Derek's story by tarot:
4wands - celebration of a creative achievement
the Sun - happy knowledge
4swords(r) - resting despite ongoing troubles (denial of problems)
7pentacles - stopping to analyze midway through coming to a conclusion
7wands - defensiveness
2pentacles(r) - (im)balance
5pentacles - physical need, deprivation
He sought perfection, in himself and in his woman. When he reached it (as he saw it), his drive to achieve was sated, and gradually his intrinsic unhappiness surfaced. He denied his unhappiness until he could do so no longer. Then, he defended his unhappiness by attributing it to imperfections in his wife. She was an heiress; he was impoverished when she renounced him.
His mother thought he went a little crazy, then. She was embarrassed by the apparent weakness of her son, and ceased communications with him. He was cut off by the matriarch, and thus by the family. The Page family no longer had four sons, but the loss wasn't spoken of. It was swept neatly out of view, which would be easier if he would just go away.
All he had left was his resentment, and pain.
Not one to wallow, he took a position with the mine. They looked at him suspiciously, at first. Locals just didn't apply at the mine. It wasn't done. But they saw his anger, his desperation, and his unattended loneliness. They concluded that he would make a valuable recruit.
Over the years, he worked his way up in the mine. The first local to do so in a hundred and twenty years. Now, he's just one promotion below Them. He doesn't realize that promotion will never come. This mine is his purpose in life; he runs it, perfectly.
Udela, Derek's estranged wife, has taken back her maiden name, and again goes by Udela Darris. The Darris estate is located high in the canyon and overlooks the town. She had been quite young when she chose Derek as her suitor, believing that it was her duty as a daughter of the Darris clan to marry someone who would compliment her family's pride and position in society. The experience taught her that 'perfection' had limits. When she spurned him, it was because his company had become distasteful to her. Her own pride wouldn't allow his poor treatment of her. She no longer knew what she would look for in a potential mate, but she didn't concern herself over it anymore, either. She had done her duty by marrying, and producing an heir. Unbeknownst to Derek, she had a child. She discovered her pregnancy just days after she had forced him to leave her house. She named the boy Warren Darris, and - unable to locate Derek - told the child his father was a brave man who had died too young. All boys should have a father they can look up to, she thought.
His mother thought he went a little crazy, then. She was embarrassed by the apparent weakness of her son, and ceased communications with him. He was cut off by the matriarch, and thus by the family. The Page family no longer had four sons, but the loss wasn't spoken of. It was swept neatly out of view, which would be easier if he would just go away.
All he had left was his resentment, and pain.
Not one to wallow, he took a position with the mine. They looked at him suspiciously, at first. Locals just didn't apply at the mine. It wasn't done. But they saw his anger, his desperation, and his unattended loneliness. They concluded that he would make a valuable recruit.
Over the years, he worked his way up in the mine. The first local to do so in a hundred and twenty years. Now, he's just one promotion below Them. He doesn't realize that promotion will never come. This mine is his purpose in life; he runs it, perfectly.
Udela, Derek's estranged wife, has taken back her maiden name, and again goes by Udela Darris. The Darris estate is located high in the canyon and overlooks the town. She had been quite young when she chose Derek as her suitor, believing that it was her duty as a daughter of the Darris clan to marry someone who would compliment her family's pride and position in society. The experience taught her that 'perfection' had limits. When she spurned him, it was because his company had become distasteful to her. Her own pride wouldn't allow his poor treatment of her. She no longer knew what she would look for in a potential mate, but she didn't concern herself over it anymore, either. She had done her duty by marrying, and producing an heir. Unbeknownst to Derek, she had a child. She discovered her pregnancy just days after she had forced him to leave her house. She named the boy Warren Darris, and - unable to locate Derek - told the child his father was a brave man who had died too young. All boys should have a father they can look up to, she thought.
