Aoife Tsigani

Aoife Tsigani
Aliases	The Haruspex
Affiliation	The LeCornus Family
Occupation	Fortune Teller
Species	Fae
Gender	Female
Age	138

Aoife Tsigani, also known as the Haruspex, is a faerie who practices the art of haruspexy - potion making and predicting the future.

History

Aoife Tsigani was born in the Leonois colony of Fomhoire. As a child, she was taken into the hut of the then-Haruspex, who was dying. She was told to take a knife and kill the Haruspex. After that day, she began seeing visions of things to come - she was now the Haruspex. One day she used this ability to save the life of the colonial governor of Fohmoire and was thus taken to take care of this governor’s family, the LeCornus. That man had a son and that son had a daughter. That daughter is Piety Breakspear.

Biography

Season one

Jonah's abduction

After learning that Jonah Breakspear was abducted from a whore house on Carnival Row, she agrees to help Piety and Absalom Breakspear find him. She had advised Piety’s family for generations. However, Absalom is very much against it, denouncing Haruspexy as nothing more than superstition. Piety reminds Absalom that it was the Haruspex who brought them together. Her father would’ve never agreed to her marrying a Burguish man had she not foreseen that he was destined for great things, and Jonah even greater. Critch magic is a sin against the Martyr, Absalom states. Nevertheless, it works, and so he reluctantly agrees. A sacrifice is required. The dearer to the House Breakspear, the better, and so Absalom is forced to sacrifice his pet bear. The Haruspex cuts it open and uses it for her spell. She claims the man that took their son is known to them. It is he who would drive Absalom from his seat of power. They gather that Ritter Longerbane is Jonah’s abductor.

As it turns out, Jonah was not taken by Ritter Longerbane, but rather his own mother. Her heels click against the stone floor as she circles her son. Jonah, still unaware that his mother is his own abductor, threatens to have everyone killed. Piety thanks the Haruspex for convincing her husband that it was Longerbane who took Jonah. While the Haruspex has served Piety’s family for many years, never before have they asked her to lie.

Creation of Philo's Darkasher

The Haruspex receives a visit at her shop from Inspector Rycroft Philostrate, with a dead fish and mole. With it, he wants her to make him a Darkasher. He won’t believe the killer was raised from the dead until he sees it for himself. She explains that a Darkasher must have a master. It’ll be bound to Philo until his last breath. The Haruspex requires from him what would be his part in any creation, his seed. The Haruspex appears to him as Portia Fyfe and Vignette Stonemoss and takes from him what she needs. She tells him to come back in a couple days.

Philo returns to the Haruspex’s shop to see if she had brought his Darkasher to life. He looks to a poster of the human anatomy she has posted in her shop. It says "Repository of secrets." The liver holds multitudes for those who know how to see. Just as she said she would, the Haruspex brought Philo’s Darkasher to life. Philo could sense the Darkasher’s intelligence when it came for him in the sewers the other night. The Haruspex corrects him in saying that what he actually sensed was the intelligence behind it. The Darkasher has no thoughts of its own. Only those of its master. Sometimes it’s eyes and it’s master’s eyes are one and the same. Philo pays the Haruspex to put his Darkasher out of its misery, but it can’t be killed, not while Philo still breathes. So, he tells her to put it in a jar. She also informs him that she has no idea who created the Darkasher he encountered, but it was someone with power beyond her own.

Discovering the Darkasher's master

The Haruspex has a vision of her death. She’s in her shop when the Darkasher approaches her from behind. She turns around and in looking at the Darkasher, knows the identity of its master. However, she is killed moments after. She shares this news with Piety, who is distraught and hopes that it can somehow be prevented. Unfortunately, as the Haruspex knows all too well, there is no cheating death. Piety wants her to stay with them until the danger has passed.

Piety informs the Haruspex that someone has been arrested for the murders, meaning she was safe from the Darkasher. However, the Haruspex suspects they locked up the wrong man. She knows for certain that it will come for her and in that moment, she’ll understand who summoned it. Despite the risk, Aioffe leaves.

Just as in her vision, the Darkasher has come for the Haruspex. She realizes that her time has come and in the moments before her death, she mixes a blue, luminescent concoction and drinks it. She then turns around and stares the Darkasher down. In doing so, she discovers the identity of its master, but is killed immediately after.

Philo and Tourmaline arrive at the shop and the Haruspex is still alive to some degree. The Haruspex is suspended in the gloaming, between day and night. Between the breathe and the silence, with the warp and weft of creation unfurled before her. She can see it all so clearly now. Every threat and intersection. Philo asks the Haruspex who did this to her. She reveals the master of the Darkasher is Piety Breakspear. As a child, Piety had always been interested in Aoife's work and had learned magic from watching her which Aoife now knows she should've suspected. The Haruspex can still sense Piety. Her rage is a bruise on time itself. It makes her strong and powerful. Her dark work is not yet done. More blood is being shed. Philo’s father’s blood, the Haruspex reveals. She also tells him that Vignette is in danger. The Haruspex tells Philo and Tourmaline that time is running out. As they leave, the Haruspex’ eyes fade and a blue smoke leaves her mouth. Philo then heads into the sewers towards Balefire, leaving Tourmaline behind.

Powers and abilities

• Haruspexy:
  • Potion Making:
  • Premonitions:

Appearances

Season one

• Aisling
• The Joining of Unlike Things
• Grieve No More
• Unaccompanied Fae
• The World to Come
• The Gloaming