It had taken repeated knocks on the door until it finally creaked open for Eleni, who stepped back and almost let out a gasp upon the sight of the woman, whose make up had run in all directions from rouge to eyeshadow in a garish clown like paste. "WHAT!" the woman screamed at Eleni, her bad breath almost making the elf girl gag. "What in the gods do you want at this hour!"
Eleni cleared her throat, once again trying to brush at the dried cream that still stubbornly clung to her face. "I was wondering if I could talk to Duron..." She began timidly as the woman glared, her sleep deprieved eyes blood shot and baneful! "Could you tell him that Eleni"
"NO I CERTAINLY WILL NOT!" the woman continued to yell as Eleni took a step back away from the door, cringing. "We are closed! Can't you see our hours on the door! Now go pester someone else!" WIth that said, the garishly painted and decorated door slammed shut with a loud crunch. Eleni debated whether to knock again, but let her hand drop. She was frankly afraid of what that angry courtesan would do if she dared bother her again. And as if she had read Eleni's mind, the door opened up a tad once more, and the woman glared at her. She looked every bit the demoness from the darkest reaches of the 9 hells, her garish face framed by tangles of gold dyed hair. "You...knock on this door again, and I am going to personally break every one of your fingers." She promised darkly, and before the stunned elf could reply, the door slammed shut once more.
Eleni stared at the door for a full minute in stunned silence, and then, as her amber colored eyes flashed greenish, she gave the door several large raps with both of her hands as if playing a drum, and then ran away up the streets without looking back
The elf girl surprised herself when she found that she had ran all the way out of the district and into a place of large, beautiful mansions with their ornate gardens and beautiful fencing. The people that walked the streets here all seemed to be dressed in one opulent clothing or another, and she saw more than one flash of precious jewelry that would have been easily worth a year's pay at her current job. Eleni of course felt immediately self conscious, half covering her stained cheek and the strand of her black, braided hair that clung there as if it's been bonded by dried cream to her cheek. Her eyes searched down one wide, cobblestoned avenue after the other, not even knowing where she was. Just like me to not know where I am and get lost in my own city! Eleneth muttered to herself as no familiar landmarks greeted her eyes. She had ran on mindlessly, not daring to look back to see if that harpy had followed her from the festhall, although she was sure that she had up to a point. Eleni would have had to have been deaf not to hear the insults that began from her elven heritage right down to the slugs that bore her as well as the threats of torture and death more gruesome than she cared to admit.
"Heeeyy! Ellie!" a man's voice called out from a distance, causing Eleni to break out her reverie of narrowly escaped torture and death by the hands of a courtesan. She looked around for the source of the voice, and to her right, she saw, amidst a birdbath in the shape of a small cherub surrounded by tropical shrubbery, Tonio's smiling face. He was waving frantically at her. "Corellon be praised!" Eleni murmured to herself as she quickly made her way across the street, and toward the fenced compound, clutching at the black painted iron bars when she got there. "Tonio! Just the person I wanted to see!" Eleni said excitedly. The half elf smiled at Eleni, coming over to her and pointing toward the entrance where there was an ornate, decorated gate. "You're just in time, Eleni. Tymora be praised, I have really lucked out!" Tonio continued in an excited voice, dressed in a velvet pantaloon and hose, with a matching green silk shirt. "What do you mean?" Eleni asked as she quickly went over to the gate. As soon as she walked in, Tonio grabbed her hand and started to pull her toward the front doors of the mansion, a 3 stories affair complete with huge wooden front doors that was as 3 times as tall as she was. "You have to help me! Grammy wants to marry me off to one of her friend's granddaughters!" Tonio replied, his voice desperate but his face smiling as if hiding a secret mirth. Eleni slapped Tonio's hand away and said, "I know where this is going, and I want no part of it." The elf girl yelped as Tonio grabbed her from behind, picking her up and then reorienting her toward the front door. "Noooo! You can't leave me in the lurch like this! You have to be my fiancee now, Eleni! You just gotta!" Tonio wailed desperately. "I don't want to marry a girl. You have to play your part like you always do"
Eleni struggled against Tonio as she screamed, "You know how much your grandmother hates me! She promised to cut my ears off if I showed up here again! Let me go"
"She means that in a good way..." Tonio gasped out as he started to drag her toward the front door of the mansion, dragging Eleni's struggling form up the stone steps. Eleni struggled with him each step of the way, saying desperately, "I don't...what? A good way? How...? I don't want to see your grandmother!"
The door opened suddenly, and standing there was an older woman with white streaked blond hair that was severely pulled back with a pin. She looked at the struggling duo with stern, cold blue eyes as she smoothed her dark, navy colored dress that was without frills, reaching down to her ankles like a sheet. "Master Colson, Lady Colson kindly requests that you and your...lady stop making fools of yourselves, and bid you enter, at her pleasure. She is awaiting you both." The woman said, finishing by staring openly at the elf girl, who had by this time seized struggling and now was being carried by Tonio in his arms. Her gaze, Eleni decided, was definitely tinged with disaproval. She knew that she was unwelcome at this house. Tonio's grandmother's threats aside, the lone visit she had at this place was when Tonio had announced her to his parents as his fiancee, which, at that time, consisted of Tonio's father and grandmother. She did remember back then when she visited that she was feeling somewhat comforted by the fact that Tonio's mother, an elf, would be there to make her feel somewhat welcome, and also remembered her disappointment when she was informed that she no longer lived at the house, of which, she was told in no uncertain terms, she was not to ask or delve further into the reasons why. Matter of fact, she was told by the grandmather, just before she was threatened with clipping of her pointed ears, that no grandson of hers was going to bring in another flighty elf to ruin an already disasterous household. The inner sanctum of the house hadn't changed, Eleni noted as she was put down by Tonio, who looked somewhat frightened with the prospect of speaking with his grandmother again. As the two of them followed the woman down the wide, tile laden floor of the house, Eleni noted the various expensive looking decorations and trinkets that she half recognized as something that wasn't really endemic to the area. She had heard that Tonio's father was some sort of a nobleman that dabbled in trade or some such, but to be truthful, Eleni did not remember Tonio's father much. That last meeting between the family and her had been somewhat of a brief one, and he had not spoken a word, merely staring at the floor the whole time while Tonio's grandmother berated the elf from her "scraggly black hair that was black as sin" to her "waifish thin appearance that reminded her of beggars.". Eleni had manners enough to not blurt out that the old woman looked like some sort of an ugly looking flounder she once had for dinner, then. As Eleni continued to follow, deep in unpleasant thoughts, Tonio whispered to her, "Please Eleni. Whatever you do, you have to stick by me. You can't be chased away by my grandmother again"
"Why!" Eleni hissed back, drawing an icy stare from the woman.
"I'll do anything. Please...please...I'll pay you. Anything." Tonio whispered back pleadingly as he hurridly followed, clutching at Eleni's hand. "I don't want to get married to that...woman"
Eleni looked at him and frowned. "What woman?" she asked, and then bumped right into the back of the woman, who had stopped before a wide archway that led to a library. "Lady, your grandson...and...his...associate." The woman announced, once again giving Eleni a look that made Eleni feel tiny and afraid. Eleni turned her gaze toward the room and the first thing that struck her were the wall to wall books in tall, marble bookcases that were more or less etched into solid stone walls of the room. The statues of woodland nymphs that adorned the large fireplace stared back at the elf next. A fireplace big enough to roast a whole cow in, the elf girl thought as her eyes followed the walls back toward the center of the room, where there were sedan chairs and couches upholstered with smooth, decorated fabric that was worth, Eleni noted, more than what she made in a year, singing her lungs out. Seated there amongst the cushions was the old woman, Tonio's grandmother. Her white, well coifed hair still done up like mushrooms, her flat, featureless nose, the close set blue eyes, the wide, almost lipless mouth. The elf girl bit her lower lip and remained still like a statue as the old woman's gaze fell on her like death rays.
"Grammy!" Tonio cried as he let go of Eleni's hand and hopped into the room, skipping toward her and then kneeling by her feet like some sort of a puppy, clutching at her wrinkled hand and kissing it several times. Eleni watched as the old woman patted Tonio's head as if on reflex, her eyes never wavering from Eleni. "See, I've broungt Ellie. My fiancee. We're going to be married next year." Tonio went on to say as Eleni gasped and felt her jaw drop at what was coming out of the half elf's mouth. "So there's no need, really. I mean, she's the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with." Tonio went on to say.
The old woman slapped Tonio upside the head as he continued to prattle on about the loving children he was going to have with Eleni, silencing him like a beaten dog, and said out loud, "Is this true! Speak, you girl"
Eleni merely stared, open mouthed, withering under the woman's gaze and the cold, icy silence that permeated the room. She spoke when she heard a little snickering that was badly covered up with a clearing of the throat by the woman that was standing next to her. "Ehm...Well, my lady Colson. That is.." Eleni began, her voice stammering. "Well, Tonio...my honey...he really hadn't..." Eleni went on, trying to not look toward Tonio, who had his face turned to her, his visage fixed on permanent supplication and looking as if someone's punched him in the stomach several times. "Y...yes. I...guess it is true." She finally said as Tonio quickly turned toward his grandmother and with a big smile and a hurried voice said, "See? Everything is fine. Just dandy, grammy. We are going to...ow!" Tonio cried as the old woman slapped him upside the head once more.
"I see. I did not know things had progressed so far." The old woman said as Tonio rubbed his head, still cowering by her legs and not daring to turn Eleni's way. "Then there is nothing else to be done. Starting today, you will live with us and be trained in the ways of our household. You will learn the ways of being a lady of the Colson household." "What!" Eleni burst out and then quickly covered her mouth. "You will move your things into this house. Whatever they may be. Better yet, do not move them. I am sure the things you have accumulated over the years in this city is most assuredly not fit for this household." The old woman went on, ignoring Eleni's stunned look. "I will train you personally myself. I will first rid you of your slumming ways and teach you proper manners, starting with your...attire, which I find most offensive. Ladies do not wear pants"
Eleni found her voice finally, and squeaked out, "But my lady, I have a job, a"
"You will of course quit your job. I have had you watched, girl. A lady of this household singing for supper at a slum establishment where the gods know what is going on! This I will put a stop to starting now"
Eleni stared desperately at Tonio, who acted like as if he wasn't hearing any of this, and pretended to purr into his grandmother's leg. Her first instinct, of course, was to tell the old lady what she really felt about her and her household. But she knew she couldn't do it. Tonio, for better or for worse, had helped her when she first arrived at Waterdeep. He was the one that found her gigs at the various inns and taverns around the lower parts of the city, and had even paid for her rent a year when she was really not making it as a musician. Duron, at that time, was heavily into gambling and had gambled most of their life savings away in short order. The dwarf had been so ashamed that he dared not show up to Eleni for months, finally visiting her one day to tell her that he had opened up a festhall when in fact he was hired on as an employee there. So Eleni heard herself say, "I will do as you say, lady Colson"
The elf girl's answer had taken the old woman by surprise, for she did not speak for some moments. This gave Eleni some measure of satisfaction, but the next words out of the old woman's mouth drowned up any moments of bliss she had conjured up with her discomfort. "Very well. You have made a wise decision. I will have the maids prepare your room." she said as Tonio giggled, covering his mouth with his hand. Eleni barely controlled her urges to slap Tonio upside the head herself as the old woman did just that for her.