@nebula-gaster
Coronis hung to the curtains in the main ballroom of the estate, and watched.
Watching was all a little girl her age could do. Stella was twelve and already showing off her dancing lessons during parties, and Andrealphus was fourteen, speaking in lengthy terms on his studies in geometry and mathematics, the basis of his education as a scholar and future noble already advanced for a boy his age. Coronis in comparison, was still too childish. She was still being taught the airs and graces, but her teacher often lamented that she was still too demure to be truly "noble".
Her mother frowned at such descriptions, and when Coronis saw her face twisted in disapproval, she had learned to hide away. The ballroom was busy and crowded as it was. After all. Grandfather Forneas was visiting.
When Coronis saw her grandfather for the first time, he was led in by two tall imps by the arms, gently guided to a cushioned chair. She had never seen an "old" looking Goetia before him. His dark feathers were speckled with grays, his eyes sagging and glazed over. And stranger still, he kept murmuring under his breath. She'd heard from Stella that he'd been a "nutcase" for centuries.
Mostly, Coronis thought he was simply frail.
So her family glided and presented themselves with grace. What a happy union they were, looking after their sickly grandfather, with such excellent children. They did not mind the missing third, shying away in the corner, and watching with her big, scared eyes.













