"Tonio, I...am...going to kill you!" Eleni screamed as she reached out with both hands to grab at the half elf's neck. For his part, Tonio did not back away, and looked away as Eleni's hands wrapped around his throat. The two of them were in a room now, quite alone. Normally, the room's opulence would have stunned Eleni into some semblence of an awed silence, for it was about 5 or 6 times bigger than the small room she had rented above the bakery, with tall, wide windows that let in sunlight and offered a breathtaking view of the Waterdeep's ports and beyond. But, the elf girl had other, more pressing things in mind than care about the copper bathtub with dolphin latticework or the huge, canopied bed that was adorned with dried flower petals; namely throttling her friend to within an inch of his life. Eleni faltered however, when she noted that Tonio offered no defense, and even stuck his neck out for a better grip. "Just kill me! I don't deserve to live!" Tonio wailed, putting his own hands over Eleni's own and squeezing.

Eleni quickly snatched her hands away from his brittle neck, and then stepped back, putting her hands on her hips and glaring. "I know, I know. I behaved most foul, Ellie. I'm a lowly cur! I don't know why I am such a coward." Tonio went on plaintively.

Eleni let out a deep sigh, and replied in even tones, "I can't keep covering for you forever you know. You need to tell your parents the truth." She began and sighed once more as Tonio ran over to the bed and fell into the white, down sheets, burying his face in it. Drama! the elf girl thought gloomily as she once again glared at Tonio snivelling into the sheets.

"You're asking the impossible, Ellie! They'll disown me! You know how my grammy's like. She'll kick me out of the house for sure and I'll end up living in the beggars' square. I'm too delicate to live that way! I...I am allergic to dirt!" Tonio complained in a breathless way, causing Eleneth to wonder if he had rehearsed these lines for they came out one by one without even a hint of a pause.

Eleni groaned and looked up to the ceiling, muttering, "I must have been crazy to agree to any of this.." She then stalked over to Tonio to loom over his prone form and said clearly, "Just marry that woman, whoever she is"

Tonio writhed in the sheets like a landed fish and replied miserably, "I can't! I want you to marry me"

Eleni replied in frustration, "Don't you think you're taking this whole thing a little too far? I mean, I was willing to play my part in fooling your family, but remember I always said that I was only going to until you found the courage to tell your family!"

"I can't! I can't!"

Eleni moaned with all the frustration she could manage, "I don't want to marry you! You don't know how important marriage is to me! I don't want mine to be based on a lie, a sham!" The elf girl reached down and started to yank Tonio off the bed. "And I'm not willing to give up my music career for your family either! Do you know how much I suffered to get to where I am! I'm finally beginning to get noticed! My next big break is just a few more days away!" Eleni continued in desperation as she let go of him. Tonio had apparently formed a permanent bond to the bed like an abalone and was impossible to dislodge no matter how hard she tried. Eleni sat next to Tonio, putting her hands in her lap and letting her feet dangle. She glanced at Tonio, who was still hiding his face from her. "There's something else I have to tell you." Eleni began, noting that Tonio was no longer pretend crying and sobbing. "Do you remember the box I got last night?" She continued, noting that she had Tonio's attention now. "Well, I went to see him"

"You did!" Tonio replied, revealing his face from the sheets. "Well, what happened? Was he someone you remembered? From your adventuring days? Was he good looking? Wait...I get it now." Tonio said, rolling up to a sitting position and glaring at her accusingly. "So this is what it's all about! You want to go away with him and leave me! After all that I've done for you! This is how you would repay me, Eleneth! Cast me aside on my darkest hour of need"

Eleni slapped the half elf upside the head and replied angrily, "Will you listen to me for once instead of acting like a spoiled brat! It's not like that at all!"

"Sure it isn't"

Eleni sighed deeply as if exhaling every little bit of air from her lungs, haunching over to stare at her hands. "I..think I'm in danger." Eleni admitted in a mousy voice. Tonio was about to retort, but held his tongue when he noted that the elfmaid was being serious. "He drugged me on the rooftops. I foolishly went after him, against my better judgement. He was quite skilled. Or is it that I'm completely out of shape now. I don't know"

Tonio narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Did he harm you?"

Eleni shook her head to his question, and replied softly, "No. At least I don't think so. He even returned me to my room while I was unconscious. But the last thing he told me was that he wanted me. I don't know why." Eleni then looked up toward Tonio, with her eyes full of worry. "Don't you see? This is another reason why I can't stay here. What if that man comes here? I don't want to expose you all to this. Even though I don't like your grandmother...I should never have agreed to stay here"

Tonio shook his head. "All the more reason why you should stay then!" He replied, putting a hand on Eleni's shoulder for comfort. "You're not listening." Eleni replied in an annoyed voice, shaking Tonio's hand off. "He said he knew all of my friends. He knew you and Duron, even where I work and live. He knows too much about me. Gods, he even gave me back the dagger I hadlost so many years ago in some backwater town! He's done his homework, and I don't know anything about him"

Tonio harumphed and crossed his arms across his chest. "All the more reason why you're safe here, Ellie!" He argued, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her towards him. "You can't go back to that hole in the wall. Totally unsafe. We have guards that patrol these premises both day and night. Not only that, I will help you find out more about this man. We have contacts, our family does! Spies, informers, people in high places and low on our payroll!" When Eleni looked unconvinced, he added hastily,"I am not going to let anything happen to you. After all, you are my betrothed and soon to be, lady Colson"

Eleni groaned at all of this and shook Tonio's hands off. "My life is such a mess." She moaned miserably. "I need to talk to Duron. He'll know what to do...No wait, he won't. I forgot that he was crazy..." Eleni then turned to Tonio and said desperately, "I need to leave the city"

Tonio looked crestfallen and replied, "You can't leave me like this Ellie! I thought you were my friend! My best friend"

Eleni swallowed the first few words that would have told Tonio where he could stuff his friendship, and then instead sighed once more. She gazed at the half elf nobleman, his fluffy white shirt with ruffles around his collar stained and wet with his own tears, his pitifully bloodshot eyes and crimson, irritated nostrils. She knew then that she did not have the heart to leave him in this predicament. She was kicking herself repeatedly as she heard herself say, "Alright...I suppose I could stay. But only until this mess with your grandmother is all fixed up. Somehow. Ack!" Tonio grabbed her and crushed the elfmaid against his chest in a gigantic hug.

"Oh Ellie! I love you so much!" He cried through his tears. "I won't ever forget you! I won't! I'll do anything for you! I know how to return the favor"

Eleni felt her teeth rattle as she was repeatedly shaken by the excited half elf, and barely managed to say, "Well, there is one thing...One tiny little request. Well, actually several little ones.."

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

"I still don't see why you need to do all this." Tonio said as he watched Eleni standing by the wall, on her hands. The elf girl's legs, which were tied together with a belt, teethering one way then the other, her face beet red from both the blood rushing to her face and from the exertion of trying to carry her extra weight on her hands and arms. She had been like this for a full 20 minutes now, and the half elf was starting to get worried. "I told you there was need to worry, Ellie. This estate is guarded better than a dragon's hoard. That man isn't going to dare come here. He may not even know where you are now"

Eleni started to carefully take small, measured steps with her hands, and as Tonio watched, teethered over too far to the front, falling into a heap with a light thud. "Ow!" the elf girl cursed, scrambling up to her butt and then undoing the belt. She then sighed deeply and replied, "I need to start all over. Diet, exercise. Then maybe this other stuff. My balance is totally out of whack. All just because I may have gained a little...weight." She turned to Tonio, who was seated on a velvet chair with his head propped on his arms, and remarked, "You've brought the stuff right?"

Tonio nodded slowly and said, "Sure did. I got a chunk of ore from the blacksmith, which I may add was quite heavy, and let's see..." He bent down to open up a cloth sack that was near his sandaled feet. "A long metal bar, also from the blacksmith...He thought I was crazy and kept asking me what I was going to do with those. I told him that I was making my own jewelry. Who knew that they could be so nosy?"

"Do you think I'm fat? Be honest!" Eleni suddenly asked.

Tonio asked, "What?"

"I said do you think I'm fat?" Eleni demanded.

Tonio replied saucily, "If you were any thinner, I'd have to force feed you. Look at yourself, Ellie. You're skin and bones"

"You're such a liar. You know how I know? Your nose twitches whenever you lie to me." Eleni shot back and then got up, walking over to the half elf, reaching down and grabbing the bag. She strained to lift the contents of the bag from the sheer weight of it, and finally succeeded in putting it on the nicely varnished, antique table that Tonio was occupying.

Tonio made a face and cautioned, "Careful, Ellie. You damage anything in here and grammy will have both me and your hide. She had this table made and delivered all the way from Amn."

Eleni rummaged through the bag, pulling out the rod and tossing it to the ground, with a loud clank, and then pulled out huge chunks of iron ore, which she strained to lift, and then pulled out strips of leather from the same bag. "I thought this was my room from now on. That's what your grandmother said." She replied evenly as she arraged the iron ores into the leather strips, tying each of them to her ankles. She then repeated the process to her wrists as well.

"You look ridiculous, do you know that?" Tonio said in exasperation, watching Eleni.

Eleni started to walk around, barely getting one foot off the ground and then the other, swinging her arms forward one by one to each step. "Stop complaining and tie the rope from one end of the room to the other like I showed you, will you? Can't you make yourself useful?" Eleni breathed out in an annoyed voice as she continued her plodding course to the canopied bed. Sweat was already starting to bead around her forehead, and it took a good 20 seconds for her to lift her hand to her face to wipe it away. Tonio watched the elfmaid continue her plodding course, and then with a sigh he reached into the sack to produce a cord of rope.

"I'm not cut out for menial labor." He muttered as he went over to one corner of the room to tie the end to it to the fireplace grate, just a few feet off the ground. He then walked over to the other corner of the room to tie the opposite end to the bedpost.

"Make it tight!" Eleni blurted out as she was in the process of passing by him on her way to the bed. Tonio did as was told, and made sure it was tight enough by tugging on the rope, which responded with a healthy twang.

"What are you planning to do, join the circus?" Tonio asked in frustration, cursing under his breath when he noted that he had broken a nail. He then shook his head with exasperation as he watched Eleni take a dive into her bed, face first. The elf girl looked exhausted. "You are going to kill yourself, do you know that?" Tonio said, undoing the leather straps from her wrists and ankles while Eleni lay there as if her lungs were about to give out.

"Didn't you say that you wanted to be an adventurer or something? You and your friends...Don't you belong to a group of wannabe adventurers?" Eleni shot back, groaning as she turned around to prop herself up on her elbows and noting her belly which seemed to pop up a little too much between her shirt and leather pants. She then started to do sit ups as Tonio watched. "You...have...to...work...for..it...be in...tip...top..shape." the elf girl gasped out with each crunch.

Tonio finally had had enough, and as Eleni came up, held her up by her shoulders and said, "Okay. Maybe I'm not an old seasoned pro like you when it comes to adventuring. And maybe you're right about me and my friends and our little adventuring group, that we're a bunch of frauds." Tonio began as Eleni looked at him with annoyance. "But I am a pretty good judge of character, you have to give me at least that because you know it's true. And do you know what? This black crow fellow's got you completely psyched out. What do you think you're going to achieve by doing all this? You've been at this for at least a few hours. I think you're playing right into his hands. He's got you so spooked that you're not seeing straight"

Eleni swallowed the initial words of retort, as her mind slowly processed what Tonio was saying to her. He was right, she knew and admitted to herself. Eleni let out a defeated sigh as she plopped back into the bed. "You're right. But Tonio, I really am out of shape. No, this is not just craziness talking." Eleni began as Tonio frowned at her words. "I know my own body. I know how I was many years ago. I can't do the things that I used to be able to do and it scares me." Eleni closed her eyes and let out a bone weary sigh, making the sheer canopy of the bed swirl slightly. "Forgive me for being mean? You have to understand. This has been a crazy day for me. First that black crow and now your grandmother, and this wedding betrothal thing..Having to give up my music career, which I am not going to no matter what your grandmother says. I know it's no excuse." Eleni admitted, and then smiled as Tonio plopped into the bed next to her and cuddled up against her, purring like a pleased kitten.