A chill wave washes over you

In your head your thoughts are whirling around themselves. You can’t quite makes sense of them, or if the words you have been hearing but it’s clear these people believe what they are saying. You can feel it, see it in their faces. Tears spring from your eyes and you curse to yourself as your bonds clang before you can instinctively wipe them away. Your hands will not reach across your body or to your face. You presume to prevent interference with the device at your chest.

Anger surges within you, hot and intense. Anger at being caged, anger at your own people for their secrets. Something isn’t right and you need to get back and find out what is actually going on. You try to calm yourself down, to regain control, and find it difficult.

Grimmauld moves over to you, inspecting the ring once more.

“Do you feel that, captain? That surge within? It’s been a while I’m guessing.”

He nods with a wry smile at the confusion on your face.

“Clever things these runes. Make great warriors from average ones. They boost your magic, provide protection from magical and physical attack. Even dull your pain. But that’s not the end of it. Do you know that they inhibit emotion? That’s probably why since you’ve been here you’ve been feeling.. strange. The device at your chest is partially active.. dampening your magic and removing the blocks on your emotions. It makes sense in a twisted sort of way. Soldiers panic, betray, think illogically all thanks to emotion. So why not get rid of them? Oh a little bloodlust is fine, fear, comradeship, loyalty.. all doled out in the right amounts, nothing too ****.. nothing to break your control of yourself, or theirs on you. Tell me Jennara, you have been of age for elven fertility for a long while now, when was the last time you had a physical relationship? I know you are provided with down time exactly for that.. you all are. Free to avail yourselves of the massage halls, the camp companions, even the adoring civilians oh so grateful to their champions. Plenty of the generals are married. So, how about you?”

He stares at you and you can’t meet his eyes. You look over his shoulder instead, right into the mirror which shows your face writ large in perfect detail. The red spots at your cheeks are clear as day and you know they see it too.

“I’ve never been interested in.. all that.” You manage to mutter.

“No of course not. And I’m sure you thought that was your idea.. your failing? You and all the other poor fools marching around like magical automata. It was the runes. The runes stopped your longing for companionship dead. No emotional attachments, no physical entanglements, no family to worry about. Absolutely no children..”

Something in his tone draws your eyes back to him hurriedly

“ You mean I can’t..”

He shakes his head.

“Even if you somehow mustered the will to seek out intimacy, your magic puts an end to anyone becoming pregnant or causing pregnancy. The truth is.. such encounters are likely to be highly disappointing in any case, with the magical damping you are incapable of.. reacting sexually..”

He stutters very slightly for the first time and you take his meaning immediately. You flush red, suddenly looking away again.

“This is insane. You expect me to take all this at face value. To take the word of the enemy that has been doing their best to slaughter us all? I’m sorry but you don’t know me or my life beyond what’s written on that paper! This is some kind of control spell or conditioning or. I don’t know what. Just plain lies maybe. I still don’t know what you want from me but I won’t help you. I can’t.”