Lost in Realm

7

In all honesty, Nhilva thought Jhalnin was rather nice looking. Yes, even among Dark Elves. But there was an air of unpleasantness around this male. Her soul was from the modern day. She knew exactly what it was. It was technically illegal, should he have existed in her time, and actually did something and got caught. It would be a crime and his name would be put into national record in many countries. But this was a fantasy realm, how people went about this wasn't exactly clear, to the best of her knowledge. She had thought with her being on the surface, there was no way she would meet anyone her original host knew back in Menzoberranzan. Yet here he was.

Jhalnin was originally from another house. Caught during one of their raids to their rival house, he initially served at the ground along with all the other slaves. His weapon skills eventually made him rise among ranks and eventually caught the attention of the Matron Mother, her mother Veszica. He became her lover for a while. Then he began to look at other females of the house, namely Nhilva and her sister. Yes, they were very young then. But then, there was no such a thing as "underage" here.

In many ways, the Drow were a seriously sick and wicked race. Nhilva was very certain should she have remained in the Underdark, without what happened that resulted her being casted out, he would have moved onto her next. Or maybe he had. That part of her memory was rather blurred to her. It could be that her original host chose not to remember, or it could not. All she knew was both her and this body did not like to see him right at his moment.

"Ilphaufein would be delighted to learn you did not perish in that attack," she heard herself saying in a sarcastic tone.

"She would?" Jhalnin chuckled. "What about you? Aren't you delighted to see me, alive and well? "

He took one step forward, and Nhilva took one step back in alarm. Before he could say anything, Bishop suddenly climbed out of the small shoulder strap cloth bag and hissed at him. Clearly, the small thing had figured out these two knew each other and what kind of man this one was. That made him angry. For some unknown reason, the kitten appeared wanting to protect the female Drow.

Jhalnin was a little surprised, but recovered quick enough. He paused and grinned deviously at the Drow woman. "Bit small for a guard, no? Wait. My, a displacer beast cub? Where in the Underdark did you get this?"

"None of your concern."She suddenly had the feeling he might want to possess the kitten and tried to stuff Bishop back to the bag. Alas, the young creature had none of it and remained poking his head over her shoulders, glaring at him.

"I am heartbroken, Nhilva. I thought considering what we had, you would at least glad to see me."He looked very genuine. Drow were usually very skilled performers.

She decided to ignore him and returned her attention back to the dwarf merchant. "This is the 'help' you got me?"

"Ah, yes." The merchant cleared his throat. He had been watching the entire exchange with a rather curious expression about what exactly happened here. But there were priorities to be concerned about. "He has done a few jobs for me previously and his skill had proven to be quite useful."

"Ah." Of course.

"I must emphasise I need my son to be back before the last day of the bank deposit. Of course, you will be paid in full upon completion at the agreed rate for each of you," said the dwarf sternly.

Nhilva decided not to tally and start to work straight away. Alone. Of course there was no point to tell her contractor that whatever happened between them was nobody's business. That man was horrible and foul. She needed to keep her distance as far away from him as possible.

Yes, they were on the same job. But it didn't mean they need to work closely together.

The male Drow materialised from the shadow almost within minutes after she left the meeting spot with the dwarf. For a while, he did not talk. Yet his gleaming red eyes made her want to scream. It was all she could do but walk and act as if he was just any other passerby on the street.

"You did not remember what we had, Nhilva?" Jhalnin chuckled at length. "When your sister was away with Matron Mother—"

"Hallucination," she muttered as she crossed the cobblestone road. They were very close to the Cutlass. The Rat Alley was a few ticks –away. This part of the city was the underbelly of the town. She decided to have her wits about her. Especially when she had zero ability to defend herself.

"Was that lover of yours as good as me? I heard about the drama. Tsk..."

X X X X

Bishop, inside the Drow's bag, perked his ears up.

Lover?

Yes, anyone could have lovers. Even Drow. But it sounded like there was a story behind that. If he wasn't mistaken, it had something to do with why she was on the surface. Suddenly he realised he knew very little about the female who saved his life. Maybe he should rectify that.