TW: Emotional abuse and the obvious things that come with necromancy

Unkind Beginnings
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• Hemlock was the last of three children born to the Cygnus family in the time that his mother, Dame Neirum, was allowed to stay home from the war being waged upon the kingdom of Tiystalt.
• Unlike his elder siblings, however, Hemlock's earliest memories were not within the warmth of his mother's dark fur, though he may certainly remark now that perhaps that memory lies only in abstraction. Instead, his early memories are that of the exhausted face of his father, Zanthox.
• The world he remembers is that of cold frustration through the eyes of a clueless child as he was left in the care of a father who was not ready to take care of him, and two siblings who felt hurt that their mother would not stay home.
• "Your mother had no choice, she has a duty to fulfill," their father would tell them, the first phrase Hemlock became familiar with. The young bundle of fur did not express that same frustration. He did not know her face, he only barely remembered her scent, and he knew not of her voice. It was something his father was thankful for in the moment, but did not dare consider the ramifications for.
• Hemlock was an energetic child, loud and rambunctious and always with a wish to play. The concept of boundaries was not at all enforced by his tired father, leaving room for his boldness to grow.
• As the young daeodon aged into school, his will became stronger, and his willingness to butt heads with his overbearing brother became nothing less than infuriating. He was of the opinion that, even in his young age, he knew well and wisely. While he had the intelligence to back it up, his brother was of the humble opinion that the youngest of them was perhaps the most idiotic.

^{Light Of Hope, Flooded By Blood
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• In his adolescence, a pleasant surprise came about when his mother returned from war. It was this arrival that soothed Hemlock's habit for difficult behavior. In fact, the attachment he felt to her was near immediate, as she appeared to be more present, more attentive than anyone else in his life had been.
• Yet, just as quickly as Nerium had returned, the war called her again, demanding her help as the kingdom was failing horribly, and was attempting one last push to save themselves. Nobody liked it, but it wasn't like she had a choice.
• Their goodbyes to her that day were their last, and when Zanthox got the news that his wife had been reported dead, he decided to flee the kingdom with his brother, taking the three children with them to a kingdom in the east.

^{New Lands, Forgotten Titles
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• Within the kingdom of Ivras, the family resettled into a town a bit south of the capital city of Faline.
• It was by the grace of good planning on Zanthox's part that he managed save a good majority of the family's wealth, and they were no worse off than the war had already made them. However, not all was well. The family had barely any time to grieve for Nerium, they'd lost everything in terms of familiarity and in terms of their own social status.
• Hemlock's habits became exponentially worse, with the grief and anger for the situation he was in magnifying his insistence for independence. Fights with his brother and became explosive.
• Even when he was put through education, he was a nightmare towards those who tried to tutor him. Not that he was resistant to learning, but that he would actively seek out information outside of his tutors, and use it to run proverbial circles around them because he thought it was funny. And that's if he wasn't showing up entirely.
• This continued until in his late teens, when his father met a new prospective partner.

^{A Fresh Face
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• The family was eventually introduced to a seamstress named Solana, who Zanthox had taking a liking to after he had ordered a set of custom robes from her and learned that she too was a refugee from the fallen kingdom of Tiystalt
• She was perfectly friendly, eager to meet all of the children that Zanthox introduced to her.
• Hemlock, unfortunately, was not so eager. In fact, he rather detested the idea of meeting her. He thought it a disgrace that his father would move on so early, and something about Solana just... didn't sit right with him. It was made worse yet that, as his brother, sister, and father told her of Nerium, she started to act more and more like her.
• Unfortunately, Hemlock's instinct was right. She was slowly draining his father of his money, and Zanthox grew to be more emotionally reliant on her, more willing to give in as she gave him "security". However, when Hemlock attempted to call the behaviour out, out of genuine worry for his father and siblings, his father thought it was his attempts to start antics. He was met with harsh resistance from Zanthox, and a sympathy-reaching act from Solana that equaled to," I'm sorry you do not like me... how can I fix the problem?"
• The more Hemlock tried to speak out, the more he found himself being suffocated by the life around him. Tutors were replaced with ones that did not have the patience for his self-taught habits, carrying out punishment for his "insubordination". Words of "He's too young to know what's good for him" or "He doesn't know what path he's taking, he just needs some guidance" were fed to Zanthox and other adult peers. All by the mouth of Solana.
• She was running him into the ground, socially, financially, and emotionally. There was a time it seemed she'd broken Hemlock completely.

^{Flip Of The Coin
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• It was at Hemlock's absolute lowest point that something... happened.
• In a night when he cried his lungs out of his chest, seething through hushed pain, wishing that he wasn't there. That his true mother was still there, a sentiment that had been growing for some time yet.... there was a thumping on the window.
• He almost didn't notice at first, but when it was too... rhythmic, to be a branch of any tree, he finally looked up.
• What lurked outside of his window? Who would dare to disturb him? Who even knew him well enough to disturb him?
• But upon pulling back the curtain.... something horrific stood waiting. A mess of bone and rotten flesh, missing its eyes stared in at Hemlock... but he recognized what color was left on its form. The shape of the face.
• It was the body of Nerium.
• He thought it a horrible nightmare at first, but then he watched it for a moment. It... she mirrored his movements. The thought of," I wonder if she can walk", and the body stepped closer to the window.
• This was his mothers body... under his complete control.
• After the revelation of that night and the many following where he hid the grisly secret from his family, something suddenly stuck out to him.
• Hemlock noticed that he knew exactly what Solana was doing. He could see what she was saying, how she was saying it, how everything led back to her in all of their mechanics. The calm, the false sincereity, the gentle, honeyed "sympathy."
• And then another thought... what if he used that against her? 
• He complied sweetly and thoughtfully with the tutors who had once been set against him. He removed power from any of his family members from getting access to his money. He more gently, jokingly called out the questionable things that Solana did and said. 
• And when she tried to protest? He reacted with "hurt", asking her how she could say this about him? When he was just trying to be a good son? The son she wanted him to be.
  This behavior persisted, and eventually cemented itself when Hemlock realized that it worked with everyone else he interacted with as well.
• Around the time that Zanthox had finally seen what was going on and pushed Solana out of his life, the damage had already been done. Hemlock was a new beast entirely. Instead of loud and opinionated, he was now calm and polite, sometimes even gentle in his mannerisms. Things came to him much more easily, and he even figured out a job within the field of trade delivery.
• Since then, he's made the slow climb into being a district trade manager within Faline itself, noted for the incredibly fast delivery times and efficiency, and he's quite happy with the progress he's made... but he always wants more.
• Curiously, though.... his father's rejected spouse has been missing ever since the day he pushed her out of his life, with nothing so much as a body ever being discovered... how unfortunate.