#nero buchanan

Our mother and stepfather gathered us in the basement. We gathered by the light of a single lantern. This was not the first time we have come together for a family meeting, but none of us could have anticipated what our stepfather would say that night. 

Our stepfather is Artus Superbia. He is a pure-blood Kr’v. He married our mother for love. This we know. He is the son of Rex Superbia, the former ruler of Wraith, the city in which we live, and a mermaid named Babette Marquee. Artus is kind to our mother, and good to our family. He has another wife. Her name is Thalassa Banks, and she is also a pure-blood Kr’v. She works at the city treasury and often travels. We do not see her much. 

Our mother is Terra Buchanan. She is a fae, but she once married a merman from the city-state of Drakon, a man by the name of Seidos, our father. He died when the youngest of us was just a wee babe. 

We are four. 

The oldest is Nero, a young man of seventeen, though on Kr’v the ages are different. He is not yet an adult. Nero is a beautiful violinist, and an avid reader. He is good in school, and helps the rest of us with our homework.

I am the oldest daughter, and I am sixteen. I enjoy sewing and making my own clothing, and I make all the costumes for our siblings on Hohn Bewtna (or the Night of Witches).

I also enjoy cooking meals for the family, and I often zone out during my classes, thinking about the different ingredients for various dishes I want to make.

Minced red peppers for the sausages and flatbread.

Chopped white onions for the pork burgers.

A dollop of nabnaka (a soured cream) for the kromp kolaci (potato cakes) and served with jabyka (apple pudding).

These are from mother’s religious tradition. She is a Devoutarian. They are of the Orthodox faith. Our stepfather has also secretly converted. Most Kr’v worship the goddess, Veni.

Mother said she would send me to culinary school someday. My teacher raps my desk with her ruler and tells me I need to focus. When will I ever use the square root of twenty five or how bats can locate prey in the dark? I would rather cook to my heart’s content in the kitchen?

Our younger sister is Concetta, but we call her Connie. She is nine years old. She is always sketching on any scrap piece of paper she can find. A used envelope. The empty white box of a slice of cheese pie. Up the sides of her school notebook paper. Artus purchased an actual sketchbook for her recently, and she was thrilled. Now she spends every afternoon drawing the pictures she sees in the universe. Or at least that is what she calls it. She told me once that all of life speaks to her and asks to be captured on the page. 

Our youngest brother is Thaumas, but we call him Thaum. I think the Simlish equivalent would be Thom, but I like Thaum. It is unique. He is a blue-eyed, blonde-haired tot with cherub cheeks. He is only two and a half, but he is the apple of our mother’s eye. Mother and Thaum are often rolling a ball across the ground together when we arrive home from school, or checking out tadpoles in Lake Sanguine. Oh the innocence of his sweet face and the effervescence of his baby laughter. 

After tonight, this would all change. 

Nero came to get me an hour after I fell asleep. I was so tired after completing the dinner dishes, I hadn’t even bothered to crawl beneath the covers. Nero was adamant that I awaken quickly. He told me to pack a few things, and to meet him in the basement with the rest of the family. I couldn’t understand his hastiness. I didn’t see the fear in his eyes. 

I quickly dressed, and put some clothes into a bag. Moving in the middle of the night was not something I was unaccustomed to. We had moved once before like this two years ago when the Drakronon came to Drakon, and burned up our land. Mother lost everything, and our father perished. We left with barely the clothes on our backs, and when I looked back, I could see our entire home engulfed in flames. 

Mother had written to a man in Wraith, answering a newspaper advertisement. He promised a good home, and said he was not opposed to children. He wanted a house full of laughter and love, and he hoped to have at least five younglings. He also wanted a woman to care for his estate, and to provide him companionship when his other wife was away. This man was Artus. 

From the moment he met us at the ferry, his eyes were alight. One could tell he truly loved our mother at first sight. He gave our mother a kiss on the cheek, and he told us to come get in his car. 

Artus had presents for all of us. For Nero, he brought a chestnut violin, since Mother had written him and said her eldest played in the school orchestra and wanted an instrument of his own. For me, he had beautiful wooden mixing bowls and spoons to encourage my cooking. For Connie, he brought a set of wooden coloring pencils. And for Thaum, he had a collection of wooden blocks. For our mother, he had a intricately carved wooden ring with lovely gemstones. We thanked him, completely in awe of our new stepfather’s generosity.It wasn’t until later that we learned Artus was a talented wood carver, and he had made everything for us.  

Mother and Artus were married at the City Hall. The ceremony was short, but reverent. After the wedding, mother was given a party by Artus’ sister, Venus, and his half-sister, Jezebel, and his sisters-in-law. It is a custom of these Kr’v. Since we lost everything in our fire, the women brought us clothes and books and toys. We were insanely spoiled by the generosity of this family. 

At the family meeting, we were told we needed to leave the city-state. The Xenosi had not let up their rampage against Wraith. Since Artus was part of the city council he was privy to details many were not. The citizens of Wraith had gone mad during the bombings and fighting in the streets. They believed the kidnappings of non-Kr’v were the root of the cause of the war. They were dragging supernaturals from their homes, beating them, killing them, or offering them as sacrifices to the Xenosi. 

“Abduct the witches!” 

“Take the mermaids!” 

“Slay the fairies!” 

They chanted hateful things in the streets. The council had agreed to sacrifice a few hundred supernaturals to appease the Xenosi that now plundered our land. Artus had argued vehemently against the edict, and the only voice who shared his opposition was Percevval, his half-brother. Artus said he “purgers” would come in the morning. We needed to be gone by then. 

You see, my brothers and sister, and I are all mermaids. My mother is a fairy. As a spouse of a high-ranking city official and pure-blooded Kr’v, she would be spared, but my siblings and I would not be so lucky. Artus could not bear anything happening to us, so he offered to send us away. 

Our mother held each of us, and through silent tears, she whispered her love in our ears. Our stepfather embraced each of us, reminding us all that he considered us his own. He was devastated to see us go, but it was the only way he could protect us, to save us from the reapers that would come in only a few hours. He gave us as much money as he could spare without his first wife, Thalassa noticing the absence. He arranged for a friend of a friend of a friend to take us down the river out of town on a trash barge. From there, we could escape, though he did not want to know where we would be. It would be safer this way. 

“Someday, I will find you, and I will come for you,” he promised Connie. 

We said our goodbyes, and we walked to the edge of town to make our escape. We stood on the rock face on the edge of the Blood River waiting for the friend of Artus’ to come on the trash barge. We would leave town at four in the morning, and we would have no idea where we were going. My name is Eurydice ‘Rydi’ Buchanan and this is my best attempt at a faithful record of our journey through the world of Kr’v.