presents...
Well of course Angela Donati didn't die of a fever. Exactly how she did die is a matter of rumor; rumors, one might add, that do absolutely not circulate anywhere where Teodora might hear them. In all cases, a tragic love affair is involved. Often, there is a child; sometimes, Angela dies giving birth, or else shortly thereafter. The causes of death range from complications during or after the birth, to a Sorte battle with her mother over the infant (with either woman being cast as the baby's defender), to a depression-inspired suicide. The servants who were present at the country home have all since sought other employment or else had... accidents. Bad luck. You know. There was a child. She somehow ended up in a basket on the doorstep of the Sisters of Enlightened Reason. She inherited a great deal of her mother's beauty - so much so that she cut her own face with a knife at age eight, so that she would not be adopted by a courtesan house. At age 10, to the surprise of the nuns, she was adopted by Father Donati of Santa Sophia's, to be trained as an acolyte. Father Donati made no mention of the strong resemblance she bore to his dead sister. Pietra is thirteen now, and aware of her heritage. She has a quiet, composed demeanor and does not draw attention to herself. She generally avoids meeting people's eyes, as a properly demure young woman should - but she she does, she levels an unblinking stare and blank face at them that is simply unnerving. Events in Act I resolved some of the mystery around Pietra. Her father is Antonio; her mother, distraught at her birth, tried to eliminate her then. Teodora actually stepped in to protect her, warding the infant with a powerful Fate Knot. Angela never took not getting her own way well; in response, she Knotted her mother to her daughter with strong Swords before throwing herself into the river in despair. Once having admitted to Angelo that he was Pietra's father, Antonio accepted as his penance legitimizing "Angela's daughter" into the Donati family, accepting responsibility for seeing to the girl's future, whether that means providing a dowry and arranging a marriage or funding her career in the church. Pietra emerged from Mondavi Island with a strega's veil, a betrothal to the prince's son, and just enough Sorte training to begin to put the patterns together herself. She has for the moment grudgingly accepted her adopted father's interest in Beatrice Caligari, which he explained as stemming from the lonliness he felt contemplating her departure from his daily life. Since Pietra fully expects to be able to pull the strands to ensure that she and her father are never parted unless they wish it, she feels that this will pass. Returning to Monfalcone put her in close proximity to Teodora again. Although Antonio had been commissioned to remove the old witch, he had not yet been able to arrange an appropriate accident. Pietra had been preparing to take matters into her own hands, anyway, doing strange things with Sorte because she hadn't really believed that she couldn't.
Now that Teodora's dead, Pietra's most important strand is typically Swords to whomever she feels threatens her relationship with her father. At the moment, that's Beatrice Caligari. Now that Ellen Locke is nearby again, it might become her. She also has the Commanding Arcana (which she can use to give herself a Fear Rating, the "unnerving" attitude mentioned above).
Photo Credit: Portrait of a Young Lady, Petrus Christus, c. 1470.
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