It has been a little over a year since I learned that I was an Errol. It has been mere days since I learned that I was Dragomir’s daughter. And of everything those revelations have brought to light and have forced me to understand about myself, what Dragomir said today highlights the one fear I’ve always had about my lineage.

Blood compels.

I am only a dhampir. I can stand in the sun, can eat and drink like a normal person, and I bleed the same as everyone else. But before I received this gift from Quester Apogee I could be harmed just the same as any full-blooded vampire if the powers of life were turned on me. So where is the line, really? Who am I when compared to Curwen, who yearns for everything the name Errol should give him by birth.

Power, prestige, strength.

If I had grown up as he had, chasing my father’s shadow instead of under my mother’s protection, would I have wanted it as he does? I told Granny Weaver that I wouldn’t have, but that is because I answer as myself, as a Wrona, who has known what it is to live in fear of what I am and not know that I could demand respect as an Errol.

Blood compels, but I still do not think that I would have wanted anything else.

My father hides here in the Delta. He protects the small world he has claimed for himself, and nothing more. I think, in his own way, he is afraid of what he is, too.
- From the investigation notes of Elżbieta

Cast:
Bitmap as Ksana the Spear
Cory as Apricus the Luminary
Jade as Viidra Matei
Mab as Elżbieta Wrona
Zachary as The Game Master

Produced by: Mab
Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson.
Sound effects: zapsplat user Still North Media and others, Soundbible user Tony Phillips, and Freesound users monkeyedz, kyles, webbfilmsuk, halleck, artninja, julianmateo, molefimanaka, brunoauzet, eminyildirim, and cgeffex
Other music: Ovani Sound

Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach, Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach, and Bluesky at SunlessReach. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach.

Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing