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The rain fell upon the city of Delving, as it fell most every day. When it was not raining, the streets were foggy, dark and foreboding. The gargoyle statues peered menacingly from the building's corners down into the wet streets. It was a city of excess, where the court of the Serpent-King thrived. The castle was built on a hill in the center of the city, making it the highest building around and those capable of peering through mist and fog could keep watch over every ward below them. It was hard to believe that with as many gargoyles keeping watch throughout the city streets, that there were more gargoyles than anywhere in the city in the Castle Ward, most of them clinging to the spires of the temple, crawling up the sides of the castle and draining the perpetual rain down to the cobblestones below. There was an old story that never failed to make it's way to each new generation of Delving children; a cautionary tale involving those that dared to defy the Serpent-King of Madder, who now and forever drain away the rain and watch over the citizens as stone.

From the window of my bedroom in the Castle Ward I could see twelve gargoyles of various build and make, that is if I stood at the window and counted even those that I could make out in the distance through the fog. In the thick darkness of a Madder evening, from my bed I could only see one. But, one was enough. It was right outside of my window, twisted and horrific with maw wide open and teeth as big as my forearm. The water from the roofs drained down causing a constant dripping noise that turned into a rush of water when we had our truly vicious downpours. I spent many a night as a child with the covers over my head, shivering in fear of those horrible stone eyes watching me as I slept. As I grew older, I decided it would be best to befriend the stone creature instead of fear it, train my mind to not fear it but see it instead as a beneficent creature keeping those that would harm me away while I slept.

I cannot complain of the life given to me, I ate the finest foods, wore the most expensive Summerglass silks, and had access to tutors of all manner of knowledges and professions. But, as I gazed along with my gargoyle friend down into the streets of Delving, I was jealous of the freedom of those that walked below, for the only time I was allowed out of the Castle Ward was during the festive parades when Nit Gia Zudok and the Serpent-King were being honored. Once, on my last birthday, I was taken to the Opera House. But, most of my days were spent caged within the castle and temple grounds. What a beautiful cage it was, gilded and lined with silk and velvet, but it was still a cage. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how my mother begged me to accept my fate, a blessed honorable fate, I still had within me a need to escape this gilded cage. To be free, to fly as the birds wherever the wind might take them.

But I was a vishkanya, as my mother, and her mother, and her mother before, and as far back as any of us could find record. We had always served the Serpent-King, it was our destiny, our duty. We were his honored courtesans. Beautiful, exotic, intelligent creatures that served his every need and whim. It was our voice that joined in with the priests and priestesses as each day the hymns were sung in his praise. Our tell-tale hiss adding just the right amount of serpentine to the Maddish words. We had our own songs as well, we all could play various musical instruments as that was part of our courtesan training, and we had beautiful ballads in the vishkanya tongue that with the right bit of bardic charms could draw and keep the attention of most anyone if needed.

We were all taught to dance as well, for one never knew what the Serpent-King would want for entertainment. King Rohan Cheverny, the present Serpent-King of Madder, was especially fond of watching us dance, our sinuous nude bodies covered in the gleaming translucent scales caught the light in such a way that even the embodiment of Nit Gia Zudok was entranced by our movements. It brought him joy, pleasure and peace and that in turn brought us our own joy as we were showered with gifts, foods from around the known world, jewels and gems, silks and satins, precious and expensive items suited to each of our likes.

I sung, I danced, I studied, I worshipped, and I prayed. But when all had gone their separate ways, leaving the temple vacant of all but a few wandering monks or priests, I would kneel before the altar and implore Nit Gia Zudok to hear my true, deep desires to be free. I would attempt to discuss these wants to travel and learn more than what could be found in the Castle Ward to my mother only to be told that while I stand in my window wishing to be out there, countless girls stared towards my window daydreaming about what a posh life it must be to be a courtesan, draped with gold and black pearls, and given anything that wealth and prestige could buy us.

"But not true freedom, mère. Richess and wealth do not give freedom, it only makes the cage beautiful. It iss still a cage."

She tsked and would pull my head to lay upon her shoulder, calling me her 'tchoc', her blackbird wishing to fly free. She could not be angry, but she hoped one day I would realize that freedom came from within, no matter what walls surrounded me I could be free if I wished it.

There was far too much world outside the Castle Ward for me to simply settle for the life appointed by my birth. I would find freedom, somehow.