Abril de Salazar

Chef

none

inconsistent- no formal diplomas or courses of study completed

.

Abril's childhood found her passed around between extended family members as her parents divorced and her mother traveled for work. As a result, she hardly remembers her own mother. Abril took up residence with her Aunt who worked in hospitality and before she could even reach the counter was set to work scrubbing and doing odd tasks. On that world there were no outcries against child labor, but Abril would not have known what to make of such a statement anyway. Her Home, Work, and School was all along side her Tia Lucia in the kitchens they worked in. What she did quickly come to understand, before she ever came to know about terms like wealth and classes and stratification, was the difference between herself and the diners. The other side of the restaurant was often glamorous and filled with characters that seemed to come out of stories. They seemed hardly to notice her unless they were upset, a condition that never ended well for Abril. Even outside of work, around town, people like that rarely moved about where she did, and if so, seemed to be touring, setting themselves apart. By comparison she felt like she must be a completely different species. When she grew older she was often employed as a server and housekeeper and made fast friends with other service persons and co-workers, but was always bedazzled by the guests.

The fixation led to her being overly open to one guest in particular who visited over the years. At twenty, he invited Abril to be waited on with him. He promised her wealth and comfort and lavished more gifts on her than her humble home with her Aunt could sensibly hold. Tia Lucia didn't know what to think of this man. He seemed nothing more than a kindly businessman. But he was quite a bit older than Abril and Lucia felt they didn't know him very well. Abril resented her Aunt's caution. A burst of love fueled rebellion lit in her a fire she'd never really felt before and both excited and frightened herself, until she fought with Tia Lucia, frustrating her Aunt day and night. Finally Tia Lucia threw up her hands and told her to just go! Abril left with her new suitor.

Jonas was attentive and defensive of her, full of praise and passion. Abril became part of the fairytale land on the other side of the invisible line. She traveled to faraway places and did exciting things. Dining in the Corolov Clouds, Flying the Pelnin train over the HobHob Desert, Riding Tovian Bears, seeing the Romantic traveling Deltan Circus, the city of Faurel at night from above... and all of it bracketed by love making she had never even had the capacity to dream of mere weeks before. Yet.... she still felt like she was entirely without pedigree. Jonas told her to give it time, that she would come into it, she had all of the beauty and poise for it.

For months they carried on so. He often left for a day or a time to attend to business but always returned. Until one day he never came back from his business and Abril was left alone in a hotel on a foreign planet by herself. There was no trace of her lover, no contact, note, sign, or anything. As the days and then weeks went by and the bill was brought to her, she tried to get help from the police, thinking Jonas missing, but nothing turned up. She realized she knew next to nothing about him and had little information to give. She sold all the fine gifts she had with her to settle the accounts and managed to hoof it as far as a Federation Space Station to seek out work while her heart and her head ached and spun. She grew nauseous every day, more than she could explain away with love sickness and fear, even. Scared, she looked for medical help.

"Congratulations." The nurse in uniform said. "You're pregnant."