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"I told you, I didn't know it was one. My internal clock said it was still the weekdays so thus school...kinda just ran. And they know already, screamed bye to them on my way out the door." Watching his friend in his fidgeting motions as he was rather still and stiff himself....when Malikhai was upset he merely stood his place and was rigid on really all levels.

He gave an exasperated sigh on the inside...they weren't listening to him and correcting them was just a waste of his energies. He knew exactly what had been done to his runes, what they had picked up, and what they had done in response to it all. Explaining it all however when they were convinced of other things was simply a waste of time at the moment. He'd handle it on his own. "Maybe loyalties are not looking to be shifted, but forgotten, yes?" He was doing his own thinking in his head and he nodded lightly at the other information around himself. But then his attention shifted to Galesen. "Now that is a worthy idea...don't forget so when we're ready we can head out."

This was too much, it really really was. "Fine, I'll get them." She had doubts on Malik's little insinutations though but her thoughts were her own right now. She was just working on keeping herself calm. "The most important people in the families sometimes aren't the heirs." Brushing a hand through her hair she turned from the group and headed outside to the stables and thus Serino.

This walk was too damn long in his opinion. It just was...and there were little to no good stopping spots to take a rest...things had already tried to eat him four times and he was pretty sure his ankle was sprained too. But according to his map, these places should be coming up soon...

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Another snap of fingers to get the children what they further wanted or at least the emulation of what they wanted as he was being patient once more. "She won't get mad. Besides you're the only one with an interest in your main studies being runes...no sense to hold you back with others all the time.

"Right. Still, don't tell my parents. Your dedication makes me look bad." He continued pacing, watching his best friend and almost brother and wondering just how he could be so calm at a moment like this. Finally he let himself fall onto the overstuffed sofa. "So, what do we do now?"

Zahara gave the look right back to Malik, imagining him as a bug she could easily squash or something even more unpleasant, like the mess that coated the bottom of the stables when the horses were finished eating. She tossed her head haughtily, giving those gathered a look of disdain and swept from the room. It didn't take her long to follow the trail of her own ingenuity and step into the stables. It'd be the first place she would have headed to for comfort if her husband was being an a**. Not to mention being around something she loved almost as much as her family might soothe the ache inside her. "Piper?"

--
Faate was secretly very pleased to know that he really was proud of her. She'd learned to recognize the emotions in her parents' eyes since she was very young and his had never lied to her. "I wouldn't want them to get jealous or anything but I'd really really like that. When can we start, Daddy?" Excitement shook in her youthful voice and on a whim she hugged Dhairiss tight enough to elicit a giggle, then tickled his side and pushed back the empty plates and cups. "All done."

"Now? Now we have to wait. They think we're going to go pull stunts they'll lock us down in the basement or something. Besides...we need more facts too before we just barge out there on our own. Wandering around all lost won't help anyone."

He rolled his eyes as they continued to spat with each other. It was undersandable that Zahara was upset...two of her children were missing and she was more connected to them than anyone else. He supposed Piper was acting the same way, yet he hadn't seem Malik and her interact on it. In fact, Piper hadn't come back yet. Watching his wife leave he shook his head, "Malik do try to be a little less harsh with her...these are the children weren't speaking about. Not just anyone. And the words were more along the lines of 'morons'. I keep telling you...nothing got past my runes. They were triggered, they recorded what they were supposed to...but I have little more information than I did before. Same energy signature that I don't recognize anything visual shows merely an image of myself and a faint smell of amber.Nothing 'got past' them. So then...stop wasting leads on Andal...I'm telling you it's not Andal. If it were Andal, I would go pay a visit and personally collapse the plane a hour ago." Turning a sideglance to Galesen. "Well...for the sake of your life, you better hold you word on that. THis isn't everyday dealings, this is family."

Serino had duly been sent off, but she was still sitting in there. She couldn't fall apart in front of anyone so she kept it quiet on bonds and kept the physical signs private. This was her baby they were talking about...and for a woman who couldn't have anymore children and was lucky to have what she did have, to loose one was rather devistating. Evidence of that for her came in the form of bloody knuckles on one hand where she had sought to try and sort her emotions by converting it to anger and punching the stable wall a few times. Dropping her face her hands she tried to keep the tears at bay...which wasn't working so well. But a sniff and she tried to cover it all again as her name was called. "Taking too long am I? You can tell him I sent Serino already...I'm just....securing the stables a bit more..."

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"We can start now, but we're doing it a different way. I know you carry your study material on you, so I want you to merely give me a demonstration of what you know. From the books, from our lessons...and even things that you may have been trying on your own, combinations and such." Turning his eyes to the little ones as they were nice and quiet. They would probably be affected quicker anyway. "Why don't you drop Dhairiss off with his mother?" She could take care of that part with that child at least...that woman already had her plans.

"I hate waiting." He knew Malikhai was right though. There was nothing they could do without the information they needed and they didn't even know how to begin getting it. "Dammit."

Zahara knew exactly how Piper was feeling and she watched the other woman in empathy. Piper had lost her youngest and so had Zahara, but what no one except she and Sevilin even realized was that Faate was Sevilin's heir, Zykariel wasn't. Sevilin didn't have anything to pass down with the exception of knowledge and his brand of knowledge meant runes. That worried her since she knew just how twisted children could become when introduced to things they weren't prepared for. That was the basis of drow society in a nutshell. Walking over to her friend, she shook her head. "Piper..." What could she possibly say? She didn't know and Zahara felt herself falling apart. "I-I'm scared..." Shaking her head. "What if they hurt them or..." she couldn't even say it.

Lyssie didn't the sound of that anymore than she liked knowing that her mother was in the stables. Still held by her father, she was terrified if she let him go he was going to disappear just like Faate had. If she'd been quick enough she could have stopped Mama from leaving too, but it was too late now. It was time to hold onto Daddy with all her might and keep him with her, regardless.

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"Okay." Lifting Dhairiss into her arms, she gave a nod to her father. 'I'll be right back." She assumed Daddy was pulling one of those impromptu tests and not telling her because he knew tests made his students nervous. She'd heard about the ones he'd put her mother through without her knowledge where she'd done perfectly fine and when she knew it was a test, it just all fell apart. It took a few minutes at most to drop Dhairiss off with Piper and hurry back, pulling her books out and then studying her father intently. "Do you have a preference of what you'd like to see or something?"

"Whatever this is, it's playing with us. And personally...I hate being baited and toyed with. This smell thing though...it's isolated if no one else if picking it up." Which wouldn't help them at all if they were just going off of each others' words. Shaking his head as Malik more or less was telling the truth on that matter before he took to following him. "Mean-hearted? What exactly are we doing and why do I have to be in on it?" Giving a pet to his daughter's back and trying to soothe her, knowing she wasn't happy either.

"The underdark is ruthless...if you want to hurt someone then you do it there and then, you don't wait." Especially with bonds floating about, it would be so easy to torture the parent through that by making them know the child was in pain. At least Zahara had her husband to fall apart too if she needed. Piper had General on her hands again...not what she perferred at the moment, but it was probably for the best...this this was how it was going to be. Idly she wiped at the blood on her hand. "Ever think one of your children means less than the other?"

Oh look it was the surface elf that he was told he would probably live with or something of that nature, with a horse too. But he stopped rather than approached, giving a once over the place that was before him. "Why are they always huge?"

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"Mm no, surprise me. Start with what you're most comfortable to warm up with and then just move on from there. See if you can impress me."

He was sitting in the corner, sobbing. How could daddy do that to mommy?! Was daddy really that mean?! He was soothed somewhat quickly though as his mother picked him up, cuddling him despite her bruised and bloodied apperance. He merely latched to her for comfort for them both.

Ah children...so easy to fool and manipulate. It wasn't like it was hard what with the method she was imploring really. "It's alright Dhairiss, dont' cry."

"Possibly, but we don't even know for sure if drow took them, Piper. Sevilin said he didn't recognize the energy signature all those other times..." Shaking her head and walking over then gently using her own magics to heal her friend's bloody knuckles. "Means less? Piper, what are you talking about. You love your boys the same way I love mine, and my girls for that matter. None of them have anymore love than another though they often think otherwise. But children are like that, I've learned."

Zykariel's head flew up from it's resting place on his knees and he stared at his father and uncle for a long moment. How precisely was this going to work? Chewing his lower lip, he shook his head. "That thing eats people alive..." He'd heard all the stories and that sword was still a legendary thing from his childhood. He hadn't been allowed to grab the hilt then for obvious reasons and he was terrified to grab it now.

Lyssie wasn't too pleased with the sound of Malik's plan either though she didn't really understand a lot of it. Clutching her father even tighter, she pulled on his braid. "Daddy? Is Uncle Malik really gonna scare Kelli that badly? He doesn't like spiders...what if he puts one in his crib? And Faate hates it when anything slimy touches her feet...remember how upset she was when mud got between her toes?"
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Oh yes, it was definitely a test since she'd learned her father's ways by now. Nodding to him, she kept her books closed and pulled out that special ingredient that would allow her to rune without using her own energies. Daddy was very specific about that unless he said otherwise since runes took a long time to fully learn. He let her rune by herself but not warm-ups and she wasn't allowed to perform it herself until she'd fully grasped it more than three times with the agent.

She put herself through the normal warm-up, tackling elemental runes and varying intensity, then moving up through translocation and defensive measures. Performing it all from memory, she finally flipped open her book and began practicing the current rune they'd been working on for the past few weeks: a combination that would allow her to shatter even the hardest of substances, realign them in an unnatural way and be able to use the new gadget depending on the realignment. In other words, she could take a rock, shatter it and then use the pieces to form a weapon, all with the swipe of a finger. She hadn't quite been able to master it. The closest she'd gotten was shattering her mother's favorite casserole dish and almost making a dagger out of it. Mama hadn't been too pleased with her efforts, however, and she'd been told she wasn't allowed to do runes without her father's presence and permission. Mama always acted funny about her runes. It was almost like she was upset that her daughter would rather sit around with musty old books than learn to combine bloodroot and worm's entrails into a concoction to drink.

Kelligrin wanted to play with the pretty sparks Faate was making and he attempted to crawl out of Daddy's lap and onto the table to get some. Was she fingerpainting?! He wanted to do it too. "I help. Sissy, I help." Thus, onward to the artistic mastery that he was so good at. His Mommy told him so.

Sevilin frowned at that information. "No ones going to mess with spiders and slime Lyssie. Gotta be positive for your brother and sister right now, okay? But then he put an arm out in front of his son, and pushed him back from the blade some more in commonplace father protection manner. "Malik, I am in your employ not my son. You can do with me what you wish, and as effective as you may think your plan is or is not, I will not have you putting one of my children in a position to be used in such manner."

Sure, Malik may not like the refusal, but this was something Sevilin didn't want to back down on...especially with Zykariel. The boy had had enough problems and negative things from his infancy that he was still dealing with now in his own ways. Bringing it all back or bringing forth his what if questions was not something Sevilin wanted for his son. "As for bonds...I can break them and I can detect them, blocking is more challenging to do...may have some trick in my head to trace such things."

Malikhai shared his friends almost horrified look at what his father wanted him to do. More so because he knew that thing even more intimately than his friend...after all, it was almost his when he earned the right. He looked to his friend as Sevilin more or less outright refused to let Malik do such things. But he was Malik's son and that wasn't a request but for of an order of necessary evil. He wasn't sure if he could do a good job...his bond with his brother was more or less just now firmly establishing. Mom was the only one who had strong bonds to them all. Reaching a shaking hand out, he lit it over above the hilt in preparation to grab it, though gray eyes looking to his father a moment as if he was waitng for him to say yes or no.

"I do love them the same. But when things like this happen, even the hypothetical situations that Malik can run over in his head and my own curiosity leads me to get briefed on...it always seems like Malikhai has to come first. And I know that's how these things work when it comes to places like this. It's my surface elf showing through again I guess. And with that up...the situation just gets worse in my head. It's hard to know that the possibility of me having another child is fractional to none...and loosing one? I just...I want to break down and be a mother, but I just can't right now..."

"Or to compensate for something." Shrugging lightly and throwing his bag over his shoulder...so...what to do now? "I little bit...map was kinda hard to read and I had to come all the way down from the surface. At least I didn't break my ankles or get eaten so I suppose it wasn't too much of a hard time."

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He merely watched with that approving look of a father for his child as went through the motions. Well well, she was quite good already and she was just small child still. He nodded to her a few times, giving a noise of approval every now and then. Though a raise of an eyebrow as she apparently was going to do a little showing off on something familiar. "Remember...be careful now."

But he grasped the child that had climbed onto the table gently by his ankle so he wouldn't be crawling anywhere. "No no Kelligrin. Faatallon is doing her studies, maybe she'll let you flip pages in the book when she tells you too...bur the runes are not babies.