Celestina, The Lady in Blue

From Changeling Venue

Description

At first, The Lady Celestina seems to be nothing short of summer romance made manifest. Her hair tumbles in red-gold waves to the floor, her skin is milk-white and soft, and her blue-green eyes seem to be full of stars and sweet nothings. She wears nothing but shades of blue, with a golden circlet studded with pearls. She will promise you that she loves you, that you are some long-lost faerie queen, that she is yours to command.

It's all a pack of lies.

The Lady Celestina is the Fae version of a mortal trendwhore. Whenever a fancy stikes her, she finds a suitable mortal and has her circle of Wizened Smiths and Chirurgeons shape them into whatever she desired. A golden apple, a dancing girl with the head of an elephant and the voice of a lark, or even simply a wolf for her kennels. She plays with them and shows them off, until, eventually she tires of them and tucks them away. The "Shelves" are the worst nightmare of every toy's mind, but sooner or later, every one ends up there.

A few have made themselves more useful. A trained Venombite assassin, specially purchased for a sadistic game of cat-and-mouse, worked as her bodyguard until his escape. Several of her wolves have become her hunting hounds. One very lucky glass lover still enjoys her attentions as her "Consort".

In recent times, perhaps the last century or so, Her Ladyship has taken to competing with other Fae over choice Mortals. The clockwork doll, "Princess Cleo" was one such. A talented, beautiful child of 14, both the Lady and her then-consort, The Lord of the Gray Cloak, wanted her for a trinket. Lady Celestina believed that charms and trickery would win her, while His Lordship was convinced fear was the ticket. The two then tried their strategy on the girl, one cold winter's night. The Lord of the Gray Cloak won and Lady Celestina left him to sulk, until the girl was left on her doorstep, a broken husk of the playful, lovely creature she'd been.

This is not a common tale, but many of the Gentry have taken to making gifts of whatever her choice treasure is, if only to keep her on their side and quiet. For as spoiled and hot-tempered as she is, she is a useful source of slaves. Allies who have become especially dear to her, might be allowed to plunder the Shelves for a Mortal she isn't using.

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