Emilia

Emilia had never described herself as anything too out of the ordinary. She was of average intelligence, thought herself fairly average-looking, and had a fairly normal upbringing full of imperfect love and a few really good friends. A bit of a late bloomer when it came to getting out on her own, perhaps, but nothing too unusual. Eventually, though, the ennui of never having left her home Clan started to set in in a big way. She decided, on impulse, that she was going to move somewhere totally unlike anything she'd ever experienced... changing her appearance to a much stripier one along the way. If she was going to be different, she wanted to go all out.

The Southern Icefield was the official name for Ice territory. The charitable called it the Glimmering Jewel of the South. The uncharitable called it Sornieth's Frozen Cloaca. The Nature native found herself firmly in the latter camp, with the region's dragons roughly as hospitable as the frozen wasteland outside, but she was determined to make the best of it. Especially as she couldn't afford the trip back home. She found a small lair in a bustling port city near the travel routes that had a room to rent and started working as a waitress to earn some money. Maybe she'd at least have some interesting experiences before she could afford the trip to somewhere, anywhere, better.

But, for better or worse, fate had other ideas. An extremely handsome gentleman with a sizeable entourage occasionally liked to visit their little establishment; Emilia's boss just told her to be extra attentive and polite to them and she would 'be okay.' More red flags than a Plague Pride Parade during the Riot of Rot. She approached the table with her best dimpled smile and resigned herself to being yelled at, but surprisingly, the gentleman at the head of the table returned her smile with one of his own. He was the most polite and friendly dragon she'd ever served, despite being a Plague native, and tipped her extremely well. Cash, under the table, and she was explicitly instructed not to pool it with her coworkers.

She could afford a cheap passage into Fire or Lightning territory, but for some reason, Emilia didn't feel inclined to take it so much any more. The idea of finding a charming, romantic, wealthy partner just because a customer took a shine to her was a romance novel cliche as old as time, but Emilia thought she might've felt something beyond just the natural reaction to someone handsome and (probably) powerful.

Iago poked his head in more and more in the coming weeks. Her coworkers said he walked right back out when he saw she wasn't working. And sure, others were terrified of him, and his entourage never talked back... And sure, maybe her family back home pointed out some red flags (and even offered to ship her home) when she wrote and told them... but, eventually, Iago asked her out and she didn't even remotely want to refuse. And, extremely luckily for Emilia, Iago's affection for her was genuine. She got to see a gentle and affectionate side of him that nobody else did... and, she had to admit, the beautifully luxurious black beard was easy on the eyes.

She is just as charmed by him as she was from their first date. Maybe it's a bit naive of her, but Iago has always been extremely kind to her and her family, and loves all their children very very much. Emilia is just fine being ignorant of what he does once she learned who he is... especially since he owns a large portion of law enforcement in their city. Their children almost all take after Iago in personality and appearance-- nearly all with lovely and imposing beards just like their father.

Emilia is a doting wife and mother, and very supportive of whatever business her children and husband get up to, especially when they don't make her hear about it. As far as she’s concerned, Iago is just a restauranteur, totally legitimate, and he’s been here since 8:00. What are you, a cop? She doesn’t have to talk to you.

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