New Muses; Catia and Bibiana
Catia’s story does not start with herself, no it starts with her mother, Bibiana born in a splendid whorehouse to one of Antiva City’s finest courtesans. A common story of a crow however, unusually Bibiana’s father was an absent if doting man whose name was carefully never spoken. To her mother he was Vita Mia or My Lord and to Bibiana he was Papa.
Of course, this mysterious father was so shrouded in secrets because he was Giuseppe “Beppe” Dellamorte, the youngest brother of Caterina Dellamorte and covering his tracks to not bring attention to the fact that he had a thriving family with his beloved mistress and not the lovely young Antivan merchant princess he was arranged to be wed to.
It all comes to a head when he is found out and attacked within the brothel. His mistress is killed and Caterina must come and clean up his mess. She gives him an ultimatum, he will quietly marry his betrothed and never step a single toe out of line or out of Antiva City where his new wife’s estate remains. In exchange, Caterina will ensure that Bibiana is well looked after and any ties to him that may endanger her are severed.
Bibiana is told that her father died as well and that she will be taken in by the Dellamorte’s as repayment of a debt her father held. She is given an apprenticeship with the estate groundskeeper and a proper education, far better than what she would have received as the daughter of a courtesan, even one with a heavy patronage as her mother possessed.
Bibiana would work hard, believing herself incredibly blessed with Lady Caterina even checking in on her progress on occasion. She stays loyal to the Dellamorte even when the war for talons comes to to estate and half the staff end up fled or dead. At twenty she ends up entangled with a young crow, a man from one of the cuchilos sworn to the Dellamorte. It is a quiet romance, not terribly intense and often he is gone for weeks or even months at a time but they care and he is as faithful as a crow can be.
In spite of precautions taken, Bibiana still finds herself pregnant. A young crow finds himself privately confronted by Caterina Dellamorte, or rather dragged into her personal study and given his own ultimatum. He could claim the child marry Bibiana and he would find himself on the wrong end of a contract on order of the first Talon or he could quietly accept an ‘invitation’ for a long term contract in Orlais and cease any and all contact.
He is gone the next day, a note to Bibiana that leaves her crying in her room where Caterina approaches her and promises that she will, as promised so long ago, be provided for and looked after. When the child is born the following spring she is named Caterina, for the woman Bibiana has hailed as her savior. Little Catia is raised among the other staff children but educated in the same proper manner as her mother.
When old enough to work Catia does not follow her mother’s trade but instead chooses work within Lady Caterina’s more direct service, first becoming a maid to the Lady’s eldest daughter and after her mistresses death taking a place in Caterina’s inner circle as a personal maid. She has high ambitions, working hard to take over for the Dellamorte’s Head Housekeeper once the woman retires.
