Memory Registry!

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A million spinning construction gifs.

To be done when I am far less tired and more sober.

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Memory 4: The Fate of His Eldest Sister

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Lucien stands at the bedside of a woman not much older than him, also blonde. It is spring; the curtains in the opulent bedroom have been opened to let in natural light. The two have mostly been watching each other in silence. Her once similarly green eyes have gone bright red; he know it, along with a great deal of other differences, are a side-effect of the magical corruption she has endured in her service to the kingdom.

"The physicians tell me that they expect you to make a full recovery, Euphrosinia." He offers, a bit tepidly, because concern and the awkward circumstances of the situation.

"So they tell me.. But why so formal, brother?" She asks him. Her voice is dry and chiding.

"Oh! I suppose that I have been making so many public appearances that I scarcely remember who I am addressing!" Lucien offers in return, even managing to laugh. He feels a slight chill down his spine when she smiles. It is his relief that he does not have to explain that he tried addressing her by her birth name, Renée, as a sister, and she did not recognize it.

Takeaways

• So our assumptions that the nobles older than Lucien were dead might have been both a touch hasty and optimistic.
  
• The reason everyone close to him calls him Luci is that apparently the nobles get a different name when they ascend the throne, so this is a further sign of intimacy.
  
• Something about ruling the kingdom works some great changes upon the people who do so, body, mind and soul.
  
• In this case it seems to have done something drastic to her, if she did not even respond to her birth name yet is still cognizant enough of it to chide Lucien for not using it.
  
• By the time Euphrosinia was no longer able to rule the kingdom, Lucien was having to step up to do public appearances. Given how old he in this memory he would have still been a student in the academy. No wonder he was falling asleep all the time.
  
• But given he wasn't pulled out of the academy to rule, it suggests this is not the sister from the previous memory. Lucien must have at least four siblings, two brothers, two sisters, and he may very well be the youngest?