A short while after midnight, a hand clasped Kyran's narrow shoulder tightly. A deep, mellifluous voice murmured in his ear, "your hood has slipped, Kyran child."
The Drow scrambled from his seat, almost crashing into the table as he wrenched his shoulder free from the long fingered grasp. He fairly dived behind it, staring with panicked black eyes at the figure in front of himself.
The slender, delicate figure in front of him was clad in a long white gown, with an ornate snake-headed whip hanging at her waist. Small hands the colour of ebony were placed on the table, fingers spread in a conciliatory gesture. "Now, that is no way to treat me, surely?"
Kyran paled as much as a Drow possibly can, his own hands gripping onto the edge of the rough table for support. "What... what are you doing here?"
The beautiful Dark Elf woman slunk into the seat Kyran had just vacated and smiled up at the male ingenuously. "Why, I am visiting you, of course. Is it not obvious?" She rested her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers, peering at him from over the top of them. "Has your intelligence level fallen since the last time we spoke, perhaps?" Looking about herself with distaste, she added, "I hear humans can have that effect upon the unsuspecting." Pause. "Are you not going to sit down to talk to me?"
The Drow male nearly fell into the seat opposite the stately woman as his legs gave out, then cursed himself for showing his feelings so outwardly. It was a bad habit, he knew, that whenever Erelvayas looked at him, he became powerless to disobey her. Not through lust, but through sheer mortal terror.
The Priestess clasped her hands together and smiled at him. "I swear, you have not aged at all."
"It's a bad habit of the Drow blood." Kyran muttered, finally managing to look away from the beautiful woman. "You might not have noticed, but you haven't aged either. Visibly."
Erelvayas laughed musically, but her knuckles turned white as she fought down her training of years and the urge to put this insolent male in his place. "You have always had such a... unique sense of humour, Kyran darling." She noted with some satisfaction that he flinched at the use of the word.
Kyran himself could remember all too perfectly what could happen to him once Erelvayas began referring to him as 'darling'. It never boded well. He glanced around himself helplessly, searching for someone who might take exception to the fact that not only was there a Drow in the tavern, but she was parading about, openly visible to all. However, it appeared no one cared in the slightest. One or two of either the more drunken or reckless men in the bar were even openly appraising her. How Erelvayas felt about this, Kyran couldn't quite tell. One minute she appeared as though she were preening, like an exotic bird. The other, she was giving those men looks that promised pain should they try to approach her. From Kyran's perspective, it wasn't only he that was being influenced by the confusing world above ground. He smiled at her, an expression he was unused to. "How've you been?"
"Oh, it has been very much the usual for me. In a few years, I shall be Matron of my own house." The way she moved her head indicated that she was in no way displeased at this.
Kyran didn't doubt it. Erelvayas was very much the typical Underdark female of noble blood. Powerful and ruthless, he had no doubt that any unsuspecting - or entirely suspecting - Priestess who stood in her way would had met with some intriguing yet disgusting sort of unpleasant death. "I'm pleased for you." His voice indicated complete lack of interest.
A frown flitted across Erelvayas's face like a small dark cloud across the face of the moon. A small dark cloud that indicated a coming thunderstorm. "It was such a surprise to find you here, Kyran darling." She paused, then smiled sweetly at him. "I am sure that your Matron would be happy to know that you are all right."
Kyran froze instantly. "You wouldn't..." He had no doubt that the minute his Matron found that her fourth-born son was still alive and well, she would take great steps to rectify the situation.
"Why not?" Erelvayas's expression was surprised and innocent. "You are her son, after all." The malicious glint in her eyes betrayed her. "I am sure that she has been greatly worried about you, since you... disappeared." She let the final word hang in the air.
Kyran simply stared at her with worried black eyes. If she really did mean her threat, then this could bode very, very badly for the remains of Kyran's life. He wasn't exactly useless with weaponry, but he was nowhere near the high skill of those who had spent their lives fighting bloody battles against one another. His shoulders slumped. "What is it you want?"
Erelvayas's smile was cold. "What makes you think I want anything from you, little Kyran? Unless, of course..." She rose from the seat and walked slowly, seductively around the table to the male Dark Elf. Tugging his hood back from his face and running one finger down his cheek softly, she whispered, "was this what you meant?"
Kyran sprang sideways, nearly falling from his seat as he did so. "What! Why do you... What makes you think..." Shock made him stutter and his voice wavered as his breathing quickened with nervousness. He knew precisely what had happened to various other males who had been foolhardy enough to think that a night of animalistic passion with this terrifying Priestess would be a simple and satisfying affair.
Erelvayas pouted theatrically. "Oh Kyran my darling, do you not like me any more?" She reached her left arm around him and gripped his left shoulder with a peculiarly strong grip. It gave the impression to patrons of the bar that this was a friendly, affectionate gesture. Kyran's shoulder, almost creaking under the pressure the Drow Priestess was placing on it, would have disagreed had it had a mouth to speak with.
Kyran cringed as the slim woman slid onto his lap, her right hand lightly caressing his midnight cheek. Edging away was proving to be futile.
He was beginning to believe all was lost, when a loud female voice squealed from across the tavern, "oh my gods! Someone's finally finding him attractive!"
Erelvayas's head jerked up and her black eyes narrowed as she tried to locate the source of the voice. Her expression changed drastically as the boisterous red-haired elven woman fairly bounded up to the two Drow. Worryingly sharp white teeth were bared in a hiss that no snake could even dream to rival.
Tomoko was completely oblivious to the black skinned woman's reaction. "KYRAN!" she shrieked, almost deafening both the Drow male and the woman. "I never thought I'd see this!" She flung her arms around the slender man and hugged him so tightly he thought his ribs would crack.
Erelvayas never moved her eyes from Tomoko. "And who are you?" Her voice was as ice cold as massive glaciers. A combination of this abominable woman - drunk, no less! - so obviously clinging to her prey, and the fact she was a disgusting elf managed to annoy her almost beyond belief already.
Tomoko grinned merrily at the Priestess, quite obviously oblivious to both the fact she was a Drow and her ranking in society. "Am 'appy fer you! I wouldn't describe 'im assa good catch... nah. But... pretty..." She ruffled Kyran's hair in a way that she wouldn't dream of whilst she was sober.
"That doesn't explain who you are." Erelvayas's voice was colder than the deepest winter blizzard.
Tomoko blinked, never releasing her intoxicated grip on Kyran. "Am his travellin' partner. Girlfriend he never 'ad kindafing." She pressed her chest against the Drow male's head, making him blush noticeably.
Erelvayas's eyes narrowed to barely slits. For a moment, she seemed too infuriated to speak. "I suggest you remove yourself from my partner right now, before I do it against your wishes."
Kyran noted somewhere in his confusion that Erelvayas seemed unusually possessive, and that her grasp of common seemed a little shaky at times. Without even realising he was doing so, he clung to Tomoko's arms wrapped around his chest.
The red haired elf's eyes lit up. "Oooooh an open fight! Not had one in such a looooong time..." She released her grip on Kyran and pushed herself away from him. After swaying slightly, she apparently decided that Kyran made quite a good place to balance herself after all, and folded her arms on his head. "So whassit gonna be, eh? Magic? Hand to hand? I likes magic, me..." she grinned from ear to ear at the almost visibly fuming Priestess. "So... whaddaya want?"
The ebony skinned woman scowled outright for the first time since she had arrived in the tavern. It was a rather unpleasant sight. "I wish for you to remove your arms from my property, if you would please."
Tomoko's eyebrows shot up. "Ooooh, he's your property, isse?" She elbowed Kyran and winked lasciviously at him, not apparently noticing how incredibly embarrassed he looked, both at the scene that was unfolding and the fact that Tomoko's breasts were currently enveloping his head.
Erelvayas's expression soured even more. "I shall ask you again, elf, remove yourself from that Drow or I shall ensure that you never lay a single finger upon him or anyone else ever again." Her voice as emotionless and her face stony.
Tomoko's grin widened. "An' what if I dun wanna, eh? Eh? Whatcha gonna do then, funny looking woman?"
If Kyran had not leapt to his feet at that moment, it is unknown what may have happened between the Drow Priestess and the fire mage at that moment, in full view of the tavern. "If you'd both shut up for once, it'd be an improvement," he snapped. His expression was uncharacteristically angry.
The red haired elf, displaced from her perch, proceeded to topple over gently. "Kyraaaan! Heeelp me...?" Her voice came plaintively from the floor.
Giving her a disgusted look and then treating Erelvayas to much the same expression , the Dark Elf turned and stalked from the room.
If they wanted to fight, he reasoned, the best thing he could do was let them get on with it and hope they didn't blow up the tavern in the process.
All Forgotten Realms trademarks are owned by Wizards of the Coast. Tomoko Aiher is owned by Vincent Stone and is used with permission. Kyran, Braden, Erelvayas etc. are my characters and aren't to be used without permission.