I'm a child, tonight. So, I vanish [ Obfuscate 4 ] and then reappear on Dimitri's shoulders. "Ha ha ha. I sneaked up on you. Up on top of you!" Stop that. This is a formal gathering. Wait until the ritual is over. You shut up. Dimitri isn't a formal lady. She likes to play hunter any time....

"But, let us finish our business before your sires arrive. I need rest, too."

"Though it helped me break free, Hardestadt's conspiracy can not be allowed to insult me that way. And when I was vulnerable, you all saved me. I will stand by you, and the debt of honor I owe you still stands."

"And, some part of me likes being your puppygirl."

"No, fools. It is only me." Don't listen! I'm me too. "I was a changeling, my true self was buried within that stupid prattling child. But I have thrown off the disguise, and now you see me as I truly am." I'm not real? "The child self was a curse put upon me. One it has tak...

"I was the facade for so long. My true self was hidden. Buried. It was the horror of nearly dying to that vampire that finally woke me from that dream."

No! I'm real. Seskalady, don't believe her.

"No, I don't think I would."

Seskalady, don't listen to her. She's mean.

I sigh. I'm annoyed now. "Sometimes it is difficult to remember my true self. The changeling facade is a difficult habit to break, and if I am not careful, I forget who I am. Just for a moment."

"I'm not a lady, I'm a puppy. Mean Sabinelady is a lady. But she's mean." Silence, child. I will brook no disrespect. Not from the likes of you! "You shut up! Mean lady!" I will not. You are a stupid child, and you don't know what's good for you. "Obey me this instant!"...

I look at Seskalady.

"Uh huh?"

"I don't know." I sob.

Pika?

Chu!

"I don't know..." I sob.

NO! I'm a Sabine shaped girl, again. I stop looking like a mean old Sabine Lady. "Seskalady, I'm sorry I was mean." I'm crying. "I didn't mean it." Damn you, child. Stop this foolishness at once. "The mean Sabinelady made me do it!" I know Seskalady hates me forever no...

"If only you had a fountain filled with vitae , that would be a wonderful tool against your enemies, Lady Seska." There might be just a tiny amount of sarcasm in my voice. When did I start being rude to Seskalady? When she said something so useless. Wait? Hush, child. Why are you talking w...

I'm curious.

"What about the fountain, Lady Seska? How would that help?"

I snicker. I have Auspex on. I can hear him too. "I will make soldiers too. But mine will be hounds. They will be happy with their fates, and they will love me like all hounds love their masters." "Great hounds, as large as bears, who can chew threw armor like cracking the shell of an...

Yay. I lost my job too.

"They will if you convince them to. They're only humans. Your kind excel and manipulating them."

I smile at Taduz. "There, do you see? He is already proving useful."

"They are yours to protect, of course. But it is a poor host who offers spoiled cream while there are goats who need milking."

I reach out a finger to trace the line of a thin crack between two stones in the wall.

I'm ignoring everybody's foolishness.