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 Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:21 pm
Now that she was pregnant, Trielnolu nee Baenn'duis had a few other plans to set into motion. She knew that she ought to be devoting all her energies to ensuring the safe birth of a healthy female - and she did spend a considerable amount of time doing that - but she was a drow, and it was in her nature to plot and scheme. And seek revenge. That was what currently engaged Trielnolu: the pursuit of revenge. She knew, though she could not prove, that her youngest cousin had been responsible for the descent into insanity which had heralded the end of her training at the mages' academy in Llurth Dreir and prompted her to surprise an acquaintance in Gallidurth whose child she now carried due to a severely convoluted series of events and plots.
She had been waiting in her private study for nearly an hour for her guest to arrive, and the waiting was making her irritable. She knew it had to be the waiting, because she was not nearly far enough along in her pregnancy for it to be hormonal. Besides which, it was perfectly normal for her to be irked at being made to wait for so long to conduct a simple business meeting. Were it not for the impressive reputation of the person she was to have dealings with, she would have already abandoned her waiting and gone back to her reading. She spent nearly equal amounts of time reading folkloric methods for bearing daughters and books of magic lately. And an inordinate amount of time worshipping Lloth, though she'd had to alter her practices so that there would be no risk to the child she carried.
Just when she was about to give up anyway, one of the Barrith heralds announced that her guest had arrived, and was en route to her present location. The news was well-received, and Trielnolu spent the remainder of her time before the criminal's arrival gazing into a mirror, fussing wih her upswept hairstyle. She liked it, but it had a tendency to succumb to gravity due to the sheer length and volume of her hair, and its subsequent weight. When she was satisfied she posed herself on a settee and composed herself to do business.
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Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:46 pm
A summons to House Barrith had not been something Keldrin would have expected to receive. Barrith was one of the wealthier houses in Gallidurth, but it was also relatively well-known that they did not involve outsiders in their affairs. Keldrin was an outsider if there ever was one. He was not of House Barrith, for one thing, and for another, he was not even a native of Gallidurth. Those two facts should have made him an undesirable within the walls of the secretive House. The whole affair had made him suspicious, and so he had done some resarch, and what he found was very interesting.
Primarily he was fascinated by news of the presence of a foreigner from Llurth Dreir, his home city, in Barrith, and her uncertain status there. Some said she had been adopted, and others said she was a guest of the elderboy. Still others said she was carrying the elderboy's child. There was a great deal of speculation regarding the last one, for it was an ill-disguised fact that elderboy Mas D'aun was not attracted to females, and would probably have been physically and mentally incapable of impregnating any female, no matter how attractive she might be. Which was the other interesting thing he had heard about the foreigner: she was fat. Not curvaceous. Fat. And growing fatter. Her name was Trielnolu Baen'duis.
He knew something of House Baen'duis. Within Llurth Dreir they were well-known for their aberrant worship practicces, but they were actually a House his former House had taken an interest in some time ago, thinking to bring them under Zaumtor's sway. It had not been a particularly successful venture, from what he'd heard. The matron at the time had been a religious fanatic, and unwilling to listen to Zaumtor's heretical ideas. A failing which brought an amused smile to his lips as he followed a herald to a room where he presumed someone from House Barrith wished to speak to him.
He hoped he had only been summoned for conversation, and not something less pleasant. To his knowledge he had done nothing to offend anyone of that House. His games tended to avoid such things. Particularly when matrons were mad, as Matron Barrith was rumored to be. True madness, he was familiar with, and unwilling to come within a spell's reach of if he could avoid it. He wasn't entirely surprised to see someone he could only assume was Trielnolu Baen'duis waiting for him on a settee. He knew Barrith had adopted a girl once to turn into an heir. Was that Trielnolu's purpose here? What did it have to do with him?
He bowed just deeply enough not to give offense, and then straightened, meeting Trielnolu's magenta eyes fearlessly. He'd never been good at subservience.
"Good afternoon, Trielnolu Baen'duis. How may I help you?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:16 pm
Trielnolu was taken aback that this reputed con artist would be familiar with her name. She oped he did not think he would be able to practice his trade on her. She was not a native of Gallidurth, but that did not make her a fool. She had done more with herself than her spoiled cousin could conceive of, and with fewer advantages and more opposition. She would not be taken in by the handsome young male with the frightening golden eyes. Something was odd about his eyes, though she didn't know exactly what.
Other than his unnerving and bold gaze, however, Keldrin was a very fine male to look upon. It was a pity that Trielnolu would probably never have the opportunity to avail herself of his good looks. He looked like the sort who was far too self-confident for his own good, and would refuse any offer she made to entice him into her bed. No. Besides, one night of thoroughly enjoyable sex was what she'd have to live with for the present. While she carried Mas' child, she didn't dare do anything which might jeopardize the child's legitimacy. She didn't know who would dispute the child's claim, except maybe Mas' brother, who might do so just to be cantankerous, but she wanted to be sure it was beyond reproach.
"There is a job I want done, and I want it done by someone with no personal interest in the matter who won't be taken in by a pretty face. A professional. I was told that you are the best independent criminal in the city."
She waited before going on. What she had to say next was harder for her to voice than she wanted to admit, mostly because by giving voice to her plan she was, in effect, destroying her House. If all went as planned, Baen'duis would have no viable heirs. Of course, they could always produce more, but it would not be Matron Umraevyll who did it, and it would not be Halynda. Trielnolu had never admitted to knowing it, but she knew that giving birth to Shrisin had nearly killed Halynda, and had ruined her birthing passage. She could bear no more children. Trielnolu-s own mother was forbidden to have children, and had been told in no uncertain terms that if she broke that restriction one more time (both Trielnolu and her older sister had been violations of that restriction), she and her offspring would be killed.
Of course, Trielnolue had lots of cousins and a sister, but Baen'duis didn't acknowledge male-line inheritance, and Malree was about as likely to get pregnant as the Matron's son. Which left Laelafae, Etheshalee, Faertana, and Shrisin. Four was a lot, but Trielnolu had a head start on the pregnancy matter, and if she produced a girl, her child would be the only admissable heir for both House Barrith and House Baen'duis. The only problem was, she still had to render her cousin Shrisin inelligible to inherit, which is where Keldrin came in.
"I want you to rape my cousin, Shrisin Baen'duis. She's training as a priestess at the main temple."
There. She said it.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:51 am
Kel did not allow himself to be too flattered by Trielnolu's assessment of his suitability for whatever task she had for him. For one thing, he already knew that he was the most successful independent con artist in the city, but he was not actually the best. The best was a devilishly clever female three times his age who had been pulling strings in Gallidurth for centuries. She knew everything that went on in the city, every con anyone pulled, every theft beyond petty larceny, every murder. He had never met her, and he did not even know her name. She was alluded to in certain circles, but Kel was still considered a newcomer to the city, and even a newcomer as talented as he was would not be deemed worthy of her acquaintance. Mostly he was relieved to be unworthy, because if he ever got to the point where he was worthy of note, it would be because she felt threatened by him, and that would probably prove fatal.
And so he waited without much expression for Trielnolu to come to her point. Surely she had one. As he waited, bored by her vacillations between flattery and domineering, he gradually replaced his expression with the Abyssmal gaze his family was known for. He, like all other adults in his former house, had gazed upon the Abyss, and it had not turned him mad. It had merely opened another portion of himself that he had not been previously aware of. However, there was something in the look a member of Zaumtor wore when remembering the Abyss that made just a little bit of the Abyss apparent to anyone who looked into their face. Many people found it unsettling, and he didn't have any scruples about using it to force people to come to their point more quickly. What Trielnolu was seeing was a very mild form of that look, but even that should be sufficient, unless she'd had many dealing with Zaumtor in the past, which he doubted.
When, at last, Trielnolu reached her point, hurried along by Keldrin's stare, his expression shifted completely. He just barely managed to disguise his disgust and horror at the thought of what she wanted him to do, and to whom. What quarrel did she have with her cousin? Whatever it was, he wanted nothing to do with it. He was not a prostitute, to sleep with whomever he was told, and he was not a fool, to force himself on someone, particularly not a priestess. And besides all that, it was never wise to get involved in familial disputes.
"No."
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:20 am
"No?" Trielnolu repeated in some shock.
That had not been the reaction she had expected. He had not even made a pretense of considering her request. At first she was outraged. How dare he, a Houseless male, stare at her as he had, and then refuse her out of hand? Did he not know that she was carrying the heir to House Barrith, and possibly Baen'duis as well? For all her flattery, she was the only one with real power in this room, and he would do well to remember that. She would have liked very much to remind him of it magically, but restrained herself as suspicion came on the heels of her anger.
"Why not? You at least owe me an explanation. Perhaps I can assuage some of your reservations."
She tried to make her voice silken smooth and honey sweet, but she didn't quite make it. Without magical assistance, she couldn't do it. But with magical assistance she could make a person believe her voice was the most beautiful, most persuasive voice they'd ever heard, and she could make their minds do most of the work. But that sort of magic would only work on someone weak-willed or unsuspecting, and she could tell that Keldrin was neither. The way he had stared so unsettlingly at her proved that. There was something eerie about his gaze that made her feel overwhelmed by the possibility it held. The possibility was not a pleasant one, she felt.
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