and Dorothy had conceded to serve Aldaria in such bloody, manipulative methods and that they had sealed the fate of Dorothy's daughters by turning them into charming little killing machines. They had become the sadistic Caldosian officers they'd originally escaped from. She informed Dorothy that she and her new love would be traveling the world and she was sorry, but they would likely never see each other again. Toward the end, Jane begged Dorothy to attempt to undo the psychological damage they had both instilled in her daughters, to try and give them a chance at a relatively peaceful life. She ended the letter telling Dorothy that she loved her and hoped that she realized how beautiful life is.