# Passion Under The Stone Sky
_<div class="info">✦ Where: [[Apple's Orchard]] ✦ Date: <font color="#81799">08/06/2025</font> ✦ Session: [[Session 7]] ✦ Author: Aurames Rolfe-Kormrael ✦</div>_
>[!noted]
><center>Naraheth, the youngest of the Tosharagi family, is to be wed and join two great merchant families. Amongst the excitement in the wait to meet her groom, a lowborn half-seldarine woman named Hariko catches her eye. Battling with her duty to family and the fire in her violet heart, Naraheth has to find what it means to be her own woman.</center>
---
> [!clue|no-title paper-d script]
>![[leaf divider.png]]
><div class="typewriter2">“I was doing you a favour, Naraheth.” Naramel said indigently, “Would you not have wanted her to undertake the trials? Did you not dream of rightfully claiming her as your own under the watchful eye of the Spider Queen?”
>
>Naraheth did not respond.
>
>Naramel stepped closer, hardly an inch away from her. Though she stood a head shorter than Naraheth, her malignant presence made the younger sister feel small, “Hanama has survived every trial. His blood is greater, his mind is sharp, his heart is proven by Lolth. Your mistress has proven to be of ill-birth. The very first trial– a child’s toxin– is the end of her journey to your bedchamber. Is that not pathetic? If you would not hear mother’s pleas to make something of yourself, then hear my pleas not to drag a lilac-born into a world she has yet to even comprehend.
>
>“Bid her farewell, Naraheth. I would suggest an invitation to the wedding, but I fear she has not the constitution to see even tomorrow.” Naramel paused to leave time for a response. Naraheth did not have one. Naraheth was still incapable of answering her sister. No matter how great she grows, no matter how deeply she loves, no matter how bitter she hates; she would be a slave forever and always.
>
>Naramel left her, and she was left with the sour taste of her own weakness. Torn between shames, Naraheth knew not how to punish herself best. An affair failing her family, a family wronging her heart’s keeper, her own frail temperamental heart betraying her duty to her family. Her own misconceptions had drawn Hariko into a world above her– a world she was not born for, and a world that is due to kill her.
>
>It was with great hesitancy that she entered the chamber, finding the frail woman ill in her bed, the light of her soul dimmed by the toxins that rippled through her organs. The nurse had finished drawing her blood to study and left silently, leaving Naraheth to gaze over the weak body of Hariko.
>
>Her skin was so pale, so grey. Her fringe, slightly blonde, clung to her sweaty forehead. Her breath was weak and small– Naraheth almost thought she had already ceased to live among the living. Her eyes flickered and she sighed weakly.
>
>“Nara?” she croaked.
>
>“Yes.”
>
>“I apologise,” she sighed, “For startling you this morning.”
>
>Naraheth towed over a stool by the bed, the cap was quite soft. She placed her hands in her lap, but could not help gazing at Hariko’s rigid fingers and wished to hold them, wondering if it would be wrong to do so. She reasoned there was no point in pondering the question, Nariko could not feel her hands anyway. She inhaled and asked, “How do you feel?”
>
>“Bad.”
>
>“I’m sorry.”
>
>“Why?”
>
>“I didn’t want this.”
>
>“You didn’t want me?”
>
>“You know what I mean.”
>
>“I don’t,” some conviction slipped into Hariko’s voice, “You choose slavery over freedom?”
>
>“This is freedom,” Naraheth’s voice hardened, but remained low, a wave of guilt immediately washing over her for speaking in such a manner, “This is merchant freedom. This is my world. My mother’s world, my fiance’s world. You’re not one of us, you’re not–”
>
>“Pure?” Hariko said, attempting to sit herself up, not a hint of force behind her limp arms to make any progress.
>
>Naraheth immediately leaned over to help her up, pushing a pillow behind her back, readjusting her blanket, getting uncomfortably close to her. She felt her thin breath on her cheek, felt her cold skin and saw her eyes. Crimson, with just a hint of lilac.
>
>“You told me the path would be pathed in violet and violence,” Nariko said, “The road to union hurts, it is a fight for survival. Desire does not come without price.”
>
>“It is a battle to claim the most suitable grooms.” Naraheth sighed, “That is all there is.”
>
>“Spilled blood for shed tears. What is the point?” she sheethed, “I am so tired.”
>
>“As am I.”
>
>“I am so tired, Nara. Is this all there is?”
>
>“I believe so.
>
>“Then check your faith, friend,” Hariko said, “Hold my hand, and hear my heart.”</div>
>
>
>
><div class="typewriter1"><p align="center"><font size=4>82</font>
---
>[!cite|transcript]- Transcript
>“I was doing you a favour, Naraheth.” Naramel said indigently, “Would you not have wanted her to undertake the trials? Did you not dream of rightfully claiming her as your own under the watchful eye of the Spider Queen?”
>
> Naraheth did not respond.
>
> Naramel stepped closer, hardly an inch away from her. Though she stood a head shorter than Naraheth, her malignant presence made the younger sister feel small, “Hanama has survived every trial. His blood is greater, his mind is sharp, his heart is proven by Lolth. Your mistress has proven to be of ill-birth. The very first trial– a child’s toxin– is the end of her journey to your bedchamber. Is that not pathetic? If you would not hear mother’s pleas to make something of yourself, then hear my pleas not to drag a lilac-born into a world she has yet to even comprehend.
>
> “Bid her farewell, Naraheth. I would suggest an invitation to the wedding, but I fear she has not the constitution to see even tomorrow.” Naramel paused to leave time for a response. Naraheth did not have one. Naraheth was still incapable of answering her sister. No matter how great she grows, no matter how deeply she loves, no matter how bitter she hates; she would be a slave forever and always.
>
> Naramel left her, and she was left with the sour taste of her own weakness. Torn between shames, Naraheth knew not how to punish herself best. An affair failing her family, a family wronging her heart’s keeper, her own frail temperamental heart betraying her duty to her family. Her own misconceptions had drawn Hariko into a world above her– a world she was not born for, and a world that is due to kill her.
>
> It was with great hesitancy that she entered the chamber, finding the frail woman ill in her bed, the light of her soul dimmed by the toxins that rippled through her organs. The nurse had finished drawing her blood to study and left silently, leaving Naraheth to gaze over the weak body of Hariko.
>
> Her skin was so pale, so grey. Her fringe, slightly blonde, clung to her sweaty forehead. Her breath was weak and small– Naraheth almost thought she had already ceased to live among the living. Her eyes flickered and she sighed weakly.
>
> “Nara?” she croaked.
>
> “Yes.”
>
> “I apologise,” she sighed, “For startling you this morning.”
>
> Naraheth towed over a stool by the bed, the cap was quite soft. She placed her hands in her lap, but could not help gazing at Hariko’s rigid fingers and wished to hold them, wondering if it would be wrong to do so. She reasoned there was no point in pondering the question, Nariko could not feel her hands anyway. She inhaled and asked, “How do you feel?”
>
> “Bad.”
>
> “I’m sorry.”
>
> “Why?”
>
> “I didn’t want this.”
>
> “You didn’t want me?”
>
> “You know what I mean.”
>
> “I don’t,” some conviction slipped into Hariko’s voice, “You choose slavery over freedom?”
>
> “This is freedom,” Naraheth’s voice hardened, but remained low, a wave of guilt immediately washing over her for speaking in such a manner, “This is merchant freedom. This is my world. My mother’s world, my fiance’s world. You’re not one of us, you’re not–”
>
> “Pure?” Hariko said, attempting to sit herself up, not a hint of force behind her limp arms to make any progress.
>
> Naraheth immediately leaned over to help her up, pushing a pillow behind her back, readjusting her blanket, getting uncomfortably close to her. She felt her thin breath on her cheek, felt her cold skin and saw her eyes. Crimson, with just a hint of lilac.
>
> “You told me the path would be pathed in violet and violence,” Nariko said, “The road to union hurts, it is a fight for survival. Desire does not come without price.”
>
> “It is a battle to claim the most suitable grooms.” Naraheth sighed, “That is all there is.”
>
> “Spilled blood for shed tears. What is the point?” she sheethed, “I am so tired.”
>
> “As am I.”
>
> “I am so tired, Nara. Is this all there is?”
>
> “I believe so.
>
> “Then check your faith, friend,” Hariko said, “Hold my hand, and hear my heart.”