Chapter 3: What Lies Above

Lanie quickly dropped Valas’s hand and made rush for the entrance of the cave that led to the surface world.

“Lanie, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Valas warned too late, as if it would matter anyways.

He knew Lanie would be regretting her choice later on. She hadn’t been exposed to sunlight in a very long time and it would take a while for her eyes to acclimate to the brightness. Unlike Lanie, Valas knew to wait until dusk before gradually emerging from the caves, he also knew that if he didn’t a terrible headache would cause him much anguish later.

He stood back, protected by the shade of the overhang of the cave’s mouth. He shielded his eyes with his hand, watching her for as long as his eyes would allow before the light caused him discomfort.

The sun kissed her face all the while tears streaked her cheeks as she forced her eyes open in a desperate attempt to see the world. The burning sensation was incredibly intense but she refused to shut them and when she forced her eyes to adjust she was left speechless.

The sky was bright blue and dotted with enormous clouds. The trees were wearing the fresh winter snow in their skeletal boughs. The cold bit at her bones but she did not care. Running up to the closest tree she reached out and touched the rough bark and looked up at its immense form. She had never seen such beauty before. It felt ancient almost God-like, it was humbling.

She saw tiny birds fluttering around the branches, some were red, some were blue, and a few were just black and they too, where beautiful. Her father read her stories about the surface world and even the words in those ancient books could not compare to the actuality of it all. She spread her arms and spun until she collapsed in the snow with a larger than life smile on her face.

Valas watched in silence, wondering if he would ever feel such a joyous moment in his life. He had lived centuries and couldn’t recall a time when he ever felt such excitement, he felt the brief sting of envy which was short lived when he reminded himself of the mere fact that Lanie was in for a rude awakening.

He didn’t want to be the cynic but he understood that the world above was not so different from the world below. All cultures had their dark side, and though the drow were noted for their cold-hearted cruel ways he had personally seen many humans deliver as brutal of a hand as any of his drow counterparts.

“Valas are you coming?” Lanie shouted from underneath the snowy canopy of a pine tree.

“Child, I choose to wait until the sun is lower, I won’t be the one complaining of a malicious headache later on tonight. I don’t think you are aware of what you have in store for you.” cautioned Valas.

“How can I worry about the silliness of a headache with the splendor of this surface world? It is amazing Valas, I want to drink my fill of it!” she danced around in the snow picking up a packed ball of it and throwing it at Valas with a giggle.

He quickly dodged while admiring her arm and her aim, picking up a handful himself and nailing her right in the face.

“Ha, don’t you tell me you didn’t deserve that!” he retaliated while rolling another ball of snow in his palm. He quickly launched it in her direction, but this time she was ready and ducked behind a tree trunk.

The sun was setting and Valas found the light more tolerable. Everything around him was aglow in a palette of soft orange and reddish colors. Even Lanie seemed to shine, her pale skin soaking in and reflecting the colors of the surrounding environment. He found the sunset behind her set her two distinctly different eye colors ablaze. He recalled how he felt alarmed by the site of them when he first noticed, but now he found them truly beautiful, unique in fact.

“We will start heading toward Luskan, it will be dark by the time we get to our entry point into the city,” Valas explained.

“Why do we have to wait until it is dark?” questioned Lanie.

“I gather by now you may have noticed that I have black skin?” Valas retorted with a slight hint of sarcastic disgust in his voice.

“Because you are a drow, you mean? The humans up here do not like drow? There are not many creatures that do like the drow are there?”

Valas nodded with a distant look in his eyes. He kept his pace brisk while Lanie’s little legs were giving her some trouble in keeping up in the deep snow. A few times she found herself falling into the drifts but was quick to pull herself up and rematch her strides with his. She sensed that her questioning had hit a nerve with him.

“Valas, I am sorry if I upset you. I vaguely know of the relationships that the drow share with other creatures of the realm, and most of what I know isn’t good. If it makes you feel better, I don’t think you are a bad drow, you are just doing what you need to do in order to survive.” She smiled at him.

He stopped and turned to regard her grabbing her arm and shaking her slightly, “You listen to me Lanie, the drow, my people, they deserve every bad name they get, and don’t you ever forget that!"

Lanie tried to break away from Valas's grip but was unable. He only shook her again and continued her verbal tirade.

"My actions toward you have done nothing but mislead you; there aren’t many drow out there who would have been so kind to you, regardless of your little mind games. You were lucky to have stumbled upon me. I know a few who would have destroyed you in a mere blink of an eye. I know of one in particular drow more powerful than any illithid you've come across and what he is capable of doing to you...” he trailed off without finishing that thought.

Valas watched the tears well up in her eyes as she stood there looking at him not knowing what to say. Most likely he had been her first substantial contact in a long time and because of this she had started to look up to him, even started to view him as a friend. He couldn’t allow that to happen, he didn’t want her to view him as anything but a means to get out of the Underdark. Most of all he couldn’t allow himself to become attached or ever care about her. Memories of his own family flashed through his head but he was quick to dismiss them. Those memories, accompanied by guilt and resentment, were a part of his past; were secrets he kept safely locked away.

“Look, Lanie, I do not want to intentionally hurt you, but you need to know that you cannot simply think you can trust me or any drow you see. I am doing you a favor, remember? I didn’t choose to place myself in this circumstance, you were the one who made all this happen and you need to remind yourself that I am doing this because you made me do it!” he explained.

Deep down Valas had grown to genuinely like her company while they traveled, but now that they were at their destination it would be time for them to go in their separate directions. He knew that the road ahead of her was going to be long and difficult; she had no one and was just a child, what was to become of her? He could only imagine, and his mind was running with dark thoughts about the possible outcomes that awaited her.

“Lanie, when we arrive in Luskan we will find a place to sleep and come the new dawn you can go your way and I will go mine. You can rest up and I’ll give you a few items you will need on your journey and then we will be done. Is this clear? We will sever our ties and be done with each other,” he curtly told her.

“Yes, Valas I understand” Lanie dejectedly responded.

Valas felt some relief in the fact she made no attempt to hold his hand again or resume conversation with him for the rest of the way.When they arrived at the Luskan gates in the early morning hours before the new sunrise they were met by two Bregan D’earthe mercenaries. Valas spoke with these two in thick drow dialect, while he exchanged something with one of the mercenaries. They calmly stepped aside as Valas tipped his head in a kindly gesture and motioned for Lanie to follow him.

She felt the mercenaries’ eyes measuring her up; she could sense their curious wonderment at the sight of her. Lanie kept her head down and continued onward. She wanted so badly to look up and see the city but she was still dwelling on Valas's harsh words.

She knew that he was right, she knew he was only doing what she wanted him to do and nothing more. Still though, she felt a connection with him that she had not felt since her short time wandering the Underdark with her father. She cursed herself silently and thought about how different her life would have been if she were normal, or better yet, if she hadn't been born at all.

They made their way down a side street towards an older building. Its weathered stone and beams boasted the structure's age, probably one of the older buildings in Luskan. The climbed the rickety stairway to the third floor, walking down the aisle to the fourth door.

"Home sweet home!" Valas exclaimed with some virulency to his tone as he opened the door.

Lanie barged right in and looked around the room. She appeared to be interested in the room but by the way she was rubbing her eyes Valas could tell she was exhausted.

“You can have the bed.” Valas told Lanie and he put some of his bags down in the chair near a dresser in the corner of the room. “I have no need for it at the moment, in fact I have to be somewhere before the sun comes up so the room is all yours.”

He turned to find Lanie already sound asleep in the bed. She was young and the excitement of the day must have worn her out. Valas walked over to where she slept pulling a blanket up around her and tucked her in. He gently brushed back a small weft of hair from her dirty face and watched her sleep for a quick moment.

Valas silently entered the apartment room adjacent to his. There were four mercenaries standing erect and ready in the four corners of the room. There was a fire going and the flames cast the shadow of a familiar plumed feather and tip of a hat against the wall behind a big leather armchair.

“Valas my friend, it is good to see you once again,” came the voice of his former master, Jarlaxle. "I have been residing in Luskan for a few weeks now. I couldn't help but stop by when I was told of your arrival."

“I am ever hopeful you may be here to tell me you are once again in control of Bregan D’aerthe?” Valas asked, a hopeful expression marked his face.

Jarlaxle laughed heartily, “Unfortunately that is not the case my friend,” he stood to acknowledge Valas, “Not yet anyway, soon enough, rest assured! I heard Kimmuriel called a meeting above ground, here in Luskan. A highly unlikely and unexpected move for Kimmuriel, things must be rather ‘chaotic’ down below as of lately, no?”

“I am afraid that I am limited on what I can tell you, Kimmuriel has been very guarded over the affairs of Bregan D’aerthe as of lately.” explained Valas.

“Of course, I am glad that he keeps such information guarded, even from me. He is smart and he should be that’s why I selected him to lead.” Jaraxle boasted. "He has already told me some of what has been going on as of lately, so no need to worry about keeping secrets."

Jarlaxle took a bone toothpick out of his pocket, placed it in his mouth and returned to his seat.

“Kimmuriel is intelligent, I'll give him that, but he is a whole lot of other things that even an aboleth would find unsettling.” Valas said with a wry smile.

“An aboleth huh? You would know.” Jarlaxle added. “Speaking of that, we really need to look into fixing your ‘situation’ sometime soon.”

Valas shot him a disgusted look that immediately told Jarlaxle he had crossed a line. It was no secret to Jarlaxle that Valas harbored a grudge about being selected to assist his sister, Quenthel Baenre, on her journey into the Abyss in search of Loth. He survived that ordeal but came back quite affected by it, not only emotionally but physically as well.

Suddenly what little hair Valas had on his arms began to rise and a slight burning sensation could be felt across his skin. Both he and Jarlaxle noticed the air suddenly grow thick and black on the back wall, spreading from the ground upwards toward the ceiling. A teleportation hole vibrated in anticipation of the three forms about to enter through.

Kimmuriel stepped through first, flanked by two Bregan D’aerthe clerics. He nodded towards Jarlaxle not seeming the least surprised to see him. Valas always found Kimmuriel’s foreboding presence very unnerving. Kimmuriel strode over to the black mahogany desk and promptly sat down cocked his head and directed his attention directly toward Valas.

Kimmuriel did not need to say anything, out loud or telepathically, Valas knew Kimmuriel was expecting his report on the recent activities in and around the ancient city of Chaulssin. Bregan D’aerthe had been keeping a long term eye on the Chaulssinyr over the years at Gromph’s demand and were being paid handsomely by the mage.

Lanie was crouched in the corner of the room with her ear firmly pressed against the wall. She could vaguely hear Valas’s voice discussing something about shadow dragons and the new regrowth of Chad Nasad. She heard other voices as well and still wanted to know more.

Curiosity got the best of her and sitting back on her heals she pressed her hands to the wall and began concentrating, slowly projecting her mind’s eye into the adjacent room. She concentrated on Valas and was able to channel herself into his head and see through his eyes.

There was a drow with a funny looking hat and unusual clothing sitting in an armchair chewing on a bone toothpick and looking vaguely interested in what was going on in the room. There were portentous looking guards with weapons sheathed at their sides; deadly looking weapons that Lanie had never seen before.

There were two in ornate robes who stood adjacent to one another behind another who sat. There was something about the seated drow that left Lanie feeling uncomfortable. After studying these drow she decided it was time for her to take Valas's words seriously.

Valas felt the tingling sensation between his brows, he assumed it was Kimmuriel, he watched the drow psion cock his head oddly to the left, similarly to how he had witnessed Lanie cock her head. It must be a psion attribute he thought, realizing that thinking about Lanie in Kimmuriel’s presence could bring much danger to the young girl. He quickly started filling his mind with images of Chausslin and Ched Nasad hoping it would be enough to keep Kimmuriel from discovering Lanie.

That cold stare of Kimmuriel’s was intense Valas could feel it at his very core. Kimmuriel sat there with no expression with his head now tilted to the right. Jarlaxle, obviously knowing more about Kimmuriel than any other must have noticed something was awry, for there was a fixed a look of suspicion upon his face. Valas met his stare then looked back at Kimmuriel. It was obvious to him the two were sharing a private telepathic conversation.

“Is there something wrong?” Valas questioned hesitantly.

“No, not at all,” Jarlaxle smiled while adjusting his eye patch over his right eye and bowing slightly towards Valas, “I must be on my way now.”

Jarlaxle turned abruptly on his heels and headed towards the door. Valas returned his gaze toward Kimmuriel but unexpectedly found Kimmuriel standing right in front of him, nearly nose to nose. Not saying a word, Kimmuriel brought his left index finger to the center of Valas’s head and stood there in silence with such a strong concentrated focus that Valas hoped the floor would open up and swallow him to a new plane of existence just to escape the uncomfortable situation.

His face, black as finely polished obsidian¸ was fiercely angular and his blood red eyes pierced right through Valas’s and right into her. Horrified she watched as his pupils spread swallowing the entire red of his iris, growing still to consume his eye whites leaving only two ominous black orbs. A trait common to many psions and Lanie knew right then and there she had been discovered.

Awestruck but frightened, she sensed his sheer power all the way into the very fiber of her being. She heard the door to the apartment where she was open but she couldn’t move to see who the intruder was, she was utterly defenseless. He had her in such a grip of raw psionic energy that he could easily kill her whenever he chose to. She felt herself slipping away into the darkness of her mind. The world around her felt as though it was falling away from her. Lanie could hear Valas’s voice pleading for the drow to stop.

It was then that Valas figured out what was happening. He felt the very pit of his stomache grow sick. There was nothing he could do, he knew the girl was doomed. He had led her into a situation that would destroy her. He should have just turned her loose in the city the second they breached the walls. She would have been better off on the streets than at Kimmuriel's mercy.

“Kimmuriel, she is just a child. She means no harm. I don’t believe she fully understands her own abilities.” Valas begged, all the while noticing the guards around him drawing their weapons, ready to strike at Kimmuriel’s command. Dread hit him as he came to realize that helping the child could also prove to be his demise. It was a mistake he should have never made.

At first, he was in a state of high alert, however, when he was able to project through Valas, a wave of feminine naïve innocence ricocheted back at him, awakening his curiosity. This strange creature could prove to be a very valuable research subject in his own studies. Kimmuriel spoke not a word, his expression didn’t change as he merely shoved Valas aside walking right through the wall and right into the adjacent room.

He stood before her dressed in simple fashion, a form-fitting full length black coat, tapered at the waistline and the buttons covered in a rich black velvet fabric that ran down from a prominent collar to his mid-thigh. He also wore black fitted pants and black armored boots also without ornate design. His white hair was neatly tied back with a piece of black leather into a half ponytail.

He had no weapons, no charms, nor any trinkets adorning any part of his person. Not even one ring on his finger, in fact he wore not a single piece of jewelry at all; an oddity for any drow, an oddity for most elves and denizens of the Underdark. For Lanie this meant one thing and one thing only, he was extremely powerful and it was his way of boasting.

Her limbs began to awaken and the cloudiness in her head lifted. The drow released her from his mental grip but kept a keen eye on her as he studied her. Circling her in a manner similar to a predator after trapping its prey, waiting for the opportune moment to deliver the final strike before consumption could begin. He crouched down relatively close to her and brought his face down to her level, locking eyes with her, she tried to look away but he would not allow it. Lanie watched as his pupils began to expand again.

He was delving into her mind, reading her memories, she couldn’t feel it, but she knew what he was doing. There were not many psions with mind reading abilities that could do so without the host perceiving any sort of sensation, another testament to his power. She focused on the mental blocks she had been trained to create to keep her darker secrets locked away. She held her own against him, though, it was obvious to her he was nowhere near pushing as hard as he was capable of. She concentrated hard trying to read him, trying to delve inside of him and gain perspective. She sensed his arousal at her attempted mental intrusion she sensed he welcomed it; abruptly she stopped fearing she went too far.

Jarlaxle, witnessing the strange display of psion interrogation, started to feel the intensity of the silence lingering in the room, like the calm before the storm. The small girl let out a pitiful whimper as her body went rigid and Kimmuriel began to lift her off the floor with his energy. She began crying and even from where he stood, Jarlaxle sensed she was experiencing pain.

She was so young, so innocent, so easy to torment, it excited Kimmuriel. The things he could do to her! Kimmuriel could feel the terrified girl reach into herself and begin transmitting energy and no sooner had she done that did Valas come barging through the door with both Kukris drawn lunging straight for an unprepared Jarlaxle, the closest target.

All within mere seconds Lanie found herself dropped to the floor as a wave of energy exploded forth from the drow psion and sent Valas slamming into a table, shattering it instantly. Jarlaxle also suffered minor impact from the blast which left him on the floor slightly dazed and confused. He was quick to pick himself when he heard the screams of the child.

“Valas, Valas, Valas, you killed Valas.” Lanie made a mad dash over to where Valas’s unconscious body lay. She climbed over him and buried her head in his chest.

“Please don’t be dead Valas, I am so sorry.” She pleaded her forgiveness over and over again. “Valas please get up.”

Jarlaxle rushed to his favored scout’s side while Kimmuriel made a swift move to grab the child up by her hair and drag her back towards the center of the room. She struggled against him and he delivered a swift hard backhand that sent her head reeling against the floor momentarily leaving her stunned. Kimmuriel brought a knee to her chest pinning her beneath him as he clutched her slender neck in his hands.

Having bit her tongue from the sheer force of Kimmuriel’s strike Lanie was left gurgling on her own blood as the drow psion shook her back to consciousness. When she became more aware of what was happening she was met with the most sinister smile she had ever seen, and that was when he started squeezing her neck. She grabbed at his wrists but could do nothing. When she began to lose her grip on consciousness he stopped again, waiting patiently for her consciousness to return, when it did he resumed squeezing.

Kimmuriel was limited to most feelings but one he did enjoy was the thrill of snuffing out the life of an inconsequential being with his bare hands. Being human, this child was most definitely inconsequential. Her psionic ability captivated him immensely and he was eager to dissect the child and get at her brain, take it apart and see how it worked. He watched with no hint of emotion on his face as the child struggled for air and her eyes rolled back as she fought to retain her consciousness.

He was suffocating her and she was choking on her blood. She could feel the liquid red oozing from the corners of her mouth as she tried to cough. She tried digging her nails into his wrists but to no avail, she tried to talk to him, reason with him but could force no sound from her mouth. His grip slackened and then tightened again and again, for longer durations each time.

“Kimmuriel Oblodra, that is enough, let her breathe,” demanded the other drow.

In her fight for consciousness she heard a familiar name, ‘Oblodra,’ it was familiar to her, but she could not place where she had heard it before. He either had sensed her recognition of the name or he momentarily considered the other drow’s demand, and his grip went slack. Kimmuriel did not break his stare with the girl whose pathetic tears were streaming down the sides of her face. Her crying nearly disgusted him as much as the mere sight of her did.
“Please d-d-don’t kill me,” she stammered.

Lanie was grossly outmatched and would not be able to subdue Kimmuriel with any of her psionic abilities. Still holding his wrists and taking advantage of the momentary pause she focused her emotions into an empathic projection. Wanting him to feel what she felt, hoping to influence his hold over her. There was nothing there, no depth, no soul, just an empty, cold, cruel, shell of a creature.

He let go of her neck grabbing her by the side of her head bringing her forehead to his own, “Foolish child, a play on my emotions will get you nowhere.”

He titled his head with a newfound curiosity stroking the sides of her face gently with his thumbs, again a wicked smile danced across his lips as he carefully studied her and looking deeply into her strange eyes.

He continued stroking the sides of her face and brought her forehead up to his again. Interesting it is, that you have such an empathic ability, it explains a lot and Laenaia Manaallin I know what you are, he said telepathically as he let her body fall to the ground. He stood up and turned his attention towards Jarlaxle who still trying to wake Valas from his state of unconsciousness.

Lanie hustled up as quickly as she could, making a run for the door, but the drow with the funny hat got there first blocking her only exit. She back pedaled slightly and ran over to the window. She climbed up onto the sill of the window pressing against the pane crying out in despair. She was doomed there was no way out.

Lanie’s survival instincts were now in overdrive, she turned from the window to eye Jarlaxle up and down in an attempt to measure him up. Jarlaxle found himself in a state of disbelief, he quickly shot a sideways glance over to where Kimmuriel stood. Kimmuriel only offered a slightly raised eyebrow and no other reaction. Kimmuriel appeared to be enjoying the poor child’s panicked state.

Jarlaxle looked back towards her, noticing she had very pale skin, a near milky white complexion like sculpted soapstone or white marble, with darker hair that fell in loose but snarly curls towards the ends. She had strange beadwork woven in amongst a few braids, and her clothing was dirty and tattered. She wasn’t just human, she was different, she was something more, this intrigued Jarlaxle greatly. He had a hunch about her.

Be careful with that one her, abilities are quite impressive despite being human, came Kimmuriel’s telepathic warning.

You shut up! You filthy beast rang the child’s telepathic voice through both their heads.

Stunned Jarlaxle shrugged at Kimmuriel in a state of confusion. True to fashion Kimmuriel stood there seemingly unsurprised and stony faced. Even if he didn’t show it, Jarlaxle knew there was a high level of intrigued under his expressionless exterior. To Kimmuriel, she was nothing more than a potential study for his research, a mere plaything who when the novelty wore off, would be quickly disposed of.

“Just what type of abilities are we talking about?” Jarlaxle asked Kimmuriel, this time in drow.

“The type that will get you killed if you don’t let me go fool,” the child declared in near perfect drow.

Jarlaxle crossed his arms and stared hard at her. Sheer contempt filled her eyes as she glared at him. Abruptly she turned her back to him and began watching the street below slowly awaken to life with the coming dawn. Valas had promised that the new dawn would mean it was time for them to go their separate ways. How she wished that promise could be fulfilled now.

Jarlaxle carefully studied her as the rising sun broke over the horizon and the city with its glittering skyline not only illuminated the tears streaking down her face but also her two different colored eyes which Jarlaxle could now see clearly. So striking they were with the light hitting them that even Jarlaxle found himself momentarily speechless.

“What is your name?” Jarlaxle asked in a language that even Kimmuriel did not recognize.

She slowly turned to regard him and it was apparent she understood him, but she did not offer an answer, she returned to staring out the window, both her hands and forehead pressed onto the glass.

“How old are you?” he coaxed her again in the same language.

Lanie did not turn to acknowledge him but held up two small hands showing a count of eight fingers.

“I am this many”, she whispered in perfect Roushoum, the tears still streaking her cheeks as she continued to speak in her native tongue, “the city comes to life with the rising of the sun. It is beautiful. The city and all its living components work like a story in a book and everybody has a part to play, a character to be- their specific role in life,” she turned towards Jarlaxle.

“You,” she spoke directly addressing him and he took quick notice of her eyes again before she turned back toward the window, “and the rest of them out there in all the corners of this world, all those people-human, orc, drow, and others, you all have your roles so perfectly rehearsed. You all play them so well. It doesn’t matter what city you live in, because really in truth all cities are all the same and all roles so similar. Valas was right it is no different up here than it was down there. It is just as cruel and just as difficult to survive here.”

She paused pressing herself harder against the glass and letting out a small whimper between another rush of tears, “All of it so beautiful to me, even the ugly.”

Her hands streaked down the window and her body shuttered under the weight of her inner agony, “I haven’t a place in this world, I haven’t a role to play, I am a freak, and I don’t belong.”

This time she looked at Kimmuriel telepathically speaking only to him, and you, you just need to be put out of your misery. You’re wretched and demented- you’re ruined, and you let them ruin you. Does that not make you weak? She noticed it then, a virtually undetectable wince crossed his face revealing to Lanie she had hit a nerve.

“It sickens me to think we have something in common.” She finished out loud in drow still holding a fixed stare on Kimmuriel.

Kimmuriel made no attempt to respond to the child instead he entertained thoughts of various torture techniques he would ‘kindly’ bestow upon her when the opportunity presented itself. However, he was caught extremely off-guard by how vulnerable this child had made him. Vulnerability was a foreign feeling to him and he couldn’t be sure if it was a genuine feeling of his own devising or not, and he didn’t like that.

He couldn’t be sure of this child’s strength, not combined with an ability he wasn’t able to understand on a level most sentient being could. He felt a lack of control in this situation and this was very unnerving to him, in fact it enraged him, all he understood was his immediate burning desire to kill her. He wanted her dead he needed to be rid of her. Her words stirred long forgotten memories, memories he thought he had eradicated from the fiber of his being.

“What would you like me to do with her?” Kimmuriel asked Jarlaxle intentionally out loud.

It was one of those rare times in his long life where he was at a loss for words. He had very little dealings with children, drow, human, or other, they were a foreign subject to him, Jarlaxle didn’t quite know how to approach her and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Jarlaxle rolled back on the heels of his boots as he considered leaving, but something in the pit of his stomach told him not to. Was it pity? A feeling quite contradictory to what he normal would have felt. He knew there was something more to this child and he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Let it go Jarlaxle, those feelings are not your own. She is projecting onto you. Kimmuriel’s voice entered his head this time accompanied with a tingling sensation that told Jarlaxle Kimmuriel was closely guarding their private conversation.

I do not feel any mental intrusions, other than your own Kimmuriel, and yet you tell me my feelings are not genuine. I have already noticed the poor thing has absolutely no magic ability which is extremely abnormal for her people. So Kimmuriel, do enlighten me as to how this young girl is having such an effect on me. Jarlaxle paused and eyed Kimmuriel.

For her‘people’? Kimmuriel said with a hint of suspicion pausing briefly for an explanation but Jarlaxle offered none.

Kimmuriel had already scoured her mind and was interested in knowing what Jarlaxle was able to ascertain with his limited perception. Sometimes he considered how much more powerful Jarlaxle could have been if he too also possessed psionic abilities. Kimmuriel found the thought disturbing and was quick to chasing it out of his head.

She has a very rare combination of abilities, in addition to her psionic abilities she has empathic psychic abilities. I am afraid that such abilities, when combined, not only make her unstable but weak as well. She runs the risk of hurting herself and others. She is a potential liability for those close to her. Kimmuriel partially lied.

He knew she could successfully master her abilities and had the potential to be quite powerful, but she would not be able to do so without training. Without learning how to master self-discipline techniques and combined with her ‘emotional’ weaknesses her powers would consumer her.

His family spent numerous hours rigorously training and developing their psionic ability. They even employed skilled illithids and his mother had also used the help of a certain powerful aboleth to aide in the training of her progeny. Any display of emotional weaknesses were routinely beaten out of an individual, however in this child’s case, one cannot simply remove empathic psychic abilities with an abusive hand.

Jarlaxle sensed a feeling of eagerness in the words that Kimmuriel spoke. It was clear that Kimmuriel was itching to get his hands on this child. He was greatly interested in her even if he didn’t display that eagerness overtly. Jarlaxle looked once again at the girl. She was staring at them both, a look of fear dancing across her face. She knew her fate was being decided and all Jarlaxle had to do was leave the room and leave her to Kimmuriel.

“Her name is Laenaia Manaallin,” came Valas’s voice followed by a series of slight groans as he pulled himself up off the floor rubbing his head, his ears bleeding from the psionic blast.

“She likes being called Lanie,” Valas said shooting a nasty look at Lanie, “Here I took her promise seriously when she said she wouldn’t get in my head again. I had no control over what I did, that wasn’t my choice”

“We are well aware of that.” Jarlaxle said as put his hand up to silence Valas from further explaining himself.

“It is as I suspected,” Jarlaxle mused while rubbing his chin, “Manaallin is a deep imaskari name and coupled with her usage of Roushoum, confirms she is indeed deep imaskari. How very interesting indeed!”

Lanie glanced over at Jarlaxle, but her concern was for her friend Valas. She felt horrible for what she had done to him.

“Valas I am really sorry, I was scared. That wretched drow psion was hurting me. I didn't know what else to do Valas. Please forgive me, and please don’t let him hurt me again, tell him I am not bad, tell him I won’t do anything bad, just tell him I want to be let go. Please Valas.” The girl pleaded, her life depending on it.

“And I don’t know what this strange looking drow wants with me either.” She continued pointing at Jarlaxle. “You know I just wanted to get to the surface, why won’t you just tell them that?”

“Strange looking?” Jarlaxed chimed obviously insulted.

“Yes, strange looking! I haven’t ever seen a bald drow with such funny looking clothing.” She scoffed.

“The only thing that is strange looking here is you!” he quickly snapped back.

Lanie felt the sting of his statement and dropped her eyes to the floor. She had made a grave mistake in coming to the surface. The only place she wanted to be was back in the tunnels of the Underdark alone with her thrall captive. She should have just stayed where she was, but she was stupid in believing the stories her father told her of the surface. She missed the Underdark immensely, nothing bothered her there and if something did, the thrall was quick to take care of it. She looked toward Valas but he offered no condolences only a look filled with anger and resentment.

You are better off alone for there are few that would ever understand the thing that you are, a memory of a gurgled voice belonging to a certain illithid echoed through her mind.

Lanie thought of her mother whose death came as a result of a magical experiment that went horribly wrong. Her mother rarely acknowledged her but in her dying breath made her father swear on his life that he would make sure Lanie survived. Her father was the one constant she ever had in her life and he was the only person who ever made her feel loved.

Her people were cold and cruel towards her and just like her mother, chose hardly to acknowledge her. Lanie, due to her unique abilities and her intelligence was able to retain all of her memories from the time she was born. She was also an incredibly fast learner but she had no ability to use magic. Her people found her lack of ability in the magic arts alarming. They were further terrified by her empathic psychic abilities, so much so, that they had come together to demand she be destroyed.

Her father, Talnein Manaallin, was given two choices, to stay and allow Laenaia to be destroyed or to leave with his dauther to live in the world outside their secret realm. He made a promise to his dying wife that he would do whatever he could to keep their daughter alive. Once they had their minds magically excised of their homeland location both Laenaia and her father were set free in the Underdark.

His intentions were to bring Lanie to the surface where they would live out the rest of their lives, but that never happened. They were captured by a small group of illithids within days of leaving their homeland. Lanie was barely two years old when she was forced to watch her father’s torture and eventual death. Once he was out of the way, the illithids brought her to a secret location where they began experimenting on her.

The experiments were brutal. She swallowed back a lump in her throat and squeezed her eyes shut tight all in a hope to push the memories out of her head. She steadied her breathing and brought her mind back to where it needed to be. Opening her eyes she realized the drow with the funny hat was now sitting in the chair closest to her.

Quietly Jarlaxle sat watching her in awkward silence. She wiped her tears off her dirty cheeks with her sleeves and met his gaze. The light catching her eyes brought life to the kaleidoscope of colors he found there. Her left eye was golden amber with bright blue chips within the iris, while the other was an extremely pale blue with chips of amber emanating like flames from around the pupil. In the blue eye, webs of white laced together the edge of her iris with the white of her eye. It was hard to tell where the blue of her iris began and the white if her eye ended.

At first glance it was freakishly startling but uniquely beautiful. Jarlaxle noticed how the child looked downward hiding her eyes from him, embarrassed by her strange flaw. Jarlaxle was then reminded of a certain drow who had unique colored eyes, one who also found himself out of place in the world, and with that thought slow smile broke across Jarlaxle’s face.

“Everything and everyone plays a purpose in this world,” he whispered in Roushoum just loud enough for her to hear.

"Kimmuriel take Valas to your clerics and have him tended to, let's make sure you didn't do too much damage to our best scout, besides the two of you still have matters relating to Bregan D’aerthe to further discuss. I am going to take Lanie here to get a bite to eat and then get her cleaned up. She is a mess and could use a good washing, and a new dress." Jarlaxle declared.

A sudden look of disgust found its place on Kimmuriel's face but he did not argue.

"Is that okay with you Lanie?" Jarlaxled asked. He stood up and offered the child his hand.

She looked at him with suspicion then turned to look at Valas, whose face revealed a look of relief and that was all she needed to see to know she would be okay. Kimmuriel was staring right at her and she glared right back at him, taking Jarlaxle's hand and directing a rather devious smile towards Kimmuriel. She knew it bothered him a lot more than he showed it.

Be ever vigilant with that one came another one of Kimmuriel's guarded telepathic warning.

Oh, but I will Kimmuriel, my friend, I will, and when I am done being so vigilant, the girl will be all yours, Jarlaxle winked a tipped his hat towards Kimmuriel as Lanie and he stepped out the door.