Aemilia Fullona's page

Lady Imperia Fullona, bride of one of the noblest men in Eleder, bore him five sons before producing a daughter, a docile and dark-haired little beauty who, after the rough-and-tumble antics of a house full of boys, soon had both parents wrapped around her dainty little finger. A fixture in noble society, Imperia had a strong sense of noblesse oblige and was heavily involved in several charitable efforts in Sargava. One day, when little Aspexia was barely three years old, the noblewoman was delivering a load of her sons' outgrown clothing to an orphanage in Eleder when a remarkably pretty little girl playing in the courtyard caught her eye. The dark hair and eyes reminded her of her own child at home, although the slight tint to her skin made the lady fear there was a touch of native blood somewhere in the orphan's lineage. Still, Imperia was charmed by the thought of her little daughter having a miniature ladies' maid, to brush her hair and carry her wraps, just as her own maidservants were at the moment following her and carrying her donation. On a whim, she took the girl home as a present for Aspexia, as she might have brought home a puppy and similarly convinced of her virtue in providing a better life for the creature than it was likely to find without her intervention.

Aemilia took on the family name of her benefactors, although she learned quickly that an unbridgeable gap was set between her and the Fullonas by blood. She ate and dressed better than she had in the orphanage, but always noticeably worse than did Aspexia. When Aspexia received new dresses and baubles -- a common occurrence -- Aemilia was told how fortunate she was to be given the hand-me-downs. And when the family travelled to fashionable holiday destinations like Sothis and Katapesh, she watched Aspexia be complimented and courted while she stood in the corner, holding her bundles and shawls.

Aemilia's resentment grew. She knew that she was not only Aspexia's equal in beauty but her superior in wit, and yet she had no choice but to stand by and watch her constant companion be flattered and feted while knowing that the best she could hope for her own future was to be taken into the household of whatever rich, well-connected man Aspexia might marry, to continue to wait on her rival hand and foot. Although she concealed her envy from her mistress beneath a subservient facade (no difficult task, as the young lady was used to being adored by everyone around her) she began to plot how she might escape her gilded cage -- and preferably humiliate Aspexia in the bargain.

Her chance came when the ship carrying her and her mistress to a weekend party was boarded by pirates. As the passengers crouched terrified below decks, the pirates learned that the daughter of a wealthy Sargavan noble was part of their prize. With a rough description of a dark-haired beauty wearing a distinctive heirloom necklace the original Fullona settlers had brought from Cheliax, they called the prisoners up on deck to find their treasure.

Aemilia knew Aspexia would be ransomed back to her father for an exorbitant sum, while the fate of the rest of the passengers was likely much more unpleasant, but she quickly convinced the virginal Aspexia that the pirates were anarchist monsters who would dive to any depths of depravity to humiliate a pure-blooded Chelaxian maiden. Selflessly, she volunteered to say she was Aspexia, to preserve her mistress' virtue, and all she would need was to borrow the Fullona necklace to complete the impersonation. Her intimate knowledge of both the family and Sargavan noblity, combined with her innate talent for deception, fooled the pirates, who immediately sent a ransom message to Eleder.

Negotiations with the terrified but cautious Fullonas took almost two weeks before it became clear, through the family's maneuvering to ensure they weren't being cheated, that the girl claiming to be Aspexia wasn't. The pirates had to settle for selling the cherished necklace back to the Fullonas, for far less than they had nearly achieved an agreement to obtain for both necklace and heiress. Both robbed and personally humiliated, many of the pirates hoped to see Aemilia thrown to the sharks or keelhauled or some even-more-torturous combination of the two. But Aemilia turned her tongue and quick wit to her advantage once more and was able to convince the captain that it would be foolish not to get some return on his investment. Dead, she was only fish food; alive, she could toil aboard ship and be of some benefit to the crew.

The captain couldn't argue with the logic; besides, she was young and pretty and would fetch a good price sold to a whorehouse after they had gotten all the work out of her they could get. The pirates, having known her by the wrong name for all their acquaintance, take a perverse pleasure in making mock bows and addressing her as "Your Ladyship" when delivering a blow or a difficult chore. Aemilia takes the abuse calmly, however. 'Aemilia Fullona' would face the death penalty or at least a life in servitude back in Sargava for her crime; there is nothing about that identity to which she is attached. Her future seems brighter on board ship than it did as a ladies' maid: If the pirates are ever caught by a legitimate authority, she has confidence in her ability to spin a tale of her wrongful captivity that will win her sympathy and freedom; even if that dream fails, she hopes to use her beauty and charm to win an ally among the pirates before she reaches a slaveblock. And she can't help but smile every time she thinks of Lady Aspexia Fullona, tear-streaked and traumatized, shackled and sold at public auction with the rest of the captives....

"I'm gonna get me a piece of that b$&$~."
Aemilia was instantly awake. She'd been confined to quarters since the ship had docked, which pretty much meant she had been locked in a cupboard for two days. Still, it was a cupboard in the captain's cabin so she thought she'd be safe. Evidently, she was wrong.
"Do ya think this is a good idea?" came a second voice as a key rattled in the lock.
"O' course. The cap'n won't be back till dawn, and by the time 'e checks, we'll be rid o' the b$++*, cashed up an' out ta sea."
"I still think we should kill her," came a third voice.
"Blockhead. She ain't worth nothin' dead. I'll knock her out. You guys carry her ta the Maid."
"How come we gotta carry her?" whined the second voice.
Amelia flinched as the door opened and a swarthy dwarf wrenched her out. "I'll come quietly. If you don't knock me out then you won't have to carry me."
"Hey yeah." The whining voice belonged to a callow human.
The dwarf paused, sap raised, thought for a second, then lowered the sap. "Okay then, but no funny business." He shoved her at a half-orc who seized her in an iron grip. "Tie her up."
"Won't that look suspicious?" asked Ameilia.
"Not in Port Peril," growled the dwarf.
"It could draw attention to us," voiced the human. Aemilia liked him, though not in a nice way.
"Better that than have her escape. Do it," ordered the dwarf.
"We don't have any rope."
"We're aboard a bloody ship. Get some!"
"How about I stick a sack over her head?"
"Fine. Just hurry up."
"Do you have a sack?"
"No. Don't you?"
"No."
"Why in the Abyss would you suggest it then?"
"By the horns of Asmodeus..." muttered the half-orc smashing Aemilia on the back of the head.