Chapter 10.

Aramys walked down the long corridor, contemplated the door to her own room, then passed it and headed to the practice area instead. Sitting on the floor in a corner of the room, she drew one of her fine swords and held it before her eyes, looking at her distorted reflection in the shining blade. This sword she had taken from the weapon master of one of the lesser noble houses; it had come with an assignment she had been given several years ago. She had been hired by the master's sister to remove the troublesome brother. Apparently the sister had wanted to be rid of him to replace him with her lover, a lower ranking male in the household, one who's ability in the bedroom apparently outshone his skill in battle. She hadn't been confident enough of her own standing in the family to take on the task herself, and couldn't manage to arrange a proper "accident" to occur, and so Aramys had been given the job. The sister had never mentioned why she hated her brother so much, or even if she did, and Aramys hadn't bothered to ask. Such was family loyalty in Menzoberanzan.

The young elf turned the blade over in her hand absently and watched her reflection transform again. She replayed the rest of the events in her head; the parts of the story that not even Jarlaxle knew about. At the time she had been given the job, Aramys had already achieved a considerable reputation as an assassin. The girl felt no small satisfaction at striking out against the people who had so tormented her her entire life. She had killed priestesses, mages, commoner and noble alike, and had never felt a touch of remorse for doing so. Each of her victims deserved their deaths, she felt. So, when she went after the weapons master, she thought little of the task.

She found him in his houses gym, and he was waiting for her, expecting her even. But it wasn't battle that he wanted. He took his sword, the one that she carried now and which bore his family rank and insignia, and threw it at her feet. He obviously knew the score, knew that if he were to fight and kill this assassin, there would only be another later. Aramys had looked in the drows eyes and saw, not cowardice, but hopelessness, and a terrible weariness of the killing and betrayal that was his existence in Menzoberranzan. And she simply knew that she could not kill him. Instead she told him to leave the city, that she would tell his family that she had killed him, and destroyed his body. She would show them the sword as proof, for no weapon master would relinquish his sword while still living. It would be enough to convince his sister, for mercy was not something that came easily to the drow psyche. The male had done as she said, and she wondered about him from time to time, wondered whether he still lived, if he had found a place in some other drow city, or if he had died alone in the underdark wilderness. Whatever had happened, he was free. As for Aramys, her act of mercy confounded her to this day.

Her thoughts turned to the situation she had just left. She wondered what it was that jarlaxle wanted to talk to the human about. She trusted the drow not to reveal any of her confidences, but still felt concerned at leaving the two alone. She had never seen a more dangerous look in Entreri's eyes, and she had witnesses a few of these in the short time she had known him. She didn't understand entirely what his expression meant, but knew that it boded ill for someone.

If that someone happened to be jarlaxle, she knew the man would be in for more than he expected, for even without the countless magic items and spells he kept about, the drow was one of the most formidable warriors alive. She didn't want to consider these two coming to blows, for surly one of them must die.

Another memory began to replay in her mind, this time the conversation jarlaxle and she had shared a week ago. After he had released Entreri from his spell, the mercenary had practically drug her into his room. Spinning her about to face him, the drow stared hard into her eyes. What Aramys saw was not anger, but rather a terrible concern. Seeing his expression, she lost what little self-control she had managed to regain on the journey back home. Utterly humiliated by her weakness, she had burst into tears.

Jarlaxle seemed taken aback for a moment by those tears, the drow had rarely seen anyone weep in his life, and certainly not this one. Not even in the worst pain had Aramys ever cried in his presence. Now, confronted by them , he knew beyond doubt something had happened in the city other than a skirmish with a patrol. He intended to find out exactly what.

The drow pulled the young woman into his arms, holding her tight. "Now, my girl, tell me what really happened."

Aramys raised her face to look at him, at a loss for words. Jarlaxle continued staring into her eyes, intently, expectantly. Finally, with a miserable sob, she spilled the whole story, every embarrassing moment, not glossing over any of the details.

Jarlaxle released her and turned away, trying to hide his own emotions from her. To his surprise, he felt a ridiculous wave of jealousy wash over him. He had no right, he knew, but it was there nonetheless. After a long moment of consideration, he turned back to her, his face calm. Motioning her to sit in the large wooden chair that occupied one corner of his room, he seated himself at her feet.

He decided to deal with the least sensitive subject first. "So, you are telling me, that when you were confronted with the patrol, you choose to hide rather than to fight them?" He looked at her questioningly. " That's not your style at all, my dear. Ordinarily, you would be more than happy to leave a few corpses decorating the gutters of Duth Cloim. What's up with that?"

Aramys sighed, relieved at the drows choice of subject."Ordinarily, I would have done just that, but.."

"But what?"

Aramys looked at him testily, knowing the answer should have been obvious. " I had the human along with me."

"And?" prompted Jarlaxle.

"And!" continued the exasperated girl. "And, he can't levitate, doesn't have any innate magic at all for that mater, can't follow a conversation, understand handcode, is practically blind, by Lloth! The only thing he is able to do is swing a sword!"

" Rather well" Jarlaxle added dryly. He continued," And so, that being said, you fight the drow, he gets killed, your assignment is over and you go about you business carefree. Simple enough? "

Aramys raised her fine brows. "The thought did cross my mind." She admitted.

Jarlaxle chuckled a bit. "So, what stopped you?"

Aramys thought about it for awhile. She didn't really have a good answer, and so settled on the most logical. "Well, you seem to want him around. I suppose I should at least try to avoid getting him killed."

"And?"

" And it just seemed wrong. "

Jarlaxle laughed out loud at that. "Wrong? What's that?"

Aramys had no answer. The drow continued. "Yes, I do admit I rather like master Entreri, despite his flaws. He's always entertaining to have around. Do you?"

" Do I what?" questioned the girl.

Jarlaxle gave her a meaningful look. "Do you like him, My dear?"

Aramys' pale face went scarlet as she realized the turn the conversation was taking. " Lloth, no!" She answered emphatically. "He is a complete and utter.." And here Aramys used a very derogatory drow word." I can barely stand the sight of the creature!"

Jarlaxle widened his eyes at her expressive language. " Well then, I suppose you don't need to like him. Can you explain to me then what happened in the basement?"

The girl sighed and looked away. "No, I cant. One moment we were arguing, he charged at me and I thought he would try to wring my neck. Then," here the girl closed her eyes." The next moment we were laying on the ground, and…" Aramys stopped, a shamed expression on her face.

" I think I get the picture." Jarlaxle said, looking down intently at his hands. "He didn't force you to do anything?"

"No. " the girl admitted.

" And when you wanted to stop, he did so without arguing?"

" Without question."

" Well then", the drow continued, " I must say that Master Entreri has more control that most men would in a similar situation."

" Control?" Aramys asked. " Most males think I'm disgusting."

Jarlaxle laughed, meeting her eyes again. " Those you have been surrounded by are drow, and are prejudiced fools who shun you because of your heritage..And ", he added, "I'll wager a few of these would overlook it if they weren't so afraid of me." And you for that matter, he thought to himself. The mercenary stared at her closely. "Let me tell you, my girl, In any other place males, elf and human alike, would line up across the countryside to be near you. " Aramys looked at him skeptically. "No, child, don't look at me like I'm a fool." the drow continued, "You are beautiful, by any races standards."

Aramys looked down with sudden shyness." If you think so, then why have you never…?" She glanced up again, blushing, and letting the question hang.

Jarlaxle understood her meaning well enough. " I don't know. " he answered honestly." It's not that I haven't wanted to. It just seemed…Wrong."

. "Wrong? What's that?' she quoted his earlier words." And if you thought so, why have you gone as far with me as you have?"

Jarlaxle considered the question, knowing the answer an not wanting to admit it. Finally, he said, " Because I love you, and I'm simply not that honorable." He wondered why he had chosen the surface word for love, and not the drow term. He continued, " We can, if you want, if it will ease your fears."

Aramys looked at him, searching his handsome, familiar face. His simple words seemed suddenly huge, filling the room. Jarlaxle had never hurt her, had always sought to comfort and please. The one-sidedness of their relationship had bothered her somehow; she wondered what it would be like to please him as he had her so often. He could take away her fear in this as he had in everything else. Then something else intruded on her thoughts: the unfamiliar, unsafe feeling of Artemis Entreri's body against hers, his burning, angry and lost eyes. No, her mind reacted against the unbidden memory; I can't, not so soon after what had happened with him. Aloud, she said softly, "No, not now. I have a lot to think about."

Jarlaxle felt a wave of relief. It wasn't that he didn't want her, quite the opposite. Crises of conscience were unfamiliar territory to him, and he thought perhaps he had failed her in this regard. He had wrestled with himself over the matter repeatedly, and could only come to one conclusion: he knew if he gave in to the urge it would only serve to bind them together, it would make it impossible for him to ever let her go. And, he realized, letting go was what needed to happen if Aramys was to survive. This was not her place.

" Alright then", he said softly, hiding the sudden hurt he felt. " Go think." The drow stood, pulling Aramys up from her seat. " However, before you do, I have two more things to add to your list of considerations. First, the next time you take Entreri with you on an assignment, don't worry about him getting into trouble. He has an amazing way of leveling the playing field no matter what his disadvantages. I would bet my life that if you were to blind him, deafen him, and tie one hand behind his back, the man would still be lethal.. Trust in his abilities." Aramys stared at him, her eyes wide. More softly, he continued. " The second is this: If you want Artemis, then have him. Remember that he is a human- their life span is less than a century. You don't have decades to ponder it!" He laughed at her shocked expression. " Don't be embarrassed, child, it's perfectly alright. You deserve some joy in your life." That being said, the drow steered her towards his doorway, kissed her quickly, then pushed her out.

Aramys, sitting in her corner, laughed aloud at the whole ridiculous conversation. She heard a noise at the doorway of the room, and looked up to see Artemis Entreri standing there, a surprised expression on his face. He hadn't noticed her there, sitting on the floor. Apparently his conversation with jarlaxle was done.

"What are you laughing at?" he questioned her uncomfortably.

" Nothing." she replied, standing.

The assassin looked as though he wanted to question her further, but stopped. The two stared at eachother awkwardly.

Finally, Aramys asked. "So, what did our great leader have to say to you?"

The man pushed his hair nervously back from his face. It was getting rather long, the girl noted. " He said that tonight we have to finish the task we were to do when we went into Menzoberanzan a week ago." He paused. "He also said to avoid basements."

Aramys just put her hands over her face and laughed.