Submitted: 4 October 2000

In Search Of My Father, Zantiel Viskal

by Jaggyrr Dreamyra

"I know only of my father that which my mother has told me," she says, a painful expression in her black eyes telling Baresh that this lass needs her father to teach her the ways of the world. Quietly she says, "because of my mother's mistakes, I may never know him." Quickly she tips back the glass, consuming the liquid within and slamming it down on the bar. "Another, please."

Baresh sets the bottle in front of her as she continues with her tale... "My father is Zantiel Viskal, and he knows not that I exist. My mother won't tell him, and I cannot find him anywhere." Baresh holds the young girl's hand and smiles softly into her emotionless eyes..."He needs to know of you child, a lass needs her father in this world, to show her the way. He needs to be found. Why won't your mother tell him of you?"

"My mother's heart is blacker than my eyes, Baresh. Her love for my father, now unreciprocated, pains her to the core. She tells me that my name comes from her fractured fantasies of a life she is now doomed to live without him... hence my name, Jaggyrr Dreamyra." She eyes the bottle in front of her, daring herself to empty it in one fell swoop, then thinks better of it and pushes the bottle away.

Baresh excuses himself to tend to another customer, a fairly young Paladin, ruggedly handsome, and the lost child finds herself wondering if that could be her father. "He is a Paladin, after all," she thinks to herself. "I chose my path in life based on his beliefs, those which my mother told me he held close to his heart."

As Baresh serves the stranger a drink, they speak in hushed tones and Jaggyrr looks up to find them glancing her way. Both men let out a deep sigh of despair, quite obviously directed at the young lass' plight in life. She is able to manage a weak smile as she flips some coins onto the bar. "Good day gentlemen... wish me luck in my search, will you?" The men nod to her, a look of sadness on their faces at the thought of a love lost between two souls, and the life of a child bourne of their love now hanging in the balance...

As young Jaggyrr exits the bar, she glances about at every male face, obviously a habit bourne of her desire to meet the man she calls father.