Welcome to Chapter 07: Yelen’s Stories.
Yelena gets to know Yelen, who struggles with reality and sudden socialisation, and they play guessing games together… with a few forfeits…
CWs: mental health issues, depressive mindsets, derealisation, detachment/dissociative disorder symptoms.
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Notes on Taramine, Magic, and Consent
Yelen tells Yelena a story about the Mortress, which implies that the herb taramine renders you immune to her power unless you consent to being under it.
I wanted consent to be a central part of the book, but also the issues around dubious consent, coerced consent, and how magic doesn’t care about the nuances. That, to me, is really uncomfortable, and adds to the Horror elements of the novel.
Magic in this universe is a completely amoral and dispassionate force, like gravity or electricity, it is not something that cares about you, and it can be used in any way a user is able to manipulate and control it. Consent, regardless of how it’s acquired, is the only thing necessary to override protections against magic, and that is deeply disturbing in its implications.
I hope that this adds to the background sense of dread or at least unease, and the idea that things will kick off later in the novel that will, in true Gothic style, send things spinning off in unexpected (and dark) directions.
I also liked the idea of a herb used for contraceptive purposes being of central importance to the book, given the themes of personal agency and bodily autonomy, so I hope that this works.
Music Credits :
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Intro/Outro:
Quinn’s Dream: The Dance Begins
Kevin MacLeod pieces used in Ch 07:
Midnight Tale
Bittersweet
Our Story Begins
Leaving Home
Quinn’s Song – First Night
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