"Why do you worship Talona anyway?" The drow looked sidelong to Umolka, a thin sheen of sweat still masking his forehead. His red eyes were half-lidded with sleep as he reached over to run his deft fingers through the druid's dark hair. The action elicited a smile of affection, as he knew it would.

"Why do you worship your god? What is it? Mask? Cyric?"

A smirk played at Rav's lips as he shifted, resting partially against the headboard of the large bed.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." he said in a facetious tone. "You're avoiding the question."

Rolling her eyes, Umolka nestled her head against the dark elf's well toned chest. The room around them was dark but warm, no windows within to tell the time by. They needn't though -- it was late at night still, after a difficult and confusing night of traversing the High Ice. A near encounter with the chitinous and frozen Gelugon, a devil of the Nine Hells of considerable power, and a near trip down to one of the layers themselves had left the pair confused and shaken. Now they found comfort in each other in this room, the worries of their journey temporarily forgotten. Rav hadn't much to do in convincing the Lord Darkhope to offer them a room in the Magnificent Mansion he carried with him.

"It was my calling in life, that's all. Since I can remember I've been dealing with her blessings." The word, despite the druid's reverence, was spoken with an obviously venomous undertone. She flexed her warped and blackened right hand as she spoke, making it into a fist before slipping it back under the covers.

"Blessings. Hm. I've never seen blessings like the ones you have, pet, but that doesn't mean they're a bad thing." Rav's voice was as velvet, his practiced tone doing no less than melting Umolka's usually bitter heart. She sighed audibly, closing her eyes and curling closer against the cut body of the shorter man.

He was kissing her ass, she feared. Umolka did not dissaprove, but it troubled her that she had such trouble trusting the drow, though it did not surprise her. Despite how wonderful it all was, her very nature of distrust left a deep sense of dread in her bowels now and again when he spoke to her. She was putting so much trust in a drow -- a being who would be no more than a slave in her homeland. One who's power she couldn't help but find intoxicating, his position in the underworld of Skullport and in Waterdhavian society disguised as the gold elf Darius both quite attractive. Remaining with him long enough could attain her a comfortable position in the city and give her all she had hoped to have.

But she knew that was not the reason she was with Rav. For the few apprehensive moments she felt by him, she had sacrificed too much of her family's name to become involved with the Illythiiri. Had she married the mousey mage she had initially agreed to wed she would have had the noble name in her claws right now, manipulating the little worm of a man like the puppet she had envisioned him as. But her own pleasure had won out over the family's image. For the first time, she was truly enjoying an aspect of her life.

"Where do you think we're headed?" Rav's quiet voice jarred the dozing druid enough to cause her to start. She shifted and slipped her left arm across his torso, shrugging the same shoulder.

"With Curos leading us? Some place covered in Banite symbols, no doubt." the drow chuckled quietly, his hand remaining atop Umolka's head, a thumb playing over the only visible tattoo.

"Hardly what I asked. There can't be much up this way. And we've already seen how dangerous this place is."

Breath catching a moment at remembering how close she unknowingly had come to death, she responded with a barely-there nod. "...yes. K'nahs is going to get us all killed if we're not careful around him. The mageling has no common sense."

"This coming from you?" Rav peered down her in the dark of the room, the drow's irises glowing the soft red of one who could see far better in this lack of lighting. His tone grew all too serious. "You could learn some too. There's really not much I can do if Curos decides he wants you dead for talking back to him."

As Umolka flushed in a mixture of both anger and embarrassment, her face twisted in a frown, she silently cursed Rav's ability to see her in what would otherwise conceal her emotions. "I know. I know. I'm trying harder. My following orders almost got me dropped into that damn hole, remember?"

"I remember."

A kiss placed atop the druid's head worked to calm her easily, and the pair said no more. For the newly 'recruited' Zhents, they knew there may not be many more nights to enjoy themselves on this trip.