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 Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 5:36 pm
Tri-no couldn't stop the fury and disgust from crossing her face at the mention of her cousin's name. Her opinion of this foreigner plummeted. Anyone who knew Valyrr was likely as perverted as Valyrr and his sister were. She wasn't sure she wanted to associate with such a person. On the other hand, she might be able to damage Valyrr's reputation and Shrisin's at the same time, possibly costing them a friend. That would be satisfying.
"I do," she said cheerily. "He's my cousin, actually. Are you actively training this very moment? I could introduce you to my family. Our customs are probably unique enough to interest your mentor."
She didn't ask what he was in training for. She wasn't sure she was interested. Well, she was curious, but there was only so much she was willing to ask. She was not used to conducting interrogations. However, she thought this might be a good opportunity to practice her subterfuge skills. The death of the head of her family could wait while she exacted some vengeance on Valyrr and Shrisin.
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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 2:41 pm
"Judging by your face, I take it he is an outcast or at least kicked out of your house," Jysayne said mildly. Part of him wondered what the warrior had done to cause such disgust and anger to cross Tri-no's face but not enough to warrent his death or even transformation into a drider.
"I am training at the moment," slight amusmenet coloring his tone. Assassination was one of those trades you never stopped training. Least you end up dead. "I would be pleased to meet your family Tri-no," he said politly, eyes narrowing slighlty in caution.
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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:56 pm
She smiled, not noticing the narrowing of Kai's eyes. She thought she did a good job hiding the narrowing of her own eyes when she thought of Valyrr.
"Actually, he wasn't...kicked out, as you put it. The family - we're not a house anymore, really - was surprisingly lenient with him, considering..." she trailed off deliberately. "But I was not part of that decision. I was too young for my opinion to be of value." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "My words have weight now, with my family."
To herself she thought, And soon they will have much more, when I am the head of the family and begin to restore our former glory.
She beckoned for Kai to follow her and she led him back to the fountain, where her guards still stood, waiting for her to emerge from the mist. When she did so, Kai in tow, they bristled fiercely, and were not entirely reassured by her insistance that Kai was not a threat. Nonetheless, they obeyed and served as an escort on the way to the Baen'duis estate.
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Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:18 pm
"Mmmm," Jyses muttered soothingly, nodding slightly to her words as his eyes sought out his mentor. Rose amber met red, silently communicating for a brief moment before he nodded. "They would be foolish not to listen."
Jysayne nodded his head, following at a slow pace. He looked at the guards, judging silently hands hidden in the wide enveloping folds of his sleeves, caressing the knife. He followed them a few steps behind prudently keeping a bit of distance from the guards.
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Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:42 pm
Mollified, Tri-no acknowledged Kai's statement with a careless, dismissive wave of her hand.
"It doesn't particularly matter. It's unlikely Valyrr will survive warrior's training, anyway. Not that I'm hoping he fails. But he spent ten years before entering training doing...very little."
She ignored the guards which surrounded them except to dismiss them when they reached the estate. The guards were only too happy to be dismissed at that point. Even if Tri-no could not identify Kai's chosen profession by his bearing, they had been trained to guard against just such an individual. They were none of them anxious to test their skills against his. However, he did not seem to be an imminent threat to their current ward, and if he was, they privately felt it would be no great shame to lose the mage-in-training.
As they stepped into the main entryway of the Baen'duis estate Tri-no cast a quick glance around to make certain that none of her immediate family was about. Her mother was a shrewish creature, inclined to criticism, despite the honor done her daughter by her recommendation to the school of magecraft. She had a younger sister, too, who was quite the tell-tale, and thus also to be avoided if possible. Most others in the family were all right.
"You can see from the decor that Baen'duis used to enjoy a higher status," she said, pointing out the obvious before Kai could. It was a bit of a sore subject with her. "But we have never been particularly quick to guard our position in the hierarchy of Llurth Dreir, and so we lost it generations ago."
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Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:13 pm
Kai watched Tri-no momentarily before giving a lazy roll of his shoulders. It seemed he had placed just enough thought and praise to pacify the drow. Politely he made an sound of agreement while personally he believed she did not give Valyrr enough credit. The boy was surviving so far.
With care he pushed his hair back, taking the seeming innocent motion to quickly sign his fingers in a message for his mentor out of the guard’s eyes. He watched the guards move off, knowing they knew or anticipated he was in assassination. They seem all too happy to leave which lowered the little ladies importance to her house. Tri-no was not the house favorite.
Jysayne glanced about before nodding. “Yet, while the house may have lost status the bloodline still lives. With the right motivation Baen’duis could take back its proper place.” It had been foolish of what ever house that had took Baen’duis place to allow any member to live. Such bred contempt, hate, revenge.
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:23 pm
Tri-no shrugged carelessly. She had had that particular argument with the head of Baen'duis on numerous occasions. The head of the Baen'duis family said each time that the main concern of the family was to worship the Goddess with all due ceremony and honor, and not to strive for superficial advancement. Occasionally the words sacred and profane were tossed around. Tri-no wondered if she'd have more success in her arguments if she had gone to train as a priestess, rather than as a mage, but she liked magecraft, and she was better-suited to it than she would ever be to following the Goddess.
"The family lacks the proper motivation. I am hoping to change that, but I suspect it will have to be a gradual change. The family is not welcoming when it comes to alien thoughts and ideas." She grinned. "Believe it or not, hierarchal advancement is consiered an alien idea."
She took a few more steps and then turned back to Kai once more. "I never asked, but what is it you do?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:56 pm
Jysayne paused, looking back at his family. His four brother and the twin sisters all had proper motivation to advantace in rank and advancement. They had all figured out what they wanted to do at a young age and then achieved it. Well perhaps not his eldest brother but it was expected that he would follow their parents and run the caravan.
"I handle difficult situations often calling for the removal of..warm blooded personal," he said smoothly. Or in less techincal speak. I kill people Beeyotch for a price and with out leaving a trail.
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:31 pm
Tri-no was not stupid. She knew what a euphemism was, and she knew what this one meant. Her ears would have pricked up if she was a lower life form. Being a Drow, however, her interest was merely peaked and she found herself re-assessing Kai.
"I imagine that can be interesting when said personell is reluctant. Are you any good at what you do?"
She now spoke with more than polite interest, but only a little more. It would never do to have this conversation overheard, nor would it do well for her pride to express too much interest in a lowly male - assassin or no. Besides, he had a mentor. Perhaps he was only in training. That made him less worthy of actual respect, though she supposed his training had progressed farther than hers. Her instructors taught at a maddeningly slow pace.
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:04 pm
"It is best for it to be quick and quite, so such reluctant can not be expressed. I know the methods but I have not reached such a level in my training that my mentor feels..mmm secure to take it to such."Jysaye shrugged. "And you Tri-no? How far are you along in your mage craft?"
It would not do to talk for along about his craft. Best to change topic and attempt to steer conversation away from such thing. "Are you specializing? "
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:51 pm
Tri-no noted Kai's reluctance to discuss his profession, but she knew enough for now. It would do no harm to be in the acquaintance of an assassin. She reminded herself, however, that he claimed to be familiar with the methods of eliminating people, and so it would do even less harm to be a friendly acquaintance with an assassin.
"I progress more slowly than I would like. Natural ability and inclination to power don't necessarily make the education proceed quickly. Discipline and control and steps and..." She trailed off.
Everyone seemed to think magecraft was some sort of glamorous, fascinating employment, and it was, but not initially. No one needed to hear about the tedium of the study necessary to reach that point. It detracted from the awe which one eventually inspired.
"I plan to specialize eventually, but I'm not really sure what I would choose. Necromancy's a highly respected profession, of course, but I'm afraid I'm better suited to being an enchantress. I work much better with inanimates than formerly-animates, and much better than I do with currently-animates." She shrugged and smiled good-naturedly. Enchanting was a perfectly respectable area of magic, and quite useful, financially speaking, and getting a house back to high status was expensive.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:16 pm
A small smile crossed Kai face as she spoke thinking of one of his older brothers who had became a warrior. He had the natural ability and the muscle mass to get far in his field but not the discipline or control to get farther then a grunt. Brother was more about chop, swing, and kill. He got paid; he was happy.
"Mmm. Necromancy is a clever skill to have but so is enchantments. It is best to go with what suits you best and not what people push on you as the best. If you are better with enchantments then necromancy then specialize in that. It could leave to your self destruction otherwise. One of my brother chose a field he thought would be the most prestigious then what he was actually natural skilled in or interested in. He’s dead now.”
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:20 pm
Tri-no's carefully shaped eyebrows rose to a point of delicate interest, both at his smile and then at the fate of Kai's brother. She wondered how many brothers he had. Certainly his must be an interesting family to spawn an assassin and mage, and goodness knows what else. Any sister of his must be truly formidable.
"I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I hope, however, that it brought you to a more prominant position?"
Traditional wishes, those. She doubted Kai had anything to do with that brother's demise, but it was still not an unworthy accomplishment to manage to lose familial competition. And, if he had played some part in the death of his brother, he was to be congratulated for going about it by such subtle, elegant means. It was almost worthy of having been a female's plan.
"So, do you know why my family is - well, used to be - considered unique and worthy of note?"
The hall in which they stood was filled with past heads of the family, below which were mounted their favorite whips. Tri-no knew, of course, that the whips were preserved and mounted in deference to the family name. Baen'duis. Blessed by the whip. Now, most people didn't know the true significance of that name. Tri-no was determined that they would learn it, in time. Letting one who travels know and spread the truth could only be to the good.
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:11 pm
Breaking out of suddenly fond thoughts of his now dead kin, Jyses blinked before laughing gently. "No, the only thing my brother death brought to me is more space in the wagon on which to sleep and a small bewitched knife.” Which he had then sold for gold and spent on weaponry his tensen and a kanashi needle. His finger ran over the slender weaponry hidden in his sleeves.
“I can not say Tri-no. I have not stayed in the city for long when I had been visiting.” Which was true. He had no love for this city.
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:37 am
Tri-no had not particularly expected Kai to know about the family. Few did, after all. It also gave her the opportunity to tell her family's history as she chose to, rather than contending with any misinformation he might have picked up, or personal prejudices he might have. When Baen'duis was powerful, they had a number of enemies. To her knowledge, Tri-no was the only one who kept track of these things anymore.
"That is too bad. Lllurth Dreir is a beautiful place. The hot springs are particularly pleasant, I find, at the end of the day. Many come here for their health, many times, to take in the airs and bathe in the pools. They're said to have healing properties, by the grace of the Goddess."
She was stalling. She couldn't help it. It was exciting to tell someone, even a lowly male, a little of her family. She was so proud for what her family had once been, and she could envision a future in which they rose to prominance once more. The idea of sharing the glory of her family was liberating.
"My family was once known for their unique form of worship for the Goddess. Naturally, we are followers of the Spider Queen, but our method of worship is different. We achieve an altered state of consciousness and enlightenment through vigorous lashings which helps us to commune more closely with the Goddess."
It sounded so innocuous when she described it thusly. It did not convey the thrill of receiving a purgative lashing, or the near-ecstasy which came right before losing consciousness and surrendering to the justice of the goddess. It did not sound like anything special, really. No matter.
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