Welcome to Gaia! ::

The washroom was fairly simple and standard as far was places for cleaning went. It was a place where the servants were expected to clean themselves up, so as not to offend the Matron or her guests should she have any. Adinas did not hesitate to turn a small spigot tapped into a wall. Water magically gushed from the faucet and into a plain and somewhat small stone basin. "There you go. Get in and wash up." He told E'th...actually it was more like a command right? Cause E'th was a slave and all?

"Father doesn't like me at all." Adinas explained as he poked around the unfamiliar room until he turned up a bar of weird green looking soap. It didn't have any smell to it, but he assumed that it was meant just for the purpose of cleaning. He also found a towel draped over a stool. Satisfied with the basics, he pushed the stool towards the small tub. "And I don't think my uncles will like me much. I use them for practice and none of them have caught me yet. So if they see me with you, n you can't get away, they would probably beat you to death. So we gotta make sure Mother see's you first." Ah, the inner intrigue of House politics! Adinas resumed his searching of the wash room, and poked his head outside.

"Stay here. I'm gunna get you a clean tunic at least. And I don't think bandages are good right now. I don't want Mother to decide you'd be better used in the kitchen or something."

Adinas left E'th to wash himself while he sought out something for him to wear. Nothing with the House symbol on it for sure! That would have been a little too assumptive on his part he was sure. Adinas did manage to find some sort of plain brown tunic. He wished he knew what to do about the manacles the other boy wore. Could they like...be reset or something? They were magic...his mother knew a lot about magic so she would surely know!

Ah! Shoes! Adinas was unable to find just a pair laying about, so he made the long trip back to his own room to fetch a pair of his un-used ones. Hopefully it would be okay to let E'th wear them, along with a pair of socks...and his pants...not that he ever wore these fancy cloths...and the tunic should hopefully hide the degree of detail of the 'borrowed' cloths. On his way back, Adinas paused to get some spare bandages from a closet he had stashed some in. He was always worried about getting caught by his uncles, that he'd taken the precaution of putting first aid items in a lot of his hidey spots.

Adinas returned, hoping that he had not let E'th so long as he had been discovered and something unpleasant done too. His arms were laden with cloth items, and yes...he'd even grabbed a mushroom roll from the kitchen. He didn't want E'th fainting in front of his mother...she could be so very scary. "E'th! M' back!"

Wow... "Your hair is pretty." Adinas found himself remarking as he watched E'th wring it out. He reached a hand up to touch his own odd ball black hair. After his moment of..was that envy? Naaaah. After his moment of wonder vanished Adinas carried the items he had brought over. He handed the roll to Eth, then reached for the bandages.

"I'll wrap you up, so you don't bleed on any of the cloths. You eat that n' then you can get dressed. I don't want you lookin all hazy eyed when you meet Mother. I don't want her thinking your stupid in the head or on some drug." Not that being on a drug was a bad thing, but he didn't want his mother questioning what pit her first son had dug this slave up out of...he really hoped she'd let him keep E'th.

This was why Adinas tried his best to be a good son. As he unwound the bandages he looked over the lash marks on the boys body. he didn't want to get hurt like this. He did not want scars and bleeding. Some part of him worried this was a mistake. A slave that had been punished this much probably had things wrong with him. He hoped that E'th would prove to be grateful for all that he was doing for him.

Adinas attempted with some difficulty to wrap the cracked open wounds with the bandage. He personally thought he was managing to do a fair job actually. He looked at the other boys body and nodded his head a little. They could wear the same cloths... That meant he could look presentable later when he introduced him to Xunny!

"Okay...I think that's everything. Let's get the cloths on and get you to mother!"

So far for Haellara the day had been deemed typical. Since coming into her duties as matron mother, she had taken the responsibilities in stride, even finding time to manage the search for her renegade brother (growing more and more sporadic since that Lolth-damned day), dealing with incompetent servants and making sure her little son Xunrak was out of the way, which at times meant that he was to find himself in 'training' with his father, Nuumia. The boy's father was not kind to him, seeing him as a reminder of his inability to give his matron a son, and there were times when she adjourned herself to her room for a momentary respite that she could hear his particular cries echoing in the halls.

As for her other son.........she had not seen him in a while. It didn't bother her as much as it ought to; she knew very well that Adinas liked to remain hidden for a number of reasons. He felt that he was serving her better hidden in the shadows and keeping watch for any threats, but she also knew that it was his way of steering clear of his bullying uncles and his violent father. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. He was still such a mystery to her. He had come to her during a time where she had thought that she had reached the lowest point of her Goddess' favor, seemingly as a gift from the Spider Queen herself. Since then he had been exceedingly valuable, his borderline pathetic eagerness to please giving her peace of mind in knowing that there would always be a pair of watchful eyes on her that would serve as a witness should the worst happen. That and she wasn't entirely certain that Adinas had shown her all of his abilities thus far. It was a rare gift indeed to have a drow that she could fully rely on.

And so it was with mild surprise that she listened to one of her throne room guards report to her that her son Adinas was waiting outside to see her. Apparently he had brought along a young boy, not from the house, and in the guard's opinion, looked as though he had seen better days. Either he had been caught skulking around by Adinas, or he must have gotten him from outside the House walls. Still, what purpose did he serve bringing this boy here? Her curiousity aroused, she bade the guard to show the pair in and settled back in her throne, waiting for them.

So much tugging at his arms....the other seemed to have forgotten about the manacles on his wrists and the rather sore skin anywhere near them. He made no complaints however...Adinas looked too excited to worry any way.

He knew well enough not to lie to someone that was used to terrifying honest answers out of people. More likely than not he'd babble the truth if he bothered trying to lie, thus he would simply try to bite his tongue. Maybe he would be lucky and she wouldn't care to actually talk to him and would just push Adinas for answers. It really would sit better with him...but somehow he doubted he had that kind of luck. Considering the current events from the recent past, neither luck nor Lloth seemed to be on his side to offer him any help. Unless....maybe Adinas was the help Lloth was willing to offer him. He hadn't quite figured that out just yet.

E'th followed Adinas till he stood before the Matron, eyes remaining lowered. He knew well enough that the higher power someone had to further down they wanted others to look.

E'th was staring down... Oh yes. That was right. That was the proper etiquett when meeting a Matron. Adinas had not yet taken his eyes off the boy he had brought. He was like..a weird bug with one leg that was a different color from the rest. He just kept smileing with pride over finding the slave and bringing him this far.

It was foolish of him to be so proud. After all, all he had done was wash him up, tried to wrap up his wounds, and fed him. So why did Adinas feel so happy and excited? What was it about having a boy his own age that filled him with such...excitement? Joy? Adinas was still holding E'ths arm, and as his mother would speak her command to E'th, he quickly released him. He was supposed to be showing some sort of resolve here. Some restraint...but he had a real hard time doing it! Adinas shuffled uneasily from foot to foot as he glanced expectantly to his mother.

The boy's obviously frightened stuttering filled Haellara with satisfaction; in spite of her failures that she would never admit to anyone but her Goddess, she could still frighten those lower than her and make them feel as though they balanced precariously between favor and a grisly death, the feelings that a proper matron mother ought to install in others, even her own family. She lowered her head a fraction, looking as though she was pondering the answer when in reality she was checking one of the three pendants hanging around her neck. The most unnatractive one, merely a roughly teardrop-shaped stone hanging from a thin chain, would react to any lie told to her face, hence the necessity of the boy looking at her. A small lie would change its color, and a gigantic lie would cause it to slightly vibrate. But as she looked down, the stone remained it's usual purple hue. Of course, if the child had any sort of sense, he wouldn't start lying right from the off.

Keeping her own voice steady and firm, she continued to address the boy, willing him to keep his eyes on her. "So you are not from a current house. Were you before, and why did you leave?" That would be the LAST thing she needed was to unknowingly harbor the child of another house, even an insignificant male. She knew how house females thought; whether it was a trinket, a piece of candy, or a pitiful, twice-broken male, if it was not theirs, they coveted it. As she was still uncertain of her status with Lolth, she definitely did not need a house war over a male. She smiled as she held up her hand. "Think carefully before you answer, child. I'm not sure if my son has told you or not, but I have ways of determining truth from lie, and should I catch you lying to me, it will not matter in the least that my son has taken a liking to you; I will show you such torments that would make what gave you that scar seem like a cat-scratch."