“His name is Dorn Blackmoor,” Hacathra replied with a venomous tone. “He claimed to be a refugee from Daggerdale who fled the Zhentarim invaders. A few of our kinsmen went after him, but he’d fled north to the Moonsea and joined up with a mercenary company in the employ of a merchant-wizard… the racist brute who now rules Hillsfar… Maalthiir. He became one of the first Red Plumes and is now a captain among them… or so I hear.” Taking her daughter by the shoulders, she locked eyes with her in a cold hard stare and added: “He has the protection of Hillsfar and an entire army… pursuing him to right a wrong done three decades ago would be a foolish and pointless gesture. Do you understand me daughter!” “You’d deny me the privilege of paying my ‘respects’ to my father,” Keya snarled in a bitter tone, her meaning clear to all. “Hatred of him and what he did cost me thirty-four years of your life,” Hacathra declared. “Don’t let it take any more from us. After all, if it weren’t for his act of cruel lust you wouldn’t be here.” Her heart softened by her mother’s words Keya smiled as she replied with a heavy sigh; “Fair enough. Let’s just be done with him. He’s cost us more than he’s worth already.” “I don’t need another reason to hate those thugs,” Mykal growled with a wrathful sneer, having stood silently by until now, “and I’ve left more than a few with painful reminders that they don’t have free reign to do as they please in this forest. But I’ll pay special attention to their captains from now on… maybe I’ll happen upon him one day… and can convey those ‘respects’ for you both.” Hacathra knew that, despite her disapproval, he’d been her daughter’s on-again-off-again lover for more than a decade and that he was effectively disowned by his own house, but he’d also faced vile creatures and evil men, freely sharing the rewards he reaped from those efforts without expecting recognition, yet she still found his choice of a current ‘companion’ unsavory. However, she rather liked the thought of what he would do to Keya’s father if he ever did cross paths with him. “I wouldn’t have you risk your life to avenge me or my daughter… but since you’re apt to assail him just because he’s a Red Plume anyway… if you do encounter him, feel free to assure that he doesn’t sire Keya any siblings with my regards,” she declared with a cold smile, adding after a moment’s thought; “But then, considering he’d be an old man by now, he’s not likely to any longer… that’s if he survived this long. However, the gods know how many he may have already fathered, given his penchant for ignoring a woman’s right to refuse his desires.” “That’s an unpleasant thought,” Keya exclaimed. It was a still difficult for her to accept that her mother had been raped, but the likely prospect that the vile thug who defiled her would do the same to other women meant that he could’ve fathered any number of bastards… like her. “Enough of him,” Hacathra beseeched with a heavy sigh as she favored her daughter with an honest smile for the first time in far too long. “There are too many other things that have gone unsaid between us. Things that I should’ve told you… like how proud I am that you had the courage to walk your own path.”