Analysis of a Life

[PrlUnicorn]

June 2009

Dr. Michael Fabares sat at his desk reading his notes and the medical history before him as his patient waited. She wasn't the sort that liked staying still, but she waited in silence as he shuffled papers and jotted down more notations. She flicked a glance at the clock then looked at him. "Doctor, with all due respect, I am paying for your time and while I do have the means to pay for your services for quite a while, I'd really like to get my money's worth."

Dark eyes studied Colleen as blonde brows knitted together. "Some people find it easier to relax and talk to me while their body is relaxed." He motioned to the couch.

She chuckled huskily. "I tend to find it easier to think on my feet, Doctor. Reclining tends to cause me to fall asleep. That or it's a prelude to sex. The latter isn't going to happen in your office and I surely doubt the former will be at all helpful to you."

"If hypnosis is needed, Ms. MacLeod, it might be a good idea to ..."

"Right, but I'm hoping to avoid that," she interrupted.

"Your family has filled me in on some of the details. I have to tell you that I don't deal in magical cures."

Collie looked at Michael for a few moments then started to laugh. "I lost my memory, Doctor. I think that falls under the realm of your expertise. While magic was a catalyst, it does not necessarily mean that magic is needed to help cure my problem." She crossed her legs at the ankles and studied the man with a bit of a hardened look on her face. The last couple of months had been filled with relearning names, places, and the events of her life that her children had known about. There was nearly five hundred years to fill in and most of them had no idea. A few friends had come forward with bits and pieces, Tass had filled in large holes, but still, there was much he didn't know.

He cleared his throat. "What do you hope to gain from these sessions," he turned his hand palm upward as he gestured to her, "other than regaining your memories."

"Well," she folded her hands in her lap, "I suppose I'd like to learn how to function without those memories until such time as I do remember things."

"Did you keep any sort of diary or journal?"

She nodded. "My daughters have been digging them out of the in house library. I've been reading them, but much of it is in my native language. I haven't lost it, but some of the nuances of the language are awkward to me right now. I know what they mean, I just can't seem to make the connections I'm hoping to. It's like breaking a code of some sort."

"That you haven't forgotten the language is a good sign," Michael said in comforting tone. "People with amnesia tend to forget personal details like their name and so on. Those with severe physical damage to the brain often forget things they have learned to do over the course of their lifetime."

"Well, that's good to know, doctor." Colleen laced her fingers together and settled her hands into her lap.

"How long has it been since your accident?"

"About two months." She rested her elbow on the arm of the chair and brought her hand up under her jaw. "Little things come back a bit at a time, but we're talking a lot of memories here."

The doctor nodded and jotted a down a few notes. "What's the oldest memory you seem to be able to recall?"

"That's just it. I can remember sittin' on Mam's lap with my sister." Her expression grew a bit dark, sad somehow.

"You have a sister?"

"Had a sister, Celia." She tipped her head a moment as she thought about it. "There's Desti, we're sisters of the heart, but Celia was more than my sister. She was my twin, another part of my being. She was right handed, I'm left. There was a subtle difference in the eyes, but so few people ever paid attention to that."

"What happened to your sister?"

"Same as our mother." Collie shrugged "She died in childbirth. There are some that say I'm trying to make up for both of them with such a large brood."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I think that as long as I can feed, clothe, and see to their other needs that it's no one else's business but my own."

Michael's brow raised. Was that offense he heard in her voice? Was she being defensive? He wasn't quite sure.

"Look, Doctor, what I'm searching for right now is my own past. Not what busybodies have to say. Their opinions aren't facts and that is what I need right now "

"What facts about your life do you remember?"

[PrlUnicorn]

"Is that your version of just the facts, ma'am?" Collie chuckled a bit as she searched her mind for what she did recall. Each simple fact was a piece in the larger puzzle that was Colleen MacLeod. Each fact brought to mind memories that fell between shadows and crystal clear. "Where to begin. Now that's a question, isn't it?"

Michael watched her for a moment and pointed to the largest window in his office. "If you'd like to walk the room there's a good view of the rooftop gardens across the way. You did say you think better on your feet."

"So I did." She smiled graciously and rose to her feet. The garden was indeed lovely. Collie glanced over her shoulder and said, "You mind if we walk out there?"

"Next session would be better, I think," he said reluctantly. "I can use the voice recorder outside, but since this is your first session it's better to get all the paperwork and records in order."

"Right, so, you're the meticulous sort." She flashed him a smile as she studied her surroundings.

The office was painted what some might call ocean blue. It was supposed to be soothing and calming, but to some it gave off the feeling of being surrounded by a glacier and snow covered tundras. The furniture was cloth covered instead of the leather that some doctors chose. Clearly Dr. Fabares had taken the comfort of his patients into consideration. Leather could get hot and sticky.

"Remember, just stick to facts for now. We'll get into something more in depth next time."

She nodded. "Even facts would be a long list." She paced the room and stopped from time to time to look at the paintings on the walls. "I was born on the ninth day of November in the year of our Lord fifteen hundred and eighteen. I was born a twin. My sister, Celia, died in childbirth," she'd started saying that automatically because invariably people would ask where her sister was. "I was born to Robert of the Clan Struan, technically, it's a sept of Clan Robertson and Eileen of the Kerrigan family. My father was of the line of The Bruce and some of my mother's people came down from The Boru."

Michael held up a hand to get her to pause a moment. "The Bruce and The Boru?" was his query. He jotted a note to ask how she ended up using the name MacLeod if she'd been born a Struan.

"Not up on your history, Doctor?" Collie grinned. "The Boru is how some name Brian Mac Cenntig, the best known of the Irish kings. The Bruce, well, that'd be King Robert the first o' Scotland. One little detail about him that I can tell you. He had a sister called Christina, my Da's mother was named for her. My eldest living daughter carries the name as well." She took a drink from the bottle of water in her hand. "Her second name is after Mam, that'd be Eileen."

"Can you tell me the names of your children?" Michael glanced up from his notes as he asked the question.

She nodded. "I had three children before I came here. I had always thought my first child was stillborn and second was stolen, but that wasn't quite the case, you see. My memories were altered and ..."

Michael watched her as she went off on yet another tangent. "And their names?"

"Oh, right," she nodded, "Ian and Elijah. They were both taken from us, but not dead at least not then. Elijah came here when he was grown, but died here. The third was a girl, Shayla and she was snatched up by some daft fool who thought she was ... " She gave the doctor an apologetic smile. "I do ramble, don't I?"

"Yes ma'am, but you're remembering."

"You want to know about the ones what didn't survive?"

Michael tilted his head to consider the question. "If they were born, yes, but if you miscarried you probably didn't name them."

She lifted a finger and nodded in agreement. "Quite so."

"Sean, Ian, and Christina, they were next. Sean died at birth. The other two came out alive and kickin'. In fact, Christina put up so much of a fuss that I nearly died having her." She looked out the window at the garden again. "Will and Al followed a few years later. Some nit tried to have me declared an unfit mother. Like she knew anything about real mothering." There was more to that sordid tale and she remember bits and pieces. She realized that it was probably best that she didn't remember most of it considering what she did recall angered her to the point where the window glass was creaking.

Michael refilled the water glasses as he listened.

"Garrick and Nicole were next and I ..."

"Is there a reason you name them in groups?"

"Twins, lots of them." The first two had a triplet, but she wasn't backtracking to that again. "Unlike some women in Rhydin, Doctor, I have not birthed my children and then forgotten that they exist. I never did understand that." Again, there was frustration and anger in her mood. "Rhiannon was the first child to be born singly since I got to Rhydin. Rachael and Draven were also single births. Diana is my daughter, but I didn't give birth to her. That's a big kettle of fish in itself."

Doctor Fabares raised a brow and made notes to ask her about her youngest daughter's origins.

"Mir is my youngest by blood. Mara was adopted by Judas and me, but she is no less my child than any of the others. Her mother was prepared to raise a baby, but when some sort of magic user went crazy, baby Mara ended up as a teenager with nary a clue of what was going on around her. Cassandra will always be her mother, too. She had been like a daughter to Judas all her life and when she asked us to raise Mara as our own we did not refuse her."

Collie paused a moment, she was proud of all her children, but she remembered something in particular about Mara. "She wanted piano lessons and even asked if we'd help her save for a piano of her own. Judas and I told her we'd match every coin she saved. She worked hard to save her money. By Christmas that year she'd saved a good third of it. We gave her the piano as gift." A warm and thoughtful smile touched her lips. "I still remember the look on her face when she asked us why. We told her that her efforts had been so sincere and without a complaint that she'd earned it." She grinned at Michael. "Have you ever heard of the singer and musician, Mara Viskan Lasher? She generally goes by Mara now."

"Yes, she's quite good as I remember."

"That's my daughter."

Michael smiled and jotted more notes. "For next time, I'd like to what you remember about your husbands."

She chuckled. "Only the husbands?"

"Unless you have long term significant others let's stick to husbands."

Collie nodded. "Only one of those, but three husbands."

She closed the door behind her as she left the session.

[PrlUnicorn]

Late June 2009

To prepare for her next visit with Dr. Fabares, Colleen went through old photographs, documents, and diaries. It helped, but there were still holes in her memories. She went into the office armed with a box of things.

"I see you came prepared!" Michael said with a bit of a laugh in his voice.

"Yes, well, a lot of years, a lot of memories." She set boxes on the coffee table in front of the couch. There were more things than pictures being set out for view. She had souvenirs of various places laid out neatly.

"Damon Brock was my first husband. Oh, he was a good man just not a very good husband. At least not from everything I've gathered up."

"Maybe we should be discussing what you think a good husband should be."

"Maybe, but aren't we here to talk about my memories not my philosophies in life?" Collie smiled a touch.

"No reason not to do both, it might remind you of a few things." Michael jotted notes as they talked.

She held up her index finger as she often did when illustrating a point. "Point taken."

"Anyway, Damon was the father of six of my children. Three are alive, two dead, and one," she shrugged a bit, "I haven't seen in years."

"Tell me about him."

"He was tall and broad shouldered. Dark haired and had dark blue eyes like sapphires. He loved us," she paused a moment as if considering her words. "However, like many stories that involve the Olympian gods, their kin and so on, it isn't exactly a happy one. More like bittersweet." Collie took a drink from the water bottle in her hand. "When he came to me in Rhydin, I didn't know who he was. We had to rebuild our relationship. Like most couples, there were meddling in-laws involved." She gestured with her palm up. "Not all of them, mind you, just one of his sisters. Most of the crowd up on Olympus are still good to me and my children, even the ones not related to them by blood."

"That must be quite the legacy for them to live up to."

"Yes, it is. Especially in a place like Rhydin where the next person you meet could be a god or demigod from any number of pantheons. Hell, they could be anything from a fey to a bubasti and you probably won't even know it." She became thoughtful and her voice became soft, "Many creatures like that hide who they are. Once you reveal your secrets to someone, you open yourself to betrayal," the tone in her voice was telling. She had been been betrayed plenty of times. However, being hurt by someone was not always a betrayal. It was only if they used her confidences against her that she felt that way.

"So, tell me, Colleen, why did you have to rebuild your relationship with Damon?" More notes, the man was always writing notes.

"My memories were altered so that I would forget him. When I remembered, just like now, it was like a floodgate had opened. I remembered it all. Happiness, joy, passion, and pain." She nodded. "Yes, I remembered the good as well as the bad." Collie flipped over a few pictures and studied them. "We had six children that survived their births. The eldest and the second were taken from us." She was off on a tangent again and when she realized it, she paused and looked to Michael. "But you asked what he was like, didn't you?"

"That I did." As Colleen went onward, Michael jotted notes about what he wanted to ask her during the course of their sessions.

"He was good to the children." Had she said that already? "Even though he loved me in his own way, I'm not so sure it was the sort of love that a husband and wife should share."

"Why is that?"

"I keep telling my children that anyone who truly loves you won't ask, rather won't demand, that you change. Once you begin to change to suit someone else, you are no longer yourself; you become what someone else believes you should be." She pursed her lips. "That was a sticking point in our marriage. He insisted that I must control my temper. Oh, he was right, but that wasn't the point. Other things cropped up like that as well. I don't remember all of them, but I think it's better that I don't."

"What happened to him?"

"Eventually, he died, but not after disappearing when our youngest was two. I remarried. When he finally returned, well, it was nice to hear that he loved me, but it was a few years late and a lot short," Collie sounded bitter. "I don't know what either of us expected, but we forgave each other our transgressions and not long after that he was dead."

Michael's face took on an incredulous expression.

"Yes, Doctor, demigods and gods can die."

He just nodded and gestured for her to continue. "The children still living are Garrick, Nicole, and Rhiannon, is that correct?"

"Yes," she nodded and murmured, "there would have been nine."

"I think this is a good time to relax for a few minutes," Michael said as he looked over the pictures on the table. "Then we talk about the other two."

"It stopped raining outside, I think we should take that walk in the garden when we reconvene," Collie said as she stood.

"As you like." Michael smiled and jotted a note or two about her present memory being intact. He also noted that she seemed to be repressing some of the older memories. That was a subject for later exploration.

[PrlUnicorn]

Doctor and patient walked among the blossoming shrubs, bushes, and vines of the greenhouse garden. As Collie gently lifted some of the blossoms, she identified them. Her knowledge of gardening hadn't disappeared. Colleen had retained a great many of her skills and was surprised to learn that she had retained many of the languages she was told she could speak as well. She was fluent in many of the European languages and conversational Russian. She could understand Arabic and from her travels, she knew a smattering of phrases like Hello, how are you, how much does it cost, and where's the ladies in various Earth dialects as well as how to order food.

"Tell me about Judas Lasher," Michael said as they took a seat on a bench.

"I met him in the Red Dragon," she began. "Common enough beginning, I suppose." She smiled thoughtfully. "I liked him at once. I wouldn't say it was love at first sight, that's a rare thing, but I did like him very much." She lifted the water bottle to her lips. "He grew on me rather quickly. Whirlwind romance you might say. Some might have other opinions given his illness and all." When she thought about it, much of her life had been filled with whirlwind romances. She wanted something deeper, something more than let's run down the aisle to legalize what's going on in the bedroom and see what grows afterward.

"Illness?"

"Yes, he was terminally ill when we met. Cancer." She blew some strands of hair out of her eyes. "He went into remission for some time, but eventually, it was what killed him. He was a good man." Her brows furrowed as she considered those words. "I suppose I should say is a good man."

Dr. Fabares gave her an expectant look. It was another of those stories that had more to it. She was good at that, eventually she'd get around to the point!

Colleen gave the doctor a sidelong glance. "You know the old saying about nothing staying dead in Rhydin?" She turned the bottle in both hands and Michael nodded. "It's about as common as the one about women drinking the water and getting pregnant," she quipped. "Judas was brought back by our son, Draven. Not the nine year old, his elder counterpart."

It took time for Fabares to adjust to how she referred to her children that had counterparts. That was yet another subject to cover. Today's was her spouses. Theoretically, Michael could have spent several sessions on each man. His goal, however, was to help her trigger memories not to go so far into her past that it would take him volumes to record all of her thoughts.

"I'm not sure why Draven did it. Maybe it was a need to have his father back in his life. Maybe he felt cheated that he'd come back through time only to end up losing his father again. Our son, you must understand, is a child of darkness and light." Collie frowned. "Judas was a teacher. He was well versed in necromancy and other arts." Her eyes closed and she shook her head. "Much as I missed him, I would not have disturbed his rest." There was more to say, so much more. "He owned New Camelot Academy and was its headmaster until his health began to fail. Too much stress on him. That," she raised her index finger as if to punctuate her statement, "was when he opened the restaurant. Family recipes and such. It was quite a lucrative business, still is."

"He's still running it?"

She shook her head. "Not really. When he died, the school and the restaurant were left to me as his wife. I kept the restaurant going as a trust for Draven. If nothing else, it ensures that he, both of them, will have an income." She pursed her lips. "The school, on the other hand, was donated to the Rhydin Orphanage after Judas was ... revived. Neither of us was happy about what had become of it after Sam Custer died. I don't remember putting Sam's wife in charge, but there she was in the driver's seat and the front office. It was Relm Arrowny that Judas had chosen to run the place with Sam."

"When was he," he used her word, "revived?"

"A few months after Rhiannon's wedding. He just up and appeared in the Silver Moon one night. Rhi passed out." Collie shook her head. "She was shocked to see him alive and she was pregnant with Maggie at the time. Dennis, that's her husband, had never met him and, oh, the fury that ensued when a strange man tried to touch his wife." She closed her eyes. "I guess I just never will understand why Draven waited until after I married for the third time to bring his father back."

[PrlUnicorn]

It was clear to Michael that she'd been happy with Lasher and his death had been very painful. Colleen had known it was coming and did her mourning as he was fading. It might have seemed odd to some, but she'd lived nearly five hundred years. It was hard enough coping with watching those you loved crossing into the next plane while you endured, but to be nursing someone that was heading to the end of their life was even harder. Life had a way of going on even when someone was dying. Children still grew and love still blossomed.

"The only one of the children raised any sort of objection to Ithil was Mara." Her expression was one of disdain. "I found it awkward and disconcerting that she asked me if I'd been seeing Ithil before Judas had died. I hadn't, but the question troubled me nonetheless. To be asked in a backhanded manner if you were unfaithful to your husband, especially by your child, is distressing to say the least."

When Collie bent to examine and inhale the scent of a star shaped blossom on one of the vines, Michael asked, "What's that one?" It was a bit of a shift in the conversation, but he was searching for something. The expression on his face eluded to that fact and had she been looking, she would have seen it.

"It's a jasmine plant. They come in several varieties, but this one is among the most fragrant." Collie lifted her head and studied Michael a moment or two. "I am an empath, Doctor. You might as well say what's on your mind."

"I've been in this field for years and it never ceases to amaze me that patients generally retain skills and the knowledge attached to them." He managed a smile.

"Right, we tend to lose ourselves, our personal selves." Colleen had a good grasp of what was going on in her own mind. "A mother should not forget her children, yet, I woke not remembering their names." She lifted the jasmine vine gently and closed her eyes as she enjoyed their fragrance. "They helped me get through that. I guess it must say a great deal about my children and my grandchildren that they worked together to help me along." She tipped her head. "It's awkward, you know, seeing all those faces, knowing that you should be recognizing them and you just can't." She took his arm and they walked a bit more. "I know the names and most of the birthdays now. You didn't want to know about the children, you wanted to know about Ithildirnen."

"What do you remember about him?"

"I remember that he was handsome and had hair the color of mahogany. I often teased him about having robbed the cradle." She grinned from ear to ear. "He was, oh, four thousand or so. Ithil was a blacksmith by trade. He had a shop in the city." There was more on the tip of her tongue, but she quieted for a while as doctor and patient admired the garden together. The silence had suddenly become uncomfortable and Colleen pressed onward. "It was a little sojourn that we took to a place called Orlando, Florida that ultimately caused that marriage to end."

Dr. Fabares had a skeptical expression on his face. How exactly could a trip have caused the marriage to fail? He was about to learn just that.

"It was several years ago around the feast of Samhain." She looked up to him. "Halloween is another name for it. We went to Orlando to seek justice for Jack Bishop. He was murdered, you see." She looked tired when she talked about it. "A motley of redcaps was responsible for that and, quite simply, we went to round them up, dead or alive." She lifted a shoulder and let it drop. "Several of our number including my childhood mentor died in that little war. Elves from Middle Earth can die from grief. He would have died if he remained here, so he went and that was that." When she had finished, she turned to head back to Michael's office. "What shall we talk about next time, Doctor?"

He paused a moment to thumb through some notes.... "Next time, we'll talk about ... the Maran brothers."

She nodded in agreement. "I suppose we should."

[PrlUnicorn]

Early July 2009 - From the Journal of Colleen MacLeod

My analyst has asked me to gather my thoughts regarding the Maran brothers. What can I say? That relationship has run the course from hate to love and into confusion. Maybe, I feel bitterness, because at the beginning before the incident at the courthouse and that phony funeral I had only known about one of them. I should have known when the kisses were different. I should have known when he, no, they, hid so much that lovers should have shared.

I have not seen either of the Maran brothers since Diana tracked them down and brought them to me. Some things are just not meant to be, a life with either or both them was never really in the cards. At least not on my terms. In reading my old journal entries, I can tell there had been a great deal of emotion invested in that relationship. Since the accident stripped away my memories, I find myself looking at things with different eyes. What once was there, I can no longer find. Some part of me regrets and mourns that loss, but the rest is looking forward to finding the answer to my own hopes and dreams.

There was a time when I would have let go of almost everything for them, but now, I know I was blinded by a past that was what I thought I wanted, but all I have really wanted was to love and be loved by one man, who wants only me. I never would have had that with either of them. Kirin has found that, maybe she has closed that circle for both of us by fulfilling so many of the dreams of our youth. I refuse to give up hope, but I'm afraid to let my guard down now and, so, I build walls around my heart and wrap myself in layers that others cannot see. Maybe one day, someone will have the courage to go past the surface. Perhaps, there is a chance that the unopened Irish Rose shall blossom in the light of the one thing she has never truly had, true love.

[PrlUnicorn]

1 January 2010 - From the Journal of Colleen MacLeod

My analyst says that I'm progressing very well despite the large holes in my memory. He has recommended that I continue to reread my old diaries and journals. There are hints there to what was even if I wrote the entries in some sort of personal code and a dialect of my native tongue, just as this entry is.

Thankfully, I have not forgotten the everyday things like languages I know, well, most of them. I traveled extensively in Europe and have managed to hold onto what Russian, French, Spanish, German and Italian I learned over the years. I recall a smattering of Portuguese, mostly pleasantries, ordering food, and finding a necessary room. Never used the Danish much, but it's lurking in my head somewhere. I know a bit of a couple Arabic dialects. It was useful when traveling through Egypt in the Twenties. Tomb raiding was popular then. Oh, they called it archaeology, but the reality was it was an attempt to steal what should have been cultural treasures. Much of it ended up in hands of Sassenachs. Latin and Greek are wandering about in there as well, but I rarely draw on them.

I've met someone that intrigues me. Well, I actually met him months ago, even kissed him, but he's had his eye on Anya. I keep teasing her telling she ought to leave a few for the rest of us since she's already marrying two. I suppose, however, if she can find more men willing to share her, more power to her. As for me, I want only one man to want me for who I am and not what I own. Be that as it may, my personal rule of not fishing in another woman's pond still stands and he was off limits to me. At least he was until last night.

The day before yesterday, several ladies (Sivanna, Misty, Aja to name a few) got together to help Anya celebrate her last few weeks as a single woman. The party went along very well. I'd still like to know who had the bright idea of inviting a fifteen year old girl into a party of drunken women. I suppose I wouldn't have minded if I knew her parents had approved. Really, now, inviting the daughter, but not the mother? It confounds me.

And then there was the stowaway, a stowaway that crashed the party. Then again, since it was on Misty's ship, someone had to have told him where it was. Security cannot have been that lax ... or could it? I must admit that I found the black silk rather enticing, not to mention all that flexing caused my heart to skip a beat. I suppose I was very lucky that no highly gifted empaths were present, otherwise, my soul might have been laid bare. I wonder even now if that was disappointment in his eyes when I told him to go to her, it was her party after all.

New Year's Eve and Day are often times for renewal and new beginnings. I found myself in the arena just before midnight. Tru started up grumping when I was talking about Aja having been at the party. A "Truth or Dare" game got underway. It include Aja, Tru, Anya, Thorne, Teagan, Darien, and myself. Tru might have only been teasing, but the game of mishearing and pressing when he should not often goes too far. With Teagan parked on his lap, Fenner told the elf off. Teagan, who not minutes before was giving the journalist a hot and heavy kiss was suddenly off his lap and gone back to where she was before the game had begun. Some discussions should be kept between mates, but one of them starts up in public in a group of people they should expect that someone or several people will feel the need to speak. And really, what went on at Anya's party was not Tru's business. His fiancé was tame compared to some of us there. Ironically, Darien was told it was not his business, but since he was at the party and Tru wanted to know what was what, it really was Darien's business. Maybe he didn't want Tru to know he'd been there.

Next thing I knew, I left my drink, uttered a colorful wish for a Happy New Year and went up to the inn. Call me surprised, I got to the top of the stairs and there he was, Darien Fenner, right behind me. We had coffee and conversation. We also had an irritated Teagan looking on. I guess she followed him up when he followed me. She didn't stay long. Darien and I talked in that way people do when they are forming a new friendship. Those initial non-intrusive questions that often yield a great deal of information. He treated me like a lady which was surprising given what had just happened downstairs. That showed me that there was more to him that what people saw on the surface. We decided to have dinner together. As we were leaving, Teagan came back. It was clear to me at that point, Darien was the one she was annoyed at. I guess she planned on leaving with him.

Dinner was lovely. We talked. We laughed. We tangoed. It was comfortable and exciting all at the same time. I haven't felt that way in what seems like forever and with my memory still frazzled, it's hard to say just just how long it has been.

There is a mystery about Darien Fenner. Much like Marguerite St. Just wished to see behind the facade Percy Blakeney showed to the world, I wish to know more about this man and, perhaps, unlock a bit of that mystery.