My name is Natasha

[Manofevil]

My name is Natasha, and I travel the misted lands in search of my true love.

I really don't know the name of the place I came from, originally, and I only remember certain parts of my early life. I was the fifth of eight children. I remember my mother being very nice but my father being very hard. I think we were farmers and I remember my eldest brother being very nice and working hard with father and mother to keep us all fed. I remember my eldest sister always being the pretty one. Everyone I ever knew always said she was so pretty. She had Mother's blonde hair where I got father's brownish red hair. She was always thin and graceful. I grew fat around my thighs and couldn't see properly. Both of our teeth were fairly healthy but my mouth was so much bigger. Every time I smiled, it always seemed too big for my face. I also had a younger sister who looked a lot like my older sister. She was different in that she used her charm to get away with things that the rest of us got punished for. I always hated that about her. I can't remember much else about my life before the mists except being deeply in love. I can't remember much about him except that he was handsome and charming. I remember him once telling me that there was someone for everyone, meaning that we were destined to be together... then I remember him dying. I weep every time I think of that. I think that's when he told me I should find someone else to spend the rest of my life with. That's the only other thing I remember him saying to me, ever. The only thing I remember after that was mists.

I found myself in the land of Barovia in the year 730. The first thing I discovered was how difficult it was to come to this place. I'd never learned to speak a different language before and I'd never learned to read or write. Needless to say, I found my first days there very difficult. Fortunately, I was taken in by a family who worked a farm in a town called Vallaki. The family was very kind and the mother was in the process of teaching her children to speak, read, and write the Barovian language. She was happy to take me on as another pupil. The father was just as happy to have another person to split the workload with. The fact that I couldn't remember a thing from my life before didn't seem to bother him. He told me much later that people turning up with no memories was not unheard of. His own family had taken in such a person when he was much younger. That man had turned out to be nothing more than a common farmhand. He still lived on the other side of the village and was raising his own family. Herr Munst also warned me that taking in strangers who came during bright and sunny days was fine, but never to take in a stranger after dark. Vampires hunted this land after nightfall. A vampire, he told me, was fanged monster that looked human but would bite a person's neck and drain their blood. He also told me that. For some reason, a vampire may not enter someone's house unless invited by someone within. That, he said, is why I must never; never open the door to a stranger after dark. Daylight, he also said, is deadly to vampires, so anyone who knocks during the day is safe. This was something I'm fairly certain I'd never heard of before, even with my lost memories. Herr Munst told me also, that everyone in Barovia lived their lives like this. There had been vampires in Barovia for longer than anyone could remember. No one knew why. That was the reason that everyone in the land locked their doors after dark.

My few memories began to come back slowly. The Munst family was very good about helping me, especially when I did chores that they hadn't yet shown me how to do. Frau Munst particularly enjoyed that. She was really pleased when I remembered my name, too. Natasha, she said, had been her great aunt's name and she was pleased to have another in her house. I think that was moment I first felt the pull. I knew, somewhere out there, was the love of my life. I remembered finding it once before. I was suddenly sure I could find it again. After all, I knew I couldn't live on the Munst family's kindness forever. I wasn't sure where to begin. I wasn't the type to just head off for the horizon and I didn't want to just leave the Munsts, so I decided to stay put for a while.

That didn't begin to change until the day we attended the harvest festival. All the crops had been brought in and the work was done for the season. All the villagers were happy. The music, the food, the dancing, It was the most wonderful thing I could ever remember seeing. We arrived around midmorning. Frau Munst and I helped the other women with the food while Herr Munst went to help the men butcher the deer. Every fall, he told me, the Lord of the land lets the village kill two fat deer to feed the festival. It's one of the few things the lord, called by most 'The Devil Strahd', allows them to do in violation of the law. Otherwise the penalty for breaking almost every law is death, usually at the hands of the lord himself. Herr Munst also told me that this was also one of the few times in the year when Lord Strahd comes down from his castle to collect the taxes. Herr Munst warned me to prepare myself for a shock when I met Count Strahd, for he was very frightening. He also said that I could not avoid meeting him, for he always insisted on meeting all unmarried women of marriageable age. Frau Munst told me later that many girls rushed to get married for fear that they would catch the eye of the Devil Strahd. When I asked the Munst children about him, they all told me the same thing: they had once stayed up late enough to get a look at the lord and that alone was enough to give them nightmares.

I really had no idea what to expect as the sun went down. The horizon was still orange as the black carriage drawn by black horses arrived in the village. Everything about this Count Strahd seemed dark. Everyone was looking at the carriage I noticed not a single smile in the crowd. Everyone looked afraid in some way. Some people only looked timidly respectful where others, like the other women to be presented to him, looked almost terrified. Most of the children had been sent on home but the few who remained, hid behind their parents. I was so nervous about meeting the Count that I didn't realize until much later that the carriage had no driver. The carriage door opened and a black shod foot preceded the occupant out of it. I felt Count Strahd's presence immediately. He was tall and thin and dressed, of course, in black. He was well dressed and well groomed... clearly a man in control of everything he surveyed. He was dressed in black linen pants with a matching vest and cloak. The single garment he wore which wasn't black was a white shirt with a ruffled collar. I noticed that it was the only thing that was whiter than his deathly pale face. It was that face, I think, which disturbed me the most. Not it's pallor, but it's expression. I doubt I'd never seen such a harsh scowl or I probably would have remembered it right then. It was his eyes, however, that were most impressive: Hard, cold things so piercing they seemed to stare right into our souls and find us wanting. The village Boyar had met him at the carriage beside a large chest and Count Strahd was not gentle in his criticisms of the Boyars poor efficiency. The poor Boyar was sweating so heavily that he almost fainted there in front of everyone. He almost collapsed when Strahd pronounced the taxes to be in order and ordered them loaded on his carriage. It was then time for each girl to be presented to him. I noticed that each girl introduced herself with her name, her family name, and who her parents were. At which Count Strahd would quietly say something to her, kiss her hand, and then dismiss her. When my turn came, I decided to be brave.
"My name is Natasha. I am a stranger to Barovia and do not remember my life before. I have been taken in by Herr and Frau Munst, the farmers." I said and presented my hand. His eyebrow rose a little when I told him of my lost memories but not enough to soften his scowl.
"Welcome to Barovia, young woman." he said, and kissed my hand. A chill ran up my flesh as he did. His flesh was deathly cold. His eyes never wavered from mine, like he knew my every thought. It was then that I realized why I'd been sent to this land. This man who ruled was so hard and cold that everything and everyone around him feared him. He could only be that way because there was no love in his life, no warmth. His harsh exterior housed a loneliness that was almost palpable. He made a dismissing gesture with his hand and I realized I had been standing there staring. I curtsied and moved away, but, unlike the others I looked back at him as he greeted the next girl. This was the one I was meant for. I just knew it. I would have a terrible time convincing him, but, I was sure I could. We would be so happy together. I just had to find a way to see him again.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Definitely needs zo be continued on the new page.