"What?" Stacey said in surprise as she felt Lorelie's touch on her shoulder before adding," Yeah, yeah. Just remembering stuff."
"Good things, I hope," Lorelie said with a smile as she sat down next to Stacey.
"Not all of it," Stacey replied, causing Lorelie and Aphrodite to share a look.
"Thirty-Two Zero Five is a couple of years before Rowena's last husband, your grandfather, died, right?" Aphrodite asked as she sat on a couch nearby, while Eri, who stayed silent, sat next to her.
"I guess," Stacey replied simply.
"I don't know much about what happened, as all Rowena says is that after his death, she left Darah Five to focus on her modelling career because she couldn't stand not seeing him in the house they used to share," Aphrodite continued.
"Yeah, that's what she tells people and also what I told Adam," Stacey replied before adding something that surprised the other three. "The truth is she ran away from her guilt and failure."
đź’«đź’«đź’«
Rowena was sitting in the mess hall, lost in thought about the past, or maybe it was the present now; she honestly wasn't sure, when Adam sat down opposite her and slid her a bowl of chocolate ice cream.
Rowena looked up in surprise as she hadn't even registered that he had entered the mess hall; that's how lost in thought she was.
"I won't ask what's bothering you, but know that I'm here if you want to talk," Adam said.
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Who knew the streamer could be so caring?]
[Superhearofangirl (Earth): What are you on about? Haven't you seen how he protects his girlfriends?]
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): He protects them like that because they're 'his'.]
[Superhearofangirl (Earth): You don't understand, no wonder you're single.]
[Justiceistruth (Earth): Oh burn 🔥]
[Emojisonly (Earth):🔥]
"Thanks. But I have no interest in letting your entire stream know about my dark past," Rowena replied as she ate a bit of the ice cream.
"That's easy enough to fix, Adam replied before asking, Spector?"
"Stream Audio muted," Spector replied.
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): What's this now?]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): Did he seriously just make us so we can't hear their conversation?]
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): Not this again.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): This has happened before?]
[Justiceistruth (Earth): Yes, though it's been a while. I thought you had passed this stage in your streaming career. I'm disappointed in you.]
[CEOHopkins (Earth): At least he didn't end the entire stream. Chances are audio will return in a bit.]
Rowena looked at Adam in surprise before giving him a grateful smile, after which she continued to eat the chocolate ice cream in silence until she finally asked.
"What do you know about my and Stacey's relationship?"
"Not a lot," Adam replied before continuing, "I know it's strained. I know that when she was little, you two used to spend a great deal of time together and that made your other grandchildren jealous.Â
After your husband passed away, you went away to work on your modelling career. During that time, Stacey was bullied badly and ended up running away."
"How considerate of her to tell you the same story I have been telling people," Rowena replied.
"It's not surprising she didn't tell me the whole story since we didn't know each other back then. It was shortly after we met and had that incident with your familiar," Adam explained.
"Ah, I see," Rowena replied before adding, "Philip, my husband's death is only part of the reason I left and honestly, only a small part of it.
Have you ever heard of the Festival of Blood?"Â
"No, I'm assuming that's some sort of Brood festival?" Adam replied.
"Correct," Rowena replied as she went on to explain. "The Festival of Blood is my race's most important festival, which is held over two days every year in honour of the progenitor who gave us all life.
I naturally attended the festival every year to honour the progenitor and during the festival that took place in thirty-two zero five, I attended it with my husband Philip, which was a mistake for two reasons."
"A mistake?" Adam asked with confusion.
"This wasn't the first time that Philip and I had attended the festival of blood together, as we had been married for many years by this time; however, there was something that made this festival different for Philip.
He had only a few weeks before the festival learnt that he was dying from a rare Terran illness that had no cure."
"I'm sorry," Adam replied.
Rowena waved her hand dismissively before saying, "It's in the past…. Or it should be. Anyway, I have long accepted Philip's death. I have just never been able to get over some of the things he said to me before his death.
I once told you that although I had been married many times, I have never once turned any of my husbands. Do you remember?"
"Yes," Adam replied before Rowena continued.
"You may not believe me when I say that I loved them, after all, why would someone ever want to be parted from the one they love.
But we Brood like all long-lived races have to consider things on a much longer timeframe than those with a finite lifespan. We have to consider if we really are willing to spend the rest of eternity with this person."
"I expect many individuals who come from the finite races try to have members of the long-lived fall for them just so they will turn them, or whatever the other long-lived races do," Adam remarked.
"Not every long-lived race has the ability to turn someone into their own race, however, you are not wrong. This exact reason was why the life-mate ceremony was created.
Many times throughout history a member of one of the long-lived races that can turn has fallen for a member of the finite races, only for the finite member to leave the long-lived after being turned.
This led to the members of the long-lived races becoming even more cautious when entering a relationship with one of the finite races.
This lasted for many years until a member of the Deverinian race created the life-bind ceremony.
As you know, the life-bind agreement states that once you take someone as your life mate, you can never leave them or do anything that would harm them, in this way the long-lived races once again become more reassured about getting in a relationship with a finite race member since the number of finite race individuals approaching them lessened considerably after they learned of the new ceremony.
When I married Philip and my other past husbands, I made them fully aware that I would only turn them if they agreed to partake in the life-bind ceremony and only if we could both see ourselves spending eternity with one another.
Unfortunately, after Philip learned he had contracted this illness, he began to beg me to turn him, since that would rid him of the illness, since he would no longer be Terran and he feared death.
I, however, could not grant his wish because I could not see myself spending eternity with him and this belief only increased as he continued to beg more and more."
"I don't see what this has to do with Stacey or the festival of blood?" Adam asked with a confused expression.
Rowena sighed before slumping back in her chair as she stared at the ceiling and said," Maybe I'm telling you this because I've got a feeling that pink-haired slut will be crazy enough to try and perform the life-bind ceremony with you in the future, or maybe I'm just rambling because I'm afraid to speak of my guilt and failure.
My failure as Stacey's grandmother and my guilt at not protecting her and granting Philip's dream."
"You can't really blame yourself for not granting Philip's dream. You have to make an impossible choice. Let your husband die, or save his life and spend eternity together in a relationship you might not be happy with and regret," Adam replied.
"I'm surprised to hear you say that," Rowena replied as she looked at Adam with surprise.
"I can't pretend to understand what it means to spend eternity with someone, I mean, on Earth, the average lifespan of someone is a little over seventy years and even with Spector's medical tech, I have no idea how long I will live.
The idea of spending eternity with someone is beyond me, so I can't really blame you for being cautious and not wanting to enter the life-bind agreement unless you're absolutely certain."
"How mature of you," Rowena replied.
"Not really," Adam replied before asking, "so what did you mean when you said you failed as her grandmother and were guilty of not protecting her? Did you mean the bullying?"
"Yes, but bullying is not the entire reason. You see, during this year, when I was away at the festival of blood with Philip, Stacey claimed that she was almost killed."
"Killed?" Adam asked as his eyes narrowed, before adding, "What do you mean? What happened?"