Caught up in his thoughts, Cas blinked dazedly when Iris suddenly rested her hand on his arm. He turned toward her, unsure what to do with the friendly gesture. She was surprisingly touchy for a high born. Throughout the time they had spent together so far, he’d noticed that she was quicker to offer small physical gestures than most of the other people he had met. It was a comforting change of pace, but it also made her difficult to read. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that she was flirting with him, but the context of the situation and her general behavior didn’t add up to that. Instead, it seemed like she simply didn’t care about the personal space bubbles most elites erected to keep others at bay. Or, at least, she cared more about offering support than she did about intruding.

At her tentative question, he bit the inside of his cheek, certain now that his mother’s fate had been wiped with the rest of Iris’s memories. It was a heavier subject than most of the other things they had been chatting about, but like the rest of his personal life, it was something he had grown used to discussing with the public. The royal family was a spectacle for the Aspirian high borns, and there had been no shortage of snakes who had seen the queen’s passing as an opportunity to sidle up to him and his father with honeyed condolences. However, he didn’t get the impression that Iris was trying to do anything other than sympathize. With her honest track record and the fact that she had recovered a memory of her own mother’s death, he didn’t mind giving her an answer.

Before he could, he chuckled at her cheeky inquiry. [color=#b97703]“Oh god no,”[/color] he shook his head vigorously. [color=#b97703]“Nothing like that. I just spent all my time practicing for the various sports teams I had joined in high school and hanging out with my friends. You could say I was more stereotypically jock than geek, but I was still just as obstinate with my parents.”[/color] He shrugged sheepishly. [color=#b97703]“I tried to assert my independence back then. In hindsight, it was pretty stupid though, since everything I am is tied to who they are.”[/color]

Considering her first question again, Cas slowed his pace slightly. [color=#b97703]“Anyway, I’m sure you’ll remember the full story when you get your memories back, but I can fill you in on what happened,”[/color] he glanced out over the park they were walking past, going on in a clinical tone. [color=#b97703]“My mom had something called eclampsia… It’s when a woman has seizures during labor. Nobody knew she was at risk until she had me. Back then, she almost died and had to be hospitalized after the doctors removed me by cesarean. Luckily, she recovered, discussed it with my dad, and they decided it would be best for him to have a vasectomy, so she wouldn’t risk losing her life a second time. I was healthy enough as a baby, and they just needed one heir to succeed the crown, so it was the best option for them.”[/color]

He sighed, [color=#b97703]“The problem was, medical sterilization doesn’t always work, and about six years ago, my parents found out that my mom was pregnant again. My dad tried to convince her to abort for her own safety, but she was determined to keep the baby. The second time she went into labor, she had another seizure before she could get to the hospital. Neither she or my sister made it.”[/color] Another halfhearted shrug followed the grim statement. It was an account he had repeated so often that he’d learned to detach from it emotionally, focusing on his current surroundings rather than on the vivid memory of holding his seizing mother on her side while his father screamed into a cell phone for an ambulance that they had both known would arrive too late.

Eager to change the subject to something more pleasant, Caspian leapt at Iris’s next inquiry. [color=#b97703]“I’m not sure exactly how long they’ve been here, but every shop in this district is older than I am. They all have different wares too. The first one up ahead—”[/color] he gestured to the small building they were walking towards. [color=#b97703]“—has a lot of old art from countries that fell long ago. Paintings and carvings and stuff like that. The storekeeper has some interesting stories to go with them if you ask him about anything. I think you’ll like it.”[/color]