Seren held his breath and cautiously pressed his eye against the hole in the pantry wall. His mother certainly wouldn't catch him there; as soon as the sun set she refused to set foot on the first floor of the inn. But, if his father discovered him spying, he might once again threaten to throw him to the women on the other side of the wall, make a 'real' man out of him as he liked to say. The thought made him shudder, but even though Seren understood the risk involved, he just couldn't help himself. The man of unusual taste had arrived and he was desperate to watch him this time.

The prostitutes of the Skin & Chalice numbered less than half a dozen. Often falling sick and prone to running away, there were only two that had remained here since Seren was a child. Dal and Dao were professionals that had handled most every type of commonfolk man that came through the door; they were never as shocked as the younger girls when requests were made of a 'different' nature. Tonight's particular request had intrigued Seren the most. He'd seen almost every manner of play in the entertainment rooms, but in all the years he'd been watching, there had only been one guest he could recall that was said to have this type of preference. For the first time, his curiosity was genuinely piqued.

Seren was only six years old when his father established five ladies of varying attractiveness in the downstairs rooms of the inn. His mother had begged her husband to reconsider but her pleas had fallen on deaf ears. The inn had never been profitable; Seren's grandfather, Innabod Straw, purchased the land amid rumors that the Tsar was to build a main road there, and so invested the money he won gambling in the construction of a grand two-storey guesthouse, replete with stables and finely appointed rooms. He waited for the road to come, but when war broke out between the Tsar and the Northern Faction, the royal workmen downed tools and were sent to join the fighting. Innabod drank himself to an early grave as the nobles' war raged on, leaving the problem of the inn to his only son, Therobod Straw.

For years, Therobod would host gamblers from the local villages and receive the occasional guest as they crossed the Cinder Vale. He sold much of the furniture, brewed ale, and leased the stables to farmers to keep their livestock safe from the cold of winter. He carved out a comfortable living but nothing more. Nineteen years ago the news came to the commonfolk that the northern unrest had at last been quashed, that the Tsar's continuing reign would usher in a new era of prosperity. The main road finally began construction, 15 miles south of Therobod's inn. Therobod cursed his misfortune and found himself a pretty new wife to play with. By the time Seren was born the following year, the war had begun anew and the road was left unfinished.

For a time, the family of three had lived quietly together in the inn; Therobod, Adalina, and their beautiful little boy. Seren learned to walk, to talk, to read and write, and how to tie his eyepatch on his own. It was a pretty strip of cloth sewn with his mother's favorite flower, the biathia lily, and Seren knew to never take it off when other people were around. When Seren was six years old, he was no longer allowed to play downstairs as he had when he was small. Adalina gave him lessons in language, arts and arithmetic in the upstairs parlor each day, and once a week she would hurriedly take him outside to play for the morning, sweeping through the downstairs lobby like a breeze, and safely upstairs again by lunchtime. In the afternoon his father would wake up and go to work, Adalina would sew or tell stories, and Seren would be put to bed early each night. Sometimes his mother would soothe him back to sleep when he was awakened by screams. "Foxes" she would say, as she stroked his soft, golden hair and forced a reassuring smile upon her face.

There came a day when Seren wanted to see the 'foxes' for himself. His father was often absent from his days and was nowhere to be found when night fell. After his mother tucked him in, he waited silently in the darkness, then crept to his parents' room to see Adalina sleeping soundly. A gentle laughter echoed from the lower floor, and suddenly his mother shifted in her sleep before settling down again. Seren took his chance, fixed his embroidered eyepatch in place, and padded downstairs in his nightgown to investigate. He followed the sound of laughter to the rear of the inn where the larger guest rooms could be found. As he was about to turn into the hallway he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. 

Seren's body tensed, he scrunched his face and began to plead, "I'm sorry dad, I'm sorry, I just wanted to see." But when Seren was turned around it wasn't by his father, but a thin, balding man he'd never seen before. The man bent forward, pulled his pale lips into a sinister grin, cupped the back of Seren's head, and twirled a finger through his soft, shoulder-length curls. "Did you hurt your eye, little one?" he asked him. Seren stared at the man, open-mouthed, when all of a sudden a 'gasp' came from the hallway, and a woman in lurid colors ran over to them, putting herself swiftly between Seren and the balding man. "Mr Thatch!" she trilled, "What a lovely surprise! You're early this evening." Mr Thatch put down his riding crop and peered behind the young woman to where Seren was standing nervously. "And it appears I've caught the worm..." he responded, "She looks... a very pretty one. Shame about her eye, is it permanent?" The young woman laughed awkwardly and thrust Seren further behind her. "Mr Thatch, didn't you come to see your sweet Dao this evening? I've been waiting so long since your last visit and it seems you forgot about me completely." The young woman named Dao humphed and crossed her arms coquettishly, but Mr Thatch side-stepped her and made a grab for Seren. "Pretty little girl," he said, "don't you want to play with uncle..?" Several of the women had arrived to greet the guest, the tallest of them ran straight to the kitchen when she saw the little master's situation. Dao laughed again, "Uncle Thatch, I know far more tricks that can make you happy."

Seren grabbed Dao's skirt and regretted coming fox hunting tonight. His mother would be very upset that he'd come to play downstairs and caused all this trouble. While Dao tried to coax Mr Thatch away, the tall woman returned from the kitchen with Seren's father. Therobod Straw was an imposing figure, he seldom spoke to his son and would often scold his wife. This was the first time in his life that Seren had seen his father bow and smile in such an ingratiating manner. "My dear Thatch, you're just in time to come and taste the new brew I've bottled..." he said, as he signalled to Dao to take the child, and ushered Mr Thatch into the back rooms with his arm placed firmly on the man's shoulders.

Seren was led to the staircase and Dao crouched down to face him. "Whatever are you doing down here for?!" she asked him firmly. Tears began streaming down Seren's face and wetting his eyepatch. "Oh, oh, hush now" she soothed, "my goodness but you are a pretty little boy, aren't you? I've never seen you up close before." Dao wiped his tears with her sleeve and patted his back to comfort him. The door upstairs flew open and a frantic Adalina ran down the staircase to pull her precious son away. "Seren! Why are you out of bed?" she cried as she checked him all over. Seren looked at his mother's worried face then fixed his eyes on the floor. "I wanted to see the foxes" he replied truthfully. Dao burst into laughter and Adalina glared at her. "Dao," came Therobod's gruff voice as he appeared behind them, "go see to Mr Thatch." Dao sneered at Adalina, flashed Seren a pitying smile and rushed off to work. Seren looked at his father's cold appearance and instinctively stepped in front of his mother. "Upstairs" his father commanded, "now."

A look was all that was needed to stop his wife from taking Seren back to bed. He turned away to light the candles in the family's parlor, shoulders hunched, and banged his palm on the table. Adalina sat with her son on the little sofa, squeezing Seren's hand and waiting for the words that didn't come. Instead, Therobod grabbed the scissors resting on the table, took hold of his son, and began cutting away clumps of Seren's hair as close to the scalp as he could manage. The young boy cried out in fear, and though Adalina tried to pry the scissors from Therobod's hands, her husband was too strong to be stopped. When the cloth eyepatch impeded his cutting, Therobod loosened the knot and threw it to the floor. The little boy opened both eyes wide and stared in confusion as his father hacked away at his crowning glory, the curls falling gently in his lap. "Keep it short from now on" Therobod informed his wife, placing the scissors back on the table and avoiding the searching eyes of his son. "No more flowers on his eyepatch. Give him a plain one to wear tomorrow, double knot it and send him to down to work in the afternoon. It's time for him to grow up." With that, Therobod left the parlor and returned to the first floor. Adalina knew better than to speak against him. She brushed the hair from Seren's shoulders and went to fetch a broom. Swallowing her tears, she swept Seren's curls into a piece of folded paper and kissed his shorn head.

"Is it very ugly?" he asked her, "Do I look like father now?" Adalina wiped his cheeks and smiled into his eyes. "Not at all, my little one" she said, "You'll always look like me." After a restless night for mother and son, Seren was delivered downstairs the next day to begin his work at the inn. His father showed him how to clean the rooms and rinse the bottles to be used again. He'd fetch and carry and did odd jobs for the ladies who worked there. Once the tall woman named Dal learned that he could sew, there were endless tasks to be done that could earn him a penny. Until Seren was sixteen, his days followed the same pattern; lessons with his mother in the morning, working for Therobod in the afternoon, and always back upstairs before the curious guests would arrive. Despite his closely cropped hair and eyepatch, Seren was still considered a pretty youth with his high cheekbones and sculpted jaw. He resembled his mother, who at forty still possessed a delicate and charming face, and his features never thickened as his father had hoped for. The incident with Mr Thatch had hardened Therobod's resolve to keep his son's pretty face out of sight.

However, when Seren was sixteen a new girl named Kaio came to the Skin & Chalice and caused quite the stir. When Seren first saw her he didn't think she was as typically attractive as Dao; she had a long nose and sticky-out ears, but it was rumored she'd once served a battle-worn noble, and that alone attracted quite a crowd to the inn to catch a glimpse of her. For the very first time, Seren worked at night in the inn, drafted in to stable the horses and serve drinks to the thirsty customers. In truth he had already learned of the ins and outs of his father's business, his fox hunting activities having occupied many nights of his lonely adolescence. While his mother paced anxiously upstairs, Seren followed her advice and made himself as invisible as possible, never speaking unless spoken to and keeping his distance from the guests when he wasn't needed. As the night wound down, he stepped outside to enjoy the breeze and take a subtle peek through the window of Kaio's room.