It seemed to Tylek that he had not been out of his quarters in ages. With all the work that had needed to be done to build his study and quarters, he had not even noticed the passage of time. Even now, as he stood outside the massive stalagmite and looked the rough stone exterior over, he had a hard time believing that he was the only drow in the city with a structure of his own. 

It was a dream, it had to be. The giant stone spike rose into the air like a black finger pointing to the ceiling of the cavern, its counter part pointing right back. Ty judged the space between the two, wondering how many millennia it would take for them to join and thicken enough to continue expanding the structure up into the blackness. The interior of it was exquisite already, consisting of many adjoining rooms, large and small; all spiraling up in what Ty considered to be a most tasteful and easily defended ascension. He had ordered that no stairs be built into this, his new home and workplace, with the exception of the two or three steps up connecting the rooms on each level. The only way one could pass from level to level was to levitate there, and only the oldest drow were able to use that ability often enough to reach the top of his spire, and even those were stuck once there. He thought of the carving he had done inside as well, a complex series of runes worked into an elaborate and decorative pattern that even his eye had a difficult time picking out now that it had been completed. 

Not that he had to worry about them, he had had one of the houseless rogues, reputed to be an excellent hand with designs, tattoo his insignia into his living flesh with an ink he had devised for the effort. It was an experiment he had thought of long ago, but had had no time to explore until recently. Once he'd been marked, he had set a minor rune in a doorway, and passed through. Nothing had happened, the magics had recognized each other, and nothing had happened. 

Looking on the twin stone fingers, and thinking of magic, it suddenly dawned on Ty that he need not wait the years it would take for the two to merge. He had it within himself to hasten the process exponentially. Looking briefly at the rubble that surrounded the spire from the recent excavations, he took off at a run to his study, needing to prepare himself.

Ty stopped writing and let his hands fall limp on the table in front of him. He looked at them and thought, "I am the Quel’Faeruk now. I still cannot believe it. The Matron must have her reasons, but I am hard pressed to figure them out."

He glanced from his hands to his food, which had sat to one side of his table, completely forgotten and now long cold. looking around he spotted Xol'Har'dal. The boy was asleep on the cot Ty had acquired for him. Sighing, Tylek picked up the plate and brought it to the tiny fireplace he'd had set high in the far wall. There were still some hot coals burning there from some of the day's previous work. Taking a long handled burning plate from a hook on the wall, he set his plate of food on it and set it on the coals to reheat.

Returning to his work table, Ty once again saw the sleeping boy. "Xol'Har'dal," Tylek mused to himself, "named for the night I found him." It had been the only lunar eclipse he had ever witnessed, and seemed an appropriate thing to call a boy found more than half dead on the side of a seldom used road nowhere near an underdark tunnel.

"He has not been a bad servant either." Ty thought suddenly, surprising himself. Sitting in his chair, he turned to study the still form. Ty placed him in his early teens. He was lean, and muscular for his age, with features that told of some nobility in his blood. It had taken the boy a few days to get Ty's schedule down right, but once he'd done that he'd been able to anticipate the new House Mage's wants and needs fairly accurately.

In fact, there was only one other time Ty had been more impressed with one's services. That had been Desinari, one time during his stay at House Elythanar. Ty thought fondly of that night.

He refocused his thoughts on the boy. "I wonder what will become of him." he thought idly. "The Matron will surely take him from me soon. I wonder what path he will take, if he is given the choice." He spent some time considering the possibilities, and then decided that he should get some rest before Narbondel reached high.

Getting up, he retrieved his food and ate quickly, too tired even to taste it. Without further thought on the day's business, he placed the empty plate in it's familiar corner of the work table and retired.

The raid had been a success.  All but a handful of the enemy had fallen to the raiding party. Xol'har'dal was proud of his performance on his first battle.  So proud in fact that he let his concentration falter and was not aware of the unseen attacker.  Xol felt the presence in time to attempt a defensive maneuver, but he stumbled and the attack landed fully on his left arm.  He winced in pain and tried to focus on this new enemy.  Shock and horror overcame him when at last he realized that the attack had not come from one of the surface dwellers his party had been attacking, but from the hand of his own brother.

 The shock turned to anger.  Pain turned to fury as Xol realized his brother's intentions.  Again his brother attacked.  This time Xol was ready.  He ducked under the strike and rolled, trying to remember what little training he had received.  He knew that his brother's skill was far superior to his own, but he would not let the older drow see his weakness.  If he were to die this day, he would die facing his brother as a warrior, and not as a mere child.  The two fought for some time, unseen by the others.  Xol's brother had seen to that by cleverly placing a sphere of darkness between them and the rest of the raiding party.

In a last desperate attempt to gain the advantage, Xol dropped to the ground and brought his sword straight up at what he thought would be his brother's chest.  But, instead of feeling the resistance as his blade slid into flesh, he felt a hand on his arm and a dagger at his throat.  Xol locked eyes with his attacker, never once letting him see the fear in his eyes.  He knew death was near.  Just as his brother was about to finish the task he set out to do, the signal came to end the raid.  His brother stopped for a moment, considering how he should finish off the younger male.  Xol fully expected his throat to be sliced open, but instead his brother withdrew the dagger and slid it into Xol's ribs.

"Now you will know what it is to suffer," his brother told him.

"You will never be Eldest Son", he added, knowing that Xol had always been favored more with their mother, the Matron.  "I will not kill you now, instead I will give you to the burning orb.  Then you will know the pain you gave me."

With that the older male rose, kicked him one last time and ran off to join the others.  Xol could hear them cheering the victory and one voice stood out more than the others, the voice of his attacker, bragging of his skill in battle.  Then all was quiet as the raiding party disappeared into the night.  Xol could only lay there and wait for the incredible pain of the rising sun to start.  He knew, unlike his brother, that although it caused intense pain, he would not die from the burning orb.  He would, however, die in a pool of his own blood if he could not summon the strength to seek shelter and tend to his wound.

Xol managed to crawl a short distance when the first hint of light on thehorizon sent shooting darts of pain in his light sensitive eyes.  The pain was far greater than he had imagined it could be.  Great enough in fact to strip him of what little energy he had.  Xol knew his efforts were for not.  He knew that with a blade in his side and the burning orb rising at his back he would not last too much longer.  Never wanting to show fear, he rolled onto his back.  A small grin appeared on his lips as he turned to face his death. 

"If death must take me, it will take me from the front," Xol said through gritted teeth and pain.

Just as Xol realized he could no longer hold onto his grip on life, he felt a cooling sensation overcome his body as the painful light seemed to dim.  Xol managed to open one eye long enough to see a cloaked figure bend over his blood soaked body and touch his forehead.  Then all went black...

Closer.....closer.....Deeper.....deeper.....

Those words echoed through his mind, followed by promises of dark desires and rewards to come. Tull teetered on the edge of that precipice, his talent of mind over matter the only thing which had been holding him back for so long. If he had been any other drow, he'd have fallen off that edge and into the promises the voices and images whispered to him. But it wasn't going to happen tonight.

A low rumbling sound, followed by the vibrations which caused it, quickly pulled Tull from the edge of the precipice his mind stood. His face was frozen in a look of uncertainty. Did his mother notice what he had looked like while under the tapestry's spell? Did VENOM see his expression during those helpless moments? Tull would've preferred the former instead of the latter. At least with his mother, he could explain much of it away, and maybe even tell her the truth of the visions the tapestry caused him to relive. But he'd die from embarrassment if Venom noticed instead. He barely held his temper when he was in the same room with the drow and his mother. Tull thinking of more pleasant thoughts when images of his mother and the Z’haruk alone together threatened to dominate his imagination. The female slaves in his cottage could attest to his temper and outburst of rage whenever those images broke through his set-up mental barriers.

The floor beneath him began to shake noticeably and his eyes picked up on some of the items --- such as glass baubles, small wood-carved boxes, etc...--- vibrating across the surfaces they were set upon. He wasn't the only one with a curious, if not worried, expression on his face. Both Mavralyn and Venom had a look of concern on their faces. By this time, Tull was more apprehensive about whether the cavern was going to collapse on top of the entire city, rather than worrying whether his hidden dark thoughts and desires were seen by the two other occupants of the chamber.

"Leave me," Mavralyn ended the meeting suddenly with a wave of her hand to both Tull and Venom. When the two males hesitated from departing the bedchamber Mavralyn glared at both and motioned sharply in the direction of the double doors. Tull bowed with a flourish and said his aluve' to his mother. Acting as if it was his decision to leave all along. Mavralyn's son walked confidently through the open doors, but waited to be sure that Venom had left as well before continuing on to the levitation chamber where his trip to the lower levels waited.

The ride down the levitation shaft was very uneventful, though Tull was going over a lot of what had been said in his mother's bedchamber. He tried very hard not to think what was happening in there before he and Mera arrived. He did go through a lot of what was told to him. So, there is a chance that more will be joining the city in the near future. That thought brought up several new ideas he wanted to set into motion. He was really glad that he had spoken to Isgrimnur when he had seen the little dwarf earlier. A lot of the plans he gave the duergar to begin on dealt with situations his mother had just told him about. One of the instructions --- well they sure sounded like instructions to Tull --- got his typical curious mind working:

~~"This I tell you because soon you will have to ready the available slaves, and procure even more if need be.  I wish construction to begin at once on the city’s Temple, as well as several abandoned sites just east of Narbondel.”~~

"I wonder who will make use of the sites east of Narbondel," he whispered out loud, his inattentiveness to his surroundings making him easy prey to what was about to happen. 

The gradual slowing down of the platform distantly told Tull that he was on the level he had selected to get off on. Once stopped, he stepped off the platform and into the small chamber which served as a waiting area for those waiting for a ride up the shaft. If Tull was paying closer attention to what was going on around him then he wouldn't have been ambushed so easily.

"You are done already, Tullarix?" a husky, heated whisper tickled his ear and a slender hand suddenly covered his eyes, and he stiffened with a sudden gasp at what the other hand was covering. Tull hoped that the hand didn't change its motions from the strokes it was performing. He wouldn't be up for much for a awhile if it changed into a tight clutching grasp. "I thought that you would be in her bed....ahem....I mean bedchamber for another hour or so)."

"Hello to you too, Mera," Tull replied dryly, not even bothering to move her hands from where they settled. Actually he kind of enjoyed where they were at that moment. Why move them at all. "Actually she dismissed both Venom and I. I think all those tremors that just happened worried her some. I wasn't about to argue with her about staying."

" Yes, I felt those same tremors. Are you telling me that you and the Matron didn't cause those tremors," she chuckled softly from behind and close to his ear. " I think that you may be losing your touch, Tull."

His eyes still covered and himself beginning to stand at attention due to Mera, Tull harrumphed loudly at her last comment. " My touch is fine, Mera... But you wouldn't know anything about that... now would you?"

Mera said nothing in reply, but did lean closer and took a playful nip on his earlobe. She then took her hand off his eyes and then did the same where her other hand was --- after tracing a finger up lengthwise. Tull opened his mind up and probed Mera's own thoughts. She didn't have to reply with words to his subtle invitation, her thoughts and the mental images she formed was answer enough.

Tull turned around to face the beautiful maidenguard, wrapped his arms around her, then murmured the command phrases which would open the correct gateway he needed for transport. To their right, a glimmer of a silver dot appeared then slowly rotated and expanded into a circular portal of brilliant silver. Big enough for both of them, the silvery portal pulsed with magical life as it waited for them to pass through its threshold. Taking Mera by the hand, Tull led her through the portal and to what was on the other side. Their eyes slowly adjusted from the bright illumination of the portal and then back to the darkened chamber where it led them to. Once their vision fully adjusted to the darkened room, Tull welcomed Mera to his bedchamber in Xol'Niaren. From the wordless response Mera gave Tull, he knew that he'd better find the bed before she decided to take charge of the situation. As much as he would have enjoyed such a position, he did not want his new clothes to be ripped into shreds when he had only worn them once. They did cost money.

Well, my dear, time to show you that I haven't lost my touch..." his voice trailed off in the end as sounds of passion replaced spoken words and filled the lightly lit chamber of Mavralyn's first born son...

The entire night was turning out to be quite eventful. Many of his suspicions and those rumors he'd heard so much were plainly answered by his mother; very much to his surprise. It was becoming very tiresome that his mother rarely confided in him the last couple of months, but then he had to admit to himself that his behavior during those dark days of his life left much to be desired. Which made the last couple of hours even more satisfying. Could it be that she was beginning to see the son she wanted back again.

Deeper..........deeper..........

He had felt the old bond between the two of them slowly healing. The gulf which had separated both of them shrinking with every moment. Tull didn't even feel any kind of uneasiness as she told him to massage her tense neck and shoulders. It was a nice feeling to do such a thing, again. Especially since she was really the only one who appreciated that skill of his. Maybe it was time again to practice up on them. He had to admit that his performance up in her bedchamber could've gone much smoother. Mera had been right about that little, teasing jab. His touch wasn't what it used to be. But it wasn't anything he couldn't perfect once again. 

Faster..........faster..........

Everything was going well until an unexpected visitor arrived to set him off-balance. He could have sworn that he saw Venom outside the compound, around Tier-Breche, performing training sorties with the other newly-trained steeder riders. Unless Venom had trained his riders well enough that they were allowed to train and practice without him in attendance. He didn't really need such a surprise loosed upon him during his time with his mother. And the way it all happened almost made him lose his mood at this very moment. Something Mera would've stabbed him for if he did. 

Tull always wondered why she kept on having patron after patron. Though he'd only been alive long enough to know two of them. His own sire he never met, but he did know Urobos and now Venom. But who would ever figure out what went on inside a woman's mind. Most especially, a woman such as Mavralyn. Maybe it would've been prudent not to dwell too much at what he had been thinking about when he first saw Venom appear from behind the same adjoining chamber that his mother did. *Yes, don't think about what happened in the end.*

Harder..........harder..........

He might have salvaged the situation even after Venom's unexpected arrival, but something had pulled his attention away from what was going on around him. Something inside his mother's bedchamber possessed such a forceful hypnotic power that he had been so easily hooked. Anger and embarrassment warred within him afterwards. Anger for being so easily entranced and for his inability to get himself out of it. Embarrassment for the very same reason, and for the sudden waking dreams of his darkest and deepest desires. Though it was very unusual for him to react like that to such images. It wasn’t like he hadn't seen and done a lot of what those images of his were doing. That certain something, which had deftly ensnared his mind within its swirling depths, was a tapestry so like the rest he had seen inside the chamber. It wasn't really a stand-out piece. He didn't even notice it until he saw it again after Venom's arrival.

Deeper..........faster..........harder..........

Then there's Amerasu, or Mera as he called her, who also did --- though in a much more recognizable fashion --- what the tapestry had done to him. She only became part of his existence just a few hours ago and already they behaved as if they knew each other for years. She had known exactly which buttons to push and for how long. He could only wish he could do the same to her. Oh, he did know --- after some experimenting --- where she liked to be touched, but he was still at a loss as to which emotional buttons she had. It wouldn't be fair to him to be the only one whose buttons were pushed. Not fair at all.

It would almost seem that she had some good coaching as to how to handle him. The only person he could think of that knew him that well was his mother...

*No. She couldn't have. She wouldn't have....* his actions mirrored his reaction to the conclusion he just made. *Yes, she would have.*

Harder..........faster..........harder..........

It would be like her to spring one of her maidenguards on him when he least expected it. When his guard was down enough that he wouldn't notice right away her hand in it. The question which raced back and forth in his mind was: WHY?.

The reason sure couldn’t be him taking up a lot of her time with his visits. Making her unable to get any work done. Ever since they first made their move from Rilauven to Velkyn-Tirith, he had only, really, been with Mavralyn a few times. And those few times were not very memorable. Mera's fingernails on his back at the moment reminded him of the consequence of one of those unpleasant encounters. But as a testament to his ability to adapt and survive, Tull now accepted and was even proud of the web-patterned scarring on his back. 

Right this moment, Mera seemed to be trying to add new patterns to his back, as he felt her fingernails --- sharply manicured when he last saw them --- move back and forth and up and down the length of his back. It may well be that afterwards he would have new scars on his back. But then again, it was for a good cause.

Yes, his mother must've picked Mera to set on him. Well, she succeeded. Tull could practically see his mother's wicked grin in his mind at the thought. He knew that Mera was her way of solving whatever problem he might be going through still. As much as their relationship had cooled lately, he knew that she still cared for him in her own way. He could've repaid her in time if his meeting wasn't so rudely interrupted and then ended suddenly with dismissal because of the tremors they all felt. The same tremors which pulled him away from the edge his mind was about to fall off of. He was still wary about the entire situation. When dealing with his own people, to let oneself fully trust another was a good way to have a very shortened life span. If his mother meant for Mera to keep him busy from causing any trouble that might make her lose some face with the other yathtallaren, then so be it. He'd welcome the distraction

Faster..........harder..........deeper.......... Deeper.........harder..........faster..........

Deep within Tull's mind, the entity which resided within heard a distant series of grunts and groans, with a moan thrown in for good measure. This being, who remained silent during most of Tull's visit back to Xol'Niaren, also sensed another series of tremors hit Tull's body. It thought that maybe another tectonic event had happened again and much closer this time, but as soon as he crept up closer to the surface of Tull's mind and saw and felt what Tull was going through, it just grinned and receded back to its niche deep inside Tull's subconscious. No need to interrupt and give the boy help and advice. Tull was doing all right by himself...