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[Vryn Vhae'Naliek]

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Deep reds and purples dominated every richly appointed corner of the bedroom suite. From the heavy velvet curtains, to the gossamer spidersilk canopy hung above the oversized bed. A bed set directly above a concentric series of protective wards drawn in blood and crushed obsidian on the stone floor below.

To one side, somewhat partioned away from the orderly flow of the room, was a tidy sitting area, complete with a variety of books, and scrolls, and two plush chairs.

To the other, was the subject of the day's current shouting match.

Here the walls were black with scorch marks, and soot. The charred ruins of twisted wood jutted up from the ground like the tortured corpse of some otherwordly thing. Scattered ash it's gory lifeblood.

"That bed, Princess, was very expensive," remarked Lord Gorhun with exhaustable patience.

"I did not say that I wanted a -bed- for him! I said I wanted him to sleep in MY bed, with ME!" Shri'hrae snapped back loudly. Her hands balled into small black fists at her sides. Chin raised defiantly, looking far less imposing than her intent in her pale pink nightgown and barefeet.

Several steps behind her, Vryn refused to make eye contact with anyone, and worked his hardest to make himself as invisible and unobtrusive as possible.

"Sharing your bed with your plaything would be most unbecoming of you, Shri," Felyn stated flatly. Her words frayed at their edges, tinted with a growing annoyance with the entire scene laid out before her.

Stepping back, and looping her arm into Vryn's, Shri'hrae ground her teeth and flashed her eyes angrily at both of her adult caretakers in turn.

"Well, he -is- mine. Isn't he? I can do for him as I please! And I say he sleeps with me!"

"And I said no...princess," Gorhun replied, his mask showing a light blue, "In fact, I find that I will not reward your costly petulance. Your...poppet will now sleep on the floor at your feet."

"He. Will. NOT!"

"I don't mind the floor," Vryn said quietly, daring to glance up carefully.

Shri'hrae, disentangling herself from his arm, deftly slapped him upon the top of his head, and glowered. Biting off an angry retort, and looking from Gorhun to Felyn to Vryn with mounting frusteration.

"Good," Gorhun began, "Because if I find your Vryn has again slept in your bed, by your side, at your behest, -he- will receive the beating that you rightly deserve. While we are at it, Vryn, you can clean up Shri's mess. You don't eat until it is done."

Fixing the two drow children with a disgusted glare, Felyn turned to follow Gorhun out of their room. Content that they had had the last word.

"She spoils that foundling," she said, "He will never learn his place this way!"

"No," the masked drow chuckled, "Maybe not how you view his place, but think on this. He is perfectly content with taking a beating for her, and without complaint. She will need someone like that to stand with her in her adult years. Trust me on that."

"And when the boy decides such service demands recompense?"

"Ah. That. Well, we both know nothing comes free. Not with our kind. Least of all, loyalty."