Lucy looked at the people in the room quietly. The lanterns kept the room warm and bright, yet there was a cold in the air. Everyone before her held an aura that would cower men, hot of blood and stone of heart. Still, they held answers to questions that plagued her.

"Why is my hair black?" Lucy asked and the grand dowager empress laughed.

"This is what I know happened; your mother had written me after your birth and said, when you were born, she had made sure only Nanny Han was in the room. Nanny Han had learnt how to deliver children in preparation for that day. They had it all planned; the dye they were to use on your hair, and it all. But your father heard your first cry and barged in before they could put it on you. In haste, Nanny Han who was holding you, poured the unmixed portion which was just a white dye onto the little hair you had and rubbed it in. When your father asked why you had white hair, your mother said that you came from a long lineage of blondes and it was bound to happen. Amusing, isn't it?" the grand dowager empress explained with a smile.

"Then, she was planning to dye my hair in the first place? Was I supposed to be a Thraine from birth? She was planning for me to have the Thraine blonde hair from the first day and I was not blessed with it?" Lucy asked so many questions at the same time, that the grand dowager empress paused to take it all in.

"Don't get it wrong, Lucy, I'm sure it was just a precaution to have the dye there when she gave birth," Lusa said.

Stolen story; please report.

"Being a Thraine is chosen, not appointed," Vion said and Lucy paused. Vion was probably only a few years older than Lucy, yet she already had such an answer when she did not.

"People choose to be Thraines. When I met great grandma Aiona, she said that it was something to wear, like a title. I didn't understand then, but over time, even when I had not confirmed that I was one, people were afraid. It's our symbol, fear. I never declared to be one, I just became one over time," Vion said softly.

"So, none of you claimed I am a Thraine. I always wondered why people declared so when I said no such thing. I always thought one of you had said something. I'm not sure how we are related, but it seems that we are. Does that have something to do with it?" Lucy asked.

"Lucy, people assumed you were a Thraine. One sign is your hair, and another is to have a blood connection with one of us. Yes, we are all related by blood; We keep track of these things. Another is fear. You made people think you one. There are many women in our lineage who have never taken on the Thraine title," Matriarch Lilac said, her old voice strong and firm.

"Then, are you saying if anyone of our blood is capable, they can be called a Thraine? Even me, without being naturally blonde? You did say the hair also mattered,"

"Your mother was not blonde, and you did not take your father's ginger hair, but her stark black one. If you came out with black hair when your mother claimed to be blonde, it would have looked as though you were not your father's child. It was not by choice you became blonde," the grand dowager empress said.

"I see. Still, I'm not a natural blonde. Doesn't this mean all the conditions are incomplete?" Lucy asked.

"Lucy, No Thraine has ever been naturally blonde," Matriarch Lilac said and Lucy stiffened.